resolutions | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Posts Tagged ‘resolutions’

2013 Goal Update: Only 3.5 more months!

September 12th, 2013 by pladd

9 months into 2013 and I feel like a terrible person. I’m afraid I haven’t made a lot of progress since the last time we talked. Whatever. We’re like 75% of the way through this year, so I officially have senioritis when it comes to 2013.

1. Make at least one recipe from each of our cookbooks: 89%

I’m actually doing good on this one!!!

89%, fools!!!!!!!

According to my spreadsheet, I only have 4 books left! Yay! I’m glad we can start this post of shame on a high note! The final four are:

The Cooking of Italy
Cake Pops
The Hungry Scientist
Nanny Ogg’s Cookbook

The latter is kind of a joke book based in the Discworld universe, but I think most of the recipes are still valid. I mean, once I convert from weird UK cooking measurements (Gas 4? What?)

2. Read 200 Books: 65%

Barf

I know this doesn’t look good, but I’m still confident I can meet this one. So I may spend the whole month of November reading children’s books, but I was probably going to do that anyway, so it doesn’t count as cheating.

3. Knock off one state from my map: 100%!!!!

I know you know, but I COMPLETED SOMETHING SEVEN MONTHS BEFORE IT WAS DUE.

And it was fun

4. Lift Weights at Least Once a Week: 75%

I’m on this one, gang. I’m on it.

5. Knit a Cardigan: 70%? 0%? Who freaking knows

So I’ve still done nothing new on this at all. It’s like an awkward-looking sleeveless cardigan right now, and I think I also have half of one sleeve. I feel like I may give up on this one, unravel what I’ve done, and use the yarn for some other project. Or like a hundred other projects. I have so much freaking goldenrod yarn.

6. Send Out My Entire Stash of Postcards: 30%

This is the one I always forget when I think of them in my head. I’m probably going to fail to complete it, just out of forgetfulness. Or on December 29th James Fox is just going to receive 48 postcards from me at once. Whatever. Pretty sure he doesn’t read my blog, so this won’t ruin the surprise.

7. SUPER SECRET SEVENTH PROJECT: 85%??? 90%??

I really have a hard time judging this one. But I am hell-bent on completing it, even if I have to jettison the other 5 uncompleted goals to do so.

Total

73% of the way there! Until I unravel that cardigan, then my score will actually go down. Sigh. Maybe seven was too many goals. I should have listened to that infectious disease and just bummed around all year. Oh well.

Previously: Halfway Point
Quarter Quell
2013 Plans

Tagged: 2013, 2013 goals, resolutions

Posted in 2013 Magnificent Seven |

2013 Goal Update: halfway point

June 4th, 2013 by pladd

So six months in to 2013, and here’s how my list of goals is going:

1. Make at least one recipe from each of our cookbooks: 50% complete!

Steven tried to help me with some of the Roman ones by making some kind of cheese dip that just tasted like salt. It somehow tasted saltier than just eating straight salt. Still have the ice cream AND ice pops books to do, just in time for summer!! Also, this weekend we finally tackled the sushi book, and it turned out deliciously:

Not gonna lie: Steven did all the work for this one

2. Read 200 books: 40% complete

So I’ve read 80. Whatever. How many have you read?

3. Knock off at least 1 state from my map: 100% COMPLETE!

West Virginia!!!

4. Lift Weights At Least Once a Week: 50% complete, I guess?

Since this has to happen every week, I can’t finish it early.

5. Knit a cardigan: 70% complete

So I’ve done nothing on this since the last time we talked. It’s fine. I still got this.

6. Send out my entire stash of postcards: 5% complete

Whatever, I do what I want.

7. SUPER SECRET SEVENTH PROJECT: 50% complete???

Am I halfway done? Will I make it? EVEN I DON’T KNOW–that’s how secret it is.

Total

On average, I am 52% of the way to meeting my goals. That’s good enough for me!

Let’s talk again in September.

Tagged: 2013, 2013 goals, life goal, resolutions

Posted in 2013 Magnificent Seven |

2013 Plans: Just Checking In To Remind You You’re Terrible

April 12th, 2013 by pladd

So we’re about a quarter of the way through 2013, and I thought I should check in to see how well I’m accomplishing my seven amazing goals for this year!!!!

1. Make at least one recipe from each of our cookbooks
As we discussed Friday, I am way behind on this one. I’ve done 6, and there are about 35, which puts me at only 17% complete. I know I come up with a different number each time I count how many cookbooks we have. This is mostly due to me not knowing what constitutes a cookbook or not. A lot of our kitchen stuff came with little booklets that have recipes in them, and some of the food books on the shelf are more about the science of cooking than actual recipes to make. Don’t worry, I’m totally going to make a spreadsheet.

You know it’s the only way

I’m certainly not as far behind schedule as I could be, but I definitely need to step it up with this one.

2. Read 200 Books

Goodreads is keeping me honest, but stressing me out

This number would definitely be higher if each Game of Thrones book wasn’t so freaking long. Don’t worry, I’ll check out an entire manga series some weekend and catch right back up. I’m behind on this one too, but I am determined.

3. Knock off at least one state from my map of States I’ve Visited

Who knows how much longer beautiful South Dakota will be there?

I haven’t done this one yet either, but Steven and I have made some tentative plans to visit West Virginia for our birthdays. And by “tentative plans” I mean I said “We should totally just drive there” and he said “Whatever”. I’ll take it.

4. Lift weights at least once a week

Fool, I have been doing it TWICE A WEEK!!!! YES! Finally, a goal I am on track to accomplishing. 1/7

5. Knit a Cardigan

Oh the trials of this cardigan. I’ve had a lot of problems, guys, none of them (that I know of) related to my knitting ability. The pattern I chose doesn’t seem to correspond to US sizes so it’s way too big, the yarn I bought ran out, the yarn I tried to replace it with was a slightly different color… anyway, I was going to give up where I am now, with a weird sleeveless cardigan that is like a sweater vest with buttons, but my mom convinced me it wouldn’t look that weird if the sleeves were a contrasting color. So I bought some new yarn and am starting some sleeves. We’ll see how this turns out. I keep having to make up my own pattern when the one I have doesn’t make sense… but I have 8 months to knit two sleeves, so I think I’m on track for this one too, barring any future ridiculous knitting mishaps. 2/7

6. Send out my entire stash of postcards

I think I have sent 3 out of 50. So, yeah, going to have to go on a postcard binge sometime soon.

7. SUPER SECRET SEVENTH RESOLUTION

Unfortunately, this is the only one I have been diligently working on, but I can’t tell you anything about my progress lest it stop being SUPER SECRET. So far things are AWESOME so I am hoping to be able to show you AWESOME RESULTS by the end of the year. I think I’m even slightly ahead of schedule, but there’s no way to be sure. Still, I’m giving it to me to save my self-esteem. 3/7

So I’m behind on more than half of my seven goals for 2013. Whatever, GO BIG OR GO HOME. I can do this. Even if it means cooking three meals a day and mailing 28 postcards in December. Bring it. I am still hella pumped about each one of these.

Except for you, cardigan. I kind of hate you now.

Tagged: 2013, life goal, resolutions

Posted in 2013 Magnificent Seven |

2013 Plans

January 4th, 2013 by pladd

I am not really a big fan of resolutions, I think because most of the time they are so vague. This is probably the fifth year I’ve thought “I should really eat more vegetables” but then after a week of roasted broccoli and fancy salads I forget to make a special effort. For resolutions to work, at least for me, they have to be more specific, explicitly stating the goal and how it’s going to be achieved. That’s why my only achieved new year’s resolution ever, the January Letter Writing Project, was successful at all: there was a clear goal and a clear to-do list to achieve it. Write a letter every day for a month. Also, the goal was achievable, at least for me, who doesn’t find writing letters to be particularly onerous. It’s too easy to burn out by setting yourself personally unreachable goals. I’d like to say that I’m going to write ten pages every day until my final draft is done, but you know that’s not going to happen, and certainly not well. Why set yourself up for failure? So this year I’m laying down some goals with actual numbers and time lines involved in the hopes that I won’t just forget about it in a week or give up because I have unrealistic expectations.

1. Make at least one recipe from each of our cookbooks

This is the one I’m most excited about! We have a whole shelf of cookbooks (about 38, by my count), and some of them we received as gifts and have maybe never even opened. This project will not only hopefully help me discover good recipes we already own, but maybe will also help me weed some of them that we don’t need. So basically I am hosting a reality show in my kitchen where each week I put a different book up to an arbitrary test. Will they survive? Or be sentenced to library donation? I’m sure I’ll update you dramatically as I go. I only have to do like three a month to get through them all, so I’m not really worried about this one, although some of the books will be easier to accomplish than others. Like Steven’s ancient Roman cookbooks? It’s possible I will have to substitute something for dormouse. Also one of them may be a joke cookbook by Sir Terry Pratchett, but whatever, go big or go home.

2. Read 200 Books

I struggled deciding what number to set myself. In my journal when I wrote these out a month ago I actually vowed 300, but this morning that seems a little far-fetched. According to my goodreads account, my most prolific reading year was 2011, when I read just short at 193 books. Okay, before that I wasn’t really keeping careful track, but still. In 2012 I only managed 108, so my 2013 goal is basically twice as much reading. 200 is still 3-4 books a week and 16-17 books a month. Granted, I can whip through children’s, non-fiction, or graphic novels pretty quick, but that’s still a lot of reading. I’m confident that this one can be done, but I’m not sure if it will.

3. Knock Off At Least 1 State from My Map

Some day, Nebraska

As Brian pointed out, West Virginia would probably be the easiest to accomplish since it’s only 3 hours away, but who knows what the year will bring?? Maybe I will take an Alaskan cruise!! You never know.

4. Lift weights at least once a week

I’ve kind of been doing this anyway, so listing it as a resolution might be cheating. Originally I’d written, “Work my way up to lifting TWICE AS MUCH!!!!” but I’m not really sure if that’s even possible or how. I’m not very knowledgeable about weight lifting so I will probably just see how it goes rather than set potentially impossible and dangerous goals.

5. Knit a cardigan

Apparently my brother has a New Year’s Resolution to Look More Like Mr. Rogers while still being swathed only in obnoxious goldenrod. Finding the right color yarn might be tricky, but I’ve already found a free pattern on Ravelry, a knitting and crochet social networking site I discovered last year. I know, I joined to make fun of the concept too, but then it quickly seduced me with its free patterns and tutorials and being able to brag about my knitting accomplishments. Sigh.

You can laugh all you want. I still kind of do

6. Send out my entire stash of postcards

I can’t entirely abandon my annual show of solidarity with the USPS. Except this time I’m giving myself an entire year since I have more than a month’s worth of postcards.

7. SUPER SECRET SEVENTH RESOLUTION

Unfortunately, I can’t reveal my super secret seventh resolution yet, although I hope that before the end of the year (okay, probably 12/31/13 but still) I will be able to write a dramatic, picture-filled blog post about how I kicked its ass. I am already hard at work to achieving it, but I know it will take pretty much the whole year, if it’s achievable at all.

Wait, what am I saying, GO BIG OR GO HOME, PLADD. Anything is possible with a library card!

Tagged: 2013, books, knitting, life goal, reading, resolutions

Posted in 2013 Magnificent Seven, lists |

February Book List

March 1st, 2011 by pladd

In accordance with my new year’s resolution, here’s every book I read and completed in February!

With Steven

Un Lun Dun by China Mieville
Improbably named teenagers escape into UnLondon where feral garbage attacks are common and they have bookaneers, or extreme librarians! This may not have been the point of the book, but it’s my favorite part.

Starcross: A Stirring Adventure of Spies, Time Travel, and Curious Hats by Philip Reeve
A sequel to Larklight in which Art and his space pirate friends battle time traveling psychic parasites called “the Moob”.

For Class

Captive Queen by Alison Weir
This was for historical fiction week, and fulfilled my dream of reading a giant book about Eleanor of Aquitaine. Unfortunately, most of it was her being trapped in a tower, and not inventing flossing as I’d previously thought.

SAHM I Am by Meredith Efken
I read this for Inspirational Fiction week. An epistolary novel written in e-mails from a Christian Stay At Home Mom’s list serv community. Further reinforced that I never want to have children or to be part of a list serv community about them.

The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley
The best mystery I’ve read about an 11-year-old chemist who solves stamp-collecting-related murders. Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: book list, books, resolutions

Posted in lists |

January Reading List

February 1st, 2011 by pladd

Finally it’s February! Finally I can stop writing letters and obsessively checking my mail for replies (four people have replied so far–yay Bova, James Fox, Barbara, and Mom Ladd!!) I would put up a finished letter map, but most of the latter letters have not been sent from not knowing people’s addresses. Spoiler alert: a bunch of them are probs going to Houston anyway. It’s apparently my favorite place to send mail.

You might think I will be sad to finish my New Year’s Resolution already, but I have two SECRET other New Year’s Resolutions to concentrate on! The main one I thought of midway through January while totally failing at recommending a 5th grade fantasy book despite all the 5th grade fantasy books I’ve read, is to keep better track of the books I read. Normally I average about 3-4 per week, more if you count graphic novels. In the past I’ve tried posting reviews of books that I thought were interesting for whatever reason, but those were long and so only represented a small percentage of my actual reading. I’m hoping to keep track by month, although January is kind of sketchy because most of the list I constructed from memory. Here’s what I got:

January Reading List

With Steven
Secret, possibly embarrassing fact: Steven and I read to each other almost every day. It started just during car trips, and just trashy romance novels, until one trip I decided to bring along a ridiculous fantasy series from my past that I thought Steven might find hilarious. Unfortunately, there are ten books in the full series, and only 10 hours in the drive, so we ended up finishing it over a period of months by reading a few chapters every night. I am, of course, a total rock star librarian and do all the voices. Steven–to all appearances–is also completely into this whole idea, since we’ve been reading various books together ever since. Pretty much right up until the day I left for college I did the same thing off and on with my parents, like reading Terry Pratchett books to my dad while he cut up oranges and grapefruit in the kitchen, so this does not seem weird to me at all. However, various people–like Steven’s sister–have pointed out that this is actually kind of strange, by asking “Are you guys…. reading?” like this is the weirdest thing we could be doing in a room alone together. Clearly she does not know Steven Wiggins very well–he is all about playing The Floor is Made Of Lava.

Anyway, lengthy explanation aside, here are the books Steven and I have read together in January:

Master and Fool by J. V. Jones

The third and final book in the kind of vaguely titled Book of Words Trilogy, which we started last year. It is tightly plotted fantasy and it is awesome. Steven’s favorite part was the terrible relationship advice offered by Bodger and Grift, the two drunken castle guards (ex: “The only way to tell a girl is a virgin is to lock her in a room with a badger. If it falls asleep in the corner, she’s not. If it falls asleep in her lap, she is. If it bites her, she probs has VD”.)

The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex

This is a 423 page book we finished in two nights because it is SO AWESOME. Steven shed tears of joy at the end.

Books I’ve Read On my Own

Already Dead by Charlie Huston

A hardboiled vampire detective negotiating the vampire gang violence of New York City to solve a zombie murder/missing person case? Or an excuse for Charlie Huston to write about incest? Can’t really tell. This book was ridiculous, and kind of awful.

The Wedding by Danielle Steel

Allegra is a strong, beautiful, confident, amazing, talented, effortless entertainment lawyer who falls in love with a member of New York’s literary elite. Countless comparisons between the “Eastern attitude” and “Western lifestyle” are made. Also her little sister gets teen pregnant and various adoption/secret wedding drama happens. I read this for class, and to say that I had read something by Danielle Steel.
Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: book list, Book Reviews, books, resolutions

Posted in Book Reviews |

I almost forgot it was Tuesday

January 25th, 2011 by pladd

And have almost forgotten to write probably the last four letters I’ve done! It’s good this resolution was only for the month of January; I’m already running out of motivation and people to write to. I’m considering writing letters to Santa Claus or my future self.

I used to be obsessed with writing letters to my future self. In middle school I would write two a year: one to myself a year from then, and one to myself TEN years from then. I ended up opening all of the “To Patricia in Ten Years” ones early while cleaning out my closet in high school. I don’t remember what I wrote exactly but it was always something along the lines of:

“Dear Patricia in 2010,
I can’t even imagine what your life must be like!!! [hand drawn picture of stars and hearts] Are you a writer? Do you work for a famous magazine? HAVE YOU WRITTEN A BESTSELLER YET? WHY NOT? Did Brad Tolliver ever ask you out? ARE YOU ENGAGED? Too bad you won’t be able to answer these questions. Because you can’t go back in time. Or maybe you can because someone has invented time travel! But I bet there are rules where you can’t come back and talk to me.
You are amazing!!! (I hope)
Love,
Patricia in 2000”

Middle School Patricia knew that the first thing Future Patricia would do, given access to time travel, would be to come back in time and save Middle School Patricia from any number of embarrassing incidents involving bad fashion, braces, and boys. So obviously time travel could not be real. Also, she was convinced that whoever happened to be sitting next to her in math class that semester was her OTL. As you do.

If I could ever answer these letters, I would reply that, No, I haven’t written a bestseller yet, because I’m too busy being a superhero with awesome hair. She would be somewhat mollified.

Anyway, I have managed to write to some real people this week: