35 Things: October Update

Oh my, oh my, where did October go?

Let's be honest though - I'm glad it's over. Halloween kind of annoys me. I mean, it's fun and all, but it requires so much thinking about your costume and buying things for your costume and pulling your costume together and redecorating your house and buying tons of candy and FOR WHAT PURPOSE, MAY I ASK? And wow, look at me being all Whiny Wendy about a holiday that I ultimately enjoyed this year.

Here we are in all our Halloween glory:


And now, let's get down to business with my 35 Things update for this month.

7. Create a meal plan (at least once a week every month).

9. Make homemade bread. Yeah, I made some pumpkin bread this month. It was good...except I was terrified of overcooking the stuff and kind of erred on the side of undercooking. The middle just never fully set, but the ends were perfect. And perfect pumpkin bread is...well, perfect.

11. Grow herbs. I now have basil, cilantro, oregano, and chives growing in my kitchen. I was probably a little too excited when these things actually sprouted; I guess I was convinced I had a black thumb and planting seeds in soil and providing them with water and sunlight somehow wouldn't work for me. Oh me of little faith!



12. Bake a new cookie every month. This month's treat: ginger spice cookies. These ones didn't flatten like they were supposed to, but they stayed soft, which is really all that matters. They were good!

25. Read 30 books. Gah! I am so far behind here. I just don't have the time/energy for reading that I used to. But there are several books that I really want to read, so I've got to read those this month. I finished two books in October:

-The Distant Hours by Kate Morton. This was our book club book for this month. I read it, but ended up not being able to go to the book club meeting. Go figure. This book was all right. The writing was over descriptive and pretty tedious in some parts. I've also read Morton before, and I knew what kind of twist to expect at the end, so nothing was super shocking. But you know, the story was pretty good. I'm going with 3 stars.

-Daughter of Time by Josephine Tey. I was bored by this one. It probably has to do with my complete lack of knowledge of the complex British royalty stuff. Lots of people love this one, but alas, I am not among them. 2 stars.

32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." I watched"Rear Window" this month. Ah, Hitchcock. I really liked this one! 4.5 stars.

35. Complete an act of service every month.


And there you go. I still have quite a few things to do, but several are already in the works for November. I might not get them all done by the end of the year, but I'm going to try my hardest. It's been a great way to set goals for the year and I'm already thinking of things for next year's list!