Merry Christmas

I gave my mother the new Josh Groban Christmas CD for Christmas and was suprised to hear that Nisi didn't know who he was. So here is a small sampling of his work.

Holiday Baking 2007

My cookie baking is done for Christmas. Yeah! I picked 9 recipes and made 8 of them. I have time to make the last one but my feet hurt and I am losing my ambition to do more. All I need to do now is plate them up. Of the 8 recipes I had only made one of them previously. I really enjoy trying new recipes. Not a big fan of the same thing all the time. Variety is the spice of life, they say. Don't know who they are....

Here's pictures for all of you who care...

Dice are cool

We were at Barnes and Nobles tonight and I saw this game. Anything with that many dice has to be super cool. I tried to talk Matt into buying it...but he didn't want to.

Also we discovered this weekend that Murdock is scared of the stove. If we bring him anywhere near it he cries and tries to run away. So funny to watch. We're so mean. :)

I Know Who I Am Voting For!

Bah

If the holiday season keeps up like this week at work was, I will soon be swearing off Christmas like Matt does. Thank goodness for a three day work week or I might have done something drastic, like calling-in when I am not really sick. I try so hard and get no where. Very frustrating. Now off to the bar for drinking. Biggest bar night of the year. Woo-Hoo!

Interesting...

Amazing what happens in the blogs when one doesn't check them for 2 whole days. What angry people we know. So I guess I better blog something or all out war will break out. Though my life is quite boring. Really. No Joke. Especially since I have been sick with a stupid cold for the last 3 weeks. Ever since the big family Christmas. I am actually still coughing as I write this. Phlegm and everything. It had even settled in my neck, this cold. I woke up one Monday morning and couldn't move my neck without sever pain. Which really sucks when you have a cough. Do you realize how much you move your neck when you cough? Alot. I actually went to the doctor and got muscle relaxers, which didn't help much, and perscription strength Ibuprophen. That Saturday was my Celtic Women Concert, which was fun, even with the sore neck and cough. My only complaint is that they didn't talk. Only sang their songs. No history no backstories, only thanks for coming. That was it. But I am finally starting to feel normal again. We might even head out to the bar tonight for some drinking and karaoke. If Matt feels up to it. He has been at a HeroClix thing all day in Ann Arbor.

Now I have to go take the cheescake out of the oven. Boring post finished.

Wake Up

Weather the Weather

Weather is turning again today. I am so sick of 80+ degrees out with tons of humidity. Ugh! Tomorrow is only supposed to have a high in the 50's. I can't hardly wait. This is October. It should start acting like it. I have started fall baking and everything. Matt and I bought a half a bushel of apples this last weekend and I intend to use every one in different things. I have already made Apple Harvest Cake. Which did make me nervous. In the oven for a whole hour! Tasty though. Kinda like a bread more than a cake. Tonight I am going to make a Bavarian Apple Torte which is pictured. I hope it tastes good too.

You all will probably hate me but...I think I am going to see Celtic Women when they come to VanAndel. I like them. They have great harmonies and cool looking sets, at least from the TV broadcast on public television that was taped at a castle in Europe somewhere. They have some songs up on myspace if you want to hear them. It's OK if you want to make fun of me for liking them. We all have our secret bands that we like.

The Wheels of Time Turn

I had very much hoped the my parents were wrong this morning when I was told that Robert Jordan had died. The Wheel of Time series has very much so been my favorite series of all time. So when I got home I checked his blog. There is was. Robert Jordan died Sept. 16. I may sound bad but I had really hoped he would have finished the last book for the Wheel of Time. He knew he was dying but was very tired from his illness and the treatments that he had pushed it back and could only write on certain days when he felt good. One of his blogs says he intended on staying alive until all his book idea's were written and he had 20 years worth of writing to do so he wasn't planning on dying until that was done. But is wasn't to be. They say he had enough written notes and audio notes on what was to happen in the final book and his wife/editior and publisher will finish the book, but it won't be the same.

“He came like the wind, like the wind touched everything, and like the wind was gone.”

"The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose.... The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of time.
But it was a beginning"

Ugh, Clutter.

Recently I have felt like getting rid of all the clutter in my life. It has really been bothering me having all this useless stuff just cluttering up everything. I don't know if it is the fact that we may or may not be moving at some point in the next 6 months to 5 years. And that move may be far, far away. (Colorado would be nice but so would Maine, Washington, Oregon, or Hawaii) Or I am just sick of picking it up and cleaning in general. But I put 30 things up on ebay this last week and Matt put up 2 and we put up one for our friend Ken, for a total of 33 items. I also have a whole trash bag full of clothes to donate that I will never wear again for one reason or other. I think if I had a big dumpster I may just throw everything away, but that feels so wasteful.



In other news we just signed away our land and trees today for the road "improvements". We decided just to have all 6 pine trees taken out and we will replant when the construction is done. I am pretty sure I will cry when they cut down those trees. I love having them there and I have alot of childhood memories tied in with them. Change can be hard sometimes. Makes me sad just thinking about it.

Impatient kitty

impatient kitty

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Hey! Ikea!

Last weekend was very fun for me and quite possible a little for Matt too. I had taken Friday off from work to use my last vacation day and to go to the dentist (boo), so the Wednesday night before, it was decided that we would finally go to Ikea. Yeah! I booked a really cool room for a really great price at Fairfield Inn, which is next to Ikea, and once Matt got out of work and came home around 3pm we left for Canton. While at the dentist I had talked to the hygientist and she recommended that we try to shop Friday evening because weekends are so packed, especially with screaming children. So we got to Canton right at rush hour and finally made it to the hotel to check in and immediately went to Ikea. So Cool! We grabbed a snack at the cafe and started looking at the showrooms. Really made me want a new kitchen. Matt wants a bookcase with a ladder. We were hoping for a new coffee table, but they didn't have one that we liked that fit the style of our house. I bought some kitchen stuff and a duvet and we got a really cool print for the bedroom wall and some other random stuff. Then we went out for dinner at Chili's, bought some liquor to drink in the room and jumped into the super deep jacuzzi tub in our suite. Slept great. I want that tub.

We stopped at a neat comic book store in Canton and than headed back, stopping at the Tanger outlet mall in Howell and bought more random stuff, a shirt, some toys and books, ect.. Than the antique store that is right behind the outlet mall, where we got ornery at each other because we had spent to much time together and our feet hurt. :) Headed home, took naps and headed out for a really great night at karaoke with lots of friends. Super weekend that was super busy.

In Michigan news, fall is coming. Nights are a cool 40-50 degrees, the leaves are starting to turn, I turned the air conditioning off, and I want to bake. I love fall. The colors are great. The whole season is great in general.

Revolutionary

Myspace Drama

You know those 'friends' that you had in high school that you lost touch with and stumble across in myspace and decide to be myspace friends with, just for the hell of it though you know they aren't the greatest person? Yeah well that has come back to bite me. Real hard. She had been sending out all sorts of stupid bulletins, and I never responded, until...she sent the stupid "if your my real friend you'll respond to this bulletin" bulletin. I don't know if any of you have seen this one yet, but I don't like it. It is really stupid. Anyway, I decide to respond, mildly, at least in my mind, that I never respond because almost everything she sends is spam or chainmail, though I do check everything to see if it is important. She has taken this very, very, very personally. She wrote me a very pissed off e-mail calling me hypocritical and 'high school'. Among other things. I responded apologizing for upsetting her and that it wasn't meant to be personal or an attack on her in any way and that she can send them all she wants, but they are not my style. Among other things. :) She is still enraged (myspace emotioncon tells all) and posts a bulletin saying that she had been verbally attacked about her bulletins, calling me a bitch and alot of other things. Without naming me specifically though, of course. I sent a private e-mail asking her what issues she had with me that she is blowing this misunderstanding so out of proportion with what was actually going on. *sigh* I may have one less myspace friend in a day or two. Oh well. Less stress for me if she doesn't get alittle more mature real quick.

Chicago

I thought I would take a moment and share about our trip to Chicago. I did actually get my car back on that Thursday morning, a few hours before we left, so that was great! Transmission was totally replaced and is running much better. Driving to Chicago was a good test for that repair. Traffic wasn't to bad until we crossed the bridge into town. Holy Cow, they have lots of traffic there. We checked in to our hotel at a super great rate thanks to Matt's friend Leif. And immediatly left for the convention center which was about 15 miles about. Took FOREVER. Damn traffic.

Lots of cool stuff. Forgot to take pictures of all the crazies like I intended. We got Matt's Fing Fang Foom's and hauled them back to the car. They are quite large and cool looking. Friday and Saturday we got up early (for me at least), got breakfast and went back to the convention center to wait in line for the Heroclix events.
These lasted most of the day for both days. After losing we wandered and looked at all the booths and bought stuff. I got a great shirt from the Oblongs TV show. The creator was there and was cool to meet. Matt didn't do as well as we hoped at Clix, so he didn't make it to the finals on Sunday. So we went to the Lincoln Park Zoo instead. It was "free". There was lots of monkeys and the meerkats were really cute.

Parking was rather expensive. As is most parking in Chicago. I had wanted to stop at Ikea on the way home but hadn't mapquested it before we left so we will go some other weekend. Instead we stopped at some winerys as we traveled up Michigan's west coast and tried and bought some great wine. The round barn has vodka that they make too. For samples they make it into a martini of the day.

A very tiring, but fun trip.

Wands are cool

Your Score: 9 3/4", Oak, Phoenix

You scored 36 wisdom, 27 bravery, 21 emotional, and 27 martyrdom!

Oak signifies wisdom, endurance, protection, and authority. The phoenix tail feather as your core means that you have the capability to be an extremely powerful wizard or witch and that you will defend those you love at all costs.

Link: The Harry Potter Wand Test written by sputnik845 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Issues.

Life is a rollercoaster ride. Ups and downs all over the place. We are so excited to go to Chicago, but things aren't going so well. On our way back from visiting Nisi in the hospital (whole other story there), the transmission in my car died. We barely made it home. Then had to have it towed. Bad. But the extended warranty will cover most of it. Good. No car till Saturday. Bad. Rental coverage included in extended warranty. Good. Out of town until Sunday so we will have to pay for rental car for 1 1/2 days. Bad. It's a Chevy Aveo. Neutral. I also learned the since I have full coverage on my car I don't need to pay for extra coverage on the rental car, since full coverage will cover me driving another car. Which means that we didn't need to pay for it for the rental car that we have in Vegas either. And that was alot of money.

Oh well, can't wait to go to Chicago. Even if it will be in a Aveo. At least it should get good gas mileage.

Chicago

I am getting excited for our next trip/mini-vacation. We sure seem to be traveling alot this year. Up next is Wizard World in Chicago. We are going down on Wednesday evening, I think, and coming back Sunday at some point. I hope to hit Ikea and hopefully the zoo and aquarium while we are down there. I also have some old high school friends that live in Chicago and I am thinking of seeing if they want to go out for dinner or something, maybe when I get sick of the convention. Should be tons of fun.

Babies!

Well, Marc and Nisi had their latest baby 5:42pm July 22nd. Healthy baby boy, Mason Jay. 7 lbs 5 oz 19 1/2". It bit of a surprise I believe, getting here a few weeks early. That's really all the info I have so....Congratulations!! I'm sure when Nisi is feeling better we will all get a full detailed story. With pictures!

Matt and I had gone to my Grandparents for coffee Sunday morning and Kydra was there with my mom and found out that Nisi's water had broken at 4am. Typical time, middle of the night. Than Matt and I headed up to Silver Lake to the cabin that Matt's dad rents, which has very limited cell phone reception, especially for our ancient cell phones, 2+ years old. After dinner I walked out to a reception area and got the message a very tired sounding Marc had left me. I was good to know that everything worked out OK. With hopefully no complications.

We are hoping to head back up to Silver Lake on Friday, but I don't know if we will be able to. I would need to use a half day vacation, but my boss will be on vacation Friday too. Normally we are not both gone on the same day. Matt may go anyway, without me.

I Try So Hard...

Well I got kicked out of my band this morning. This bites. I had just started excepting my place in the band and telling people about it and I get kicked out. Just like last time. Matt says I can never tell anybody again if I get in a new band. :) Maybe that will work. Apparently I don't have a good enough voice to sing 80's hair band music. Like the great song by Poison - Talk Dirty to Me. Maybe this is a sign that I shouldn't sing 80's hair band music anymore. I also don't have all 20+ songs memorized completly, 100%. Even the ones we just added 2 weeks ago.

The only good thing is that the guitarist will probably be leaving too, and the bassist and drummer have no clue. He doesn't want to sing all 80's hair band music either.

I just wish they would have communicated their issues at some point before kicking me out. Some things they have issue with are easily fixed. Oh, well. I got some more experiance and learned some new things. This just makes me question if I should continue. Though I think I will, I did enjoy it while it lasted.