2021 New Years Resolution Recap & Scores

It's time for the one constant thing on this blog for the past several years - my new years resolution score sheet. There's one more week of 2021, but I don't expect any of these will get accomplished in that week, so here's my summary of the year!

1) Weekly Prayer Journal - 0.75 points

I did this really faithfully January-June, and then I went back to work after maternity leave and I let "busy life" overwhelm me until the end of October, when I tried to pick it up again with mixed success...so about 3/4 of the year = 3/4 of a point. I think I will do this again in 2022 as it did serve the purpose which was to get me to pray more and think about prayer more, but I will choose a different journal for 2022 as the one I did this year was "geared towards women" in the devotions written for each week, and that frustrated me. I would rather do my own blank journal and follow the old ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) format I think, but I used a template journal this year to help motivation get going.

2) Baltimore Half Marathon - 1 point

This was so tough. Training was tough, doing it was tough, but I *did* make it and I did run 95% of the time (5% was when I stopped for bathroom break at the halfway point, took this selfie at mile 12, and fell down around mile 11 and had to assess my scraped knee for damage). Up until mile 10 I felt great, but after mile 10 I was burnt out. I don't think I'll do the Baltimore Half again. I maybe could be convinced to try another half marathon, but it would have to be a different course with some sweetener in the deal (St. Michaels beach half? Disney princess half? I'm considering either, but would rather return to triathlons if I'm being honest!) 

3) "Complete" a cookbook - 0 points

I just don't think this one is in the cards for me, partly because I rarely use cookbooks. I reference them, I love to read them, but actually following the recipes? Not for me. The romanticism of it has made me resolve this a few years in a row, but it's time to shelve this dream and take my cooking/baking pursuits elsewhere.

4) The 2021 reading women challenge - 0.75 point 

I love this list for expanding how I read (because while I love to read, on my own I mostly read junky books - this and my book clubs force me to expand my mind). Here's the challenge books and what I read - I took off a quarter point for the two books by men and the two books that I didn't finish reading.

Technically don’t count as they are by men (but not white men so…I’m saying it’s OK):

1. A Nonfiction Book Focused on Social Justice - Color of Compromise, Jemar Tisby
2. A Book by an Indigenous, Native, or Aboriginal (person) There There by Tommy orange

Technically don’t count because I didn’t finish these:

1. A Short Story Collection by a Caribbean Author - how to love a jamaican
2. A Book by a Trans Author - an unkindness of ghosts

Books I read that counted:

1. A South American Author in Translation - Hurricane Season by Fernanada Melchior
2. A Crime Novel or Thriller in Translation - The Tenant, Katrine Engberg
3. A Fantasy Story by an Asian Author - Broken Stars (short stories translated by Ken Liu but at least one by a woman so I’m counting it)
4. A Muslim Middle Grade Novel - aint so awful falafel by Firoozeh Dumas
5. Reread a Favorite Book - Heidi by Johanna Spyri
6. A Book About Incarceration - Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas
7. A Book by a Neurodivergent Author - The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang
8. A Book Featuring a Queer Love Story  - Red, White and Royal Blue by Casey McQuinton
9. A Book about a Woman in Politics - What She Ate by Laura Shapiro
10. A Book with a Rural Setting - Christmas at the Island Hotel by Jenny Colgan
11. A Book w/Cover Art by a Woman - Such a Fun Age, Kiley Reid (cover art Vi-An Nuygyen)
12. Book Longlisted for the JCB Prize- Djinn Patrol on the Purple Line by Deepa Anaparna
13. A Novel by a Latinx Author - Gods of Tango by Carolina De Robertis
14. A Cookbook by a Woman of Color - Chai, Chaat & Chutney, Chetna Makan
15. A Book with a Protagonist Older than 50 - The Witch’s Heart by Genevieve Gornicech
16. A Book with a Biracial Protagonist - The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
17. A Book About the Natural World - Thru Hiking Will Break your heart, carrot quinn
18. A Poetry Collection by a Black Woman - we want our bodies back by Jessica Moore
19. A Book by an Arab Author in Translation - girls of Riyadh by Rajaa Al-Sanea
20. An Author from Eastern Europe - The Unwomanly Face of War by Svetlana Alexivich 

5) Try online scrapbooking - 1 point

I absolutely LOVED this. Google Photo Books are $10 for a 20 page book with up to 4 pictures on each page, the captions are in there for me, it's so much easier than printing 4x6 photos! On occasion I still print and catalog 4x6 photos by hand, when it's just one or two photos, but mostly I've moved into the photo book life, and I'm never looking back. 

Total 2021 score: 3.5/5 (70% pass rate) - better than 2020 in terms of score, but I also committed to less.

Advent of Code Day 11

I've been doing Advent of Code all month, but this is the first time I've solved both parts within an hour of puzzle release, so here's my code for day 11.

 #Day 11

class Octopus:

def __init__(self, value):

self.value = value

self.flashed = False

def setFlash(self):

self.flashed = True

def reset(self):

self.flashed = False

self.value = 0

def getChars(word):

    return [char for char in word]

def printMaps(map):

#print map to check basins

for i in range(len(map)): #i = rowIndex

for j in range (len(map[i])): #j = columnIndex 

thisOct = map[i][j]

if thisOct.flashed:

print("|" + str(thisOct.value) + "|", end='')

else:

print(" " + str(thisOct.value) + " ", end='')

print("")

def resetMap(map):

#loop over every point in the map to reset flashed

for i in range(len(map)): #i = rowIndex

for j in range (len(map[i])): #j = columnIndex 

currentOct = map[i][j] 

if(currentOct.flashed == True):

currentOct.reset()

return map

def checkAllFlash(map):

#loop over every point in the map to check for all 9

for i in range(len(map)): #i = rowIndex

for j in range (len(map[i])): #j = columnIndex 

currentOct = map[i][j] 

if currentOct.value != 0:

return False

#if didn't reach a false, all are 0s

return True

def incrementAll(map):

#loop over every point in the map to increase

for i in range(len(map)): #i = rowIndex

for j in range (len(map[i])): #j = columnIndex 

currentOct = map[i][j] 

currentOct.value += 1

def flashNines(map, flashCount):

flash = False

newmap = map

#loop over every point in the map, set nines to flashed, call incrementNeightbors

for i in range(len(map)): #i = rowIndex

for j in range (len(map[i])): #j = columnIndex

currentOct = map[i][j]

if currentOct.value > 9:

if currentOct.flashed == False: #not yet flashed this check

flash = True

flashCount += 1

currentOct.setFlash()

newmap = incrementNeightbors(newmap, i, j)

#printMaps(newmap)

#print("------------")

else:

pass

return newmap, flash, flashCount

def incrementNeightbors(map, i, j):

if i > 0:

West = map[i-1][j]

West.value += 1

if j > 0:

North = map[i][j-1]

North.value += 1

if i > 0 and j > 0:

NorthWest = map[i-1][j-1]

NorthWest.value += 1

if i < len(map)-1:

East = map[i+1][j]

East.value += 1

if j < len(map[i])-1:

South = map[i][j+1]

South.value += 1

if i < len(map)-1 and j < len(map[i])-1:

SouthEast = map[i+1][j+1]

SouthEast.value += 1

if i > 0 and j < len(map[i])-1:

NorthEast = map[i-1][j+1]

NorthEast.value += 1

if i < len(map)-1 and j > 0:

SouthWest = map[i+1][j-1]

SouthWest.value += 1

return map

def main():

f = open('input.txt')

lines = f.readlines()

#create map

map = []

for line in lines:

row = []

valueList = getChars(line.strip())

for energyValue in range(len(valueList)):

newOct = Octopus(int(valueList[energyValue]))

row.append(newOct)

map.append(row)

printMaps(map)

print("-----------------")

flashCount = 0

steps = 0

#steps = 100 #part 1

#for i in range(steps): #part 1

allEmpty = False #part 2

while(not allEmpty): #part 2

incrementAll(map)

map, flash, flashCount = flashNines(map, flashCount)

while(flash):

map, flash, flashCount = flashNines(map, flashCount)

map = resetMap(map)

steps += 1 #part 2

#printMaps(map)

allEmpty = checkAllFlash(map) #part 2

#print(flashCount) #part 1 answer

print(steps) #part 2 answer

main()

On Christmas Gifts

This year will be M's first Christmas, and it makes the whole season more fun, but also a chance to be strategic about setting the patterns for Christmases to come. That's not to say that everything we do this year will be guaranteed to be repeated, but I am thinking about what new traditions we want to establish. For example, we started a family gratitude turkey last month for Thanksgiving (each day of the month we wrote something that we were grateful for on a different feather). I also got us an advent calendar that walks through the nativity story, and each day in December you add a new figure to the nativity set. One of the traditions husband and I have discussed is the idea of minimalist gift giving with M. Minimalist giving involves two elements - first, setting a limit on how many gifts you purchase, and second, trying to get as many gifts second-hand as possible. Pinterest had a short poem to use with minimalist giving for kids:

Something you WANT

Something you NEED

Something to WEAR

Something to READ

(and three optional additional lines - Something to DO, Something for ME, Something for FAMILY)

This model sets up the expectation that  there aren't unlimited toys at Christmas, rather just one thing you want. And I really like that it has something to read as a part of the list, because as I've grown up I've realized I took reading for granted, assuming everyone read as much as I do - which I have found is not true! Some of my best memories are my dad reading aloud to me when I was young, which got me to want to read to myself, which introduced me to reading for pleasure - I'm hoping M feels the same and looks forward to a something to read gift each year.

So with that, here's what I've done for M's first Christmas, in line with the poem:

Something you WANT - I picked up a play toolset from our Buy Nothing group. M is a little too young to actually want anything, but this should be fun for him. Eventually we will have to decide if M writes a letter to Santa or not (I never did) for me to determine what he wants, but that's a future concern.

Something you NEED - I got M a new pair of shoes for this one, also from Buy Nothing.

Something to WEAR - Matching Christmas PJs for the family! This is one of the traditions that probably can't continue every year because husband & I don't need new PJs annually, but I wanted us to have it for this first year. And hopefully in future years I can find M pairs that are at least in the same color family, if not the exact same pattern, as the ones husband and I now own.

Something to READ - This is the one gift husband and I selected together. Part of the goal is that we will select at least one gift together in person every year, instead of always ordering online. Going and picking out the book to read with M was a great night!

Something to DO - I got M a felt Montessori style Christmas tree to decorate with velcro ornaments. I hope it's something he can enjoy playing with for many years in a row. When I was a kid my mom and dad would get us craft kits to do on Christmas day, or Lego bricks, so while I may not do this every year, I like the concept of an activity. I've already let M play with his tree this year.

Something for ME - this year it was a "my first Christmas" ornament. The idea of this one is something personalized with the kid's name, and again, isn't a part of the base poem so I don't know if we'll do it every year. I've also already hung this one on the tree, because it was as much for me as it was for M.

Something for FAMILY -  This is food or an experience gift, usually, like a family bowling trip, but for us this year I went with a second set of matching clothing items, so that we can do a photo shoot together (which will be the activity). Husband and I decided not to get each other individual gifts this year, so something for Family allows him to have something to unwrap on Christmas morning.

National Son's Day

Dear M -

This month is national son's day, 2021. It's like mother's day and father's day (which are the big ones). There's also grandparents day and siblings day, which are lesser known. But this is the first year I have you, a son, to celebrate, on this less celebrated day.

You've changed absolutely everything for me. I knew that I wanted to be a mom, but I didn't really know what it would feel like. Not until the day I took a pregnancy test and saw two pink lines. Then suddenly my abstract desire was very real. And as I, like many other expecting moms, tracked what size you were week by week - you were my little grain of rice, then my little gummy bear, and so on. And as I thought about you, people asked if I wanted a boy or a girl - and mostly, I imagined a girl. Not that I "wanted" it, but that it was easier for me to imagine.

.  A couple months later (about a year before I'm writing this, actually) I lay in the sonogram room and learned that you were a baby boy. A son. And I was surprised. I thought I didn't care, but when I knew you were a little boy, suddenly and briefly you felt strange to me, because not only am I not a boy, but you have seven aunties and only one uncle (not counting my brother-in-laws), so my experiences were almost all with baby girls. But then they moved to your heartbeat, which I had heard before and heard again, and you were back to being my baby instead of a stranger. Your Daddy was thrilled that you were a boy, and that made me excited. Knowing you were a boy made me think about your uncle Nat - when he was born, your grandpa was SO excited - and seeing daddy be excited for you, I understood a bit better why grandpa's heart longed for a son so much, and was so happy when Uncle Nat was born.

As we prepared for you, I kept wondering what it would be like when you were finally born. I started calling you "buddy" quietly and silently. When you'd kick me, I'd say "hey, buddy, mama doesn't like that". I painted your room a pale blue. Daddy and I discussed what to name you at length many, many times (we were all ready with a girl name but not one for a boy). I tried to wrap my head around what it would mean to have a son.

Then you were born. That was a big day, but that story I've written down in other places. I want to talk about not the day you were born, but two days later - the first day you peed on me. You had peed on daddy already, but I hadn't changed your diaper while we were in the hospital - Daddy handled all those early diapers because he wanted to learn and because he wanted me to rest. But now we were home, and Daddy needed to sleep, so I had gotten up to change you. You did what little boys do - you didn't do anything wrong - but I was again faced with the feeling of strangeness, a realization that "oh, right. He's different from me." 

I'm sure I'll have those moments over and over as you continue to grow. I am prepared for you to change in ways I don't understand, for you to need Daddy to teach you things I just don't know. When we potty train you, when your face eventually gets hair, when your voice suddenly gets deep like your uncle Nat's did, and when you are inevitably taller than I am - all those will be moments where briefly, because you are a son, you'll be a stranger to me. But then, like you have already, you'll go back to being my baby.

Having you has changed how I read scriptures. I read about Sarah & Isaac, Hannah & Samuel, Elizabeth & John, Mary & Jesus - and I think of you, and I see these well known stories in new ways. Having you has changed how I think about my Popo, your Wai Po's mommy, and her relationship with Uncle Keith & Uncle Mike. Having you has helped me understand better how things are between your daddy and your Nana. There's a reason that #boymom is a trending thing - because moms of sons have shared experiences, and you've inducted me into that club.

I love you, baby boy. I always will. - Mama

Bacon Cornbread

Everyone likes to complain that food blogs have long stories before the recipe and that you have to scroll to read the actual recipe - well I'm not going to break with that tradition! I'm not going to break with tradition, so let me tell you why, for today only, my blog is suddenly a food blog. I've been at my job for six years now, and annually we have a chili and cornbread cooking competition. COVID-19 means that the contest is altered this year, and we were challenged to either 1) create a cooking show video or 2) write a food blog post - so obviously you know what I selected! 

I've competed in the chili contest for the past five years and last year I was finally awarded the prize I coveted - the hottest chili of the day, with my Thai inspired creation, "Chili Thai-me" (yes, I do think I'm very clever with that name). The cornbread contest is usually way less popular and often not even a contest, so having achieved chili greatness, I turned my thoughts to the often overlooked side.

Bacon can dress up anything, so first, get your bacon cooking! I use the oven method, with a cookie sheet under the bacon so that it doesn't sit in the drippings while it's in the oven. 1 lb of bacon at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes!

This recipe would most likely be better in the summer, with fresh corn, grilled on the cob and then cut off and put into the bread, but as it is winter, we are stuck with canned - one can is enough. I don't have a food processor, so I used a blender on the lowest setting to turn the corn into a rough wet pulp.

Then mix the dry ingredients (1.5 cups flour, 0.5 cups sugar, 1 T baking powder, 0.25 t salt).

Then the wet (your corn pulp, 0.5 cups milk, 2 eggs), and then add the dry 1/3rd at a time - because that's how chefs do it. I don't know why but it is so I do it that way too.

Grease your loaf pan (I used a little bit of olive oil and rubbed it around with a paper towel). Chop your bacon into chocolate chip sized pieces, and add to the batter. Optionally add 1 T of paprika - it is mostly to amp up the color, it doesn't really add flavor - and pour into loaf pan to bake.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes. While it bakes, you can make honey butter - equal parts honey and butter in a blender, and blend until uniform (this requires a lot of scraping the sides of the blender, and slowly adding the honey between spins). Get your pretty wood cutting board to plate it up - this is a food blog after all, it needs to look amazing - cut off a slice, spread on some honey butter, and bam.

It is super delicious! Takes cornbread to a savory place, but still preserves the sweetness of corn. Because there's no cornmeal it doesn't have quite the crumb of other cornbread recipes. Also makes good muffins.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups corn (1 can)
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup whole milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 lb bacon

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400° Fahrenheit.
• Cook bacon for 15 minutes on a cookie sheet to drain the fat.
• Process corn in a food processor until it is chopped, but NOT mushy.
• Whisk together the dry ingredients in a small bowl.
• Combine the wet ingredients in a larger bowl.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and combine.
• Grease loaf pan and fill with batter
• Bake for 45 minutes or until a chopstick in the middle comes out clean.
• Combine equal parts honey and butter together until creamy.
• Enjoy your bread and honey butter!