Something New: Week 52 and Conclusion

December 23 -- Watched "The Dark Knight Rises" with my family. Didn't really like it. It was just way too long. Also at church that day, I performed a new Christmas medley that I arranged.

December 24 --  Wrote our first note to Josh from Santa. Not sure how I feel about that. Tell me it's not dishonest. Got new pajamas from "The Elves", like every year.

December 25 -- Enjoyed a bunch of Josh's new Christmas toys. Tried to assemble a crazy complicated Mine Shaft marble track and failed. Also, I got my email account hacked for the first time, so I got to fix that. Sorry to everyone on my email list who got spam on Christmas!

December 26 -- Saw "Les Miserables" in the theater. Cried like a baby. Loved every minute of it, mostly for the emotion it was able to convey, but the singing wasn't bad either.

December 27 -- Used the new gadget I got for weighing my luggage. I love it. (We flew to AZ that night.)

December 28 -- Tried cookie butter on bread. It's a new favorite. Matt tells me I've had this before, but I don't believe I would forget something so delicious.

December 29 -- Met Kevin's parents (Matt's sister Stephanie's new in-laws). Steph went through the temple that day to be endowed before their wedding. Also, I wore a new skirt. Thank you, Santa.

December 30 -- Played the game Anomia with Matt's siblings. We got this game for Michelle for Christmas, and it's really fun and easy. If you like games and fast thinking, you should check it out.

December 31 -- Finally saw "The Hobbit" with Matt and Michelle. I thought it was great. Not close enough to the book, but a good story anyway. And that's how we welcomed in the new year!

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CONCLUSION

This has been a great and crazy year. I am so glad I made the goal to try something new every day, and here's why.

I just looked over all my weekly posts and tried to make a list of the favorite new things I experienced this year. I ended up with a piece of paper that is so crowded with words that it's barely legible! There was so much I enjoyed learning and tasting and reading throughout the year! Not everything I tried was easy (or delicious), but every single thing added something to my store of knowledge, or broadened my comfort zone in a significant way.

And even better -- since I wrote about something for each day, I can actually remember these experiences. I was able to look back and feel proud of myself, take an inventory of my year, sum up my mini accomplishments. I determined that 2012 was the most productive, interesting year I have ever lived, and it was also the year in which I have done the most growing up, by far.

In addition, I'm now in the habit of trying new things, and even seeking them out it advance. It has become an important part of my life.  I constantly have a mental list of things I'd like to try. For example, right now it's brussel sprouts, Romp 'n Stomp, driving a stick shift, homemade cassoulet, and a bunch of new books. For starters. :)

In conclusion, here are some summaries of my favorites. Because who doesn't love a good list?

New Favorite recipes:  Zupa Toscana, homemade soft pretzels, cauliflower mash, brownie mix cookies, creme brulee, Mexican mole, triple chip blondies, BJ's deep dish pizza crust, blueberry cobbler, donut muffins, tofu chocolate mint pie, bacon artichoke penne bake, Aspen oatmeal pancakes, toffee chocolate chip bars, maple bars, cobb salad with blue cheese, chicken and veggie skewers, homemade pickles, homemade vanilla extract, Cajun chicken pasta, and s'mores cookies.

New foods tasted:  fresh fennel, Alaskan halibut, tilapia, lobster mac, tofu, radishes, Ovaltine, acorn squash, Jolly Rancher chews, turkey bratwurst, cactus chili, purple green beans, gnocchi, canoli, turmeric, and stevia.

New beloved TV shows:  Sherlock Holmes, Prison Break, New Girl

New books read (not including the handful I started and never finished): The Hobbit, God's Smuggler, When Crickets Cry, Eat This Not That for Kids,  Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Northanger Abbey, The Secret Garden, Crossed, Matched, Persuasion.

New places visited:  Ludington, Leland, and Traverse City, MI; Lake Jackson and Tomball in Texas; Hoboken, NJ; Seattle and Bellevue, WA; the freakishly large Minneapolis airport; the Frankfurt, Germany airport; Rome, Florence, and Venice, Italy.

And most importantly...

New skills developed:  teaching piano, driving a tractor, moving the lawn, using bleach in the laundry, clearing a computer with a virus, making uncomfortable phone calls, reading the news, speaking some Italian, staying home alone without Matt overnight, gardening, using a jigsaw and a blowtorch, not crying when my armpits are waxed, eating seafood without gagging, serving on the preschool board, conducting a presidency meeting, operating Instagram and Pinterest (sort of), talking to strangers, communicating about religion with people of other sects, singing in front of Primary.

I've met a lot of new people, learned to be a better teacher, discovered a lot of amazing foods, got in the habit of trying new things, became very involved in my community, and made a big crack in my shy shell. If any one of those things had been all I accomplished in 2012, this goal would be worth it. 2013 has some big shoes to fill!

Something New: Weeks 50 and 51

Super late...catching up after being gone forever...but here's my penultimate Try Something New post. Almost done!

December 9 -- Had the Schmidts over for dinner. They are seriously awesome people. Also went to a fun nativity night at our neighbor's house where the kids acted out the story of Jesus' birth. Josh refused to dress up. Jude was a little wise man king. On mushrooms.

December 10 -- Tried a new recipe: Jamaican spinach soup. Not bad, but not my favorite flavors (turmeric). I needed to get rid of some ingredients in my fridge.

December 11 -- Tried going to early to the Santa House so we wouldn't have to wait so long for our turn. Bad choice. Ended up at the back of a line anyway, and had to wait a long time in the the freezing cold for Santa to show up. We didn't dress in warm enough clothes either. Not going early next year.

December 12 -- Came across this video about weird Utah Mormon names. It's worth sharing.



December 13 -- Finally wore my new red skinny jeans. It was Josh's Christmas party at school, so I paired it with bright green so I'd look like an elf. Because I'm an awesome mom.

December 14 -- I finally had my first piano recital for my very own students!!! This has been a longtime goal of mine, to have enough students to put on a small recital. There were seven performers, twelve songs, five families, and about a dozen elderly people gathered in the lobby of their assisted living center. The recital only lasted about twenty minutes, but it was just right. Even Josh performed the one song he knows: "Hot Cross Buns". I'm so, so mad at myself for not getting any kind of photo or video that night. What kind of a mom doesn't get a picture of her son's first piano performance?? I take back the awesome mom comment already.

December 15 --  Flew out of the new terminal at MBS. It's really nice, for a small airport. Saw the Palmers' sweet California pad for the first time.

Posted by Vanessa on Facebook

December 16 -- Went to my Vanessa's ward and learned about Women Wear Pants to Church Day, which I was completely unaware of due to my inactivity on Facebook. It was definitely celebrated in the Bay Area. Hmph. It seems like there are a bunch of women who really don't understand their own religion if they think wearing pants is going to make God decide to give them the Priesthood. No one ever said you can't wear pants, but congratulations on getting a bunch of negative press for the Church so the world can think we don't value women. I'm all about girl power, but don't get me started on this one...

December 17 -- On a lighter note...caramel apple frozen yogurt from Cookies and Yogurt. Amazing! Why is there no frozen yogurt where I live?! What did I ever do to deserve this?!

December 18 -- Flew to Seattle with Matt for work. (Left the kids at Grandma's house, thank you very much.) Neither of us had been there before, but it was quite nice and really cold. We found out that snow follows us everywhere. What did they think we were running away from by leaving Michigan in December??

Who doesn't like a little snow on their palm trees?

That night we also experienced Pagliacci's "Pear Primo" pizza in Bellevue. That's right, pizza with pears on it. It shouldn't be good, but it was actually really tasty. I'd make it at home.

December 19 -- Explored the fancy Bellevue area while Matt went to meetings. Bought nothing but food all day. SUCH good food! Top Pot doughnuts, Red Mango yogurt with bobo balls, Oil and Vinegar's pear balsamic, Jamba Juice (of course), Bis on Main's Alaskan Halibut...yes I ate fresh fish in Seattle and it was beyond amazing. Here's proof:

See how I'm holding fish up to my nose and not even gagging??

December 20 -- You know this is gonna be more about food. Our last morning in Seattle, we had the best bagels we have ever eaten at Gilbert's. Seriously...all I wanted for Christmas was just ONE of these places to move to Midland. Just ONE!

December 21 -- Crocheted my first pair of boot cuffs. My mom showed me some that she bought at a boutique, but we couldn't find them anywhere else. I just Googled a pattern and whipped some up for her for Christmas. And for my three sisters, too. I can't resist a good cheap gift, and they were so easy to make. Check out this link and you'll see how to wear them.

December 22 -- Saw the movie "Pitch Perfect" with my siblings. They are obsessed. It was a funny movie. It made me wish that I had an a capella voice, and it made me love this song.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving was a long time ago, but I need to tell you how blissful that weekend was for us.

First, we canceled plans to get together with friends from Boston in Niagara Falls for the weekend. That was a hard and sad choice, but it was better for everyone's bank accounts. Instead, we invited a few families over for a good old fashioned turkey dinner at the last minute.

We were graced with the presence of these tiny people (and their parents).

Isn't this a colorful, tasty looking plate? I had to take a picture to show my mom how fancy I can be (one day a year). I finally have a good dish set, place mats, and even second-hand chargers! They're purple and shiny and they make me feel...well, fancy.

We may have started a Thanksgiving Rock Band tradition here. Great way to burn off those calories after dinner.

This year we made a thankful tree. All month we wrote things we're thankful for on leaves and stuck them on our tree. Josh had some good ones. Most of the time I think he was just saying things he knew I wanted to hear, like "Scriptures!" and "The Holy Ghost!" But he made sure to get chicken nuggets on there too.

After a lot of clean up, we spent the next day on a Christmas high. I woke up with the boys and immediately turned on Christmas music and built some graham cracker houses for them to decorate (with leftover Halloween candy, I might add). It was a really sweet morning.

The next day was Saturday and we went out to choose a Christmas tree. Then we spent the rest of the day relaxing, putting up nativities, and decorating the tree. These ones spent a lot of time with the Legos, as usual.

On Sunday I had another busy day at church. Matt put Jude and me down for naps that afternoon while he played in the fresh snow with Josh. Here's their awesome snow dragon.

You should buy this kit for your kids this winter. They will love it!

The rest of the night included outright laziness and playtime with our precious, silly boys. We even made a Christmas countdown chain. It was exactly what our little family needed to catch up with each other and take a break from some hard days full of work work work. 

Every weekend should be four days long. I might write a letter to President Obama. Maybe since we used to be neighbors he'll do me a solid and just change the American workweek forever. Good idea, yes?

Something New: Weeks 48 and 49

November 25 -- Used Josh's dragon snowman kit. Grandma Cheri sent it to us last year and we didn't get a chance to use it with so little snow. Cutest snow animal ever!

November 26 -- Tried to create a Christmas medley on the piano. My mom wants me to play in church when I go home and it's been a long while since I performed. I still get stage fright.

Novmeber 27 -- Made some delicious Mexican mole for dinner with the missionaries. It's Matt's recipe, but I did it by myself this time.

November 28 -- Bought a Weebles Wobble toy on Craigslist for Jude for Christmas. I'd never played with Weebles before, even though I knew their song. The boys are now obsessed!

November 29 -- Saw Breaking Dawn Part 2 with some friends. It was the first Twilight movie I actually really liked! And I think Matt will even like it too! Sad that they finally got it right, and now the movies are over.

November 30 -- Received some new clothes in the mail that I ordered from Hurley. Love Cyber Monday sales!

December 1 -- Tried making an Olive Garden type Zupa Toscana. It was seriously delicious. I only regret not making bread sticks! (If you want to try it, I left out the bacon drippings and the whipping cream, and it was still amazing. Matt ate almost the whole pot himself.)

December 2 -- I would tell you a really exciting thing about today, but it would ruin somebody's Christmas present, so I won't. Something sort of boring I did for the first time today was fill out a weekly TV diary for a mail-in survey. They paid us $30 to do it. Easy money.

December 3 -- Went to help clean up our church's enormous nativity exhibit. They had 1800 people come through this year in only three days! Also, I tried tortilla lime crusted tilapia, and I actually really liked it. Look at me, eating slimy fish like a grown up!

December 4 -- Finally completed Youth Protection Training online with my husband so we can be more familiar with Scouts for our church service.

December 5 -- Made a cranberry chocolate fudge cake with all the leftover cranberry sauce from Thanksgiving. I don't usually like fruit mixed with chocolate, but this was reeeeally good.

December 6 -- Looked through some new Bible study books to help my group decide which study we'll do next. We're going to read a book called Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. I think it's just what I need right now.

December 7 -- Made something cute and special with Josh that I won't mention because, again, it will ruin another Christmas present for one of the five people who actually read my blog.

December 8 -- Learned about Advent from a friend who used to be Lutheran. They have a kind of  cool tradition with their wreath of candles. I also ordered some new glasses because we have too much money left in our flex spending health account, and we have to use it or lose it by March! Too bad I can't get my wisdom teeth out again...

Matt left me for a Chinese girl

I've been having weird dreams. Not the fun silly kind, but the kind that make you wake up crying. The kind that make you feel relieved to realize you're awake, but still leave you feeling shaken and slightly terrified of life.

I've had dreams about getting into car crashes with children in the back seat. I've had dreams about my kids going missing, or my friend's kids going missing while they were in my care. I've had dreams about men trying to steal me away from my husband, and I don't even remember that I'm married and a mother until after we've run off together, willingly. Absolutely awful.

The dream that really messed with me, though, happened a couple of months ago. After the dream, I woke up with the kids like normal, kissed Matt goodbye, and then privately burst into tears in the bathroom. That doesn't happen much around here.

But when you're mourning the hypothetical loss of your husband to a Chinese girl, you can't help it.

Basically, Matt left me. He simply found a woman he loved more, who happened to be Chinese. (It's okay to laugh here. Imagine Matt next to a tiny little Chinese girl, and you'll wonder why I took this dream seriously.)

See the resemblance?

The worst part:  he wasn't even mean to me. I couldn't even hate him for it because he still spoke to me civilly. Every sentence was just matter-of-fact, completely apathetic. I was there in the dream absolutely throwing myself at him, begging through tears for an explanation...and he would just look at me, smile, and keep talking as if he was having lunch with a coworker.

That is not my Matt. That should have been my clue that I was dreaming. Because Matt has too much love, and hate, and stubbornness, and absurdity inside him to be any kind of apathetic.

So...

I have gathered some information that's sure to help me next time I'm stuck in a dream and not sure what/who is actual reality.

If this were a different world, I sometimes might suspect that Matt was being impersonated by an alien. Or a mysteriously tall Tom Cruise with a Mission Impossible face skin mask. Or someone under the influence of Polyjuice Potion. If I had such suspicions, or if he worried the same thing about me, here's what I would ask/tell him to ensure identities.

***I hereby impart to you all of Matt's secrets!***

Top 3 TV crushes of Matt's adolescence:

#1) Winnie from the Wonder Years

#2) Topanga from Boy Meets World

...I know...Who didn't have a crush on these babes?...But wait...

#3) AUNT ZELDA from SABRINA THE TEENAGE WITCH

The one with the cat. Maybe that's what Matt sees in me...a potentially hot cat lady.

He secretly used to cover his zits with a little of my makeup before work. I'd find it in a weird place on the bathroom counter, and that's how I caught him. (Because Matt physically cannot put anything back where it goes, ever. It's literally a disorder.)

He dropped all the fondant for my sister's wedding cake on the kitchen floor, and then used it on the cake anyway.

He once got pee all over his pants trying to "no-hands" it at a rest stop. This was on a high school field trip. He had to get back on the school bus holding his sweatshirt over his pants, and then insisted on keeping the windows open for the long, cold ride home so no one would smell the urine.

He is an obsessive formatter. If he's making a document or PowerPoint presentation, he will spend most of his time making sure everything is lined up just right and looks symmetrical. It's another disorder.

He has an irrationally intense dislike for the following:

- Spaghetti

- Rachael Ray and Giada De Laurentiis

- Pants that have to be zipped or buttoned

- Cold tile

- German pancakes

- Fergie

- Mispronunciation of the name of his hometown, Tem-PEEEEEEE

- Mispronunciation of the word "crepe"

- Younger siblings pointing out that they are taller than him

- The teeny tiny recycling bin under our kitchen sink

- "Shake It Up" on Disney Channel (If this comes on the TV even accidentally, he cringes and starts shouting like he's trying to protect our children from a rush of F-bombs.)

Matt will develop an eye twitch just from this picture.

Things Matt does that could be considered creepy:

- sleep walks/talks/screams/runs (ask me about finding this out on our honeymoon)

- periodically looks through my phone to read all my recent texts, "not" like a paranoid psycho jealous lover

- closes his eyes, takes MY finger, and jams it into his eye socket until I'm pretty much scratching his brain

- produces the grossest, nerdiest, strangest faces I've ever seen. This is includes flipping his eyelids inside out, and squishing any kind of food through his teeth. I'll spare you from pictures.

So Matt (if that's your real name), the next time you try to leave me for a Chinese girl, I'll be ready.