What I Watched -- A Single Man

I love Colin Firth, and have for a long time.  He's a great actor.  I also like Julianne Moore.  I liked them together in A Single Man, but I still didn't really like the movie.  I wanted to, but it was just too dull.  They were both good in it, but I apparently am unsympathetic to the plight of a closeted gay man in California in the 1960s.

So boo on me for that.

Bottom line: if you want to watch something mostly tragic, a little bit redeeming, enjoy Julianne Moore's big hair and some retro mod furniture, and want to feel a bit sorry about life in general, go for it.  Otherwise, throw yourself a dinner party and get on with life.

Goals - Progress Update

First of all, I apologize (again, again, and again) for my total lack of posting.  Work has been kicking my ass.  I miss, you know, being not at work every day.  It doesn't really matter what the alternative location is, but just having a weekend would be nice.

Anyway, I have made some (minor) progress on a couple of my goals, so here's my update:

Over Christmas, S did me a favor and went shopping for a book about vegetable gardening in Missouri.  He came back with this.  Not bad!  I have poked through it and picked out all the low-work veggies that can do okay without too much water (because I tend to forget to do that) and made a list of some produce that might survive the growing season.  I've found a couple of websites with reasonably simple looking (famous last words) instructions for building a raised bed garden.  My goal is to start this year with one, or possibly two, beds.  No more than that.

I have some ideas for my craft table as well.  I want it to have a big leaf on one side, shelves for storing fabric, and an inlaid yard stick.  I have secured an old dresser that I am going to turn into a notions cabinet, so I should have plenty of storage, which is excellent news.

The only progress that has been made on the gym is to decide on the type of flooring: those squishy rubber puzzle piece things.  Color has yet to be determined, although S is lobbying for something not obnoxious like gray or black.  He said he would get me pink if I wanted it, but I have to agree with him that it would probably get dirty and gross pretty quickly.

That's all the progress for now.  Stay tuned!

Christmas Recap, Part II

S's friend J was in town over New Year's, so we did a couple more holiday-type things that didn't make it into my first post!  Hooray for extended holidays!

We went to Garden Glow at MOBOT, which I thought I was going to miss this year.  There were so many lights and so much hot chocolate with Bailey's.  It was fantastic!

We also toured the Campbell House, which still had up all its Christmas decorations!

What I Watched -- Housebound

Housebound is not my type of movie.  And in fact, it was not my decision to watch it.  But watch it I did (sort of); I was doing other things at the time (as is so often the case).

Supposedly, Housebound is a horror movie.  Really, it's just goofy, almost a comedy.  It shares its plot with every other horror movie ever made: weird things are happening that can't be explained.  People are scared.  They investigate.  Then there is an explanation.

Bottom line: save your time.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Goals and Stuff

I have decided not to do weekly goals this year.  Instead, I will keep you posted on the status of my life projects as I work on them.  A few that I have in the works are:
- Attempting a garden
- Designing and building a craft table (with S's help)
- Fitting out a gym (ditto)
- Finally organizing my collection of pictures

I'm sure others will pop up along the way, and some of these may get put off until later, but this is where we are at the start of the year.  Stay tuned for details!

Christmas Recap

So I know that we're now in the new year, but I never did tell y'all what I did for Christmas.  So here's what I did:

Remember back when I went to see The Princess Bride at Tenacious Eats?  The same chef who does that hosted a Misfit Brunch for Christmas (pajamas encouraged, although I did not participate because I had to go from there to work).  It was scheduled to last 5 hours, and none of us - I went with a group of girlfriends - could figure out why.  Turns out the plan was to play some old Christmas movies while serving food in courses.  We started with traditional brunch fare, which included pancakes, waffles, bacon, sausage, potatoes, made-to-order omelets, coffee, mimosas, and hot chocolate made with melted Ghirardelli chocolate.  The lunch fare was more meat-centric with ham, stuffed chicken breast, salads of various types.  There were also doughnuts from Strange Doughnuts.  Then came the dessert course - warm cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven.  There was Santa and live music between movies as well!  The whole thing was a real trip!

S is not a fan of Christmas.  Nevertheless, he indulged my love of the holiday in a number of ways:
1. I got to listen to almost all the Christmas music I wanted.
2. I got to make cookies in his new kitchen.
3. He put up his little baby Christmas tree, and I got to put the teeny ornaments on it.
4. He put up real, wonderful lights in the tree in his backyard, so that I could have a real Christmas tree.
5. He went Christmas shopping!
6. He went to Florida with me to see the fam.  (In addition to hating Christmas, he hates Florida, so this was big news.)
7. More Christmas music, which he occasionally even sang along to.
8. He bought me a spruce-scented candle and lets me burn it all the time.
9. He went with me to see the Magic Chef Mansion as part of a Victorian Christmas joint even between that and the Campbell House.
10. He obeyed my rule to not buy me a Christmas gift (which he was sure was a trap).
11. All the other things I'm forgetting because there were so many.

I saw the wildest house on Macklind all lit up like it came out of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, so that was pretty cool.  Going to have to make a run by there again next year.  And I only found it because I was on my way to Grapeseed for dinner with Dad and S.  (Which was delicious, by the way.)

My holiday movie selection changed a bit this year.  I omitted How the Grinch Stole Christmas, although not by choice - I just couldn't find it, then ran out of time.  But I did add one: Home Alone!  Why did I not watch that before.  I forgot how goofy it is.  I also watched my classic favorites: Love Actually, It's a Wonderful Life, and Little Women.  I am happy to report that I like Wonderful Life more and more each time I see it.  I am not surprised to report that Amy is still a brat, and I like her less and less every time I see Little Women.

I also omitted some of my typical outings - Wild Lights at the Zoo, Garden Glow at MOBOT (although I suppose there is still time for that one), the SLSO Christmas concert - mostly due to the crazy amount of work that I have right now.  But they will be there again next year, so there's always that!

Happy New Year!