2008 Quizes

You Remember 90% of 2008

You were paying attention during 2008. And you remember what happened really well. You'll be able to talk about 2008 for years to come... Even when most people have forgotten what went down.

How Much Do You Remember 2008?

Travel Horoscope for Aries

When you travel, you literally want to see a whole different world. You want a vacation full of adventure, exotic sights, and tons of variety. You should travel to: India Kenya New Zealand Brazil Thailand

What's Your Travel Horoscope?

Your Thinking is Concrete and Sequential

You are precise, orderly, and realistic. You tend to get to the point and get things done. Difficult, detailed work is easy for you. You take things step by step. Time limits aren't a problem for you either. You work well with deadlines. What does drive you crazy is any sort of task that isn't precisely laid out. You don't like anything to be ambiguous. You prefer to deal with the facts at hand.

What Kind of Thinker Are You?

Christmas Cookies 2008

Cookie Baking 2008 is done. Early, I might add. I did 9 different cookie batches this year. 2 recipes of which I had made previously and the others were all new. I did burn my fingers during the 6th batch. Stupid me wasn't paying attention and grabbed the pan I had JUST taken out of the oven because it was in my way. Still hurts, but is going away. If that hadn't happened I would have done at least one more batch, but it is annoying to have your fingers hurting, so I lost my concentration. Now I just need to box them up for giving to their respective recipients.

The list and pictures for anyone who cares.

Iced Lemon Cookies
Fudge-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies
Turtle Shortbread Cookies and Regular Shortbread Cookies
Chai-Spiced Cookies
Peanut Brittle Cookies
Big Soft Ginger Cookies
Candied Ginger Cookies
Apricot-Sage Cookies
Monster Cookies

Church Window Candy

It appears hardly anyone knows what Church Window candies/cookies are at my work. I've seen these for so many years I thought they were universally know. They are tasty and easy to make. A girl at work had asked me for a recipe for no bake cookies or candies and she knew exactly what they were. When she brought some in the share today, most people asked what they were and I was very surprised. Here is the recipe I gave her. There are a couple ways to make them..

Church Window Cookies
No BAKE! And they only take about 10 mins to make up!
1/2 cup butter or margarine
12 ounces chocolate bits
1 cup walnuts, chopped
10 ounces colored marshmallows
14 ounces flaked coconut
Instructions:
Melt butter and chocolate bits over low heat. Allow to cool slightly. Stir in nuts and marshmallows. Spread coconut on wax paper. Divide chocolate
mixture into two rolls. Roll in coconut. Place in refrigerator for 24 hours. Cut in 1/2-inch slices.

Pretty Cake

Kyndra's 4th birthday was celebrated Sunday with yummy tacos that Nisi made and pretty cake that I made. I think that's a good combo.

Halloween Party

Mythbusters Clip

A little too quiet

Things are a little too quiet on the blogs these days. Does everyone have as boring of a life as I do? Or is everyone just soooo busy they don't have time to update the world with all the super excting things that happen to them daily?

My eldest brother Matt has gotten himself engaged to his super great girlfriend, Mary. They got engaged in Las Vegas a day after he made her cry when she asked if they were ever going to get married and he said NO, don't plan on it. He didn't want his plans ruined, but it was a bit jerky of him. I am excited for him. Hopefully this will be a great new start for him. With the economy the way that it is and her family mostly in Peru, they will be having a very small wedding, I believe. It still should be good. Nothing wrong with a small wedding. I'm going to talk to him and see if I can get them to have a big party reception, maybe at my parents? I'll be talking to him on Saturday at the latest, at the annual Dykehouse Christmas Party. At least the party is after Halloween this year, though not by much. I think almost all my cousins will be there this year. Should be a big, ever growing, group.

Who Needs Money When You Have Kitchen Supplies?

I just got the call. I am soooo excited. I applied for and received a seasonal job working at Williams-Sonoma. I absolutly love this store and often ask for birthday or christmas presents from here. Now with a great discount, I will be spending large chunks of my 'extra' paycheck here. At least that is the plan.

Woot!

So Sarah told me about woot.com the other day. One day deals and the such. Which is pretty cool. But I think I like shirt.woot.com better! It's a sister site and if we had more money, Matt would have lots more T-shirts. Though they have them in womens sizes too. I'm not really a "t-shirt" person. We'll see. :)

Losing my mind.

I mean I lost my keys. I got home from work Thursday, and now I can't find my freakin' car keys. I was ready to go to work Friday morning, got in my car and couldn't find my keys in my purse. Ran inside franticely throwing things around on the countertops, tabletops and dresser. Still nothing. Look on floor. Freak out. I'm going to be late for work if I don't leave NOW. Luckly I had a spare set stashed that I could grab and figured I deal with it when I got home. Matt and I have looked everywhere. Can't find them. Very frusterating. I don't know where else to look. I guess I'll just use my spare set until they show themselves, if they ever do.

Cats are Great

A Few Highlights

A few pictures from our party last Saturday.

Ted and JD always do something odd.

Tom doesn't want me to steal his soul. (take his picture)

Yes, JD is sleeping.

Ted singing on Rockband and Dave on Guitar. Isn't Dave looking good?

What was so funny?


It was a really fun party and we had alot of people actually show up this year. I'd say 20+ people. The meatballs were the big hit this year. I'll have to make even more next year. And not let Sarah knock over the slowcooker! Good thing all the meatballs were gone and just the messy sauce left to spread all over the carpet. It's mostly cleaned out, but I still want new floors so maybe I'll leave the rest. :)

Sidenote: I booked our tickets for Tucson. AZ here we come!

Mason's 1st B-day

I was surprised to see that Nisi had not posted pictures of Mason's Birthday party, even though she forgot her own camera. I'm sure once she gets pictures from friends and family, she do a birthday post for him. But anyway, here are pictures of Matt and mine's gift to Mason. The cake.

Updates?

Hmmm. I noticed I have not given any real updated since May or so. Not that I'm the only one slacking in blogger world. They cut down all our pine trees in front. A few weeks ago 4 of the 6 were gone, and when I came home today the last two were gone. It's sad really. I really loved those trees.

Matt and I did go to Wizard World in June again. It was nice to have a hotel connected to the convention center. Lots less stressful for transportation. Matt got to the finals in the Heroclix competition, but was out in the first round. So we got to wander around Chicago a little before heading back. We ate at the Cheesecake Factory twice and the Gibson's twice too. Biggest lobster tail I have ever seen at the Gibson's. We got the smaller one that was only 14oz. And the desserts! OMG!! They serve things family style there and a piece of cake is approx. a quarter of a 18" cake with 4 layers! Holy freaking cow! OH, and the martini's are great too. I think I found my new favorite restaurant.

We are leaving for Silver Lake Sunday for two nights. Which will be nice. Matt's dad rents a cottage up there and we all pop up for visits. It's nice and laid back. Very relaxing. Should be fun. And we have small wine opener in our car now, so hopefully this won't happen this year. (Opening wine bottle with screw and pliers)


Also Matt made the GenCon finals for HeroClix too and we will be heading to GenCon in Indianapolis this August. Just the weekend for me though. I can't take any vacation days at that point because other people in my department at work already have time off and two people aren't suppose to be gone at the same time. The cool thing about GenCon as compared to Wizard World is that there are events for the "gamer widows". Some pretty cool classes are being offered, though it looks like the pole dancing classes are full already. I'm thinking I'll just see what is still open when I get there and then plan better if we go next year.

Oh, and our yearly summer party is coming up August 2nd.

Motivational Poster 5

Motivational Poster 4

Ha! That's Great!

Katy Perry Myspace Page

Ur So Gay

Wii Fit?

So Matt and I had actually picked up the Wii Fit last week sometime and I finally got around to hooking it up tonight and giving it a whirl. Pretty neat. My biggest problem is that with my height and weight I am classified as "Obese", so my poor Mii gets to be fat! She is really round from some angles. Poor thing. Anyway the Hula Hoop aerobic challenge and Super Hula Hoop Challenge have been my favorite so far, but I didn't try out everything available yet and I need to unlock a bunch of stuff. Tight-rope walking sucks.

Death Machines

Matt and I completed our Motorcycle Safety Class yesterday. It was two days of classroom work and then two 5 hour days of field work. It was really nerve wracking to start. Though I think I was more nervous the second day than the first. I kept popping the clutch, which is not a good thing to do. I just let it go completely all the time. Stalling out a lot. Two people failed by falling on the final evaluation, but Matt and I passed. All we need to do now is go to the Secretary of State and take the written test and we will be legal to drive motorcycles. Yeah! We just need to buy one now. Probably a street bike.

Motivational Poster 3

Motivational Poster 2

Motivational Poster 1

So Tired...

Look here.

Shoes

I had a half day at work today and stopped at DSW, after lunch with a very busy Matt, to pick up some new shoes with some b-day money I gots. After Matt and I got home from dinner at San Chez, I took the shoes out of the boxes to show Matt what I got. We than put the shoe boxes on the floor for the cats to enjoy. This is what happened next.

Murdock insisted that he could fit him self in a shoebox that was too small for him.



Greta decides she LOVES my shoe pile and rubs herself all over my shoes.



All the kitties decide to come and check out the shoes and shoeboxes.

It's About Time for A Funny Cat Video

NC

I've been busy, that's why I haven't posted since we got back. It was a long drive and I did do 90% or so of the driving. Good thing the Honda is more comfortable than the Grand Am was or I'd still be walking weird. The house was great. Everything I expected. We had our room on the 1st floor which was separated from everyone else. It was nice to be apart from the rest of the crazy's :)

The whole trip was relaxing and fun, except a little family drama, but that is what happens when people are in close quarters for a whole week. Only one trip to the Urgent Care Center for the newest member of the family. Babies need supervision.

Had good food at a Steamers Shellfish to Go. Very Good, in fact. If I am ever in the Outer Banks again I will seek this place out. We also had a themed picture, dressed as pirates. Everyone looks great but me. Sigh

I'd do it again.

It's Here!

Scott and his brother were over playing it together earlier, but I went to the gym and didn't get a picture of all of them playing together. I hear they beat it, and than switched to the new Super Smash Brothers Brawl for the Wii, which is what they were playing when I got home.

A Whole Bunch of..

Not much. Life is still not very exciting around the Cherry household. Matt's got lots of neat stuff goings on, but he is not very good at posting about it. Next week we have a really cool thing arriving that some of you may have heard rumor about, but we will wait and post pictures when it arrives.

We are both super excited about our upcoming trip to NC. I really need some time away from work. I haven't have a vacation in a really long time. At least 8 months. Which is forever. The 14 hour drive should be interesting. My control issues mean that I will try and drive the whole way, but we will have to wait and see how things go. Cramming all 4 of us, and all our junk for a week, in my Honda should be interesting too. There is a washer and dryer at the house, so packing light is an option. Doubtful, but still an option.

In the Year 2010

Matt and I were watching TV the other night and flipped to the Girls Next Door on E!. They were at Sandals Resort in Jamaica. I say: I want to go to a Sandals resort. (pout) Matt: Sure, we can go...(dramatic pause) in 2010! haha! Me: You do realize you just gave me permission to book a trip to a Sandals resort, don't you? Matt: In like 2 whole years! That's forever away. Me: 2 years really isn't that far away. Yeah!! We're going to the Caribbean! Super exciting! (Matt rolls eyes)

So, we get to get passports and I get to decide what island we go to, I am thinking Jamaica, but I may change my mind. I need to look and see what is offered and what the rooms look like. Might be fun if others wanted to come along. Any takers?

Spending Money

So before Matt went on his little jaunt South to see Ted, I dragged him to Sprint to buy new phones. I am super excited over this because I got a smartphone. A Palm Centro and Matt got a Katana II. I love having the little keyboard and I can manage my calendar online and sync them with push of a button. Still getting use to the touchscreen, but still really cool.

I also booked our room for Wizard World Chicago, June 26-29. There already were hotels not available to rent for those days and we want to stay right next to the convention center this time, we also got a really good deal for booking early and it's a really nice hotel. So when I get bored I can just head back to the room. Yeah!

I also am sending out the last check to cover the family vacation to NC this spring. I am really looking forward to this trip, though not the 12-14 hour drive. Here is the house that we are renting with Matt's family and the Markanovich's. Soon I will start over planning for this trip. I bought some travel books on Amazon.com. (Yet another addictive website to spend money) Matt says we may actually get to do some of the things I want. I can only hope.

Stupid Clearance

Kohl's has the 80-90% off clearance going on right now. Very dangerous. I walked out with a very large bag of stuff. Too bad they don't print how much you saved on the receipt. I'm too lazy to do the real math. Also I sense a theme. Must be the time of year to get great deals.

Y?

We joined the Y. I have officially exercised two days in a row. Fun though. Yesterday was yoga and today was Zumba. The yoga teacher was a touch odd, but that is stereotypically normal for yoga teachers. By the end of the class I liked her. Matt came with me today, but didn't join the class with me. He hit the treadmill. They have personal TVs for every cardio station. It's pretty cool, you just need to bring your own headphones to plug into the player. Side note: Cool diet/healthy living site. It's free.

We also spent more money and increased our nerd/geek rating. We bought Matt a laptop so that we can play WoW together. Ironically, we had unknowingly signed up for auto-pay for WoW and we were recently billed for bulk months that I noticed while checking the credit card statement. So we decided to keep it active and make new characters on a 'Normal' server where upper level jerks can't come around and kill low level characters for no reason other than to be total jerks. I am also hoping that having a laptop will increase Matt's book writing. I signed him up for National Novel Writing Month, which sounds really cool to me. And may help? By November he'll be sick of WoW again anyway. :P

New Year

Oh my. 2007 wasn't a particularly great year for us, so lets hope for better in 2008. I am not a big fan of lists. Never have been. The idea is good, but I don't like the sense of failure if/when I fail to complete all the things I was hoping to achive. I seem to be a 'list half failed' as compared to a 'list half finished' type of person. I'll try it this year, but only a couple things...

1. Learn basic French - My Christmas present "from" Matt this year was the software to learn french. I have always had the desire and wished it had been offered in school, but it wasn't. This way when I drag Matt to France with me some time (or go without him) I'll understand what is going on. I have always wanted to learn multiple launguages and I feel it's time to start trying.

2. Lose Weight - Hoping for 40 pounds, would love to lose 50, and will be happy with 30+. Looking for the right classes that are not located to far from home. Or I won't go because I am lazy.

3. Start taking buisness classes at GRCC.

Thats good enough for me.