Category: To Occupy my Time

Firefly Butt-Numb-a-thon

What if we watched all of the Firefly episodes plus Serenity in one day?  As the person posing the question was the person who put together watching all three extended versions of Lord of the Rings in one day, this marathon came to pass.

And since the other half of this plan was one of the people who planned Laurie’s 40th birthday party in Italy, this was an event.

I did not start at the beginning of the party, due to volunteer commitments.  Instead, I arrived at 12:15 during the half-hour lunch break to this amazing spread.IMG_5205

Notice the level of detail!IMG_5203 IMG_5204

The Hot Cheese was good, especially paired with Frito’s
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Fancy sandwiches, labeled in both English and Chinese.  And this lunch spread was just the beginning.  There was a food prop/bonus to go with each episode. For example, “Jaynestown” came with Mudder’s Milk which was an amazing bourbon and milk concoction whipped up by Darla.IMG_5207

Can you name this Firefly episode?IMG_5208

I had planned on only staying for a few episodes, not wanting to sit for so long.  But I started with Episode 6, “Our Mrs. Reynolds” which was followed by “Jaynestown” and then “Out of Gas” and after that trifecta, who could leave?  I ended up staying until the end, clocking in 11 hours of a magical show that never should have been cancelled.

Thanks to Laurie and Darla for such a fun time.

When you’re a former Beatle…

Apparently all your tour trucks match.IMG_5196

Paul McCartney is in town for a show tonight.IMG_5197

I loved also discovering this mini-bike attached to the back of the truck below.   Plus, it reminded me of the time in high school that a bunch of us loaded into Cindy’s family Jeep Wagoneer (aka the Jalapeno Wagon) and drove up and down the Interstate talking to truckers on the CB radio.  Lori was really good at it, taking the handle Cotton Candy.  We convinced a trucker to stop for a late dinner at the Flying J truck stop with six lovely ladies who all wanted to meet him.  He laughed so hard when he saw a table full of giggling under-aged girls waiting for him.  Then he sat down and we had a very nice chat about his truck driving life.  He liked driving trucks better than the desk job he had before.

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Requiem: microplane grater

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I can no longer remember who bought me this grater.  My best guess is that it was my Aunt Carol as she enjoys going to the kitchen stores.  But I’ve had it for probably 10 years or more and it’s been a good grater.  So good that I went out and bought a new one the next day.  Thanks microplane grater. You did a lot of work in your time.

McMenamins Edgefield

And so our McMenamins Passport quest continues, today at Edgefield.

Our first stop:  Power Station. I’m noticing how amazingly I backlit Matt in this photo.  That was totally planned. 🙂IMG_5160

Next we walked up to the Distillery, where we found out the Distillery tour was beginning momentarily.  Score!  That means another experience stamp, which got Matt a $20.00 gift card.

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Our tour guide (who gave me a hard time for taking his picture when he had his mouth open) told us all sorts of interesting facts about the distillery process.  I learned that whisky in the US is aged in oak barrels and most of those oak barrels are then sold to Ireland or Scotland because they reuse the barrels, because the US doesn’t.  At McMenamins, they do reuse the barrels, but not for whisky.  The law requires whisky to be aged in fresh barrels.  Instead they use them to age rum and then on down the list until eventually they become planters.

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I also learned that McMenamins whisky demand is high enough that it’s one brewer’s job to make enough beer wash to make McMenamins whisky.  Below is a picture of the second still.  It can make a lot more whisky than the first one, which was in the photo above.

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Look!  Whisky barrels reused!

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We forgot to take some pictures outside of a few locations, so here we pick up at Jerry’s Ice House, which had some great tucked-away tables hidden inside.

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My favorite sign of spring was coming into bloom.

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The winery tasting room.

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And then we had to find the artwork in the hotel that matched this description.

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Check!

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Current prizes:

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I went for the opener.  Matt went for the chocolate drops in the decorative tin.

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The view from the front porch.  I still have the plan to vacation here, hike in the Columbia River Gorge during the morning, soak in the soaking pools every day, hang out on the porch all afternoon and eat a good dinner every night.IMG_5181

Front porch self-portrait.IMG_5183

A failed attempt to look stern and grumpy.IMG_5184

#52moviesbywomen

16927432Letterboxd made me do it. Okay, maybe they didn’t make me, but they gave me the idea.

Letterboxd is the Goodreads-like website where you can track your movies, post reviews, and make movie review friends.

In late January, Letterboxd called attention to the Letterboxd users who had taken up the #52moviesbywomen challenge. The challenge was to watch 52 movies either written or directed by women. So I started my list.  I figured I was already behind, but miraculously, five movies I watched in January fit the criteria.

plushI was keeping up okay getting movies from the library, but my new job made this challenge much easier.  They bought me a year gift membership to Netflix (officially DVD.com) and I filled my queue with movies directed by women and they just keep arriving.

At this writing, I’m two above my quota meaning it’s week 16 according to my calendar and I’ve watched 18 movies.

You can see my list by clicking here

Also, I just searched the hashtag on the site. It found at least 250 matches.  But let me say that I’m doing MUCH better than the people on the first page of search results, all of which are in the single digits.

Lint 2016. A reporting.

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Easter is here which means my Lint project is over.  I did a fairly good job walking both ways across the bridge on my way to and from work.  It was interesting to note how often I didn’t have to walk across the bridge (designated by “NA”) due to appointments or meetings.  And then there were a few times where I just wasn’t in the mood.

I’ll keep up the bridge walking as best I can.

Easter 2016, plus Hilda

I was tasked with the cake making, so I made Vintage Cakes‘s Daffodil Cake.  It’s a marbled chiffon/angel food cake with lime zest and a lime glaze.IMG_5148

My “Easter bunny” gift this year was asparagus. IMG_5149

A friend posted a retrospective of Hilda illustrations  (article also here) on Facebook and I excitedly told her about the the one that had been hanging in my grandparents’-now-aunt’s house since before I was born.  And here it is!  I’ve always loved this illustration.  And in the second link above, there is a different version of this with a washcloth over her nipples.  I’d always wondered where her nipples had gotten to.IMG_5150

Back to Easter.  The table is full of delicious treats.

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And we had a good variety of things for dinner too! IMG_5152