Month: November 2013

Three sentence movie reviews: Supercross: The Movie.

It wasn’t horrible.  It wasn’t good either, being incredibly predictable and not very ably acted.  Nor were the dirt bike scenes very interesting, but overall it wasn’t an offensive movie, just the kind of movie that shows up on cable and you leave it on because you are mildly depressed and can’t think of anything better to do.

Cost:  free due to boyfriend going out of town and letting girlfriend poach off his Netflix queue.
Where watched:  At home, while painting my toenails a fabulous shade of dark blue with turquoise glitter.  My time wasn’t invested in vain because they look great!

Channing Tatum screen time:  probably about 10 minutes total.  He plays the son of a man who owns a company that makes dirt bikes. I’m guessing if the dirt bike people read this review they would leave very angry comments about my use of the word dirt bikes.

Laurel dress. Cutting of fabric.

I love that I can sqeeze both front and back on one fold of this material.
 
I also love my new Bluetooth speaker I bought at Fred Meyer.  Much easier to listen to podcasts while I work.
 
Sleeves.
 
And I have this much left.  What to do, what to do?  Don’t worry, I already have a plan.
 
Waiting to be sewn.
 

More good finds.

Aside from the Caboodle, I also brought home a few framed pictures.

This is the Residence Assisstant (RA) group from the year at Cottey I was an RA.  I’m thinking the frame was purchased at the store full of good gifts that opened during my tenure there.  Before that, we had to buy all our gifts at Walmart.  And Walmart wouldn’t have such a nice frame as this.
 

Let’s see if I can do all the names.
Top row:  Karen (Robertson Hall Adult), I can’t remember the next lady’s name, (maybe it was Doris?) but she was very cool (PEO Hall Adult) Eden (PEO Hall) Helen Lodge (Director of Housing and we always referred to her by both names)
Second Row:  Eva (Robertson Hall) Teresa (Robertson Hall) Susan (Robertson Hall) Corey (PEO Hall) Kitty (Reeves Hall)
Third Row: Betsey (Reeves Hall) Jen (Reeves Hall Adult) Meghan (Reeves Hall)
Bottom Row:  Jenye (Reeves Hall) Me (Robertson Hall), Jen Comeau (Robertson Hall)
Not too shabby.
 
Here’s a great picture of my brother and myself.  He’s 16 and I’m 18.
 
Our parents let us go to Worlds of Fun, an amusement park outside of Kansas City, by ourselves.  We even got to drive there and back unaccompanied.  I wanted to get our picture taken because we had a family one done, probably at Worlds of Fun four years before, and I felt that too many people had smiled in that photo, making it not authentic.  So we did not smile. 

I also found an early Sue Tirrell.
 

Who knew full well I wasn’t going to be drinking coffee from this.
 

Three sentence movie reviews: Hunger Games Catching Fire

The brother was interested, and so we went.  The second viewing was just as enjoyable as the first, despite the outrageous ticket price* and because the two women sitting to my left had clearly not read the book and so were audibly shocked, amazed and awed at each plot turn.** And man, Jennifer Lawrence is a pro.

Cost:  $16.00
Where watched:  Cinetopia Progress Ridge with Chris.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2013/posters/hunger_games_catching_fire_ver3.jpg
(I love the not-so-subtle homage to Soviet-era posters)

*The reason Cinetopia is the one local theater chain I don’t support or frequent.  Seriously, their motto could be “Cinetopia:  Where the suburban middle class pays entirely too much for a movie, then purchases overpriced food and drink on top of that.”
**Their gasps and sighs were a good reminder why it’s fun to watch movies in a crowd.

An Amazing Find!

I went looking for some missing letters and journals and was not successful in finding them.  But I did find something else very exciting!

My Caboodle!  Which, as you know, (assuming you are a middle-class white female born in the early 70s and susceptible to advertising) is a handy (and cute) place to keep all your makeup.
 

AND IT STILL HAS ALL THE MAKEUP IN IT!
Note the matches from the Village Inn (from when every restaurant had matches and there were smoking sections, in fact, it was a big deal that there were NON-smoking sections) which were used to melt the eyeliner so it would be easier to apply.
 
Here are the teardrops I would sometimes affix to my face in high school
 
Here are some false eyelashes, an awesome turquoise pick (partially obscured by an excellent primer on eye makeup) as well as more things I stuck on my face and a very cool Avon brush that I had wondered, now and again, what ever happened to it.
 
Plus, two kinds of Avon eye shadow I borrowed from my mother around 1987 and never returned.

“Now you can go fishin’ for man!” Sara commented when I texted her the photos.  Instead I packed it all back up and hid it away for another happy surprise in a few decades.  But maybe I will go back for that brush.

Turkey Trot

Kelly and I signed up for the Turkey Trot back when I didn’t have to wear a coat when leaving the house.  Now I’m wearing a layer of long johns, pants, shirt and a jacket.  It must be Thanksgiving.
 
Some Pilgrims showed up to run.
 
This turkey looks like it’s already been slaughtered.
 
There were a lot of fun hats.
 
And headbands.
 
Pre-race photo.
 
There was an entire group of Thanksgiving dinner items. I first spotted “Sweet Potato” a kid wearing (what else?) an orange shirt.  The later saw Stuffing and Turkey.
 
The Turkey Trot ends in the Zoo and we stopped to look at the Leopards on our way out.  This one is investigating his Thanksgiving surprise.
 
I didn’t realize my camera was on the Fish-Eye setting.
 
Looks like my cat.  But much, much bigger.
 
Kelly’s wingspan is not as great as a California Condor.
 
But she’s giving the Bald Eagle a run for its money.
 

Special Edition

When the Oregonian was preparing all of us paper subscribers for the crappy conversion, they had a question-and-answer section about the Brave New World.  My favorite question was something like, “I always enjoy the Thanksgiving Sale Edition.  If you aren’t going to publish on Thursday, how will I know about the sales?”  The answer was something to the effect of, “Not to worry!  We’ll publish a SPECIAL Thanksgiving Edition with all of the ads!”

And so it has come to pass.
 

And so it is chock full of ads.  On the left:  the paper.  On the right:  the ads.

And that isn’t really even correct, because if you crack open that front page you will find it is 90% full-page ads.  The pile on the right:  straight to the recycle bin.  The pile on the left:  I read it.  But I skipped all the ads.

Three sentence movie reviews: Philomina

Judy Dench is one of the incredibly rare actors that seemingly everything she does is worth watching and this was no exception.  I was interested in Steve Coogan, an actor I had only seen in comedies*, taking a quite good dramatic turn.  Many small details in this film delight, especially for anyone of a certain age who has a mother of a greater age, and I was surprised to be shocked and moved as much as I was.**

Cost:  Free due to Regal Crown Club kicking me out a free movie.
Where watched:  Some huge Regal Theater in East Vancouver with Kelly and Margaret.***

*For me, most memorably as the short-lived director in the hilariously funny Tropic Thunder
**This was a solid film.  Recommended.
***”This is my first film in a theater since December.” said Margaret, who had recently returned from the Ukraine.  “This is my first film in a theater since yesterday.” said I, who needs to reign in her consumption of first-run movies, STAT!

Signs of the Hunger Games in Cosmetics.


Would Katniss be shooting naked?  Maybe if it was a really hot day.  But perhaps not.


I think the ad people haven’t really grasped that it’s not so cool to be from Panem.

Because when there is revolution afoot, don’t forget to apply makeup for best results!

Interestingly enough, the only time Katniss Everdeen is seen in makeup someone else puts it on her.  She takes it off as soon as she can.

Cooking Tales


Here are five pounds of home-grown potatoes, ready to be made into mashed potatoes for the holiday.


How is it that the vegan ended up seemingly the only full-time employee of the FoodDay staff?


I am bringing ingredients for cheese bread over to Kelly’s tonight.  I decided to specially make Sandwich Bread.  Two hours into the rise I realized the bread wasn’t rising because I forgot to put in the yeast.  Blast!  I ended up buying some sourdough.