Snake Surly

So Nathan’s mom is visiting us this weekend. Yesterday we hung out here and made some killer Indian food, which was a huge hit. Today we had sort of planned to visit some of the Missions, but we wound up chilling at home for most of the day and eating and reading cookbooks at each other. (This is all entirely at odds with my effort to lose some of the nine million pounds I’ve gained in the last year.)

We eventually left the house at about two, with no particular plan. We wound up driving to Benicia, which is ADORABLE, and going to the old state capitol building, and taking a tour of this cool Victorian house next door. There were not one, but TWO California Registered Historical Landmarks, so of course I had to pose.

After the historical awesomeness, we went into Berkeley and took Barbara to the Bowl, where she bought boatloads of spices so she could try making Indian food at home, and then to Cafe Rouge for a truly wonderful meal during which I tried not to think about the entire week’s worth of calories I was consuming. It was totally worth it, though. I’m pretty confident that a good time was had by all.

Okay, this list needs to be re-examined. I still have a lot of stuff to do.

I’m finally sewing a shirt for Nathan, all by hand. It’s going to be a thing of peasanty beauty. There will be be pictures as soon as I’m done, which should be in a couple of days. Who the hell knew I’d turn out to like sewing??

101 78 Things to do in 1001 days

1. Finish molding in kitchen
2. Floor in laundry room
3. Unpack all of the books (mostly done) (Not going to happen until #5 happens)
4. Organize garage
5. Organize basement
6. Sort through the CDs (See #5)
7. Organize costumes (See #5)
8. Have corset repaired
9. Deal with the cloak
10. Make new bloomers
11. Mend chemise (I haven’t mended the old one, but I made a new one. That ought to count for something.)
12. Turn juniper patch into edible garden
    
13. Make curtain for under sink
14. Cook through Fat book (I don’t know if I want to do this. Lemme ponder.)
15. Vaccinate cats
16. Go to the dentist
17. Organize yarn collection (You know, this is just one of those things that needs to be done perpetually. What I REALLY need to do is organize my sewing shit.)
18. Knit pirate hat
19. Knit something from Victorian Lace Today
20. Knit sweater for mom
21. Finish that pink scarf
22. Darn all the socks that need darning (Of course, there are always more socks to darn.)
23. Knit argyle socks
24. Finish Gen’s blanket
25. Finish kitchen cabinets (ONE MORE)
26. Knit 5 things on Ravelry queue (other than the things on this list)
27. Knit something for charity
28. Knit something for three different babies
29. Put names on Christmas stockings
30. Can something
31. Watch at least one Oscar movie/month (8/35)
32. Finish Nathan’s pajamas
33. Cure some bacon
34. Make sausage
35. Make beer
36. Finish Forbes Forest
37. Lose 10 Lbs (I’ve lost 6 so far.)
38. Go on a 20-mile bike ride.
39. Build cabinet for living room
40. Strip/repaint dining room windows
41. Finish table
42. Make Nathan a new faire shirt (ALMOST DONE!!)
43. Get rid of xylosma
44. Replant front of house
45. Plant planter box
46. Replace house number
47. Re-seed lawn
48. Have house painted
49. Refinish floors
50. Win 5 online poker tournaments
51. Go to Disneyland
52. Go for five hikes
53. Ride bike once a month (1 down)
54. Go to Seattle
55. Plant some bulbs
56. Fix/replace deck
57. Sell 10 things on eBay (2/10)
58. Sell something on Etsy
59. Make a Morris chair (this is all Nathan.)
60. Replace overhead light in bedroom
61. Simmer burner for stove
62. Fix oven pilot light
63. Get new shower curtain
64. Re-do hall closet
65. Buy a bra that fits
66. Bake bread 5 times (5/5)
67. Make fruitcake
68. Win the cocktail contest at Dickens (I know, it’s fixed)
69. send 15 postcards
70. Watch The War
71. Watch The Civil War (DONE!!)
    
72. Make 3 different cassoulets
73. Make puff pastry (I made some with Scott, I’ll cross this off the list when I go solo.)
74. send Christmas cards
75. Make 1 thing for everyone on Christmas list
76. Make a quilt
77. GET A HAIRCUT
78. Visit the Vallejo farmer’s market 5 times (1/5)
79. See 5 movies at the Empress (1/5)
80. Have 5 dinner parties (2/5)
81. Have 3 cocktail parties (1/3)
82. Have 1 costume party
83. Have a rockin’ 50th birthday party for Nathan
84. Read that biography of Dickens
85. Read 10 things on unread shelf (1/10) (I’m actually reading something right now from said shelf!)
86. Learn a poem to do at Faire (This isn’t going to happen. I’m going to change it to “Learn a shanty to sing at Dickens.”)
87. Get Nathan’s boots fixed
88. Play a musical instrument on stage (not the kazoo.)
89. Knit socially 10 times
90. Do something for every Project Spectrum grouping
91. Participate in local theatre
92. get somebody famous to respond to me on Twitter
93. Try 5 new restaurants (2/5)
94. Meet in person someone I’ve known online for more than a year(WOOHOO!)
95. Get the sconces and overhead light in the living room repaired
96. Have both of Holly’s prints framed
97. Deal with the Curliecue Blanket, one way or another
98. Finish everything on the Feb. 5th UFO list (some items are already listed on this list, but they’re big-ticket items. (9/21)
99. GO TO THE DMV!!!!!
100. reserved
101. reserved

So there’s this fence in our back yard. When we first saw the house two years ago, we said, “That fence has to go.” It was rotten and practically falling down and had these ill-conceived trellises tacked to them. We bought the house, moved in, had a housewarming party, and still the fence lists a little more toward the neighboring house every day.

No, this is not a trick of perspective. It really leaned that far.

Nathan’s been trying to talk me into removing the trellis, which he knew was weighing the fence down. I didn’t want to get rid of it because it was sort of obscuring the horrible yard next door. I should have listened. It was a great idea. It also gave me a nice big piece of trellis to put behind my green beans.

Then we used some L brackets to affix the fence to our deck, and while I wouldn’t call the fence “upright”, I would call it “not actively falling down.”

The fence still has to go, but this was a super cheap fix and will tide us over for another couple of months. Now it is time for gin.

Hey, looky! I sewed! And I left the house! Woohoo!

Here we are, on stage with the Seadogs, performing in front of thousands of people. It didn’t just feel like thousands of people, it WAS. The Northern California Pirate Festival was attempting to break the world’s record for the largest pirate gathering. The estimate from the nice people at Guinness was that there were at least 2300 people in the crowd. The view from the stage was so breathtaking that I didn’t have a chance to think about it and puke my guts out.

Plus, I’d had a whole bunch of beer.

You know what my favorite part of The French Connection was? It was the part during the end credits where Nathan sprang from his chair, ejected the disk and sent the damned thing back to Netflix.

Okay, the car chase scene was awesome. It was possibly the most riveting and terrifying chase scene I’ve ever seen. Actually, the last 40 minutes of the movie were pretty good. Too bad they were preceded by 80 minutes of exposition, in which we discovered NOTHING about our “protagonist” except that he’s an amoral, racist drunkard. And that’s all we ever know!

Seriously, people, this movie should be called The French Connection or What’s My Motivation? Why did Popeye Doyle want to catch these bad guys so badly? For humanity? For glory? For money? If you know, tell me. Or don’t. I don’t really care.

A Clockwork Orange was robbed. That’s all I’m saying.

Next up: The Godfather, which (*ducks for cover*) I’ve never seen.

It’s been well over two months since we watched an Oscar Challenge movie. I’d been dreading Patton, mostly because it’s so freaking LONG. I barely have the attention span these days to make it through an entire episode of Top Chef without falling alseep. Also, that whole George C. Scott rejecting his Academy Award thing has always made me roll my eyes. And honestly, I’m still having nightmares about Lawrence of Arabia. I didn’t want to slog through another epic about some deranged military genius swaggering all over the desert and then getting buggered in a Turkish prison.

Of course, I failed to remember that I LOVE war movies and I have a huge crush on Karl Malden and although I mock them, I dig me some epics. D’oh! This movie was GREAT! I mean, like little man jumping out of his chair great. Why the hell haven’t I ever seen this, and why don’t I know much about this crazy Patton dude? MUST FIND OUT MORE!

It’s getting late and we have all-day rehearsal tomorrow, but I wanted to write a little something so I remember later how wonderful and exciting and touching this film was. It deserved every award it got nominated for. I can’t wait to watch it again and again.

p.s. I so apologize, Patton. You, sir, are no Lawrence of Arabia.

I’ve got this list of stuff to do. I guess I should do some of it, now that I have time to do it.

There’s actually stuff on that list that can get crossed off. Nathan did a marvelous job of cleaning the garage (#4). It inspires me to organize the basement (#5) and finish the last kitchen cabinet (#25). Yesterday I spent three hours with an X-Acto knife getting one of the dining room windows open. The dope who painted it shut years ago did a really, really good job. It took me so long to get unstuck that I got a sunburn. In my own house. Awesome.

I’ve got some sewing and needlework and knitting (and more darning) to do, too. And pepper plants to plant and water. And dinner to plan. And the bathroom to clean. I forgot how much work this whole Domestic Goddess job is. But I love it.

Remember that time when I invited you to suck it? Well, I really meant it. I can’t tell you how tired I am of you giving my friends cancer and heartache and miscarriages and, like, death and stuff. I don’t know what your fucking problem is. Were you teased mercilessly as a child? Did your parents make you eat lima beans? Did you have a really mean gym teacher? Are you sensitive about the size of your ass? You know what, you should really get over it.

Are you mad because I haven’t been posting movie reviews? Okay, here:

My Fair Lady: Everything I love in my adult life is in this movie.

The Sound of Music: Well, except for the love of love. This is my favorite movie ever made. It may not be the best, but it’s my favorite.

A Man for All Seasons: I’ve always hated Thomas More for the vicious Tudor lies he had to spread about Richard III, but this yarn was so compelling that it made me read up on the subject and find out who the real villains were.

In the Heat of the Night: Total surprise. I knew this was about civil rights and shit, but hot damn, it was good, and is clearly the genesis of the buddy cop flick.

Oliver!: Love it. Love the tragic co-dependent romance. Love the singin’ and dancing. Love that Mr. Dickens. Best Picture? I think Lion in Winter got robbed, but I still love it.

Midnight Cowboy: The best part was when it was over, thus I was able to announce that I’d never have to watch it again. Seriously, this made me want to drink myself into a coma. I wish I’d never seen it. The last of my innocence is gone. But GOD DAMN it, Universe, you gave the Oscar to the best picture for once. Genius.

Now fucking leave my friends alone. I am serious.

I can’t believe I didn’t blog for an entire month. Of course, WHEN WOULD I HAVE HAD THE TIME? Crap, it was a busy month. Between Dickens and work, I had no time. None. Zero. Zilch. I’m still behind on buying Christmas presents.

Christmas itself was great, the extend New Year’s weekend was the shiznit, and now all is calm, all is bright.

I know, I know, I’m behind. It’s actually worse than you know. I’m FOUR movies behind.

Fortunately, these two are pretty simple for me.

Lawrence of Arabia. Nathan may never speak to me again when I admit this, but it’s not my favorite. It’s really, really beautiful in every way, but the last third of it was so damned depressing that I just wanted to chew my hand off. Maybe I’ll write more about this later, but just thinking about it upsets me.

Tom Jones. All I knew about it was that there’s a scene where Tom and some chick are eating dinner, and it’s supposed to be really sexy. Guess what? It was REALLY sexy. We had to rewind and watch that scene twice. Go out and rent this. It’s an enormous amount of fun. It’s silly and very naughty and extremely clever.