Dancing

On Friday night the young adult activity that I was in charge of planning took place.  We had a dance.  I'm not much for dancing, but I think the evening went well and I'm very glad it's over.  I took some pictures.  Most of them aren't of people dancing....but that's just how it goes I guess.

Gallon Challenge

Vitals:
Temperature: 97.9
Blood Pressure: 102/60
Heart Rate: 94                   <--24 bpm higher than average (someone was a little nervous...)
Hb count (right hand): 12                   <--not high enough to donate
Hb count (left hand): 13.5                   <--high enough to donate

Today I donated blood for the second time in my six donation goal. It went much more smoothly than last time. Which isn't necessarily saying much... The phlebotomists were nice, the cookies were good, and no blood splattered on my shirt. An all-around improvement.

This was the eighth time that I've donated blood in my life, which means that I've donated a total of one gallon. Woot. I have a lifetime goal of at least five gallons. Only 32 more donations to go!

Bandwagon Jumping

Over the weekend I read the Hunger Games trilogy. Yes, I finally caved. I told myself I wasn't going to read them, but the movie is coming out in the spring, and the trailer looked pretty good....and I wouldn't feel good about watching if I hadn't read the books first....and I could download them for free on my Kindle... Saturday morning I started the first one. I read the second one Saturday night after I got home from the BYU basketball game. I finished up on Sunday with the third book.

Part of my motivation to read them was also sentimental. The first time I ever heard mention of "The Hunger Games" was from my little brother Jared when the two of us were driving to Utah. He isn't much of a reader; in fact, he hates it. But he really liked that book. It was probably the first book that he'd read cover to cover in years. Soon everyone was talking about them. Several of my friends told me that I should read them. His recommendation was definitely the most influential though.

When it was all said and done, I think I liked them. That being said, I will definitely be reading something a little lighter and happier next....

Be It Resolved....

So I know it's the fourth of January and I'm a little late posting these, but I'm going to share this year's resolutions anyway. If anything, it's just so I have to be accountable to all (four?) of my readers. Without further ado:

*Read the Scriptures every day (as part of a larger goal to complete the entire standard works--Old Testament included {yikes}--before May 2013)

*Continue to journal daily (I wrote every day of 2011!)

*Read the Ensign cover to cover every month

*Finish my blood donating goal (I scheduled an appointment for January 26th this afternoon)

*Try one new recipe every week (recipes will be featured on this very blog)

*Read 52 books before next January

*Complete 5 Day Zero goals every month

Actually, most of those resolutions are also Day Zero goals.  The clock is ticking; I only have 523 days left to finish.  My five goals for the month of January are:

Edit my London pictures
Get up when my alarm goes off 10 days in a row (no snoozing!)
Start a retirement fund
Write my personal history
Finish my list of 50 things I like about myself


Here's to a good, productive year!

Santa Claus Came to Town

When I was very small, my mom started baking bread from scratch instead of buying it at the store. When she first started, she did the whole thing by hand, including the 10+ minutes of kneading required for the correct dough consistency. I think I was five the year my parents brought home a Bosch mixer from the Eastern Idaho State Fair. That Bosch was a key component of our kitchen, and when my dad designed our kitchen in our new house, it had a special cupboard just for the Bosch.

I came home for a weekend last September. During my break, my mom asked me to bake some bread. I pulled out the old Bosch to start mixing.  I looked about like this:

But it definitely sounded more like this:

 

I was more than a little horrified. In all fairness, it had just turned 17...probably not many appliances survive to late adolescence, especially ones that get used as frequently as that mixer did (4 loaves of bread two or three times a week, plus sundry other baked goods that require mixing.)

I guess I was more appalled that my mom was tolerating a less-than-ideal situation when she bought me a new mixer just a few years ago. So over the deafening noise of the bread kneading, I started researching mixers. I called my brothers and sisters for their input. We all decided that mom was going to get a new mixer for Christmas this year.

It's hard to decide what to get your mom for Christmas in September, because that's a long time to keep the secret. We ordered her new mixer at the end of October. I was giddy on the day it got delivered to my apartment.

I just had to open the box and peek inside!

And then....tragedy struck.  The first week of December, the old mixer kicked the bucket.  My mom wasn't sure how she was going to get through the month without one, especially with Jared's farewell on the horizon.  My dad helped prevent her running straight to the store to buy a new one by playing his role as resident engineer perfectly.  He dismantled the entire mixer, telling her that it might be salvageable.  I called to offer my condolences and promised to bring my mixer home with me to get us through the holidays. 

It looked so small sitting on the counter.  And my mom experienced LOTS of frustration trying to accommodate the smaller bowl.  Apparently, she is used to doubling recipes instead of halving them :)

All the while, her new mixer was sitting upstairs waiting for Christmas morning!

It was so fun watching her open it.  She was pretty surprised.  It made its way downstairs to its new home (I measured the cupboard in the kitchen before we decided what type of mixer to buy, just to make sure it would fit.)  She used it for the first time to make bread yesterday.  It's a bit of a change to switch from a Bosch to a Kitchenaid, but the bread was good, so we're off to a good start!