be it resolved

[mamajoan]

I'm not really a "resolution-making" type, but in 2008 I do have a few concrete goals, listed in no particular order:
a) continue working on getting the apartment cleaned up on an ongoing basis
b) continue expanding my culinary repertoire, i.e., cooking new things
c) continue reading a lot

So I'll probably be posting here a lot about those things, and if it gets to be too unwieldy or whatever, I'll consider creating filters for them -- although in general I'm not a big believer in that approach -- but if you feel strongly that I should do that, feel free to comment. :)

Here are some brief updates on the statuses of those three things for right now.

Cleaning/organizing: Not much to say on this front right now. I am happy with how the living room is looking, although it could use more sweeping (darn hardwood floors show every speck of dirt). The kitchen is so-so. The front hall is looking pretty good since I moved the little table out (we need more space for removing coats/boots when we first come in; in spring/summer I might consider replacing the table). The bathroom and bedrooms still need a lot of work.

I think I might start concentrating on my bedroom in the next week or two since the kitchen is going nowhere right now. This may involve the resolution of my long-ongoing debate about what to do with clothing items that are way too big now. I say "may involve" because although resolving that debate is one option, sticking the aforementioned items in the basement and worrying about it later is also an option. ;) Having a big basement can be both a blessing and a curse. ;)

Cooking: Over the weekend we made oatmeal cookies from the High Flavor, Low Fat Vegetarian Recipes cookbook. The recipe uses applesauce instead of butter, and egg whites instead of whole eggs. They came out quite well: extremely moist and chewy, good taste although not what I think of as a "traditional" oatmeal cookie taste. Still, definitely good and we will make them again. Maybe with chocolate chips, although that will cut down on the "low fat" part. ;) Tonight I'm hoping to try the curry potatoes from that book, and/or the "tofu in gravy" from the other vegetarian cookbook I recently got from mom.

BTW, part of the purpose of doing more cooking is to reduce the number of times per week that I go out for lunch. Even if I go to one of the cheaper lunch places in Harvard Square, where you can get a quite decent lunch for $5-6, that's still $30/week or $120/month or thereabouts, and that's a lot. If I could get to a place where I'm consistently bringing my lunch even just 2 days a week, that would be a big improvement. And even if that lunch is sometimes just, like, a peanut-butter sandwich and some carrot sticks, that would still count (even though of course it doesn't count as "expanding my culinary repertoire").

Reading: In 2007, as I think I mentioned, I read 34 books. That's not including the 4-5 that I started but didn't finish for various reasons (some of which I hope to finish in '08, others I just gave up on). I've set myself a firm goal of 40 and more tentative goal of 50 for '08.

My 2007 books break down as follows:
9 fantasy (including 3 that are a trilogy and 2 that continued series I had previously read the rest of)
8 general fiction (including 4 for book club)
4 mystery (of which 3 were from the Number 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series)
3 nonfic (of which 2 were by Sarah Vowell)
10 science fiction (of which 2 were book club books though I'm not really sure it's right to call The Time Traveler's Wife science fiction)

In '08 it would be nice to at least slightly increase the proportion of nonfiction, though I'm not making that an explicit goal. But I do have several nonfiction books that I'm very interested in on my (massive!) To Be Read pile.

Anyway, my first book of 2008 was The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, also a bookclub book, which I finished the other night. It was definitely interesting and I look forward to the discussion. If rainbow_goddess has read this book, I'd love to hear her thoughts on it as well.

I'm debating what to read next. This morning I brought a crossword puzzle on the subway instead of a book because I couldn't decide. :) I have a few books that I started in 2007 and would really like to finish, for the sake of completeness. They are:
* Carnival by Elizabeth Bear. I had difficulty getting into this one; the first few pages didn't grab me. But everyone is always RAVING about it so I feel like I should give it more of a chance.
* Misfortune by Wesley Stace. This was a bizarre sort of book, and I wasn't sure whether I liked it, but I did get halfway through and would like to finish it. The trouble with this one is that it's a hardcover so it's too heavy to lug on my commute. Maybe I'll make a project of reading it for half an hour each night, or something.
* The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan. Although a paperback, this is also a hard book to read on the commute because of the writing style and subject matter -- it's really "dense" (for lack of a better word) so I find I can only get through a few pages on my brief subway ride, and it's hard to get into a book that way. Maybe this is another half-hour-per-night project or similar.

Meanwhile, the book I grabbed this morning was Our Babies, Ourselves which was on my wishlist and I believe hawkeye7 is the one who kindly sent it to me. (Thanks Ross!!) But I have decided that I'll be good and tackle Carnival again before I allow myself to open this one. ;)

Of course, I also have some less tangible goals for the upcoming period of time, like, you know ... being more patient with the kids, listening to more music with the kids, making more connections with other parents, that kind of thing. And of course, finding a kindergarten for Isaac. Oh, and the more pedestrian/boring goals: finding a new pediatrician, getting myself new glasses, blah blah....

Comments

[morgan-dhu.livejournal.com]

It does take a while for Carnival to pick up speed, but not all that long, and by the time it does, it's really good. At least that was my opinion.