100 Days of Failure

This page is my place to keep track of my failures, attempts, and general breaking out of my rut efforts. To learn more about this, please see the blog entry I did: I begin 100 Days of Failure.

1. Purchased new caramel creamer. Success for David, fail for me.

2. Planting hanging strawberry plants. Apparent failure although I fault the manufacturer since we carefully followed the directions.

3. Stopped at UMC in town and bought pasties from their pasty sale. Success for David, fail for me.

4. I failed to fail today. Under the weather child took most of my time and energy today.

5. Tried on super cute trendy dress. Fail.

6. Make Hitler Rant movie about Michigan football and MSU Spartans. Success!

7. Try to watch Good Neighbors: The Complete Series 1-3 even though I generally dislike older British sitcoms. Fail after three episodes. I simply find the style of British sitcoms unappealing. It’s not liking watching British dramas.

8. Try something new at Qdoba. Fail.

9. Planted broccoli for first time in square foot gardens. Fail.

10. Tried The Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever! I don’t want to say fail because they were pretty good. But I didn’t like them enough to make them instead of other cookies I like better. (Love the website, though!) Update: David and Caroline loved them so I guess I will be making them again!

11. Planted zucchini, kohlrabi and rhubarb for the first time. Sort of success.  Got some but it was hard to judge with the super hot summer we had.  Will try again next summer.

12. Planted pie pumpkins for second time. Last year we planted them too late after we moved so we only got one pumpkin (although it was a cutie!). Sadly, mostly fail.  We had so many flowers but almost no pumpkins. Not sure if it was the heat this summer, not cultivating the ground enough before using it or what.  Have already started preparing the ground for next fall.

13. Used dough cycle to make bread and then baked in oven. Success!  I’ve been wanting to do this forever, but just never took the time to try it. I used Brenda’s recipe for Whole Wheat Honey Bread. I used King Arthur Bread Flour, butter and honey. Yum! I am a King Arthur flour groupie. Once you start using it, you don’t ever want to buy anything else.

14. Tried Salted Caramel Mocha flavored ground coffee from the local roaster in Cute Little Town.  Success!

15. Started going to a chiropractor in Cute Little Town. I had to overcome some major bias to do so. After one visit yesterday I already say success. My neck and shoulders felt better this morning than they had in months.

16. Made Belgian-Style Yeast Waffles. EPIC FAIL. Trying to diagnose the problem, I’ve come to two conclusions.  One, this recipe is too yeasty tasting for me. I literally spit it out. (I usually use Krusteaz Belgian Waffle Mix which is really good for a mix.) Two, the Bella Cucina Rotating Belgium Waffle Maker I have is not a good product. I went online to read the reviews and they were uniformly negative which is too bad. The waffles were thick and mushy – not at all what a Belgian waffle should be. They were that way the first time I used it as well, but I thought perhaps I just did something wrong. I have a Villaware Belgian waffle maker from The Mothership (Williams-Sonoma) that makes three small heart shaped waffles that are really good. But I wanted to be able to make large waffles that are crisp on both sides so I received this one as a gift.  Oh well. I now know not to try using it again. My all time favorite waffle mix is Carbon’s Golden Malted Pancake & Waffle Flour, but it’s so expensive I tend not to buy it very often.

17. Made granola in the Crockpot.  Fail and success!

18. Despite being die-hard Behr paint users, we decided to try Valspar since the Ace in Cute Little Town carries it and we support local businesses as much as possible.  EPIC FAIL. The coverage was terrible.  Three coats later in Caroline’s bathroom and you can STILL see the previous color through.

19. Decided to try Chocolate Almond coffee at the local roaster in Cute Little Town.  Fail. We’ll drink it, but I wouldn’t buy it again.

20. Tried church in Cute Little Town with pastor that reminded me of Mark Driscoll (not good, IMHO) and contemporary music.  Spent half of service in narthex with Caroline trying to avoid the loud music.  Fail.

21. I am a die-hard Cascade user for dishwasher detergent.  I decided to try the Meijer brand since it is significantly cheaper.  Success!

22. Tried Sweet and Sour Soup at the Chinese restaurant. Fail.  I’ll stick to my Sizzling Rice Soup there.  Much better!

23. Updating this page regularly this summer. Fail

24. Starting to update again this fall. Success!

25. Tried storing potatoes on newspaper in the basement. Success!

26. Tried Pinterest despite my aversion to social media. Discovered I actually enjoy it much better than Facebook and Twitter. Success!

27. Determined to find a tea I can drink in the evening that doesn’t turn my stomach. I found Celestial Seasonings Lemon Zinger is not too bad if I let it steep a long time and add some sugar.  I also like their Peppermint tea, but I think it keeps me awake so not good in the evening.  Success!

28. Bought a pomegranate to try since I’ve never eaten one. Sort of success in that I actually bought one to try. But by the time I got around to looking up online how to eat it, it was no good.  I’ll have to get another one.  Fail.

29. Came up with my own recipe of Rosemary and Lemon Chicken for the Crockpot or slow cooker.  Success!

30. Made Thanksgiving dinner all by myself.  Success!

31. Tried a new Classic Baked Macaroni and Cheese recipe.  Fail.  Too sticky and not creamy enough.

32. Made dipped pretzels for the first time this Christmas.  Success!

33. Tried a Meyer Lemon pudding cake recipe I found on a blog.  Blech.  Total fail.

34. Opened my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Success!

35. Tried Facebook (again).  Success, I think.

36. Tried Chinese takeout place number one in Cute Little Town. EPIC FAIL.

37. Tried Chinese takeout place number two in Cute Little Town. Fail. If I were truly desperate for some Chinese and didn’t want to drive into our favorite Chinese restaurant in the Big City, I could probably order some sweet and sour chicken from here.  Otherwise, fail.

38. Try my new food processor that I’ve had for more than two years.  Ahem.  Success!

39. Use my new food processor to make homemade pizza dough. Success!