Tag: OrangeDoor

Unemployment Task Done

Back in May, I tackled the second task on my unemployment to-do list: painting the front of the house.

Something went wrong with the previous paint job, and the paint bubbled on the right side of the door. This was fine (I mean, not really, but it looked fine) until pressure washing peeled off the paint on some lower bubbles, leaving the cement siding exposed.

Matt had previously had the paint matched, and in May I sanded things down. Sometime in July, I borrowed my neighbor’s extension ladder and used Krud Kutter in lieu of pressure washing to clean the surface. That undid my sanding efforts.

And now, in September, I have sanded again and painted! I’m pleased with the results. I didn’t paint all the way up, and used the porch shelter as a demarcation point. But the colors look fine and point where the paint changes is blocked by the bush on one side and the upper porch on the other.

Most all of the bubbles flattened out and while you can see the outline, they blend pretty well.

This is one exception, but we will put back the mailbox and it will cover that right up. You can also see where the wood has rotted. It was very spongy when I did the initial work in May.

Rather than try to replace the wood, I’m thinking of this as a stop-gap measure. the house is up for repainting in the next few years, and the painters replace the boards that need it when they paint.

Third Anniversary

After kind of forgetting to make plans, Matt and I rallied and celebrated our third anniversary (the wedding one, not the together one, which was in May) at the Pixiu Mala Hongtang restaurant.

We chose our ingredients and chose to have them stir fried (the other choice was soup) and had delicious customized meals. It was quite fun and filling.

Then we stopped by the Pix-o-Matic machines to get some anniversary dessert. I got the Shazam and Matt got the Royale, which didn’t make it into the picture.

It was a good anniversary.

The Movie Quiz 10-Year Anniversary

Matt, Greg, Renee, and I attended the 10-Year Anniversary Movie Quiz. We were excited to go because to celebrate the quiz’s long run, every team was guaranteed a prize.

As we are middling movie quizzees, this was our chance to win a prize.

I was hoping to score a Hallmark Keepsake Beatrice “Tris” Pior Divergent ornament. Mark the Quizmaster gives at least one of them away during every quiz. He jokes that they will probably be used as currency when the world ends.

We also had to identify Divergent from a film clip. I overthought it and guessed it was one of the later movies, so we even missed the Divergent question. (!)

We had a slow first round, and rallied a bit in the second round, but we were nowhere near the top three. Those winners got movie passes to the Hollywood Theatre and free movie rentals at Movie Madness. They also got first pick of the winning prizes. The prizes were stacked in the front of the theater, of various sizes, and all wrapped.

Mark told us that the theater asked us to open our prizes outside, so that we wouldn’t overburden the theater staff with extra cleaning duties.

Matt picked our prize, and it was book sized and squishy. It clearly wasn’t a Hallmark Keepsake Beatrice “Tris” Pior Divergent ornament. We guessed it might be a t-shirt as we exited the theater.

There, under the marquee lights, we unwrapped our prize in the company of other Movie Quiz prizewinners.

And we won a copy of Divergent!

Looking around at the other teams, we found that everyone, no matter the size of their prize, had also won a copy of the movie Divergent. “But some people got a Blu-ray,” a woman helpfully observed.

We all laughed, and I laughed more at the thought of Mark setting up this elaborate joke and also not being able to witness the payoff because he was still upstairs in the theater distributing prizes.

JAW New Play Festival: Fires, Ohio

My frugal self loves the JAW festival because the readings are free. But I also love plays and have enjoyed our previous outing.

Fires, Ohio was another good night at the theater. Trapped by poor air quality from a nearby fire, a family has a dinner together to celebrate an old friend’s visit. And then so many other things happen.

As the play progressed, each character searched the internet for information. I thought this was a particularly brilliant way to get insight about the characters.

Independence Day 2024

I’m on the mend from Covid, but still out of commission. Matt has also come down with some fatigue-based sickness that is not Covid. Here’s what we did.

Waited around for the excessive heat to kick in.

Played 10 Days in the USA.

Watched a an American Playhouse production of The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters.

It was written by Jean Shepard, author of A Christmas Story, and so the characters are familiar. It’s an older Ralphie.

The production values are so-so, and it could use a restoration (or an official home on YouTube) but it made us laugh hard twice, so it was a good use of our time.

I like to watch Hamilton on the Fourth, but had just watched it when Sara was here. So I watched La La Land instead.

Rosetown Ramblers Dance at the Reser

The Reser Center for the Arts hosted Friends of Dorothy: A Queer Cabaret, and the Rosetown Ramblers got to square dance as part of the performance. It was Matt’s birthday, so I made cupcakes and we sang Happy Birthday after we practiced our routines.

In the Green Room, Matt poses in front of one of the dressing rooms.

Here’s the show list:

It was fun to hang out backstage. I think the last time I had that experience was the 1989 recital for the Kathy Lee School of Dance. I got to see drag queens in various stages of undress.

However, it’s entirely possible that hanging out in the Green Room might have had a consequence. More on that later.

A Good Round at the Movie Quiz

The first round of the movie quiz tonight made me feel very smart. Mark, the quizmaster, played the beginning of 10 movie musicals and we had to identify them. The first one was Annie, so I knew I was going to do well.

The ninth one was super tricky. It was from On the Town, which I’ve seen. But it starts with one guy singing and he doesn’t show up again for the rest of the film. Actually, it’s the guy standing above Gene Kelly in that thumbnail. Check out his part:

I’m curious how many teams got that one.

Things went downhill from there, but it’s always nice to have a start strong.

22nd Anniversary at República

We’ve eaten at República before. It used to be in a smaller space in the Ecotrust Building. It’s moved into a space near Powell’s that once housed that mediocre pasta chain restaurant. This is a huge upgrade. As we like to do, we had the tasting menu.

I can no longer recall what this course was, but it was delicious, as were all our courses.

The bill was delivered in a book along with a card, and we got to take home a little treat for the next morning with our coffee (amended to tea when we told him we didn’t drink coffee).

It was a delicious sweet that melted well with the tea.

República is a splurge that is well worth it.