How'm I doin'?

On January 4, I resolved to do a number of things this year, most of them involving something I would accomplish weekly. So it's been ten days. What have I done so far? Last blog post was 8 days ago, but I did two posts that week, and 8 is only one more than 7, so I'm giving myself a check mark here.

I've read one book. I lose points here since I haven't finished the second one I started. I blame my Nook for running out of juice so quickly, but I love my Nook despite it's no-so-great battery capacity (it's a 2010 model), so I will forgive it and forgive myself ("because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!") and get my butt back on the reading schedule.

In my defense, I was busy accomplishing 1/3 of Goal 3: I finished the first draft of my latest work in progress, Prince of Tricks. I was afraid it wasn't going to work out, since I started it as a NaNoWriMo novel and wrote the first half in less than 30 days, but I like where it ended up.

Knit Thingy

Goal 4: Yarn and knitting needles arrived Tuesday and I quickly went to work trying to learn basic knitting stitches. Ended up in tears after hours of ripping out the same rows again and again, unable to figure out how to purl. Wednesday, I tried again, and managed to complete 22 rows of knitting without dropping all of it off the needle, but only by forgoing the purl stitch for the time being. I cast off and tied it in a bow, and made a "thingy." A friend suggested it should be a coffee sleeve, with buttons. I agree, but adding a button loop is a bit advanced for me at the moment. I shall just enjoy my thingy. This weekend I spent several more hours trying to understand this purl thing, and I Just. Do. Not. Get. It. I thought I'd figured it out, but when I went to try it in a pattern, I ended up with a godawful tangled mess.

Goal 5: Yes, I've actually made several meals (in an actual oven or on a stove top) that didn't come out of a box or a freezer, but I mainly achieved this weekly goal because I'm broke and payday isn't until tomorrow, so I had to get creative. I made salmon filets with asparagus, lemon, and capers in parchment paper before I ran out of money, and had also bought smoked salmon and goat cheese for a snack, so the first night of brokedom, I made Leftovers Omelets of smoked salmon, goat cheese, asparagus, and capers. Then I cheated a little and made a salad for dinner the next night, last night I made spaghetti, and tonight I'm doing a tuna casserole. Feeling pretty pleased with myself there. (Hey, I never said these would be gourmet meals or anything. Made is made.)

Sorry, no naked Belphagors today, but feel free to keep looking back at the last one. I do. ;)