New Years!

So many resolutions this year! I love setting resolutions for New Years because I only started doing it last year, so it's still new and fun for me. I keep my resolutions private because there's a good chance I won't get them all done or even be able to complete just one of them, but there's something so motivating about planning out where you want to be over the course of the next year, and determining what things you are likely able to accomplish within that time.

A year is a long time, so my goals tend to be pretty big. But that's okay, because if I half-complete half of my goals, I'll consider myself an amazing success next December. For example, one of my resolutions is that I want to read a certain number of books by the end of the year. I've already finished my first one and I'm ecstatic about that, but it did take me five days of pretty hefty reading, so it may not be possible for me to read all the books I want, but I'm so excited to try!

In other news, Josh and I went to see the zoo lights at Hogle Zoo last Thursday night. It was beautiful and fun but we chose the world's coldest day to go, so we didn't stay for even an hour. Josh got some pretty amazing pictures while I wisely kept my hands in gloves. We also enjoyed seeing the Hobbit with Josh's family on Christmas day and we're going to watch Les Miserables on New Year's Eve. I'm excited to see the movie because those were the two I really wanted to take in this year. I've really lost my interest in the silver screen ever since movies started to suck. Or my perception of movies changed? In any case, something happened and now there are the same number of movies being produced each year but I'm less and less inclined to spend even the dollar theater prices to watch them. I don't think I'm a movie snob, though, because I watch tons of television. I just think the films that are being produced are pretty lame and not worth my money. At least with crappy tv, you're not wasting any money.

Anyway, I've got a book to start reading by the light of our Christmas tree. It's our last night of having the tree up, so I wanted to make sure it was lit tonight. It's pretty, but I'm excited to get all that stuff packed up and put away so we can have a little more space in our living room. Happy New Year's Eve Eve, everyone!

Bigger than I realized...

I'm just sitting on my bed, munching on the delightful winter treat White Fudge Oreos (read: waist-killer), reminiscing about this past Wednesday night when I made taco soup for dinner. I was stirring a huge pot of kidney beans, chili beans, corn, ground beef, onions, diced tomatoes, and some choice seasonings when I started to smell something...off. It didn't smell like food, so I immediately looked at the stove burner. Sometimes food gets dropped underneath the electric burner and it can start to scorch if we don't catch it. Sure enough, there were a couple of french fries underneath there (how on earth?!), so I moved the cooking pot to a back burner, turned off the front burner, and grabbed a couple of hot pads. Carefully, I lifted the still-hot burner and grabbed those burnt fries and chucked them in the garbage. Problem solved, I figured. The weird burnt smell had dissipated so I didn't think anything more of it as I finished making dinner.

Later that night as Josh and I were doing our schoolwork on the couch, I happened to smooth out my shirt and feel something scratchy. Looking down at the hemline of my shirt I realized what I had smelled earlier: the plastic-y, melted smell of burning cloth. I had burned my own shirt at the hemline! There were a couple of holes and two sections of material that had literally just melted upward. The material of this business professional maternity blouse happens to be a little water-resistant, so it's got the texture of quasi-plastic, but when exposed to extreme heat it just looks like plain old melted plastic.

Naturally, I was pretty appalled at myself. Two facts stuck out pretty vividly to me: One, that I could have lit myself on fire if I had been working with a gas stove instead of an electric one; and Two, that I am much bigger than I realized. Normal pre-pregnant me would never have gotten that close to the stove top, but pregnant me is wearing a lot of layers these days, doesn't notice extra heat because she's always hot, and is sticking her belly into things that aren't safe (things like burning metal coils).

Ten more weeks of this crazy. In the meantime, I have White Fudge Oreos to comfort me...