An Update

Not much new here! I managed to swim 300 meters in a triathalon on Saturday...and now I kinda want to do the whole thing next year.  Maybe I'll get motivated enough to try it (stop laughing, mom!).  It was SO. COLD. out there on Saturday - I'm glad all I had to do was the swimming part!!

Also, I would like to take this time to mention that I get the most pageviews from Russia.  Family - you disappoint me.  Russian readers: hello! :)

...and I should probably do an update on how my challenges are going so that I can keep track...so here it goes.   Feel free to read or not read as you desire.

1.  Think of 26 challenges for my 26th year*;

2.  Go without Facebook for 26 days;

3.  Go vegetarian for 26 days (Tim says, "What?! That's almost a whole month!"  I told him that these are my challenges...he doesn't have to follow =]);

4.  Hand-write 26 notes and mail them;

5.  Lose 13 pounds;

• -2 (Woohoo! Without even trying)

6.  Visit 26 new places in the tri-state area where I live (I was going to limit it to just Iowa, but I figured I'm close enough to Minnesota, South Dakota, oh, and I'll throw in Nebraska that I can discover places in them, too).  I hope that by doing so I can appreciate where I live a little more...;

• Carnaval Brazilian Grille - Oh.My.Goodness. SO GOOD.  (And expensive - glad I wasn't paying!)

7.  Try 26 new recipes (I mean that I cook);

• Blueberry Bundt Cake (yum! A success!)
• Beef and bean burrito (again, yum!)
• Cinnamon bun muffins with cream cheese frosting (A hit.  Whoop!)
• There's probably more - I should have written them down!  

8.  Read 26 biographies - I figure I don't read a lot of non-fiction, this will be a good way to maybe expand what I read;

•  Hayden Fry - High Porch Picnic (coach of the Iowa Hawkeyes for about 20 years - through the 80s and 90s)
• Apolo Anton Ohno - don't read this unless you're 12
• "Good Grief!" by Rheta Grimsley Johnson - about (you guessed it!) Charles Schultz.  A good read - he sounded like such a nice (albeit depressed) man!
• Man...thought I had more!

 

9.  Get 26 new sewing projects started (and complete?? Haven't decided yet...it seems a little ambitious...)

• Heating pad (which I will affectionately refer to as a neckie...haha, thanks mom for that one!)
• Umm...yeah 

10.  Bike the 26 mile round trip from Orange City to Sioux Center;

11. Find 26 recipes for fish.  Choose one and make it.  (FYI: I HATE fish.  Maybe this will expand my palate).

12.  Go without sweets and salty snacks for 26 days;

13.  Run at least 26 miles (not consecutively...hahaha) in one month;

14.  Visit the nursing home down the street from where I live at least 26 times;

15.  Exercise for at least 1/2 an hour for 26 straight days;

• 4 days down...22 to go!

16.  Read 26 classics;

• Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery - I've been resisting this book for YEARS.  Turns out I had nothing to fear.
• The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
• I'm currently reading "Picture of Dorian Gray" - I'm about halfway through.  It's pretty...unique.

17.  Get $26 and take Tim on a date somewhere and spend as close to the $26 as I can;

18.  Take a cold shower 26 days in a row;

19.  Plan meals for 26 days in a row;
20.  Write at least 26 book reviews of books that I read throughout the year;

• ...that reminds me, I have another book review to write.  I'll hopefully get to it before the book is due.  It's called "Books" by Larry McMurty...in a nutshell:don't read it.  It was terrible.  Unless you like all sorts of name dropping of people who you have NO CLUE who they are...

21.  Go on a minimum of 26 half-hour long walks with Tim around Orange City (I pushed for an hour, but that was a little too long for Tim);

• 2 out of 26...

22. Use my planner for at least 26 days straight;
23.  Find 26 different occasions to use our digital camera, and post the picture to this blog with a post;
24.  Listen to 26 different books on CD while I drive;

• Romiette and Julio by Sharon Draper (technically I only got about halfway through this, but I'm counting it as a full one because it was so awful and I suffered through half of it...)
• Here Lies the Librarian by Richard Peck - cute, a good listen;
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo - again cute, a good listen;
• I'm currently listening to a mystery type book about the lost diaries of Sacagawea. It's alright.
• I realized I prefer reading...because I can read faster than people read out loud and it drives me nuts to know that I could be done the book already... 

25.  Be able to identify 26 NFL Quarterbacks;

• Tim and counted the other day...it was something like 15 I could identify! Woohoo! Almost there!

26.  Be able to identify 26 different types of aircraft (I'm going to need Tim's help for this one for sure!)

• 1 out of 26 (basically the one that Tim flies...)  Although Tim did download a Aircraft Types Quiz App on my iPod...maybe it'll get me there!