Dream Log

Weight.

I've decided not to post it.

Truffles!

Dustin and I had dinner with new friends last weekend and, after an amazingly delicious homemade ravioli dinner complete with winter vegetables, salad, and bread, we were served homemade truffles. Did you know you could make truffles at home? I most certainly did not. It was just one of those things that someone else made and you paid for.

But no more! A good friend and I decided to try our hand at the ancient and revered art of chocolate making (we used pre-made chocolate. Sorry, we're just not cool enough to roast and press our own chocolate... yet... Hey, Sarah...! ;) ).

These beauties are what we ended up with after several hours and ounces of chocolate. We now know what mud-pie making is really training children for.

Note: The tray was full when we were done, but Sarah was entitled to her half. :)

Curls!

I curled my hair today. For those who don't know, my hair is baby fine and bone straight (with a slight whip to the right at the bottom) and such information is exclaimed by every hair stylist I have ever been to ("Wow. Your hair is so straight! Wow, and it's so fine, too." almost verbatim or in the other order every time). I spent 1.5 to 2 hours on this and used probably a half can of hair spray and it's already starting to fall. BUT it was beautiful (and still is even if it is closer to my shoulders instead of my chin).

Happy New Year!

The Christmas season is nearly over and a new year has begun. Wow. What a year... and what an end.

I spent a week or so at my in-laws as nursemaid. Gram had her shoulder replaced right after getting cataracts taken out of her eye so not only did her arm hurt so much to induce cussing (something she doesn't normally do), she couldn't bend over either (something about blood pooling in the recently cut eye and making it explode). So I got to be her arms, her legs, and her alarm clock (Gram, have you taken your eye drops? No? Gram, have you done your exercises? Yes? Gram, you really can't wait to take the pain meds. I know don't like them but do you remember that crushing pain two hours ago? Yes? You think trying to wait 2.5 hours instead of 2 won't give you the exact same result it did last time? Well, tough, take it anyway.) Really, that woman is impossible to take care of. She's very stubborn and likes to think she's Wonder Woman.

However, that didn't last long because not three days after I came to take care of Gram, Gram went to the hospital to take care of her aunt who has various heart problems and tends to freak out when left at hospitals alone. I was not permitted to come. So I stayed at 'home' and helped my mother-in-law wrap about a million packages for various needy families. I now understand why my husband tries to cram way more tasks than humanly possible into a time frame. He gets it honestly. I also got my hair cut and this past Saturday, I cut Dustin's.

After some confusion about Christmas times we had Christmas day with my family. I had a good time. It was nice to be home. My sister absoultely loved her present. I got her a huge stuffed bunny from www.squishable.com.
















I love her gift to me. It's large (1500 pieces, I think) fairy puzzle. She said it took her two weeks and she hated it because all the pices look exactly the same. I believe her.

To top the whole trip off, my brother and his girlfriend are now engaged! I'm excited :D Even if they're not getting married until 2011. :P

But now we're home. Very glad we're home.

Note: Those are my feet to the left of the poster.

True Story

Guy: I'd really like to discuss Radical Egalitarianism.
Me: Do you want to discuss it because you believe it or because you just want to discuss it.
Guy: I don't know, I have very open ideas. This is my only outlet for theological discussion. (In reference to the small group we both attend.)
Me: Do you think it's supported by scripture?
Guy: -pause- I don't have any scripture to back it up but I believe in a loving God.

When the "I believe in a loving God" people can throw around terms like Radical Egalitarianism, you know you're in for a good time.

I think I just might like it here.

Dream Log

Okay, general outline of last nights dream (no weight).

• My husband, sister and I were adopted by the Cullens (the vampire 'parents' in Twilight).
• My sister and I found a magical cupboard that would duplicate any non-living thing you put in it over night. We used it to get more craft materials (mostly yarn).
• My sister adopted a two foot long baby alligator that tried to eat her arm. She wouldn't give it up, though.
• The Cullens adopted more kids until we totalled something like twenty all together.
• Divisions began to develop in the family, my husband and I decided it was time for people to split up and move into different houses. In our thinking, it was better to live separately but still be on good terms with everyone than try continuing to live together and have hate spring up between us.
  
• We proposed two additional houses to our siblings (for three total, including the original house) and our siblings seemed generally agreeable.
• When we brought it up with Mr. and Mrs. Cullen no one would decide who went where. I remember someone saying that there was no way my husband and I would leave the original house. I was kind of surprised, considering this had been our idea in the first place.
• We announced that we were leaving, much to the shock of the eighteen other people, and, in the end, two or three people ended up coming with us.
• We said goodbye to our 'parents' and left.

The End

Oh, also, somewhere in all that I ended up in a car wreck because someone switched the gas and brake pedal in my car. Instead of slowing down when I came upon the traffic jam I just plowed right threw. It killed one woman and wounded two disabled children. I then had a conversation with my actual mother about whether or not she had been awake when the wreck happened and had just appeared in the dream when she fell asleep. She seemed to think I'd actually killed the woman and should be expecting to receive a traffic ticket.

Morning!

Twilight

I admit it. I went. I saw Twilight in theater. It wasn't horrible. Quite.

Other than the total lack of acting on Edward's part and the blatant skipping of very important character development (as in, maybe we should have more than one conversation before we declare our love for each other), it was mostly decent.

But it wasn't the book. It wasn't even close. Dialogue that in no way needed to be altered (and, in fact, was essential to the overall arch of the story) was altogether missing in the movie.

The movie threw in a few extras for our politically correct pleasure. Bella's friends were drastically altered in character (with the exception of Jessica, she was excellent) and you got the feeling that she had to have one solitary friend from each major race in the continental US (not that I'm against diversity, but when a movie feels type casted, you've done something wrong), we were reminded that women should take control in a relationship and ask the guy to prom when he drags his feet, and what teenage angst movie isn't complete without someone asking if you're 'being safe'. Because, obviously, Edward's insisting on sex in marriage in the book is too narrow minded for our enlightened viewers.

Sigh, we loose so much in trying to be relevant.

I agree with Rotten Tomatoes: 44%. You wouldn't have gotten half of it if you hadn't read the book. And it went so slowly! They could have fit so much in if we hadn't lingered in every little pause. I assume they were trying to build tension with those pauses but that didn't occur to me until the day after I saw the movie. I was initially just annoyed that they probably wasted a good twenty minutes of movie time with silence.

I'd see it again. If it was free.