Well, it's 2010 in most of the world right now, but we've still got a few hours of 2009 left here in the American Midwest. Just enough time for me to do some reflecting on the past year.

I'm having a quiet night in this New Year's Eve, which suits me just fine. It's cold out, and it seems like staying in was the thing to do for a lot of my friends. As I told a couple people today, I could use the evening to look inward and focus on becoming the best me I can be... or I could watch silly movies with the cats. Movies and cats it is!

I did clean the stove extra well after doing the dishes earlier. Just a little something special for 2010!Anna to wake up to. I know that 2010!Anna will never let soy milk boil over, so it's only fair to scrub off any lingering traces of how remiss 2009!Anna could be.

So, let's see... 2009...

In January, my pal Rob came to visit. We went to the Science Museum and the Como Park Conservatory (the best place to visit in the dead of winter). I discovered dark nail polish.

In February, my mom and I took a trip to Fort Meyers, Florida. Okay, THAT is the best place to visit in the dead of winter. Temperatures in the 80s and absolutely nothing better to do than sit on the beach.

In March, I realized that the worst of winter was over, and it really hadn't been so bad. I think that was in large part due to settling into a routine of going to the gym in the morning and then spending time at the coffee shop, working on my laptop.

In April, I went to the UK for the London Book Fair. Rob and I also had a week or so in Ireland. I met my nephew Rowan (my friend Em's son) for the first time and decided he was the best baby ever.

In May, I went up to my parent's new cabin (which they'd closed on in April) for the first time. It was still cool-ish there, even though it was starting to warm up in the Cities, so I decided I didn't like it. I did a heck of a lot of manual labour in my back yard and created a huge amount of new garden space. Then I began planting various things to eat. May was nice.

In June, we had a long stretch of dry weather. My grass all but died, and I thought for sure it would be a miserable growing season. I made my first dress from a Japanese pattern and realized that patterns are much easier to follow without all that pesky language comprehension getting in the way.

In July, Rob came for another visit. I saw Elvis Costello in concert. We (Rob and I, not EC) went to my parents' cabin, and I decided that I actually really like it, after all. There are trees and nice breezes and a cafe where you can get breakfast for under five bucks. And tiny donuts. I went back by myself at the end of the month to enjoy the solitude. We started getting much more rain, and my garden took off.

In August, my garden continued to flourish. My lawn looked amazing. The tomatoes started ripening and then wouldn't quit. I spent another week at the cabin, reading submissions for work. Alex and I went apple picking and ate cider donuts.

In September, I had two patio 'parties'. The first was an effort to get rid of my glut of tomatoes, and the second was to celebrate the amazingness of seitan ribs. I found a Minnesota-shaped cookie cutter and made apple cookies.

In October, I went to Germany for the Frankfurt Book Fair. I had a really nice time, despite getting something suspiciously flu-y as soon as the fair was over (and my vacation began), and I also knit two hats. And ate my weight in pastries.

In November, the entire state reveled in glorious, above-average temperatures. I made a LOT of pumpkin puree from the pumpkins I grew. I started drawing little paper houses. I upgraded to a new version of Movable Type because of a dream I had.

In December, I started selling the paper house pattern downloads. Many, many thanks to everybody who bought one; it's definitely been a success! I had one of my best birthdays ever, and I also had a nice Christmas-time, even with all the snow we got.

And that brings us to the present.

I don't have much of a sales pitch for this, but I created a type of yearbook or annual with many of my photos from 2009. It sort of covers the general categories of my life: home, garden, cats, travels, food, etc. I wanted to have a hard copy of some of what I produced this year, photographically, and it made a really nice Christmas present for my family. It's forty pages, full of pictures, and it's not just a blog-to-book project. And it's available here, if you find you have some holiday gift money that's burning a hole in your pocket.

Happy New Year, everybody!

-- I went for a walk yesterday, because it was just so beautiful outside (I took this photo on the parkway at the end of my block). Unfortunately, it was also really cold (just under 10F), so I didn't even make it a mile from my house before I decided to turn back in consideration of not freezing my legs off. The sun felt nice, though.

-- I still haven't gone running since I hurt my ankle; I thought I might today, but it was a little sore when I woke up. I haven't started going too stir-crazy yet, but it's been over a week since I ran, and I'm missing it. The effects of running regularly are sort of like what I imagine a successful course of ECT must be like: I can still think of the various worries I had before, but they just don't make me anxious anymore.

-- Before I set out on my walk yesterday, I pulled on an extra pair of Smart Wool socks, so I was wearing one medium-weight pair and one heavy-weight. (If you know Smart Wool socks, you'll know that that's some serious some-wearing. If you don't know about Smart Wool, and if you've ever had chilly feet, you really should check them out. They'll change your life.) Of course, I forgot I was wearing two pairs of socks when I got back, so I wore them the rest of the day. I also found a really nice North Face stocking cap when I was looking through boxes for something else, so I wore that all evening yesterday. My house is the fashion capital of North Minneapolis.

-- Since the New Year is always a chance to spend two and a half weeks being organized and productive, I made a little weekly planner PDF for myself to print out. I keep a daily journal (mostly a record of what I've done, after the fact) and have a year-at-a-glance calendar on my fridge, but I like having a disposable sheet to organize my thoughts and tasks. Since it was already all PDF'ed, I thought I'd make it available, if anybody needs something similar. This is a lo-res jpeg of the colour version, so you can see what it looks like. You can right-click and download the colour PDF here or go for the basic black-and-white version here. Nothing fancy, but it gets the job done.

-- Don't forget to sign up for the Zevia give-away! You've gotta be in it to win it.

Read to the end for an announcement!

Besides all the other fun stuff that happened on my birthday, I also received two very exciting packages, and one of those was a case of sodas from Zevia. They sent me free mixed case, which included all six of their flavours, so I could try them out and let you guys know what I think. I was really looking forward about this, because I was so curious to see how Zevia would compare to traditional diet sodas.

In case you haven't seen Zevia before, here's a bit of info from their site: ZEVIA™ contains none of the chemically processed artificial sugar substitutes found in diet sodas because it is sweetened with natural stevia. Diet sodas also contain artificial flavors and colors. ZEVIA™ does not. With great effort, expense, and painstaking care, Zevia LLC found the healthiest, all natural ingredients available. Many "natural" sodas contain sugar which means calories. Diet sodas are usually sweetened with processed artificial sweeteners which means chemicals. ZEVIA™ with stevia is the only truly all natural diet soda.

I like drinking soda from time to time, but I have to admit that I'm not completely on board with all the chemicals in Diet Coke and its cohorts -- and the idea of drinking regular soda, with so much sugar and corn syrup, is an even worse thought. I already use powdered stevia, which is a(n) herb, here and there, and I thought using it to sweeten soda was a genius idea from the moment I heard about Zevia.

So, what do I think now that I've had a chance to actually try it?

Amazing. Seriously. As excited as I was, I was still expecting the flavours to be a bit 'dull' -- not as sweet or tasty as the traditional, chemically-perfected sodas. But they're great: full of flavour, with no chemical aftertaste.

I tried the rootbeer first and was pleasantly surprised. I think rootbeer can be a hard one to nail down; it seems to really differ from brand to brand. But Zevia's is really tasty, and I love the ingredient list -- actual extracts and oils instead of numbers. I tried the cola next, and I wouldn't have been able to tell it apart from Coke or Pepsi (not that I'm claiming to be any sort of expert). It's definitely sweeter and less bitter than Diet Coke; my dad (who drinks much more diet colas than I do) declared it to be more like Diet Pepsi, but better.

The fruity flavours are definitely less sickly sweet than their traditional counterparts, but I think they're SO much more refreshing and actually taste like what they claim to be (because they ARE what they claim to be!). The 'Twist' (lemon-lime) flavour is very lime-y and fresh -- perfect.

My big question before I tried Zevia (besides whether or not they'd be good) was about the lingering aftertaste. I don't know if this happens to everybody, but when I drink anything that's sweetened with Splenda or the like, I taste that sweetness at the back of my tongue for HOURS. My body just doesn't break it down (duh), so I feel like I'm tasting 'sweet' long after the soda's gone. Not happy about that. But I'm pleased to report that the stevia in Zevia does NOT do the same. When I'm done drinking it, I'm done tasting it. As it should be!

So -- Zevia sodas: Amazing, wonderful, the only soda I want to drink from now on (cheesy but true). Zevia the company: Amazing and wonderful for sending me the free soda to review. And now: An amazing and wonderful giveaway!

Zevia has agreed to let me host a giveaway for your guys! The 'grand prize' is a mixed case of Zevia (which is what I received -- very exciting!) and they will also send a mixed six pack (one can of each flavour) to two runners up.

All YOU have to do is link from your blog to this post and then leave me a comment to say you've done so (please fill in your URL when you leave the comment, so I can visit your site!). If you don't have a blog, go have a look at the Zevia Site and then leave a comment telling me which flavour sounds the best.

I will use a random number generator to pick the winners on Tuesday, January 5th (one week from today). The giveaway is only available to people with a US (non-PO Box) shipping address. Good luck!

-- Whew, what a week! Tuesday was my birthday; Wednesday was spent finishing up the last of my presents and then wrapping them; Thursday was Christmas Eve with my mom's side of the family; Friday was Christmas with my parents; and yesterday was Christmas/Boxing Day with my dad's side. That's a bit too much holidaying!

-- I had one of my best birthdays ever this year. My cake went together without much fuss (that's it above, and here it is pre-cutting -- it's 'German Coconut', with filling/icing made using this recipe; the coconut cake itself isn't worth making again), and then I spent the day with my mom, eating good food, getting massages, and finding ridiculously good deals at Old Navy. AND I received two packages with products for review -- Zevia Sodas and Newman's Own Organics. More on that at a later date.

-- One of my birthday presents was a little Sony point-and-shoot. I had an Olympus that I really liked until it mysteriously stopped working after six months. Now I can take photos when I'm out and about without having to lug around my SLR, which isn't always convenient. And the new camera takes nice photos.

-- It started snowing on Thursday and didn't really let up until Saturday evening. And then it snowed a bit more today. Since the cats and I had packed up and were at my parents' for three days, that meant I had to shovel all the snow this morning. Luckily, thankfully, some kind neighbour had done my front path, so I only had to worry about the back path and the driveway. It took about an hour, but it was sunny, around 20F (which isn't too bad, don'tyaknow), and I had a new Elvis Costello album on my iPod. Snowy.

-- The bad news with the snow was that I had to hop through it while packing up the car on Christmas Eve, and I managed to hurt my ankle. I didn't even land on it very hard or twist it much, but I knew I'd landed wrong as soon as it happened, and it's been bothering me ever since. It's nearly back to normal now, but it gets achy every few hours. I've been slightly distressed, because I've been enjoying running lately, and I don't this to mess it up.

-- Christmas itself was very enjoyable. My dad's side of the family usually celebrates in the afternoon/evening, but the gathering was pushed to Boxing Day, due to the snow. So my parents and I (and the cats and their dogs) did our usual thing in the morning (presents, brunch) and then lazed around for the rest of the day. I read comics and drank tea out of my new favourite mug, which I got from my aunt on Christmas Eve (which is when my mom's side of the family gathers). Perfect.

-- Even though I only turned one year older last week, it seems to have had a dramatic effect. After I got home yesterday, I kept thinking about how I could assemble and use my new vacuum in the morning and then clean the floors with my new slippers. I think I might have had my most excited reaction to opening that particular gift. I hadn't even asked for them, because how could I have ever imagine such perfection existed?

I feel like I've been on my feet all day, and I suppose I have, more or less. I wouldn't mind crawling into bed right now, but since tomorrow is my birthday (!!), I probably won't find the time to update.

I had to do a lot of baking and candy making + wrapping today, which explains the on-feetedness. When I was over at my parents' house yesterday (for the Vikings game), my mom and I made nougat, using this recipe. The only change was substituting dried cranberries for the figs. It's quite a threatening substance, like sticky, sugary, quick-dry cement. And it's wickedly sweet. I wasn't sure it was even going to be appealing to eat until this morning, when I cut it up and tried it with the fruit and nuts mixed in for the first time. It managed to transform into something amazing overnight, and the salty pistachios and tart cranberries couldn't be any more perfect.

I also baked the layers for my birthday cake -- I'll do the icing and assemble it tomorrow morning. I had a hard time deciding what I wanted to make this year. I liked the idea of a German chocolate cake, mainly because I love the coconut-pecan filling, but I'm a little bored with chocolate cake at the moment. So I went with a buttery coconut cake for the layers. I'll post the links to the recipes I used when I do a proper cake post with photos.

As I was doing research for my cake (as you do), I looked at image search results for German chocolate cakes, trying to get inspiration, and I came across one bakery image that had a chocolate medallion at the center of the cake. It looked basically like a wax seal on a letter, only made of chocolate. And on a cake.

So, since I only had about a million things to do today, I thought I might as well try carving a stamp (using a rubber Mastercarve block) and see if I could do something similar. I cooled the chocolate in the freezer after pressing on the (buttered) stamp, but it was both too thin and too cold when I carefully removed the stamp, and it broke into several pieces. Oh well. It looks good, though, right? I mean -- my letter 'A'. Pretty good for free-handed letter drawing. I might make my own chocolate font.

-- Happy Sunday! I don't go to the gym very often on the weekends, but I had running dreams the past two nights (not running away dreams, which are more frequent, annoyingly), so I packed myself up and got on a treadmill today. And it was pretty awesome. One of my strange running habits is that I 'chew' half a piece of minty gum the entire time. It keeps my mouth and throat from drying out, which is really bothersome otherwise. And the mint makes me run faster. (Not really.)

-- It seems like there's been a lot of hype about 'the week before Christmas' this year. Or I've noticed it more, at least. There have been more big sales and people saying, 'What are you doing the week(end) before Christmas?' Maybe it's just because the holiday is on a Friday this year, but so help me, if Christmas starts to take over the entire week beforehand (and, thus, my birthday), I will start my own personal war on the holiday.

--Speaking of Christmas-week rivalry, I've been monitoring the forecast and have started a competition between my birthday and Jesus' supposed birthday. At the moment, he's got about three degrees on me, but I have SUNSHINE. Nobody's going to notice 25F versus 28F, but that sun won't go unappreciated. Take that.

-- I was thinking the other day about super powers, except not the usual kind (flying, time-travel, invisibility, etc). More like mundane super powers. Some of my top choices are as follows:

1) The ability to blink and be dressed in the morning. I hate having to get out from under the covers and then pull on a sweatshirt, etc. Those fifteen seconds that my arms are uncovered are the worst.

2) The ability to magically transport my kitchen garbage to the bin outside. Even better would be the ability to turn all my trash into pure energy, which I could then use to power my home.

3) The ability to broadcast my thoughts through the radios of other people's cars. Then I could say, 'Thanks,' or, 'Whoops!' or, 'For the love of god, drive faster!' And scare the crap out of people.

Exciting day here at the twelve22 HQ! See, a while back (over a year ago? I think?) there was apparently a big fire in one of the houses across the alley to the side of my house. I'm almost certain I was out of town when it happened, because even I would have noticed flames coming out of a nearby house, and I try not to pay much attention to what goes on around here.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure it was a rental property, and when the tenants moved out after the fire, nothing happened with the house. So it just sat there, boarded up and a bit charred at the top, for months and months. Until today!

A massive grabber truck rumbled down the alley (just barely) this afternoon, ripped down part of the garage (which is what it was doing when I took the picture above, through my lilacs), and then drove into the house's backyard and set to work on the house itself. After only a few hours, there was just a big pile of rubble. Crazy.

There's another house across the other alley (my block has a T-shaped alleyway, and I live on one of the alley corners) that's been boarded up for ages. I was leaving in my car one day when an inspector from the bank was about to check it out, and he said things get bad fast once a house gets boarded up -- the bank is better off calling in the bulldozer right then. So maybe that house'll go, too. Only a few more to go, then, and I'll be surrounded by fields. First person to plant a vegetable garden lays claim to the property, right?

Hello! Today was my official pre-birthday, AKA friend-birthday. Since my real day is so close to Christmas, everybody tends to be out of town, so I've had to adapt. Even though the celebration was only in the evening, I had a pretty good day from the start.

1) I had a good run at the gym. I usually go four times a week (sometimes more, if I can be bothered to go during the weekend), and I've fallen into a pattern of four different treadmill 'workouts': a regular run at my training speed, speed intervals, a long (slower) run, and incline walking, usually with a mile of running thrown in for good measure. Today was speed intervals, and I was quite pleased with how I did.

2) I had to put gas in the car on my way home, so I was able to use one of my free coffee coupons when I paid inside. The coffee itself is about as good as you'd expect from a gas station (that is, not very), but the little cups of flavoured creamer make it super special. I took a couple of extra ones -- shhh. Usually when I have an English-muffin-based lunch, I drink tea, and I was surprised to find that my free coffee just wasn't as good an accompaniment. So I drank it afterwards and then wrote over-excited e-mails.

3) Speaking of e-mails, I received some fun ones today. I can't say what about just yet, but they helped contribute to the day's goodness.

4) I met a few of my friends at The Bad Waitress for dinner, which was very nice. There were five of us in total, which I know isn't much of a birthday 'bash', but it was exactly what I'd wanted. I had a veggie burger, which was alright (to be honest, I prefer a Boca- or Morningstar-style veggie burger over restaurant-made ones, which tend to be mushy and not quite as flavourful). Then we split a banana split, which was my True Pre-Birthday Wish (and which was bought by Alex, because she's such a good friend). Four of us dug in, but I'm pretty sure I ate at least a third of it. Well, it was my pre-birthday, after all.

You know the drill: Time for What's Hot and What's Not, thanks to Claire.

What's Hot

-- Applesauce. Yes, I'm still feeling pleased with myself for how it turned out. It's not like I haven't made it before, but it seems like some apples lend themselves to better-tasting sauce than others, and this was a good (and cheap) batch. I tried some with my breakfast, and then I had a bit more in the afternoon. (I didn't eat that baby banana, though, which was one of the biggest of the bunch, and the only one I didn't freeze.)

-- Frequent updating. Okay, it's not always every day, but I've been doing a good job, right? I'm proud of my dedication!

-- My birthday is next Tuesday. I'm feeling much more relaxed about this birthday than usual; I tend to get over-excited and then crash on the day. I guess I'm just feeling more laid back about life at the moment. If you want to send me something, I would like 1) a hacked iPhone I can use with my T-Mobile account; 2) a two-week vacation in Florida (or somewhere else warm and beachy); 3) a winning lotto ticket; 4) Beatles Rockband. Thanks!

-- Big bowls of soup. I had pretty much the same thing for dinner last night, except not as soup (ie, sauteed tofu and veg on top of noodles), but the noodles were too sticky, and I realized they'd be better in broth. So that's what I did.

-- Baggy sweatshirts. Technically, they're the opposite of 'hot', as in 'attractive', but I'm sort of loving it for around the house. I wanted something big and warm the other day, so I dug out the London hoodie I got in high school and wore all through college. It's been in a box since then (it would have been redundant while I actually living in London, after all), but no longer!

What's Not

-- Proofer's Hand. That might be my official made-up name for what happens when I try to edit several books in a row. My right hand gets all achy and crippled from staying poised over the track pad (and then inserting commas, etc) for so long.

-- I've noticed that, lately, the forecast has found it necessary to tell me it's going to be cold. 'Partly cloudy, chance of snow showers in the afternoon. Cold.' If you're predicting a high of 9F for the day, I can infer for myself that it's going to be cold, thanks.

-- Bad cop drivers. Seriously, what's up with them? Worst driver's ever. The other day, I was driving behind a slow-moving line of cars in the right lane. A police car was in the (mostly empty) left lane, yet he was driving as slowly as we were (well below the speed limit) and hanging just in front of my car. I approached the right turn lane, which I was queued up for, and at the LAST minute, the cop car turned his flashing lights on and pulled right in front of me, so he could turn. He wasn't pulling anybody over; he wasn't rushing off to the scene of a crime -- was his turn signal just too far away to bother with? I know it worked, because I saw him use it later. Bad cop driver.

Today has been a slightly strange day, mainly because I was so tired right in the middle of it. I went to the gym in the morning, as I usually do during the week, but today's run just wiped me out, for some reason. It wasn't even particularly difficult. I came home, ate lunch, sat down to proofread, and then I just crashed.

I dozed for a bit (after making some progress on the proofing front, but eventually I just couldn't keep my eyes open) and then had my afternoon snack. This was one of my reject cookies, since the cat wound up looking like a cat-giraffe mutant. It still tasted like a delicious cookie, thank goodness. After I ate that, I blended up a big glass of juice (chopped pear, spinach, apple juice, and ice -- yum!) and tried to get back into my productive groove, but I just kept thinking about tofu instead.

I've been putting off buying tofu, because once you know that it's super cheap at the Asian supermarket, it's pretty hard to justify buying it elsewhere. So I made a late-afternoon run to Sun Foods for the precious bean curd and a few other essentials... most of which I forgot to buy (I still can't remember one of the things I know I forgot).

But I DID get a big bag of baby bananas and a bag of bruised apples for 99 cents each. I love the discount produce. A lot of it is scary, but there are usually a few good finds to be had (the best grapefruits I've ever had have been from discount sections at two different stores). I peeled all the teeny bananas when I got home, broke them in half, and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer. Three pounds of bananas for making smoothies!

And I peeled and chopped the apples and made them into apple sauce. I didn't add anything (I put a bit of water in the pan to start with, so the apples wouldn't burn as they started to cook, but I drained it off as they started to soften); I just occasionally stirred and mashed them up with a potato masher, and then I pureed them in the blender when they were done cooking. When I got applesauce in Germany this last time, I couldn't quite put my finger on why the texture was so different, since the only ingredient was apples. But after pureeing my sauce, I realized that's what it was. It makes it so much smoother, and I think air gets worked in, which really changes the mouth-feel. (I usually just mash up the cooked apples and leave the sauce a little bit chunky.) Anyway, I got an entire jar's worth of apple sauce out of my 99 cent apples.

Hooray for fruit that nobody else wants!

-- Okay, that photo is actually of yesterday's breakfast. There's nothing like a Sunday morning.

-- Alex and I distributed gingerbread cookies to her happy coworkers today. Everybody was particularly excited about the MPR station map cookies I made, which was a relief. It could have gone either way: kitschy and funny or lame and pathetic. I did it with the former in mind.

-- Generally speaking, people just love a Minnesota-shaped cookie. It's a delicious state.

-- I used the box that my MacBook came in to transport the cookies (in the three layers). As somebody said, 'That's the second best thing that can come in a MacBook box!' I kept the first. (A couple of years ago; I didn't just get a new laptop or anything.)

-- I packed my gym bag and brought it with me, so I could have a run after my cookie elf duties. New socks! New gym shorts! New shirt! New headband to hold back my bangs! It should have been the best gym day ever, thanks to my Target shopping this weekend, but I forgot to pack one key element. Let it suffice to say that I had to stick to incline walking instead of running. And it wasn't my shoes.

-- This afternoon, I didn't have very much yogurt left for my usual snack, so I mixed in some applesauce. It wasn't bad, but it was very strange. Is it dairy? Is it fruit? Unidentifiable!

-- I finished watching the first season of How I Met Your Mother (I stretched it out to three whole days!). I was saying yesterday that it was laughable to think of the characters as being my age, both because of the way the behave and the obscene amounts of money they seem to drop on a whim. But I was listening to the actor commentary tonight, and I realized I could imagine a group of my friends sounding pretty similar. I guess real people are just less fake.

-- When I came home today, the cats were asleep on the sofa. Booty greeted me, but Beany kept sleeping, even though I called her name about five times. It wasn't until I moved my desk chair that she woke up; I guess that's what it took to alert her to the fact that her environment had changed. I like to think that's because my voice just wove itself into her subconscious. She probably dreams about me nagging her.

I had a pretty good weekend -- how about you? I considered having another Saturday Bonanza of Free (see last Saturday: pancakes, art) by seeing a free movie with one of my passes and then going to Target to buy some 'free' stuff with the gift card that Rob sent me for my birthday/Christmas (he's smart AND nice, you know). But then I started thinking about all the work I have to do, gift-wise, and a movie suddenly seemed like a waste of valuable time.

So I went to Target, got the first season of How I Met Your Mother, and watched THAT all day instead of doing anything useful. Well, that's almost completely true. TV on DVD is the best-worst innovation ever.

Today, my friend Alex came over, and, after checking out my recently-renovated local diner (to make sure it was still good -- it passed), we decorated the heck out of some gingerbread cookies I'd baked Saturday night. Some public radio employees are going to be very impressed at our ability to re-imagine the 'Christmas fish' cookie cutter. (It's a penguin! It's a lady!)

All in all, a pretty good weekend, indeed. A lot of time spent at home, but with the next two weeks ahead (parties, birthday, holidays), I can't say I really mind it.

Some odds and ends that don't deserve their own posts:

-- I don't really get a runner's 'high'. Instead, after a good run, I get runner's exhaustion, where both my brain and body are just about as relaxed as they possibly could be. It's just as good as a high, I would say, because everything just seems quieter. I do, however, get a slow drip of delicious endorphins throughout the day, so I wind up being inexplicably content with life.

-- Honey Smacks are pretty great. I don't think I could eat a bowl of them for breakfast (might as well eat a candy bar, for all the sugar they're covered in), but I do enjoy them. I'm tempted to buy plain puffed wheat (or rice or millet -- or combine them all!) and try to make my own with actual honey or agave or something a bit less HFCS-y.

-- I've got a couple free passes for a particular movie theater, and I'm greedily thinking of using them both on my own. I don't go to movies very often, because I get bored sitting around, but my casual perusing of recent movie listings has made me realize something. When I watch a movie on my own (usually on an airplane), I more often than not gravitate towards foreign or independent films, the kind that leave me thinking afterward. But I'd never want to see that sort of movie with somebody else. I don't have any conclusions to draw from that, except to point out that I also listen to public radio while I'm alone, but I can't imagine having it on if somebody were over (even if we weren't speaking).

-- I rarely raise my voice with my cats (although Beany does sometimes need a bit of yelling at when she's 'knowingly' done something really, really bad), and I never hurt them, yet somehow they're really obedient. I mean, obedient for cats. Booty sleeps on the sitting part of the sofa half the time (and on the back of the sofa the other half), and if I want to sit down, all I have to do is politely say 'excuse me', and he moves. Clearly I exude calm, assertive energy, or whatever it is that makes cats think you're in charge (control of the food supply, probably).

-- I eat ice cream most nights of the week, because I've found that doing so is one of the keys to a happy life. My current flavour of choice is Edy's (Dreyer's in other parts of the country) Mint Cookie Crunch. Since I go through a carton of it every week or so, I'm well aware of its place in the freezer case at my local supermarket. So imagine my horror when I cracked open a new container the other day to realize I'd bought Mint Chocolate Chip by accident. I blame the stockists. And if you're thinking there can't possibly be that much difference between the two flavours, you're mistaken. Mint Cookie Crunch is like the magical love child of Mint Chocolate Chip (which is okay, except for the horrible chocolate chips that just get all jammed up in your teeth) and Cookies 'n' Cream. I can't actually think of anything that could make it better than it already is. I suffered through two days of the impostor mint ice cream before admitting defeat and going back for the real deal.

Time for What's Hot and What's Not, thanks to Claire.

What's Hot

-- Being married for thirty-one years, which is what my parents have achieved today! Happy anniversary to my parents!

-- Other anniversaries: Sunday was my nine-year blogging anniversary! (I forgot, obviously; I'm not a good blog spouse.) Next year is a biggie -- a decade of pointless rambling on the internets.

-- Powdery snow. I mean, if it's going to snow inches and inches, I'd rather it be the kind of snow that's easy to shovel away. And The Radio said it's made the roads less dangerous than they would otherwise be.

-- My friend Gwyn and the Groucho Club Choir have made a Christmas song. You can get a little preview here and then go to iTunes and buy it. I particularly like the 'yummy yummy yum-yum' and 'oom-pah' sections. Gwyn always tells everybody he introduces me to that I have a fantastic blog, so it's the least I can do in return to try to persuade you to download the song. It'll make you smile. Do iiiiit.

-- Hulu has started uploading episodes of Mystery Science Theater 3000. Most of my best memories of college took place while episodes of MST3K seemed to loop endlessly in the background. Keep it on the road, Ted Nelson.

What's Not

-- That I still can't get an iPhone and use it with T-Mobile. I realized that an iPhone would be perfect if I could keep my current calling plan (ie, no extra internet service); it would just do everything my iPod Touch does and also make calls + take photos.

-- Being a klutz. I'm getting tired of wiping up glasses of water that I've spilled. Or running into doorways. (You'd think that I'd never been in my house before. And that I walk with my eyes closed.) I don't think I'm particularly hasty in my movements or absent-minded; things just get in my way. That's what's not hot; get out of my way, stuff!

-- Forgetting where you are in the world. One of the few downsides to having spent a lot of time abroad is that I often think, 'Ooh, I'd really like to get lunch at ____,' or 'Hey, it'd be fun to go see ____,' and then I realize that the place in the blank is four-thousand miles away. For example, I wouldn't mind having a cream tea at that nice place in Leigh on Sea, but it hardly seems worth the expense. And I'll have eaten something else by the time I get there, anyway.

I woke up this morning at 4:00am. I dutifully tried to go back to sleep until about 5:00, at which point I gave up, turned my lamp on, and played a few hands of iPod solitaire. I started making plans for how to use my 'extra' hours, and I even discovered my gym has a 'gentle flow' yoga class at 8:something, which I thought would be nice. Then, just before 6:00am (okay, maybe it was more than a few hands of solitaire), I realized I was really tired and went back to sleep until my usual wake-up time. Score.

While I had been awake, though, I started mulling over my breakfast options, and, well, I should just know by now that any idea I have right after waking up is not going to be a good one. When I made Käsekuchen a while back, I used cottage cheese that I smoothed out in the blender. Wouldn't it be a good idea, I thought, to added some blended (and sweetened) cottage cheese to oatbran that I cooked in vanilla soy milk? Genius.

One flaw in the plan, though -- I really don't like hot dairy. I would say that I 'hate' it, but I'm sure there's some exception to that claim (hot, savory dairy, like cheese-y things are better, for example). Oats cooked in soy milk = delicious. Oats cooked in cow's milk = bleaurg. I put half-and-half in my Americanos, but lattes are a bit too cloying for me. I'd rather have hot chocolate powder mixed into water than real cocoa made with milk. So I wasn't really digging the combo this morning. There's a reason cheesecake is served cold, after all.

But I'm glad I tried it. I imagine loads of other (stubborn) people are like this, but when I get an idea in my head, even if I'm not positive it'll work out, I usually have to try it, or I won't be able to stop thinking about it. I need to test it out and see -- I'd rather prove to myself that it was a waste of time than have to wonder about it for days and days and days. So, 'cheesecake' oats goes in the 'bad idea' column, but at least I know now. And it looked good.

First of all, thank you to everybody who's bought a Winter-Time Paper House pack so far -- thank you, thank you! It's been very exciting seeing the number downloaded go up. Don't forget that there's a flickr group that you can add your photos to, once you've built the houses. It's pretty strange (in an awesome way) to see my little creations in different locations around the world! If you don't know what I'm talking about, check out my last post for details on the new paper house pack.

Seeing the enthusiasm for my little houses has made me think about how amazing it would be to do this for a living. Wake up, sit down, do some drawing all day. The only illustration I've done professionally has been for book covers, which is very to-order and not at all done in a 'what shall I draw today?' type of mood.

I think the best bit of paid illustration (well, I earned my salary, anyway) I've done was the little drawings for Snowbooks' edition of A.A. Milne's The Sunny Side (Ecco in the US then bought our edition -- my editing and illustrations -- and did a lovely hardcover for the States). Silly drawings aside, The Sunny Side is SUCH a good collection of stories and poems. You should buy it now. The Snowbooks edition.

Anyway, I didn't plan on talking about illustration and drawing, but I do like the idea of doing a bit more of it on my own and making the finished products available to you. We'll see! It's just one of those things in which I've received no proper training, yet I've (obnoxiously) been given the opportunity to try my hand at it with at least a little bit of success. I did work hard for the English degree that I now use to comb through manuscripts for the tiniest of grammatical errors, though. So it's not all been handed to me on a platter.

Anyway again, I meant to say that I individually hulled each of the seeds from my homegrown pumpkins, because I wanted to make pumpkin butter. I found a 'quick' solution on the world-wide internet, which said to simply bash the seeds open with a wooden mallet and then dump them in water (the shells would float; the seeds would sink) -- but the few shells I did manage to crack just resulted in smashed seeds, meat and all. So I went back to opening them each. One. At. A. Time. It was almost as bad as the year my mom grew popcorn, and we had to pick off each sharp, pointy kernel from the cobs.

I used this recipe, although I only had 1.5 cups of seeds in the end, so I changed the amounts. Sadly, my tiny food processor just didn't get the seeds 'powdery' enough before I added the oil and honey, so my finished product is a bit... bittier. Not really a butter at all. BUT -- the toasted seeds and the honey make it taste like baklava, so I can't really complain.

It tastes extra good with some maple syrup drizzled over, but then, what doesn't?

They're here! I've finished! Finally! You can now buy the patterns and instructions (although they're not too complicated) for the three buildings above. Turn your winter-time paper house into a winter-time paper village!

Included in this pack: the grocery store, the little log cabin, the rambler, and several trees and shrubs to add extra interest to your village. Once you've paid your $5.00 and downloaded the file, you can print out the patterns as many times as you like and create an entire log cabin community or a pair of fierce rival grocers!

Thanks to some helpful comments, I've set up payment and download through E-junkie. Once you pay with PayPal, you'll be given a link to the file. Easy peasy! My trial account is for one week only, so if I don't sell many patterns, I'll probably just switch to e-mailing the file after 'manually' processing the PayPal payment (less easy peasy). So buy now! Tell yer friends!

Ready?

First of all: Does anybody have any experience with using PayPal to sell a file for download? I finished up the PDF for three awesome houses (sneak peek), so now I just need to figure out how to get it to you. Er, for money. I've already got the PayPal account, but I'd like to do something a bit slicker than manually e-mailing the PDF once people have paid. Any ideas, clever friends?

And now, some things I love. I should have done this for 'Things I Love Thursday', but I'd JUST done 'What's Hot' on Wednesday, and I can't be expected to have endless appreciation on tap.

-- The perfect fried egg. I made this heart-shaped one by putting a metal cookie cutter (lightly oiled inside) in the pan and then cracking the egg into it. The key was placing a saucepan lid on top of the cutter, which helped cook the top of the egg without my needing to flip it. The yolk was still runny, but just starting to get chalky at the edges. Perrrrfect.

-- Running. Considering I've been running off and on for a few years now, this shouldn't come as a surprise, but that's what it is. I'm a slow runner, but I'm trying to embrace that. Last year, I never was able to build up much distance at my training pace, but I backed off this year and I'm making much better progress. And today, I went to the gym planning to do some incline walking (since I'd had a good, longer run yesterday), but then an exciting song came on my iPod, so I had to throw in a mile of running. It's as though I enjoy it.

-- Crossing things off my to-do list. What's better than a sense of accomplishment, right? Although it often happens, I don't really like putting things off; they sit at the edges of my mind and bother me. When I was a senior in college (yes, it only took fifteen years of school before I realized this), I decided it was SO much better to write all my papers Thursday night (I didn't have Friday classes my last couple of years, because English professors don't want to teach Friday classes -- hooray!) so I could enjoy my weekends with no responsibilities weighing on me.

-- Free pancakes. That's what I'll be getting tomorrow! The question: HOW much more delicious does a pancake taste when it's free? Can't wait to find out.

-- Playing 'chase' with Beany. This is her new big thing. She decides it's time to play chasing, so she'll sprong up in the air several times until she's got my attention. Then I'm obligated (by her cuteness) to chase her back and forth across the house, play hide-and-sneak, and do big arms to 'scare' her. Young cats are a lot of work.

It's tough being a perfectionist. Maybe you're one too, so you know what it's like. Even if everybody is standing at the sidelines, telling you what an amazing job you've done on X, Y, and Z, you're thinking about all the things you SHOULD have been able to do as well. You can be juggling a zillion projects and still feel lazy.

I've been thinking about goals lately, and I suppose one of mine should be to make more of an effort recognize my accomplishments. That's not a recent realization, but it's something I've never managed to actually get on top of. Some other goals:

-- Keep running at the gym, without setting specific targets. I know when I'm pushing myself and making progress, so I'll just keep that up.

-- Gather my work-related focus. I have good weeks and bad weeks, even though everything gets done when it's supposed to. I need to turn my wifi off and work in more solid, less distracted chunks of time, though. It's better for my brain.

-- Support myself better in creative endeavors. I often find myself procrastinating without knowing why, but I think it's because I'm subconsciously choosing to put off finishing things because I'm worried about how they'll be received. Or reluctant to make commitments, in case I could do better if I give myself more time (perfectionism).

-- Explore more. I feel like whenever I get together with people, it's always about restaurants. We have a lot of amazing places to eat in the Twin Cities, but it's time to do other things. Instead of spending the money on brunch, I could spend it checking out our museums! This Saturday is 'Free First Saturday' at the Walker Art Center, and Tuesday evenings are also free at the Minnesota History Center (Ben Franklin, Ben Franklin!), so I don't even have to spend a buck.

-- Make this winter a good one. Two winters ago was awful (everybody agrees); last winter wasn't too bad at all, but I didn't really do any of the things I'd planned. This year, I want to check out some more wintery activities (Art Shanties, the FREE ice rink + skate rental in St Paul, etc) as well as embracing the desire to sit in warm houses with friends.

What are your goals?

p.s. -- Speaking of perfectionism, that bowl of oatbran above was not perfect. I've gotten used to cooking the oatbran in chocolate soymilk, so when I used water today (which is how I'd ALWAYS done it up until a couple of weeks ago), it was very disappointing. Bum.

Another Wednesday, so it's time for What's Hot and What's Not.

What's Hot

-- Self-replicating coupons. You know how some big supermarkets print out coupons that are related to what you've just bought? The best is when you use one of those and it generates the exact same coupon afterward. Roll on, savings!

-- Leftovers. I hardly ever cook for more than just one meal, but I made three enchiladas on Monday, which means I got two enchilada meals without any extra effort. Also, enchiladas are pretty good.

-- Breakfast. I've decided it's not so much the food (although breakfast food is some of the best) as it is waking up and starting the day fresh. I tested the theory last week when I had a pre-lunch nap, and that lunch was much better than usual.

-- Being warm. Screw looking good this winter. I just wanted to wear Smart Wool socks (which, okay, aren't unattractive) and big sweatshirts. And maybe a fluffy pillow on my head -- with eyeholes cut out; I'm not crazy.

-- Regular graham crackers. For some reason, I'd always bought the low fat kind, because why not? How much difference can there be? But I got the full fat, normal ones last time, and they're so much better. For real.

-- Chocolate advent calendars. Because then I have an excuse to eat a piece of chocolate after breakfast every day. I want a chocolate regular calendar.

What's Not

-- Being sweaty. I tell you, it takes about a minute and a half of running for me to go bright pink in the face, and after about seven minutes, I sweat like you wouldn't believe. I must actually be using internal combustion to run, considering how much heat I generate. And it takes at least half an hour after I've showered for my face to return to a more normal colour.

-- Dry winter air. Now I don't just have to worry about my occasionally bright-pink face, I also have to make sure to sweep up after myself as it falls off. I'm gross; I wouldn't date me, either.

-- Eating with a numb mouth. I had to get two little cavities filled today, which meant they numbed up the entire right side of my mouth. Trying to eat lunch afterward was a little bit scary, and I managed to really chomp down on my lip. Whoops.