Kitchen and Food Updates

#44 - Research and acquire a combination blender/food processor (Completed) - Bought a KitchenAid Stand Mixer instead!
#45 - Research and acquire a working immersion blender (Canceled) - Turns out my works! Thought it was broken.
#48 - Try 24 new recipes and blog about them (14/24) - Been cooking, but only posted 3 recipes since the last update.
#55 - Go to 5 new-to-me non-chain restaurants (5/5).  Went to Luna (mexican near us) for my birthday, went to Bella Italia with a doubletakedeal coupon.  Probably went a few other places as well.  This one's done.
#56 - Do pick-your-own fruit (Completed).  Did this through my Strite's CSA. Yummy apples!

Money & Finance updates

#33 - Invest $5k into my Roth IRA ever year until I turn 30.(2/4) - Put in my 2011 investment today.
#36 - Make a spreadsheet with 2 months worth of receipts to create a loose budget (Completed).
#37 - Change over to a zero-balance budgeting mentality (Completed).
#41 - Finish consolidating half.com books (Completed).

Home and Hershey updates

Making a bulk update due to the fact that even though I haven't touched this blog in ages, things have still been accomplished!  I was waiting to have pictures, but that obviously isn't happening, so just checking things off at this point.

#23 - Re-pot my pearl plant and get it a trellis (in progress) - got a trellis!  Just need a pot large enough now.
#24 - Utilize the storage space in the couch (completed)
#25 - Re-arrange living room furniture to better accommodate new computer (completed)

#15 - Go to The Hershey Story

We went for my birthday in 2011.  I was seriously impressed with the layout and the content of the museum.  The story of Milton Hershey as well as the story of the town and the company was told in an engaging way.  Their memberships are a great value, too.  When we went in May 2011, they had a clock exhibit that was simply fascinating as well.

#71 - Visit Heather in Boston

I took a road trip to New England the summer of 2011 and got to spend some quality time with my friend Heather!  Boston was great!   I also enjoyed a day trip to Maine (through New Hampshire) and traveling home through Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey.

#79 - Start and maintain a flossing routine (daily)

I have been flossing consistently for just about 6 months now. My last post about this was in December which was shortly before I got a retainer that I am wearing at night. I floss every night before I put it in! Some nights I remember to floss but forget the retainer. This is obviously an on going process, but I am going to mark this complete now that it has become a solid habit (a good one! YAY!).

#58 - Quit Farmville, #59 - Get a Castle Age army of 200 people

I quit farmville quite some time ago, but totally forgot it was part of this list! I also quit CastleAge around the same time, so that item is canceled.

#50 - Buy The Bread Baker's Apprentice

I have "acquired" The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread a few weeks ago through one of my survey sites. Score! It arrived super fast and is really a beautiful book. I started reading through the introduction, but I got interrupted and haven't picked it up again. I will make an effort to do so soon!

#72 - Take a trip to NYC

We went to NYC with my family to see the Radio City Music Hall Spectacular at the end of December.  It was a fun day!

Mike and I in front of the tree at Rockefeller Center!

#90 - Keep a list of special occasions and gifts given for future reference

I started this spreadsheet for this Christmas and also filled in what I could remember for 2010.  Now that it is started, it will be easy for me to keep it updated and stay organized with my gift shopping in 2011 and beyond!

#46 - Research and acquire a quality kitchen scale

I had heard a lot of good things about the Escali P115C Primo Digital Multifunctional Food Scale from several bloggers that I read.  The reviews were good, and it does all the basic functions while still looking sleek and not taking up much space (ideal in my small kitchen!).  I wasn't quiet ready to buy it yet, so I added it to my amazon wishlist - and I got it for Christmas!  YAY!  Thanks, Mom! :-)

Pictured with my new chopping knife and board from IKEA. 

#52 - Menu plan every week for an entire month (0/4)

I've been menu planning regularly over at my cooking blog with a record streak of 6 weeks in a row.  I hope to break that streak!  This is completed, though.

#63 - Read 5,000 pages in one year

As of completing reading the Harry Potter series, I've read 8,457 pages this year.  WOW.  Actually, the HP series alone is almost 5,000 pages (4,136 for the hard cover, American first editions).

I'm marking this one complete!

#82 - Get a work-appropriate cardigan/sweater

I got a new red cardigan at Ross in November.  It was a struggle.  The store was super crowded and the line was halfway to the back of the store.  After waiting in line for 15 minutes, I realized the sweater I picked had a hole in it.  Got out of line, back to the sweaters.  Found one that was the next size up (probably a good thing, it's a little more cozy) with no holes.  Went back to the line and waited for THIRTY MINUTES to check out.  Yikes.  No more shopping on Saturdays for me. 

I mostly like the cardigan.  For some reason, it has a hood (which is dumb), but it is a pretty red/rust color and even has a pocket. Yay.  Now I have 3 cardigans to wear to work so I don't feel like I am wearing the same thing every day.

#42 - Obtain at least 1 box of books to sell on half.com

I actually did this a few weeks ago.  I got a box of Wicca and spiritual books that I listed immediately.  This is a category of books that always sells well.  I've already sold 4 or 5 of them!  I am going to mark this as completed.

#68 - Buy a PS3 and Rock Band

Wooo!  We are now rocking out almost every day.  Mike got a PS3 by trading in a prize he won at work and I bought rock band with my amazon gift cards that I got through SwagBucks so the direct cost to us was only about $25 for the shipping of the PS3!  Pretty amazing how that worked out.

#43 - Purge unused kitchen utensils and find alternate storage for ones that are used infrequently

I did this over the weekend in a frenzy of wanting to feel a little more organized and a little less full of "stuff".  I still want Mike to go through the extra utensils to make sure he doesn't use any of them frequently (but I don't think he does).  They are all being freecycled (with the exception of 1 whisk that is going into a kitchen box) along with a bunch of empty spice containers that I have no use for.

#39 - Track Survey, etc revenue

I have been tracking survey revenue as well as my mystery-shops in a google spreadsheet for 2 full months now.  I think I am on track to continue with this practice!

#18 - Use the Briarcrest Pool

I did it!  I went to the pool on Saturday around 7pm.  It was lovely to just lay in the water, but I got bored quickly.  I did some laps (which was awkward due to the weird shape of the pool) and floated on my back.  There was one family there (dad and 2 kids in the pool with the mom watching) but they were in the low end, so we weren't really near each other.  It was relaxing.  I'm hoping to go at least once more before they close the pool in a week or so.

#34 - Research Auto Insurance and possibly combine plans

Well, well, well.  This one falls under the category of "easier said than done."  It would save us money to combine our auto insurance and be insured under one plan.  However, for Mike and I to be on the same plan, we would have to be married or we would have to change the titles on our cars (a possibility of marriage is really that far down the line, I suppose).  From my research, it sounds like esurance would have allowed us to have us both on the same plan, but they were not cheaper than if we just keep our current plans.  So, this item is finished.  The research took me about 3 days, which were not entirely wasted as I did learn a lot more about the process that is involved for having 2 people on the same plan (even if it did not work out).