Angels & Demons

Angels & Demons, by Dan Brown has been sitting on my bookshelf for almost 2 years. I bought it used at the local library sale after I really enjoyed reading and watching The Da Vinci Code. When I heard that Ron Howard was going to make a movie out of Angels & Demons as well, I knew I'd better read it before I went to see the movie.

I read this book in less than 4 days. It was such a page-turner I could barely put it down. I enjoyed "spending time" with Robert Langdon's character again, too. Dan Brown's writing really sucks you into the story and keeps you questioning right along with the characters. Who's on what side? Will the mystery be solved in time? Really amazing character development as well. I am ready to read the other Dan Brown novel on my bookshelf.

#37 - Get passport for myself.

We needed to get passports for our trip this summer, so this is done. It arrived at my parents last week and I still haven't gotten to see it yet. I'm very excited about this. I can travel the globe! Done!

#30 - Send all college-going relatives a "care package" (including Cathy).(4/4)

This one has been completed since October of last year, but I was trying to find the picture I took of the care packages before I posted. Obviously that is not happening. Done!

#100 - Do 2 walks for good causes.

Since my feet are still kinda out of commission for walking long distances, I decided to donate a large chunk of change to the local food pantry instead of doing the walks. Done.

#92 - Sell Mike's VHS/DVDs for him

Mike decided to donate his VHS tapes to a yard sale that my church is holding in the next few weeks. We dropped them off together over the weekend.

#88 - Buy a LCD HD TV.

I did it! I used my federal tax refund this year to buy this beauty:

She doesn't have a name, but she probably should! Definitely the new focal point of my living room. :-)

#58 - See a show at the Hershey Theatre

For Valentine's Day, Mike and I saw The Princes Bride at the Hershey Theatre. It was a great atmosphere to see our favorite movie on the big screen! I'd still like to get to the Theatre for an actual musical or play, but it probably won't happen for a while and this definitely counts.

#49 - Write a poem every week for a year

I've decided that this will never happen because you just can't force creativity like this. I may change my mind in the future, but for now, it is marked as failed.

#5 - Hang posters in the office/guest room.

This has been done for a really long time, and I just never took pictures because the room is a disaster. But, that was not part of the deal. Here are my posters!

Heidi

After a few months of no reading at all, I'm starting to feel frantically behind in my goals to read 100 books. However, after finishing Heidi (Puffin Classics) by Johanna Spyri last week, I am back into reading before bed every night.

Heidi is a classic tale and I can see why. It is a story about a little girl with lots of spunk and she knows what she wants. The tale incorporates the life style of two very different little girls and what they have been taught (or not taught!) about how to behave. Along the way, Heidi learns about God and about a lot of things that are important in life. The end of the book was slightly predictable, but moving nonetheless. If you didn't read this as a child, I highly suggest reading it now!

#72 - Try 12 new recipes (and actually use the recipe). (12/12)

I got a bread machine a few weeks ago from someone on craigslist. Since I got it, I've made bread twice using 2 different recipes. The first loaf was regular white bread on the super-quick setting (58 minutes). It turned out pretty well. The second loaf was Garlic Herb bread on the basic (3 hour) setting. You can really tell the difference in the timing when you look at the crumb of the bread! Anyway, I'm counting this as 2 recipes for this item because I didn't modify them at all.

As the last recipe that I made without any modifications, I'm going to count the pumpkin rolls that I made for thanksgiving. They went over really well. Here's a picture:


They are very rich, though, so they probably would have been better served at another time than Thanksgiving. Here's the recipe: http://memarielane.com/2007/11/13/how-to-make-a-rolled-cake/

#1 - Walk to work every day for a week.

This month the weather was gorgeous so I did a lot of walking. I'm not sure if I did any full weeks, but the month was definitely full of walking, so I am going to count this as complete. Pictures of my walk home from work one day this month are here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29521833@N02/sets/72157608359601842/

#95 - Start recycling with the township.

Turns out that this is pretty much impossible unless I sneak around in the middle of the night and dump my recycling into the bins in front of other people's houses on the street. Which would not be cool. Instead I am collecting my recycling and bringing it to my parents about 2 times a month. I guess I'll mark this as complete/failed. Very sad.

#19 - Get a Dubloon Disaster Trophy on Neopets. (revised)

I've decided that I'm really not a big fan of this trophy anymore and the great amount of effort that would go into getting it is just not worth it. However, I have gotten 3 brand new trophies since the start of this 1001 days, so I will count those toward this goal and consider it complete. The trophies are:

Bronze Illusen's Glade
Bronze Jhudora's Cloud
Bronze Wise Old King

Not bad, not bad at all.

#18 - Obtain the MSPP(TCG) avatar on neopets.

Yesterday, I managed to get this avatar. I was so happy about this little 50x50 square of pixels that it is kinda creepy and weird. But now I am finished with this item.

Upon request, here's what it looks like!