I've actually accomplished quite a bit since I last posted!

First, I finished reading all the Book of Mormon chapter headings in one Sunday afternoon. All together, it took less than 2 hrs. And I noticed for the first time that in the chapter where Lehi dies, Nephi spends quite a few verses writing how blessed he is. I'm not sure gratitude will be my primary emotion when my father passes away. And maybe it wasn't his primary emotion, either, but it's amazing to me to see those two things in the same chapter.

Second, I've started speed reading the Book of Mormon. It will take me more than a month at the rate I'm going, but I'm still cruising along and quite pleased with my progress.

Third, I'm also speed-reading Jesus the Christ. This is one of those heavy, thick-enough-to-absorb-a-bullet books that generally decorates rather than instructs. Wordy doesn't begin to describe it! But I'm reading it and, yes, disagreeing strongly with a point in the last chapter I read. Are you curious about what I disagree with? Don't think so because this blog has no readers, but here goes:

The author asserts that Eve was deceived by the serpent, but Adam wasn't deceived--that he partook of the fruit because he realized the disparity of their situations and "with some measure of understanding followed her course." Quoting the apostle Paul, "Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression."

Just a few feminist comments to make about this topic, in increasing order of importance. :)

1. Adam is referred to by name, but Eve is called "the woman"? It reminds me of someone I know, not far from my own age, who refers to me and the other women in the office as "the girls." Yeah, don't really appreciate it. Yes, this is petty, but that's the mood I'm in.
2. I have a lot of respect for Paul as an apostle, but this is the same man who said women should not speak in church. I'm assuming this is a cultural thing, because my bishop certainly expects me to speak in church!
3. In the temple, we learn that Eve was not deceived. And that is the final word of the matter, amen.

As a side note, there have have been a few comments--yes, very few--made by apostles that I disagree with. One I don't remember the specifics on, but it involved an apostle decades ago who disparaged the concept of evolution. Evolution takes place. That's all there is to it. Now the idea that we descended from primates may or may not be true, but evolution as a whole principle is true. And yes, dinosaur bones do exist. And so do skeletons of sort-of-human humans. My philosophy is that God is the Ultimate Scientist and whatever science uncovers is the work of God. Also, the story in Genesis was recorded by a right-brained (artistic) society. The creation story in the book of Abraham came to us through the Egyptians (left-brained, scientific) has some striking differences. I'll expound on this more later, but suffice it to say that audiences understand and record the same information differently based on their background and culture.

Another comment I disagree with is (again, conveniently, I forgot who said it) that people were born the gender they were meant to be because "God doesn't make mistakes." There a number of things I disagree with. First, people are born with deformities all the time. Are we to assume gender is never something that goes wrong. Having taken a number of genetics classes, this is a naive assumption. First, some people, called hermaphrodites, have both sets of genetalia. Which gender are they? Second, some women have XY chromosomes, because although the are genetically male, they lack a testerone receptor that can't "read" the testosterone running in their system. All humans default to the female gender if larger amounts of male hormones aren't present, so males (genetically male, with XY chromosomes) lacking a testosterone receptor will be physically female. Which gender are they? Also, there are XX males. Several years ago, a couple couldn't get pregnant. This is usually a fertility problem with the woman, but nothing was wrong with her. So the man was tested, and he had zero sperm. He got a karyotype (picture of his chromosomes) and it was found that he was genetically female (XX). A tiny part of the Y chromosome had broken off and attached to one of the X chromosomes. It was enough to get the male hormones flowing, so he is outwardly male. Is this person male or female?

In addition, I know a young man who is the most feminine person I have ever met. I would love to get him genetically tested. I have a hard time believing he was meant to be male.

Religion aside and gender issues aside, I also went to Antelope Island for the first time! That place is covered with huge big black giant man-eating spiders! Okay, I didn't actually see them eat any men, but I didn't see many men either so I believe I can reasonably deduct that the spiders must have eaten them. (I call this make-up-your-own-logic-and-see-if-you-can-get-people-to-believe-it. This is the most popular type of logic used in conversation and media today.)

More later, but I had a really great time. I went with my friend whom we shall call Apple. She's quite educated, and she motivates me to better myself. I love that! She owns the original set of Great Books of the Western World and now I'm wanting to read them myself. Whodathunkit?

So it's been a week and how have I done? Well, I didn't give up fiction completely, but I've scaled waaaaay back. So much so that when I went to the library and looked in the fiction stacks, nothing looked interesting. I left. Yay! Definite progress.

I went out with an old friend tonight whom I haven't seen for seven months or so. It was great to see her. She's definitely going to be one of the three (or more) friendships I will develop this year. Even better, she and a friend of hers will be taking a belly dancing class and I'm going to join them! Two birds with one stone. :)

Also this week, I started to read the Book of Mormon chapter headings. It's so fast! I thought it would take hours and hours, but it will only take hours. Get it? Ha!....ha...okay, not that funny. But seriously folks, it should only take two hours max. Probably quite a bit less. I'm not doing it in one day, but I am doing it.... Progress.

Baby steps.

More things I'd like to do this year:

1. Turn my bedroom from a storage unit into a relaxation oasis.
2. Use or get rid of stored furniture.
3. Sell, donate, or throw away unused items, including clothing.
4. Restore the exterior of the house.
5. Take a class on building houses.
6. Volunteer with Habitat for Humanity at least 3 times.
7. Take a drawing class.
8. Take a belly dancing class.
9. Read all the Book of Mormon chapter headings in one day.
10. Build a dog house or shed (to learn and practice stick framing).
11. Install a recessed light (to learn and practice electrical skills).
12. Master 10 classic recipes. Not sure what they are yet. ;)
13. Speed read the Book of Mormon in one month.
14. Reduce my regular monthly expenses to half my monthly net income.
15. Buy a reading chair. How many years have I wanted one???
16. Finish Grandma Barrus' memory book.
17. Take a class on auto mechanics (maintenance and repair).
18. Collect one year's worth of food storage.
19. Master 10 recipes on cooking with food storage.
20. Create a list of needed emergency items, and prioritize it.
    
21. Collect emergency supplies highest priority emergency supplies.
22. Learn how to bake bread.
23. Record every cent spent for a month.
24. Give up sugar for a month. This includes all items where sugar is one of the top 3 ingredients.
25. Get 8 hrs of sleep for a month.
26. Train the dogs to walk on a leash without pulling me every which way.
    

So what shall I do today? My first thought this morning was to grab and novel and start reading. It was not easy to avoid that temptation, but I have thus far escaped fiction's grasping hands. Okay, here's the plan:

• I really need to work on fitness daily if I'm to achieve the body fat percentage and other health related goals. So I'm going to cycle 3 miles today.
  
• Later today I'm going to work on finishing the front room remodeling. Even if we can't finish the baseboard today I can still work on cleaning the walls and caulking the crown molding.
• Go grocery shopping for next week. Spend no more than $30.
• Draw!
  

In Which Alyson Decides to Get a Life

Have you ever looked back on your life and wondered how you spent your time? I have years like that. Yes, years where I have few memories and little record of what occurred. True, I have a terrible memory and haven't owned a camera in more than a decade, but it's still a sad statement. So I have decided to take the plunge and do all the things I always meant to do.

My goal is to do 100 new things this year. Yep, that's one roughly every three days. I don't have a complete list right now, but here are some ideas:

1. Reduce my body fat to 18%.
2. Squat my body weight.
3. Do 1 full pull-up.
4. Cycle 50 miles in one day.
5. Hike 10 miles in one day.
6. Write and distribute a computer program that fills a need.
7. Write and sell an iPhone application.
8. Grow a garden during the winter (possibly just tomatoes and some herbs).
9. Pay off student loans.
10. Landscape the yard into a beautiful oasis.
11. Achieve excellence in drawing. Not sure how to measure this.
12. Develop a TNT (tried 'n true) pants pattern.
13. Develop a TNT T-shirt pattern. Surprisingly difficult....
14. Develop a TNT blouse pattern.
15. Train the dogs to sit, stay, and come.
16. Reach my kids in Primary. They zone out, and I don't blame them. I'm a boring teacher!
17. Finish remodeling the living room.
18. Remodel the main bathroom.
19. Remodel the kitchen.
20. Read no fiction for one year. The first and only "do not" of this list, but this is the main reason I don't live my own life--I'm too busy reading about others' (fictional) lives!
21. Create set of Primary games.
22. Attend every temple in Utah.
23. Learn to knit.
24. Bike to work every day for a month.
25. Go to all major tourist sites in Utah.
1. Antelope Island
2. Brigham Young's home
3. This is the Place State Park
4. Moab
5. Copper mine
6. Lake Powell
7. Goblin Valley
8. Escalante
9. Zion's National Park
10. Uintah Mtns
    
26. Take a downhill skiing lesson.
27. Go cross-country skiing.
28. Go snow-shoeing.
29. Get flexible enough to wrap my hands around my feet.
30. Re-read the Book of Mormon.
31. Read Jesus the Christ by Bruce R. McConkie.
    
32. Re-read the New Testament.
33. Do yoga 3 times a week for a month.
34. Play racquetball 3 times a week for a month.
35. Learn to swim the breaststroke.
36. Take 3 singing lessons.
    
37. Get certified by Toastmasters. (Ha! I went once and was so awful that I cried on the way home.)
    
38. Learn to mingle.
    
39. Attend 3 social events and practice my mingling skills.
    
40. Use coupons for 1 month on every grocery shopping trip.
41. Learn to dance socially. That is, learn to dance so that I can go to a club or a party and not feel like a fool.
    
42. Cook 3 recipes from every cookbook I own.
43. Learn to flirt.
44. Read every book I own (non-fiction), or get rid of it.
45. Return everything I've borrowed.
46. Fulfill all promises I've made.
1. Aunt's pictures
2. Karen's daugher's photo
47. Sew 1 item per Burda or Ottobre sewing magazine that I have.
48. Sew 1 item per pattern that I own, or get rid of it.
49. Budget before every paycheck in advance, and use the envelope system.
50. Write a novel.
51. Change the oil in a car.
52. Learn the basics of how a car operates and what the main components are.
53. Learn to replace a faucet.
54. Learn to tile.
55. Sew all fabric that I currently own and that I'll buy this coming year, or get rid of it.
56. Learn to tune up my own bicycle.
57. Contact all brothers at least once a week (phone, email, text, etc).
58. Develop 3 friendships this year.
59. Go visiting teaching every month this year.
60. Re-learn how to ride a motorcycle.
    

That is quite a list. I was intending to go for 100 items, but I think it's already nearly impossible. I can't wait to start!