Things to do: 99
Things completed: 86, 24

Things worked on: 1, 2, 10, 11, 39, 85

Every time I look at my list, I find myself wanting to tweak it. Every time I look at someone else's list, I also find myself wanting to tweak mine. Apparently I have a bent toward shameless goal stealing! I think the problem is that I don't have a set philosophy on what my list should be. One day, I view it as a giant practical kind of To Do list with items that can be neatly crossed off. Other days, I see it more as a kind of ongoing quest for self-improvement. God knows I'm a fixer-upper, but those kinds of goals are more challenging to quantify, let alone cross off. "Paint my room" is easy. "Stop being such a weasel about social things" or "look people in the eye more" or "Do what makes you happy" or "Say yes!" require an actual plan with steps to be considered viable goals. And, then there are the kinds of ongoing "form a habit" goals, that can be crossed off monthly, but won't really be complete after just one cycle. Sheesh! Goals are hard!

So, for now, I am sticking with my original list, knowing that it is okay to be flexible later if parts of it aren't working out for me. The truth is that once you get past my core goals, the rest really are a lot of "it would be nice" kinds of things and I know there are at least a few on my list (like "learn about wines" that lack the kind of specificity required to be a true goal instead of just a wish. That said, I still think this is a fun project and I'm really glad Anne and I decided to collaborate a bit on it, because I really want 2008 to be all about creating fertile conditions for maximum happiness to bloom!

So, on to my progress...

86 - The Ring

So, I found a really lovely Black Hills gold ring. I have to admit that I have normally not been a big fan of that line of tri-colored gold jewelry (i'm more of a silver fan), but this one really is pretty and it has a little butterfly on it. Having bought it as a reminder of all of the improvements I want to make to myself and my life, it is just too perfect a symbol. As an added bonus, I was able to order it through a sister company and was able to save a lot of money on it, which doesn't exactly fill my budget goal, but is a nice little act of spending wisely.

The down side is that having ordered it, I didn't get to try it on first.
As it turns out, it is sized a little small compared to other rings I own of the same size. I can get it on, but it is more than a little snug. At first, I was going to exchange it, but after measuring it against some of my rings that are about the same size, but fit nicely a year or two ago, I have decided to keep it and make it part of the reward for my weight loss goal as I suspect it'll fit just fine in about 15 pounds or so.

24 - Try a new recipe each month (January)

It is pretty likely that this will not be the last recipe I will try before the month is over as I have one for Coq au vin that I have been dying to try. Technically, my recipe doesn't really fit my original intention with this goal, since I had really meant to try things out of different books and this is one that I made up. But, after thinking about it, why penalize myself for being creative? A recipe is a recipe!

One food I really love is Thai pizza. When Trader Joe's used to carry it, I would buy their frozen ones all the time, I still buy the California Pizza Kitchen ones from the freezer section from time to time, and recently also tried ordering one from Pizza Schmizza. All of them are good, but none really had the perfect sauce. So, I embarked on a quest to make my own and am very pleased with the results, having made it twice now. The best thing is that it's easy to do! None of this is very precise, since it was all done by taste, but what you need is:

pizza dough (Use your favorite recipe - I just used a Boboli thin crust from the store, because I am lazy, but a really good dough could only improve matters!)
1 pkg shredded mozzarella cheese (you probably won't need it all)
Trader Joe's peanut sauce (maybe a 1/4 cup?)
Chunky peanutbutter (two generous tablespoons)
Sesame oil (add gradually, you won't need much - I mainly added for consistency and also to help cut some of the saltiness/tanginess of the Trader Joe's sauce that the peanutbutter didn't quite eradicate)
whatever toppings you like (I used chicken, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, but I think some chopped peanuts would also be good)

The chicken I had was just leftover boiled chicken from making enchiladas (if you've never made them with mole sauce, you should!) the night before, but next time I want to try doing the chicken using the sate marinade and peanut sauce from Dhanit's Chicken Sate in Molly O'Neill's New York Cookbook. Thai pizza would be a great way to use the leftovers from that recipe, which I haven't made in years, but remember as tasting very good.