It's only nearly half way through the month.  Better late than pregnant, I always say.

Some Things I made progress on in December:

• I finished two books recommended by friends (Thing 8): Lamb by Christopher Moore, recommended by my friend Colleen, and Bride of New France by Suzanne Desrochers, recommended by my friend Jen.  They are both excellent reads.  I had been toying with the idea of doing away with Thing 5 "Write a book response on my blog for every book I read" and replacing it with something else, because they're annoying to write and boring to read.  But I think I'll keep with it and see them as opportunities to practice the art of brevity in writing.  So two quick and dirty book responses coming your way soon (well, not too dirty...although perhaps if I made them dirty they'd be more exciting to read).
  

• I tried at least five new recipes in December (Thing 43).  I say "at least" because I'm pretty sure there were more than five, but I only seem to have written five down.  Ah well.  The best one was this recipe for Cranberry Apple Jam.  It made the perfect amount for three little jars for gifts, and a little left over for me to try.  Yummy!  So I have now tried 37 new recipes of 101.

• Instead of buying flowers for myself this month (Thing 98) I decided that the money would be much better spent, and result in even more joy, if I used it to accomplish Thing 82: Send Anonymous Flowers.  I had been struggling with this one, wondering how creepy it would be to receive flowers anonymously.  I myself would be kind of weirded out.  But I think I figured out a way to do it that wasn't creepy:  the week before Christmas, Isla and I bought some gorgeous roses and brought them to the seniors home near us, and asked the people at the front desk if they could please pass them on to a resident who could use a pick me up this holiday season.  We left the flowers with them to deliver, so it was kept anonymous, and I felt such happiness imagining someone receiving those beautiful roses out of the blue (didn't get a photo of them to share though, unfortunately).  Isla had been really reluctant to give up the flowers, but I explained to her what we were doing, the importance of giving to others and so forth, and I think she understood.  I think I'd like to make this a tradition, although maybe next year we'll see if we can deliver them ourselves, so that Isla can see the impact of the gift.  In any case, another Thing completed!

Things I will admit I didn't do:

• Go out on a photo shoot (Thing 14).  Folks, it's too damn cold, and when I'm inside I'm too busy taking care of kids or cleaning up after kids or preparing food for kids to take any photos.  I'll see if I can carve out some time to do some photography indoors, but I might have to rethink this Thing for the winter months.

• No date night (Thing 51), but we did go out for dinner with some friends so that accomplishes Thing 53, Get Together with a Friend.  I'll see what I can do to arrange a date night this month.

• I don't think I managed any chunk of time to myself (Thing 92).  Must do better at that (I accomplished January's today thanks to the babysitting services of my mom.  Thanks Mom!)

I have to get a move on with these 101 Things.  The Things I'm setting my sights on over the next few months are:

• Writing.  There are two writing contests coming up that I would like to submit to, if I can make the time to write.  I also want to finish the first draft of the children's story I'm meant to be working on with my sister and her boyfriend.

• Reading more books and listening to more albums recommended by friends.  Morning dance party to Alice in Chains?  Why not, I say.

• I am going to finish (and start!) Evy's name drawings before I do anything else.  It must be done.  The mom guilt is too much.

• I'm working on establishing a regular exercise routine but it may be awhile before I can consider this one complete.

• My mother-in-law may have already perfected allergen-free bread for me, but I have yet to attempt her recipe myself.  But I will do it and hopefully it will fit the bill because I miss bread like the deserts miss the rain.

• I'd like to get my office and the bedrooms organized and decorated soonish.  A little less chaos, a few more pictures on walls.

• I'm trying to find a time when I can donate blood but Canadian Blood Services seems to only have availability at the worst possible times for my schedule.  But I'll keep checking back with them.

• As for my Joy/Well-being Things, I think I'll be going to a concert in March, and I would like to get out to a play soon (perhaps for a date night or an outing with a friend).  I'm still on the hunt for the most wonderful pyjamas, and I hope to try a meditation class sometime soon.

• And I would dearly love to travel somewhere warm with my husband right about now but I don't see that happening any time soon.  Perhaps next winter. 

So that's the low down.  Exciting stuff, no?  I'd also really like to become interesting, if possible.  I'm sure that reading about my self-improvement projects isn't the most fascinating part of your day, so I'll try to do more interesting things and write about them, or become insightful or funny or something.  But I make no promises.

Now I'm pretty sure one of my 101 Things is Eat Tortilla Chips and watch Parenthood.  If not, it should be.