Good - Bye 2008

I suppose this will be my last entry of 2008.

Seth and I plan to ring in the new year with our fellow couple Leigh and Sage. The plan is get dressed up, booze, hats and a clock/tv. I'm so excited. This will be my first true New Years as an Adult. Every year I have to work. Not this year, I refuse. I'm going to start 2009 out right. I'm currently working on a list a resolutions. It isn't excessively lengthly. I think five is a good number. I'm not too sure of the plans for the entirety of the evening but I hope it contains a walk around town. 2009 will be a great year. I have so many wonderful friends and memories. However, my life could use a little fine tuning. 2008 was good, but I've learned from some mistakes and therefore 2009 will be better.

Here is my Resolution list draft:

1. Become Debt-free
I need to make more money and cut back expenses. Good Luck, Me.
I've written before about Total Money Makeover. This should take me about the entire year.

2. Become Healthier
In 2008, I found out that I had a disease that made me gain a ton of weight in part of 2007 and through out the entirety of 2008. I hope to shed the pounds, with eating right and exercising. I'm not a diet kind of person.

3.Be Sweeter to Seth/Be more responsible
Sometimes I can be insensitive and lazy. Seth completes a majority of the housework and makes most of the meals we eat, while I just sit there after work watching tv. I have two jobs and that is to make money. But it seems I try to get out of the second job as much as possible. This is probably because I feel over worked. But if i'm going to accomplish (1.) I'm going to have to buckle down.

4. Get things in Order to go back to School in fall 2009.
After I become Debt free, I will have no reason not to go to school. Full-time in 2010
with a part-time job. Fall 2009 will be the buffer transition from part to full. I can't mess
my life up again.

5.Figure Out what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Wishful Thinking

This is a list of Christmas gifts I want this year. It is always really hard for me to remember what I want for Christmas when people ask. So this year I'm making a list I and Others can reference.



1. Jewerly



Target Sterling Silver Genuine Dyed Jade Teardrop earrings




2. Curtains


Pier One Floral Window Panel - Sand (4 needed)



3. Ipod Accessories


Apple IpodUSB travel kit with car charger Travel Adapter/ Cabel - White



4. Mixer


Euro - Pro Hand/ Stand Mixer - White



1. Outdoor

The Gap Brushed Terry Hoodie Mushroom Heather - L




Victoria Secret Belted Wool Trench Coat in Herringbone Herringbone - 14


2. Tops


Urban OutfittersKimchi Blue Rose TankGinn Fizz- L

Old Navy Women's Cashmere Crew-Neck Sweater Gray White Stripes - XL


3. Pants

American Eagle AE Signature Trouser Long Whole Wheat - 16



Old NavyWomen's Perfect Khakis Long 34 Khaki 16


4. Boots

Urban OutfittersCanvas Foldover Boot-10

Alloy Lily Boot Black - 10



5. Belts

Urban Outfitters............................. Anthropologie Follow the Map Belt
Betsey Johnson Elastic Hook
and Eye Belt
Black


6. Skirts

The GapWool Herringbone SkirtDark Brown - 16




New York and Company City Stretch Pencil SkirtBlack - 16

7. Dresses

AnthropologieLittle Red Dress - 14



American Eagle Ae Ruffle Dress Heather Gray - XL





8. Graphic Tees


Cotton Factory.com These Colors don't run Guys Med





Hot Topic
Hot mess Tee


Vig.com tees XL Baby Blue
Let me be frank tee

9. Socks

11. Advanced Digital Camera

Canon - PowerShot 8.0-Megapixel Digital Camera - Black
Model: A590IS | SKU: 8739966

12. Waffle Iron

Bella Cucina Artful Food 13124 SES Waffler w/ Drip Tray

13. Rock Band 2



XBox 360

14. Eggcellent Spatulas


Modcloth.com

Total Money Makeover and Ambitions

I started My total money Makeover Wednesday the 3rd of this month. I've already taken some steps toward my debt free life. TMM is a money management plan that guides you through the process of becoming debt free, while showing the next steps such as: life insurance, building an emergency fund, Mutual funds, and cutting up your credit cards. My monthly plan is set.; I'm going to work more hours at my second job, sell my car, and cut back on all my frivolous expenses. If I can make it past the first month, I can make it the entire year. After I get all my accounts current, I am going to start Snowballing my debt. After I finish, I'm going to quit my second Job and go back to school. I'm thinking about Clinical Lab analyst or accountant. Currently I'm an associate agent at Nationwide Insurance. With this plan I intend to be a millionaire by 40, no matter the career i choose. If I put a 2000 dollars a month into a mutual fund for the next 20 years, I'll be a Millionaire in no time.

Thanksgiving Potluck

Because Seth and I are going to his parents on the 26th and 27th for Thanksgiving. I decided to host a Thanksgiving Potluck for all of our friends on the 25th. I'm going to take care of the turkey, and I'm having my friends bring the remaining dinner menu. I'm really excited about it. We already have 17 confirmed guests, and there is still a week to go.

This is the Turkey Recipe I'm going to use. It's Alton Brown's.. So you know its good. I'm going to have to double the recipe.

Ingredients

• 1 (14 to 16 pound) frozen young turkey

For the brine:

• 1 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 gallon vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
• 1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
• 1 gallon iced water

For the aromatics:

• 1 red apple, sliced
• 1/2 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 cup water
• 4 sprigs rosemary
• 6 leaves sage
• Canola oil

Directions

Combine all brine ingredients, except ice water, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Early on the day of cooking, (or late the night before) combine the brine and ice water in a clean 5-gallon bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for 6 hours. Turn turkey over once, half way through brining.

A few minutes before roasting, heat oven to 500 degrees. Combine the apple, onion, cinnamon stick, and cup of water in a microwave safe dish and microwave on high for 5 minutes.

Remove bird from brine and rinse inside and out with cold water. Discard brine.

Place bird on roasting rack inside wide, low pan and pat dry with paper towels. Add steeped aromatics to cavity along with rosemary and sage. Tuck back wings and coat whole bird liberally with canola (or other neutral) oil.

Roast on lowest level of the oven at 500 degrees F. for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cover breast with double layer of aluminum foil, insert probe thermometer into thickest part of the breast and return to oven, reducing temperature to 350 degrees F. Set thermometer alarm (if available) to 161 degrees. A 14 to 16 pound bird should require a total of 2 to 2 1/2 hours of roasting. Let turkey rest, loosely covered for 15 minutes before carving.

Thanksgiving Plans

This year is a first for me, I have been invited to Seth's Hometown for Thanksgiving. It is a delicate situation because his parents are divorced, and I would have to spend time partly at one and partly at the other. I was invited by his parents. I'm really proud of Seth for even mentioning the invitation. There were rumors of me going last Christmas, but here we are almost one year later.

I'm excited and uneasy at the same time.I've met his parents once before, individually and for small increments of time. They are very nice people. This is like 2 days full exposer. I'm so afraid I will say something weird or off color, and they will take offense, or I'll be too meek. When I'm nervous, I really can't account for all my actions. Oh goodness, I just remembered something I'm going to meet his brother. I've never met his brother. It's thanksgiving...There is going to be other family, like Aunts and Uncles, Cousins and friends. I think I'm hyperventilating. It's going to be okay. It's going to be great. Well at least I get two chances two get it right.

Solid as Barack!!

January twentieth, two-thousand and nine, Barack Obama will assume the position of presidency. Obama, the son of a Kenyan immigrant and Kansas Native, is truly the American Dream.

I feel like this is the beginning of a new era in human history. One in which the dreams of Martin Luther King Jr. are coming to fruition. I'm happy to be alive in this coming of times. This Landmark event is something you can proudly tell your grandchildren about, exactly where you were, the dilemmas of the time out weighing the racial tensions held by our country for hundreds of years. Today is the first time, in a long time, I can say I am Proud to be an American.

They want to eat your BRAINS!

"Christianity: The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master. So He can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a Rib-Woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree. ... Yeah. Makes perfect sense."



Yesterday, My friend Jessica and I went to Christ Temple Church for Judgment House. I had never been. I assumed it was some sort of Haunted House that, however, was not the case. It was a cult recruiting vehicle. It was one of the single most creepy moments of my entire life. Jess had gone before, and she knew what she was up against. I, however, was blind sided with brow beating religious nonsense. It sort of felt like Auschwitz or a Slaughter house. They herded us along with sixty other people from room to room, preaching absolute ridiculousness; the rooms, mind you, were made for a party of twenty at most. I kept having this creeping suspicion they were going to gas us or give us "refreshments" of Kool-aid.

I want to be Cryogenically frozen until most of humanity realizes that religion is a crutch. Some people need that crutch; they need to know they are not alone, but brainwashing the lot of us into believing that Christianity and Judaism are anything more than an ancient way of instilling fear upon the ignorant, gullible masses is criminal. Why can't good people just do good things for the sake of being good, not the fear of internal damnation? Here's the secret of the After Life... You don't live forever ... You die... You rot.. you get eaten by worms. Don't believe me? Kill yourself and find out. Okay, maybe that was a tad harsh. How about you wait the entirety of your lifespan and send me an e-mail or something if you find out otherwise.