Fiber Fool

• Saturday morning I baked homemade whole wheat pumpkin cake doughnuts. The recipe needs a bit more tweaking, but they were not a hardship to eat!
• I also went shopping to outfit myself a bit better for the freezing temps of a 5am run in October. It included long overdue new shoes, a jacket and some tech-friendly gloves.
• I went grocery shopping - on Saturday. At Whole Foods. How I survived I’m still not quite certain, but I did.
• Both Saturday and Sunday afternoon DH and I enjoyed some scary movies. He is a huge fan of Halloween so we have a Halloween movie watching season just as we do a holiday movie season. Let’s see, we watched The Brother’s Grimm, The Others, and I think one other scary one. Then we lightened things up with 10 Things I Hate About You.
• While we took in movies and DH programmed, I visited sleeve island, though in moderation. I opted for full length sleeves and have done 40% of the increases on the first sleeve. But Saturday’s knitting did aggravate my shoulder/neck a bit so I had to dial it back and only knit for about 15 minutes at a time.
• We enjoyed a lovely early Sunday morning breakfast at a local hot spot, but were early enough to seat ourselves! No waiting! Squee!
• We went to our fav Old Town coffeeship, The Bean Cycle. I splurged on a juice rather than coffee. I couldn’t not get coffee with breakfast.
• Yesterday I made a yummy white bean and vegetable stew for dinner and lunches this week. DH added a veg sausage and I added some shredded rotiserrie chicken to boost the calories and protein a bit.

All in all, probably a pretty balanced weekend. Some errands and work was done, but there was plenty of relaxation and together time too.

I do have a question for any runners out there - is it normal to have a different feeling between your shoes? When I bought my shoes on Saturday it was raining so I couldn’t take them out and around the block. When I did my first run in them the right shoe felt like the insole was bulging upward near the inside ball of my foot and I swear I could feel the gel they use as the shock absorber sloshing around. I did not feel this on the left foot. When I took them off and compared I think I feel a very slight raised section in the right shoe, but it is very subtle. Do you think it is just a matter of breaking it in, or do I take them back to the store? The fit otherwise is fantastic. The arch hits at just the right location (something that has been troublesome in the past) and I can get the heel snugged up so I don’t slip. But that sloshing and slight bump was super distracting during the walking sections of my training. I don’t particularly notice it while running though.

In the coming days I’m going to be under fire on some knitting so this is a very timely theme for me as I like popping movies in to hasten the knitting progress. Of course the movies shown above have almost all been watched in the last few weeks or so :-} So I don’t necessarily need to watch them NOW. But I’m almost always up for watching them.

1. Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea (I’ll skip the third one, thank you). All this period film watching has me in a groove. I used to watch these two movies with my closest cousin every single year since we were probably about 10 and 11 years old. I couldn’t quite tell you the last time I watched them so they are high on my list to watch soon.

2. Also in the period genre, I’m anxious to move onto Return to Cranford, though I do realize that is considered the second season of a television show, but I think of all of those BBC/PBS/AMC mini-series like shows as movies personally. We watched the first season over the weekend and can’t quite remember what happens in the second season since some of what we thought was part of season two happened in the first four episodes.

3. We discovered some of the period literary adaptations we haven’t watched yet, Middlemarch and Daniel Deronda to name just two that are streaming on NetFlix the last I looked. There are a few others where we haven’t seen that particular adaptation.

4. The Swedish language versions of The Girl Who Played with Fire and The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest are two I *really* want to see. But with subtitles to read they aren’t doable while under deadline knitting so it’ll likely be March or later before I get a chance to watch them. But I did enjoy both the Swedish and American versions of the first movie.

5. When we saw The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo in the theater (my first theatrical outing in mover a year, wow was that eye opening to my weight loss, LOL) they had a preview for Joyful Noise which looks like a fun, relatively light-hearted movie. Since it is in the theater right now I’m not likely to see it for a while.

6. Another current theatrical movie I’d like to see, and likely one more worthy of being seen on the big screen than #5 is Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. I enjoyed the first one, mostly because I didn’t expect it to hold super true to the literary character. That said, I fell asleep seeing it because we went just a day or two before Christmas to the late show and I was just tired out from prepping to host DH’s family.

7. I know DH wants to see Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and I think I could get into that one. It certainly has a great cast!

8. Water for Elephants is one I’ve been wanting to see for a while, but I kind of want to read the book first. Though sometimes the movies are better if you don’t know the book. Anyone care to ring in on that for this movie?

9. I’ve been thinking about I Hate Valentine’s Day as I noticed it was on NetFlix streaming right now. Though I’m a little reticent when they bring leads together in brand new roles. But aside from time, I guess I won’t lose anything in giving it a shot. Have you seen it? What did you think?

10. I definitely like a light rom com now and again too. You know, pretty people with no real problems. I could totally pop in The Proposal or The Back-Up Plan if we had them. And I’ve thought on and off lately about The Devil Wears Prada, it has been quite a while. There is also a part of me that wants to see Bridesmaids, but I’m worried that it’ll be a bit too heavy on the “painfully funny” side, especially after seeing Melissa McCarthy host SNL. Add that my sister didn’t like it and I’m reticent to spend any money to rent it.

I’m definitely feeling the winter doldrums so I’m open to any recommendations of comedies, romantic or not, though I’m not a big fan of the over the top slap stick variety. There is a definite bonus if it is streaming on NetFlix or Amazon! I’d love a few sitcoms to stream too. On my last trip home mom got me hooked on Big Bang Theory which I’ve been catching an episode of here and there streaming and onDemand, thankfully it doesn’t really need to be watched in order to be enjoyed. And when Mom and Amber were here we started Hot in Cleveland which I found hilarious and have since finished what was streaming. In the past decade it seems all I watch on TV has been dramas. And while I can definitely see the days getting longer already (it is actually still light when I head out for Wednesday yoga) some more laughter would be greatly appreciated!

I’m not funny very often. When I am funny it becomes the topic of conversation for 24 hours! Case in point, while getting ready for bed on Friday night I solidly rammed my knee into the corner of the footboard…

Me: Ouch! Break your knee cap while you’re at it why don’t you!
DH: Oooohhh! Don’t do that!
Me: Well, between my feet, my hip, and my guts the knee was feeling left out of the party!

In poor form I have giggled now and again all weekend about my funny. Not cool. But it still makes me laugh!

The feet have improved slightly. I had to be careful to not overdo though or I feel back at square one. I’m thinking now that it is tightness in my calves that is making muscles in my feet really tight and pulling stuff just a tad out of comfortable, but I’m not positive. My finger is more or less healed as long as I stay on top of moisturizing it though. Thanks Deb for the recommendation of chapstick!

I have had some fun mail recently. Chris turned me onto Swap-bot while she was here and I jumped into a couple photo swaps on there the start some ratings. I’m afraid I did not know it was customary to send little extras so I may have just shot myself in the foot as far as the ratings go. :-/ I hope my partners realize I’m a newbie and cut me a bit of slack! Doh!

The last lesson of the day? Don’t misplace your cell phone while its turned off! *sigh*

We went to the 8:45am showing of Harry Potter yesterday (pretty good, I won’t get into specific complaints as I’ll let you all form your own opinions). I know I shut it off when we sat down in the theater. We were early, I was knitting of course and I turned it back on briefly to use the calculator. When I turned it back on the battery was beeping low so when I turned it off I left it that way. I don’t often get calls and especially not on the weekends. We walked to a near-by restuarant. I want to say I saw it in my purse’s cell pocket while we were there. But really, all day yesterday there were no obvious tippings or flingings of the purse where I would have an inkling of the first place to call to see if they have one that got turned in yesterday. Despite being relatively sure that I left the theater with it, I’ll be calling them first as they open the earliers of all the possible places it could have fallen out.

This brings me to another note - don’t trust cell phone pockets in purses where the pocket doesn’t shut to secure the phone! *sigh*

On the positive side, I got to pick a few peppers this morning. One of the squash despite my worries on plant health appears to be flowering. And 4/5 watermelon plants are starting to vine vigorously! The 5th I moved so it is still recuperating from the move, but looking quite nice if I do say so myself!

About a month ago or so (shortly after it opened, if not opening weekend) DH and I went to see The Illusionist. It was somewhat on a whim. We were dining in the general vacinity and were done earlier than we expected and decided to see if there were any movies that were starting soon that we wanted to see and we lucked out.

I’m a big fan of Edward Norton and this movie did not disappoint. It was full of clever illusions and engineering feats. It was refreshing to see Jessica Beal in a role that required more than looking good in a bikini and being able to pull it off. Of course Paul Giamatti did a great job in his supporting role as Chief Inspector as well.

I know DH was glad that they more or less stuck to Germanic accents which was appropriate since it was set in Austria. There is some blood and violence and of course a bit of romance and if I’m remembering correctly some sex. But it was all pretty tastefully employed and not overdone. The twist at the end is very interesting. I had it figured out fairly early on with this one, but others didn’t fit all the pieces together until near the end. It is definitely worth watching if you like a plots with some twists and enjoy period films. I don’t want to give away too much though!

On Sunday night we took in the other movie revolving around magicians, The Prestige. It too was good. I love watching Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale and have been a fan of Michale Caine for a long time as well.

This movie was more complex. The beginning especially was confusing and you only get hints scattered throughout to wipe away at that confusion. Again it had good acting and nice period costumes and fun illusions to take in. The engineering feats of the illusions in this one were even more astounding from the mechanical sense. Overall, the plot had more meat to it than The Illusionist. DH and talked well past our bedtime last night about aspects of it. I wouldn’t even think too long if I were invited to see it in the theater again as I’m sure there were many hits and clues I missed in the confusion. It is one I will certainly want to watch again on video.

DH picked up on the twist to this one earlier than I did. I found that kind of interesting since I figured out The Illusionist first. Perhaps he was trying harder with The Prestige because of the early confusion?

I don’t really want to say much about The Prestige except to tell you to go see it. It was great!

If you are intriqued by magicians and want to see both movies, I’d probably recommend you space their viewing out. A month between the two was nice, more time probably would have been even more beneficial. Also, you may wish to watch The Illusionist first since it isn’t quite as complex. It might pale too much in comparison to The Prestige if watched after it or in too close proximity to it.

Well, I did make *some* progress on two of the items in yesterday’s photograph, though I was hoping for at least three, but the design project I was kicking my butt yesterday. The charting and the figuring for at least two sizes was making my head explode. So since there isn’t much of any interest to show you I’ll catch up on my logging of movies and books today…

Well the first book I finished last week was A Good Yarn by Debbie Macomber. This is a follow-up to her first knitting-related book, A Shop on Blossom Street. If you enjoyed the first, you will likely enjoy the second though I would recommend leaving *plenty* of room between reading them because really they are the same book with a different cast of characters. However, even though the cast of characters have a different set of problems from the first they are part of the same formula - roughly the same ages etc. It was a good enough light read, but I’m glad it had been a year or more since I had read the first book.

Prior to this set of books I had read just a couple of Macomber’s books and now I’m curious of each of the “series” suffers this same problem. Anyone out there more familiar with Macomber and can shed some light on the other series she has?

Then I picked up the next Stuart Woods Orchid book featuring Holly Baker, former MP now chief of police of Orchid Beach, FL, Orchid Blues. This was *awesome*! I wanted to call my mom at about midnight her time and yell at her for getting me started on this as there is a HUGE plot twist within the first twenty pages that had me reeling! I couldn’t believe. I should have believed it, but it seemed too unreal.

It seems this series deals mostly with fringe groups. The first had to do with a highly secretive “town” within their town that no one knew anything about. This one had to do with a secret town that was on no maps that was rather curious. I’m not normally big on stories about militia groups or other types of fringe groups, but I have loved and devoured these two books and can’t wait to read the next two!

After the previous heart racer I decided something lighter might be nice so I picked up this coffeehouse mystery (learned about from Chris and Chaos) by Cleo Coyle. On What Grounds is the first in the series. It probably isn’t a “must read” but it was a fun and light niche mystery. It did make me want to learn more about coffee. I’m pretty new to the world of coffee (having gotten my first coffee maker for Valentine’s Day) and would love to learn about the different beans and the different roasts and all that. Not to mention, I’m sure I have plenty to learn on how to brew a cuppa properly. So, yesterday I checked out a couple books on coffee from the library. These I don’t think will be hugely helpful as they are mostly recipe books, but they both have some introdutory material. Then I have a few other more substantial books requested through Prospector (regional ILL) that I’m waiting on. It is always kind of fun to get your interest peaked to read some more non-fiction. Mostly my non-fiction selections revolves around my art and craft pursuits.

As I mentioned yesterday I’m not onto the first Tami Hoag, Still Waters. I’m only about 50 pages in so far, but it seems okay for 50 pages. We’ll see how it shakes out.

This past week we dusted off a few old favorites that aren’t sooo old. It was fun to watch these films that we hadn’t seen in such a long time.

Mystery Men is just hillarious and it was a blast to see Hank Azaria again not to mention Jeanane Garafalo, W. H. Macy, and Greg Kinnear. It did make me want to be Baby Bowler for Halloween, LOL! A costume design I don’t think I could pull off - especially on a budget. You can’t be Baby Bowler without the skull in a pink tinted translucent bowling ball can you?

Tortialla Soup is just a lovely movie about the evolution of family and it focuses on food. It won’t matter if you ate a five course meal before you watch this movie, when it is over you will be craving really good Mexican! It is based on Eat, Drink, Man, Woman by Ang Lee but set in LA with a Mexican family at its center.

Then on Sunday night we wrapped up the weekend with a lighthearded romantic comedy classic for us - A Big Fat Greek Wedding. That so could be our families in that movie! Thankfully we both came from large families so it wasn’t quite the shock that John Corbett’s character had. DH’s family was still a little crazy the first time, but now I love them all - now that I know who it is who is hugging me anyway, LOL!

Sunday afternoon on a whim we did end up seeing a matinee at the theater. We ate near there and as luck would have it Accepted was showing in just ten minutes or so and we had been talking abou wanting to see it. We were a little scared. It could be *really* bad, but it could be *really* good like The New Guy.

Well, we both loved it. We declared it this year’s The New Guy and figure we’ll probably need to make room for it in our DVD collection at some point. We did leave wondering how much of Lewis Black’s character was scripted and how much of it was him just going off. We’re betting most of it wasn’t scripted. I guess we may find out when the DVD comes out.

I guess if you aren’t familiar with The New Guy I haven’t helped you in deciding whether or not to see this film. There is a band of friends in high school that didn’t get accepted into college for fall, whether it was that they chose poor essay subjects or they put all their eggs into one basket, there are five students that do not have post-high school plans figure dout and one of their friends who does. Out of desperation, one kid decideds to fake an acceptance letter, but knows in order to dupe his parents they need a web site. Well, word of this school spreads due to the web site and before they know it, they have their own college on their hands. A non-traditional one by all means, but a college nonetheless. It is a fun, campy movie about underdogs that makes you laugh (and groan a few times).