Month: December 2017

Our “white” Christmas

It’s Christmas Eve morning, and I’m getting some last few baking things done.  The DJ comes on the radio and says, “Thank goodness, we missed all the terrible weather forecast for today.”  I look outside where it’s dark and threatening.  On her next break she says, “I just had a call from Boring and it’s snowing there.  And in Gresham, there is freezing rain.”  And then every break after that she had more bad news about the weather.

Sometimes it’s best not to speak too soon.

What we got at the Orange Door: ice pellets and freezing rain-type stuff.  It was never really snow, just a pain to drive in.  But the fact I drove in it (twice: on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) means it wasn’t too terrible.  By Boxing Day it had faded to an icy sheen, captured here.

Under those tarps are piles of sand leftover from the side yard, which will be used for the back yard.

Three sentence movie reviews: The Parent Trap

A repeat viewing on my part to introduce the boyfriend to Sharon and Susan, and women of all ages being catty.  This is one of those movies I can’t objectively review because I watched it many times during my youth, and thus always find it enjoyable. “The soundtrack tells you what to feel,” was one of the boyfriend’s observations, which left me contemplating when that orchestral mood-setting technique of movie making was dropped.

Cost: streaming via Netflix
Where watched: at home with Matt

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1961/parent_trap.html
What in god’s name is going on with this poster?  The header title?  The fact that Maureen O’Hara is in a wedding gown?  The woman who looks nothing like the child bride and her electric hips?

Three sentence movie reviews: Elf

Having never seen this holiday classic, we filled the traditional Movie-on-Christmas-Eve-Afternoon slot with Will Ferrell as-human-raised-as-elf.  The theater was sprinkled with families, so I was clued into the parts that kids found hilarious, and did a lot of laughing of my own. It was a good way to spend the penultimate day of the Christmas season.

Cost: $4.00
Where watched: Kennedy School

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2003/elf.html

Three sentence movie review: Manchester by the Sea

A repeat viewing, partially to loop the boyfriend in, and partially because I can’t get enough of Lucas Hedges, post-Lady Bird. This held up nicely on second viewing, remaining as sad and tragic as it was the first time. I’m happy to report that the sometimes overwhelming soundtrack I experienced in the theater had been pulled back to a reasonable level on the DVD.

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home, with Matt.

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2016/manchester_by_the_sea_ver4.html
(My hatred of this poster remains the same. Michelle William’s total screen time?  Like five minues, max.  And who got a best supporting actor nomination for this?  That’s right Lucas Hedges.  At least put him on the poster.  Also, this scene? They were standing by a wall.)

Three sentence movie reviews: Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Year two of two I’ve fallen asleep during a Star Wars movie.* However, I enjoyed the parts I was awake for (I missed the First Law of the Jedi, or something like that?) I thought were very well done, especially since the plot divided our main characters for most of the film.  There were some good fight scenes,** the final battle was stunning, and in this “me too” era, it was incredibly empowering to see so many women driving the plot arc of the Star Wars universe.

Cost: Matt paid for us both, because he was tired of my kibbitzing about movie prices and just wanted to see the film.  His total price: $19.90
Where watched: Regal Lloyd Center.  We attempted the Baghdad, but it was sold out. I was angling for our usual Regal Vancouver City Center, which is cheaper on Sundays.  This was the theater in between the two, geographically, with a convenient showtime.

*To be fair, the hours of 1:00-3:00 PM are not the best for me in terms of: alive, awake, alert, enthusiastic.
**This coming from a person who isn’t enamored with fight scenes

 

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/star_wars_the_last_jedi.html

Three sentence movie reviews: The General

While I had a poor quality print with random classical music songs* (beginning with the graduation earworm “Pomp & Circumstance”) the actual story overcame these handicaps. Buster Keaton’s antics were fun to watch (and exhausting when thinking about filming them.) For a movie that is over 80 years old, this holds up nicely.**

Cost: free from library
Where watched: at home

*Because this is a famous movie filmed in Oregon, it’s not unusual for it to play at one of our many theaters. I’d like to see it again, with a sensible score and a crowd to help fuel the laughter.
**Aside from the fact that if you sympathize with Keaton’s plight you are rooting for the Confederacy, which depending on which side of “heritage not hate” you fall on, might or might not be a minus.

This is also a movie on my scratch off poster. I get to scratch this one, and two I’ve already seen. Here they are:
words

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poster from: http://www.impawards.com/1926/general.html
Do you want to scratch your movie poster itch? Get the scratch off poster here.

Three sentence movie reviews: Logan Lucky

This was a re-watch so the MAunts could see it. I think the Aunts portion of the MAunts, was not overly blown away, but the Mother part of the MAunts enjoyed it. On this re-watch, I enjoyed how much the actors seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Cost: $1.50 from Redbox
Where watched: at home, with Matt, the MAunts & Kelly (who looked at her Facebook feed through part of the movie, so count her in the Not Impressed category.)

poster from: http://www.impawards.com/2017/logan_lucky_ver3.html

One Story: The Crazies & Bulletin Board Dragon

I will probably always think of Roxane Gay’s description of the kind of short story she doesn’t want to read: “white people in sad marriages.”  This is one of those stories, even to the point of including a white character with an inheritance.  Aside from being one of those stories, I found it enjoyable, but I did notice that this is the second short story this year set in Montana.  Could the New York City-based editors be longing for wide open spaces?


A girl suffering from agoraphobia. Her neighbor, a boy with schizophrenia. It would be a nice setup for a Romeo and Juliet-style story, and the two do come together.  But star-crossed love doesn’t bring them together.  A dragon does.

This is the second One Teen Story issue with an author named after a particular flower.  Is there Lily/Lilly bias going on at One Story, or was their a run on that name in the early 2000s?

One Story: Are You Mine and No One Else’s?


A meeting at a party, a new couple, some choices made.  The narrative seemed removed from the emotional states of the characters in a way that was dissatisfying.

I’ve just read the interview with the author and it seems that Mr. Lorberbaum thinks this story is Tony’s, not Rhoda’s.  Whereas I thought the opposite.  Perhaps that’s the reason for the disconnect.

Payoff! December report

In November, I paid my usual monthly payment of $103.67, plus an additional payment of $691.67, for a total of $795.34.  That additional payment is a new high point for a non-birthday month.

Of my nearly eight-hundred dollars, $12.51 was applied to interest, while $782.83 was applied to the principal. I did contact my company to see if I could have extra payments go only to the principal, and the answer was a lot of sentences that distilled down to: no.

I have a nice long list of this and that that added up to nearly seven-hundred dollars. There was extra money coming into my life: Matt paid me twice for food, I cashed in Fred Meyer Rewards, I found a dollar.  That added up to $155.96.  My original budget was $180 for this goal. To that I added the $185.34 that was left over after things had been budgeted for.  Plus another $30.00 for biking and walking to work. Then, at the end of the month I swept unused money from budget categories: groceries, joint bills, dining out.

I didn’t add anything to the list of things not bought in service of this goal.  It was a happily frugal month.  My only roadblock right now is being caught up in the idea that I will get a bonus from work.  We didn’t get bonuses last year, but because I pay the bills at work, I could see the profit and loss wasn’t going to support bonuses. This year is much healthier, P&L-wise, and so I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about something that might not happen. And I think at this writing (12/13) it’s not going to happen.  I think if we were getting bonuses, they would have announced it at the holiday party.  So I need to stop thinking about it.
Onward to December!