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Archive for December, 2007

Almost Roth Time!

2008 is right around the corner and you know what that means, contribute to your IRA. Time to scrape up some money for the new year. The limit will increase by $1000 for 2008. If you haven’t contributed for 2007, what are you waiting for?

A Roth IRA is an individual retirement account (IRA) allowed under the tax law of the United States. Named for its chief legislative sponsor, U.S. Senator William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware, a Roth IRA differs in several significant ways from other IRAs.

2008: Age <49 $5,000 , >49 $6,000

I’m also, glad that I bought some CDs when I did. The fed has been cutting the key rates of lately. Therefore, I wouldn’t get as good as percentage as I did before.

Mossy Geo’

geo

Here’s my moss plant Geochadon. The bottle terrarium has been working well over these colder days. I’ve been keeping him in my kitchen, which doesn’t have heated floors. So, it’s a few degrees warmer than the weather outside. I’ve kept him on top of my fridge, which is next to a halogen light and the window.

The traps aren’t as large as they were over the summer, but they are still working if triggered. Though, he hasn’t had a snack in months. I’m sure the health of the moss and the soil quality will help Geochadon through the winter.

Dark Addiction

10 years ago, if you had asked me what my favorite chocolate was, I would have said a Chocolate Orange. Since the first Christmas it appeared in my stocking, it was exotic and intriguing. What other chocolate encouraged you to “Whack and Unwrap” before eating. It had that infusion of orange and rich milk chocolate that stood out from all the American Hershey candies. It was manufactured by the Swiss Toblerone, and I thought “Yes, Toblerone knows their chocolate.

A few years ago, a new label replaced the Toblerone label and the packaging had changed. The label, now, read ‘Terry’s’. When I further examined the package, I noticed that it said it was distributed by Kraft foods global. When I hear the name Kraft there’s only one food that I think of. The worst cheese known to existence: processed American cheese singles. Terrible… Something happened after that day. The chocolate didn’t taste as rich as it used to, and it didn’t release the same chocolate ecstasy level to my brain.

Luckily, a new contender has emerged: Mauna Loa Milk Chocolate Macadamias. I wrote about them last year. How I had found them in my cupboard, while in a feeding frenzy. The candies had only the finest Macadamian nuts coated in a layer of chocolate with a dusting of cocoa. They were candy crack.

Today, I did some research on them. Turns out that the Mauna Loa Nut company was purchased by Hershey in 2004. Hopefully, Hershey will leave their Hawaiian manufacturing plant alone and continue to let them produce their own special chocolate. (or maybe Hershey already has infiltrated their chocolate and I can’t tell because I discovered Mauna Loa nuts after 2004. Their’s no mention of Hershey anywhere on the bag, so me thinks that they haven’t intervened).

In summary, Milk Chocolate Macadamias are WAEOME! Thank you, Mom.