February

12 Books

February’s book was House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III. It’s the story of an Iranian man living in the U.S. who buys a house at an auction, only later to find out that the house was wrongly seized from its original owner. The book chronicles the interactions between the Iranian man, the original owner of the house, and her married lover. Overall, I give this book a 7. I was interested to see what happened to the characters, and I rather enjoyed the narrative style of the writing. But the story felt slightly exaggerated, as if the author was trying to make sure there was enough to discuss at a book club. Plus, like January’s book, the ending was wretchedly depressing.

12 Recipes

This month I made southwestern meatloaf. It didn’t look all that appetizing when it first came out of the oven, but looked nice on a sandwich. I’ve eaten it without bread with a little lettuce, tomato, and sour cream too.  It gets a 6 out of 10 for flavor, but a 10 out of 10 for easiness. It’s definitely something I’d make again as an alternative to my usual lineup of quick dinners of pasta, pot roast, and baked chicken.

12 Blog Posts

Click here to read about my weekly trivia escapades.

12 Ways to Meet People

This month I went to the 5-year anniversary party for an organization called New Life for Old Bags. They flatten, cut, and loop old plastic bags into “plarn” that is then crocheted into sleeping mats for the homeless. I made an effort to talk to some new people there. The crowd was, unsurprisingly, made up of mostly middle-aged to older women, but I still enjoyed talking to them all. And I very much enjoy making the mats! Here is a picture of my latest one.

12 Small Steps Forward in my Career

This month I agreed to act as the lead author on an article my team is submitting to an annual publication by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. There is no guarantee it will be accepted, of course, but if it is selected for the book, it will be great to have my name on a published work.

12 Fun Events in Chicagoland

My sister and I went to Medieval Times in Schaumberg. This is a bit of a cheat because we went on January 30, but I’m counting it for February anyway, since it’s a short month. We had the BEST time. Our green knight did not win, but he did slap the red knight right off his horse using a gauntlet, so he’s a winner in my book.

12 Crafts and Creations

For six weeks in January into February, I took a glass mosaics class at the Chicago Mosaic School. We did one stained glass project and one smalti project. Mine are shown here. I particularly like the stained glass birdie, though I am happy with how they both turned out.

12 Pretty Things for My Apartment

I bought this super pretty butterfly LED light for my window.

12 Things that Help Me Feel Good about My Appearance

Despite the fact that my eyebrows are super light and not noticeable by anyone but me, I’ve wanted for a while to get them waxed. I just felt like they looked messy. So, with the help of a friend, I got that done this month. Unsurprisingly, no one noticed. Even I can’t really tell the difference between the before and after photos below. But the point is, I did it, and it made me feel better to have done so. Plus, I also got a no-chip pedicure.

12 Grown-Up Things

My grown-up thing for this month was filing my taxes. Granted, this is something I’ve been doing for many years now, but I am counting it anyway. It’s an annoying, soul-sucking experience worthy of recognition of some sort.