Big plans

2009 has gotten off to a slow start. I've been a little sickly since around Christmas and I still don't feel like I'm back to 100%. But I'm finally getting a little energy back -- at least enough energy to think about what I would like to be doing instead of laying around all day. So here are some things I hope to accomplish in the next month or so.

- Finish Christmas presents. Yeah, I'm a little ashamed of this one. I was doing so good before I got sick, but I didn't finish the gifts for either of my sisters before Christmas. I finally finished the gift for my younger sister about half way through January, but I still need to finish the gift for my older sister.

- Make a nursing cover for my sister who is expecting a baby this summer. She sent me these tutorials: here and here. I told her that I would make one for her as long as she didn't call it a hooter hider, like in the first tutorial. Although secretly, that's probably my favorite name. Shhh... don't tell her.

- I accidentally bought these ginormous salt crystals a while back and ever since have been thinking about making pretzels. I soon as I stop coughing and blowing my nose every ten minutes, I'll give it a try. I'm planning on using this recipe, but if anyone else has recommendations, I'd love to hear them. This will be my first attempt at pretzel-making.

- I also want to try this Pizza Hut crust copy cat recipe. I've tried homemade pizza crust a few times, but I've never been completely happy with the results. I'll give it a try once I'm better. I just have this rule about not making food that requires a lot of handling when I'm sick. It's in everyone's best interest.

- Prepare the balcony for my second attempt at gardening. This year I plan on getting a few tomato plants and some flower pots for herbs. I haven't decided which herbs. I'm thinking cilantro. Can you imagine -- with tomatoes and cilantro on the balcony I can make pico de gallo anytime I want. I looked into attempting avocados indoors, but it can take 10 years for the plant to start producing fruit. That's a shame because I love guacamole. I'm also planning on sweet potatoes again and hopefully I'll end up with something more substantial than this: