35 Things: December Update

Well, wow. 2011 is officially behind us. And I bet the one thing keeping you up at night is this: did Katie finish all of her 35 things?


Allow me to bring an end to your ceaseless wonderings.


The answer is no.


But more on that later.


For now, here's what I DID accomplish in December.


3. Reread all 2011 Conference talks. I finished April's talks a few months ago, but just finished October's this month. 


7. Create a meal plan. Did it. And this means that I did this every month! Hooray! Final thoughts: I can definitely see how meal planning would be helpful, and I do want to continue doing it, to a certain extent. But I feel like I need to find a planning solution that works for me, and it will probably be a little looser than what I tried to do this year. We'll see...


12. Bake a new cookie every month. Haha - maybe this goal should have been TWO cookies every month, because I did two again this month. Pumpkin toffee chip and rolo cookies, which, in spite of their long time, were EASY and yummy, and chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies, which I actually didn't make into sandwiches and just put the frosting on top of. They were soooo good! Also, I blew this goal out of the water. Go figure.


16. Clean out and organize the pantry. I've actually done this a couple times this year, and have no idea how it slipped through the cracks on my monthly updates...


19. Sing in the ward choir. Just in time for all the Christmas stuff! Singing is fun. Hey, people in my ward: come to choir! 


25. Read 30 books. This month, I read:


Divergent by Victoria Roth: Oooh, this one was good. I was kind of expecting it to be "just another" dystopian YA romance with a rebellious heroine, which it...actually kind of was. But in an awesome way. 5 stars. 


The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis: So awesome. I've started this one before, but never finished it. That, plus its shortness, made it perfect to read at the end of the year to try to reach a goal. But seriously, I love this book. So thought provoking and clever. 5 stars. 


The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis: Also an ideal "dangit I procrastinated" book. Also very smart and intriguing. 4 stars.


Eats, Shoots, and Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Guide to Punctuation by Lynne Truss: Actually entertaining, for a book about punctuation. 4 stars. 


The Life of Pi by Yann Martel: I would kinda get a "Whaaaa?" if I admitted that I hadn't read it. So I read it. And I really liked it. Well written and unique. Kind of made me queasy a couple times, though, which doesn't happen very often. I think it was all the fish. 4 stars. 


Which brings my grand total to....29. Really - one short of my goal. Which, you know, sucks. Although, if you factor in those 2 months that I didn't read a single dang thing, it's not too bad. OR if you count the Book of Mormon (which I didn't), that would make 30. Hmmm...


35. Complete a act of service every month. And I did this every month! Yay.


Okay, so what didn't I do? Well, maybe we shouldn't dwell on it. After all, I definitely did more than I didn't do, and I really am proud of the things I did this year.


There are a couple things that didn't get done that I actually don't care about:


-8. Make Hi-Hat Cupcakes. These looked like the most incredible things on the planet when I found them over a year ago, but now, I'm kinda "eh" about them. I'll probably never make them, and I'm really okay with that. 
-24. Save up to buy something I want. I take this to mean either (a) Dallin makes enough money that I don't really have to save to buy things I want, or (b) I really don't want anything that requires saving up for. It's probably a combination of the two, since I honestly never thought of something I wanted that I needed to save for (and I was looking!).
-32. Watch 10 movies I've "always wanted to see." To be honest, I had a hard time even coming up with a list of 10 movies I've always wanted to see. I watched about 6, and I'm glad, but I'm not really disappointed that I didn't make it through 10. 


There are some that didn't get done, which I'm bummed about, but still brought me some reward, which I'm glad about:


-1. Read the Book of Mormon - twice. I only made it through about 1.3 times, but I can say that I got more out of it that first time than I ever have before.
-2. Have one month when I go to the temple weekly. I'm SO disappointed in myself for not getting this one done. It's definitely going on my 2012 list. But the one "special" trip that I made in pursuit of this goal was an awesome temple experience.
-4. Memorize the Family Proclamation. First of all, I was crazy to attempt this. I might be able to do it eventually, but wow, it's kind of a lot. Second of all, I got some of it memorized. Third of all, I read it a lot, and it's powerful stuff. Just reading it so often was beneficial, I swear. Read it here. 


I think the only thing that didn't get done out of sheer laziness was number 10 - build our 3 month supply of food storage. I can't believe I didn't do this. As if emergency preparedness is something to put off. Great, Katie, great. That one's going on next year's list fo sho. 


Well, I think that about wraps it up, kids. All my 35 things for 2011 are accounted for. Most were completed, some weren't; some will be repeated, some won't. But I really am proud of the things I accomplished this year, and I'm really excited to get started on my new list.


Which, I suppose, I should go finish writing. Happy new year!