Cookies for Everyone!

Apparently in the state of Illinois, when your license plate tags expire, new ones aren’t sent to you. You have to go to the DMV to get a new sticker. Yes, I got pulled over this morning for having expired tags, and guess what! I also didn’t have my driver’s license or a current proof of insurance on me! Here’s how it went down:

I noticed that a state trooper pulled up behind me when I was stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, I got over so said trooper could go on past me. But he didn’t. Trooper got behind me again. I then thought he had decided to follow me. No biggie. He followed me for about three or four minutes before he turned on his lights. I pulled over and he walked up to my passenger-side door (I don’t think I left him enough room to come up to the driver’s side).

He asked me if the car I was driving was mine, and I told him it was my husband’s. Then he asked for my license and proof of insurance. I looked in my purse and noticed my wallet was gone and remembered that I had taken it out and set it on the table at home when I was canceling a credit card, but I didn’t remember putting it back in my purse.

Then I pulled two insurance cards out of the ashtray. One was from 2005 and the other had expired in September of 2006. I handed him the more recent card and said, “This is an old card. I don’t have a new one on me… That’s not good, right? I do have one at home, though. It’s the same insurance.”

He just kinda looked at me.

Then I told him that I didn’t have my wallet on me either and said, “That’s not good either, right?”

He kept looking at me. Then he asked me for my name and date of birth and wrote it down in a notepad. Trooper went back to his car and looked me up, I guess. I watched in my rearview mirror and saw him make a phone call.

Trooper came back and stumbled a bit because the wind was blowing pretty hard. He said, “It’s pretty windy, today!” Then he gave me a warning for having expired tags and “not having my driver’s license on my person” (either of which could have been a ticket), and he gave me a ticket for not having proof of insurance. He told me that if I bring proof of insurance to the courthouse sometime before March 14 my ticket would be cancelled and that I should get my new tags right away.

Actually, I wasn’t nervous about being pulled over (especially since I new I wasn’t speeding), and I was able to sort of laugh about the whole thing (and I think I did a little bit to myself as I was looking for my license). The fact that I got pulled over with expired tags, no driver’s license on me and no current proof of insurance and all I got was a warning and a ticket that will easily be cancelled should call for celebration! Cookies for everyone!

Searches

I'm stealing this idea from this blog I've come across. (So, sometimes I read strangers' blogs, okay?) These are things people have typed into a search engine which caused them to end up at my blog:

old timey missionary baptist
I am a Baptist and have gone on a couple mission trips, but I'm not very old timey

did abraham lincoln chop down a cherry tree?
Nope, that story was about George Washington, buddy. Although, I guess we don't know for sure that ol' Abe didn't chop one down...

chop wizzard
My husband is a kitchen wizzard (yes, with two Z's)

angry ear
That was my diagnosis from my doctor when my eardrum was all perforated

Jon Chase photobooth
I don't know if we have any Photobooth pics of Jon...

wrecks that happened in gatlinburg on november 11,2006
Sorry, can't help ya there.

advil cold and sinus moved
Where did it go?

nobody wants to bass in the band with jesus
I would, but the only bass I know how to play is on Guitar Hero.

choppy chop
This one got it right; that is the name of my blog!

Hooray for Stat Counter!

60 Seconds at Steak 'n Shake with Baby Bekah

This isn't my baby... She belongs to our friends Jon & Tarah... We would take her, though...

My (Guitar) Hero

Last night Chase & I visited and had dinner with some friends. A little Guitar Hero action broke out and I was able to capture some of it with my camera.

Thanks GMA!

This morning I learned that people over age 45 are capable of making new friends! What a relief that was! I mean, I was worried that my parents may never make a new friend for the rest of their lives, and what would happen to me when I got to be that age?! Thanks Good Morning America, you've quelled my fears with some real news there. But after I learned that people over 45 can still make new friends, I thought What if they forget how to make new friends?! No need to worry; GMA went on to tell the nation how to make friends. Phew!

Now, in case you missed this vital piece of information, here's how you make a friend if you're over 45: Approach and talk to someone who you'd like to be your friend.

GMA, what would we do without you?

Planning the Third Annual Choppy Party

Well, I'm beginning the planning stage of the Third Annual Abraham Lincoln's Birthday Party. My friend Emily is my cohort this year in planning this party. My former cohort has moved a few hours away making it a bit difficult to do some party planning, but just maybe she'll be able to make it back for the festivities...

Contrary to popular belief, I am not actually obsessed with Abraham Lincoln. It's just that two years ago, I thought it would be fun to have a silly party celebrating his birthday. It was really an excuse to have people over and build a crazy cake (in the shape of a stove pipe hat) and then eat that cake. Then we/I just decided to make it a tradition! (Click here to read about/see pics from last year's party.)

You may have noticed the name of my blog is Choppy Chop and that there is a creepy Abraham Lincoln drawing on my banner. I guess now would be an appropriate time to explain that. (I must warn you, though, it's pretty anticlimactic.) A couple years ago, Chase was watching Jeopardy! on TV. I was walking through the living room and heard Alex Trebec say, "This was Abraham Lincoln's nickname that he got for chopping wood." (Sidenote: Yes, George Washington was the one known for the story about chopping down a cherry tree, but where do you think Lincoln's log cabin came from? Hello, Lincoln Logs! I'm sure he chopped a lot of wood in his day.) I then unexpectedly shouted, "CHOPPY!" Chase laughed so hard that we didn't hear the real answer. Since then, we refer to Abraham Lincoln as Choppy, and the axe he uses to chop wood is the Choppy Chop. I like to draw Choppy all creepy-looking and make clip art of him holding his Choppy Chop. Now you can feel cool because you are part of an inside joke.

I also will often refer to the Abraham Lincoln's Birthday Party as the Choppy Party.
Festivities at said Choppy Party include:

*Pin the Beard on Abe
*Trivia
*Cake
*Prizes
*Much Fun

So there you have it. The Third Annual Abraham Lincoln's Birthday Party will take place on the afternoon of either Saturday, February 17th or Sunday, February 18th. We're still deciding on a location. If I know you, and you're in the area at that time, you're invited and are welcome to bring a guest. If you are a stranger reading my blog, sorry, but I do not know you and you are not invited. If you are an Internet stalker reading my blog, you are definitely not invited and you should stop being a stalker because it it's creepy and not nice.

mmblrs

Attention All Mumblers:

I cannot understand you when you mumble. I understand you even less when you talk/mumble to me on the phone. I have no clue what you're saying when you talk/mumble to me on the phone very quickly. Please learn to enunciate. This would make communication between us more effective.

Thank you, that is all.

Happy Belated New Year!

I figured that since my Disney adventure was late, why not wait 10 days to say "Happy New Year!"?

This is what our New Years party looked like:



Our friend John stayed with us, and he pretty much was our New Year party. We got foods, made foods, ate foods, napped, watched the ball drop, and went to bed.

So, Happy Belated New Year!

Nightmare

I go through spells where I have nightmares about people or monsters trying to kill me. I've gotten pretty used to it. But last night, for the first time, I had a dream that a toddler (an adorable little blonde girl with pigtails) was trying to kill me... with a plush lobster toy.

I haven't been sleeping well.

WiFi

Our home now has wireless Internet access! Hooray! I am posting this from our couch in the living room. It took a little while to get it set up from the Macbook since the setup software was for a PC and a few settings needed to be changed on the router, but I got some help online and all seems to be working well.

I know this hasn't been the most interesting post, so here's a picture of a baby on a cat.



Stuff + Cats = Awesome

Shopping Woes

I just might be the slowest shopper ever. It takes me forever to find what I need if it’s not something that I buy regularly or if I’m shopping at a place where I do not go regularly. I mean, I don’t really know where things should go. For example, once Chase wanted me to get some mayonnaise, but I didn’t know where it would be since I’d never bought mayonnaise before. I assumed it would be near the ketchup, but no, it was with the salad dressing. I only found that out by going up and down every aisle at Kroger (minus the cleaning supplies, frozen food and pet food). I do not understand grocery store stocking logic, nor do I have a good concept of time; add those two things together and you get one confused Alisha somewhat nervously wandering the grocery store while employees keep an eye on her thinking she’s going to shoplift.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I had one of these experiences last night. As I was sitting in the car getting ready to pull out of my parking spot at Wal-Mart, I get a phone call from Chase asking me to pick up some salt and baking soda (salt because what’s left of what we had was clumped together and baking soda for something to do with our new wok). Instead of going back into Wal-Mart, I went to the Dollar Tree to pick these items up. It really is amazing the things you can find there for only $1.00 (or less)! They’ve even got some name brand stuff!

Since the Dollar Tree has cooking and cleaning supplies as well as some food and drink along with a plethora of junk and cheap wrapping paper for $1.00 or less, I figured they’d have salt and baking soda. Well, if they had it, I couldn’t find it. You see, the stocking logic of the “dollar stores” (put in quotation marks because there are multiple brands of dollar store- you’ve got the Dollar General, Family Dollar, The Dollar Store, Dollar Tree, and I’m sure many more) is even more confusing than the regular stores because they’ll just stick things in random places sometimes. I walked up and down every aisle in Dollar Tree and did not find salt or baking soda, so it was on to Dollar General since it was on the way home.

Dollar General is bigger than Dollar Tree, and it has a small refrigerated section. But, unlike Dollar Tree, everything is not $1.00 at Dollar General. In fact, cereal there is more expensive than it is at Wal-Mart. I walked up and down the food aisles several times until I found salt. Then I decided that I’d try the cleaning aisle for baking soda since it’s odor absorbing, and, hey, mayonnaise isn’t with the condiments so anything could happen! And wouldn’t ya know, there it was in the cleaning aisle!

So I had my salt and my baking soda and I went to check out. Both items were cheaper than they were priced as! Yippee! Then the guy working the register told me I looked like someone famous. Then he said that I probably get that all the time. I told him no and asked who I looked like. I was curious. You know who he said I look like? Velma from Scooby Doo!

So you tell me, do I really look like Velma from Scooby Doo?

Artsy

I guess it's about time for some more Disney pictures. These are a few pictures that I made a little artsy:

This is Cassie's profile while on an African Safari.

Chase, me, Cassie and my mom- caught in action on the Dinocoaster (not what it's called, but what I call it) by my dad and his new camera.

Chase was pumped to ride the spinning tea cups.

And there you have it, my artsy edits. Are you tired of my Disney trip yet?