Julie & Julia, the movie

I tracked her down. Well, actually I tracked her blog down, the blog that spawned the book and then the movie "Julie & Julia." Along the way I read a blogger's review of the movie. It sounds like a must-see.

You can read it (the blog) here.

Its amazing how so many people have become successful and/or have whole new careers now because of the internet. So many talented people! What's up with that?

PS... my bad. I just went to the beginning of Julie's blog to start reading from there. Apparently the book came first, then the blog. I don't know what order the movie comes into play. Actually, I don't know how accurate anything is. You know Hollywood. Hard to separate fact from hype, especially if you're speed reading. PPS... or maybe there was another blog in the beginning. ? You know what? Lets just say this entry could be totally fabricated. I don't know anything.
PPPS... I think I might have found the original food blog. To manuever around the blog, use the calendar on the sidebar. This may be more than you want to deal with, I know, but I was pleased that I finally found it. The blog link was hidden on her sidebar. Can't fool me. For long. I think.

Is This Hell?

 We're getting a little preview of what hell might feel like if we were burning there....

We're in the middle of a heat wave. Yesterday was 103 degrees and today is expected to be 105. Tomorrow will be much the same and then we slide down into the high 90s. Be still my heart.

You know its going to be a hot one when the overnight low temperature is 76 degrees. (00)

My ass will be sitting in front of a fan and a squirt bottle of water will be at hand. Other than that, not much else will be going on.

(the photo is not of a burning bush, but a Christmas cactus that bloomed a few weeks ago.)

Here's One Way to Do It!

Searching

 
Yesterday I noticed some cops, with a k-9 officer, were searching for something.

I noticed them when I stepped outside and the first thing I thought was "something to blog!!" (Its very boring here.) I tried to get some decent shots of the dog sniffing around without being noticed, so I just clicked the camera. The shots didn't come out. (most were just pictures of the stairs. sigh.) When finished on the corner some of the officers, with the dog, continued walking around the block. Don't know if anything was found. We're guessing they were looking for drugs or a gun. (do dogs sniff out guns?)

Many hours later, after dark, I was once again standing outside and observed a female walking down the street. I kept my eye on her after seeing her looking around on the ground in the same area the police had been looking. She didn't find anything, either.

We've had seven shootings in the past seven nights here in the city. Fortunately no one has been killed, but several young people have been wounded. They're beefing up police presense and will be operating their mobile unit, an extra huge truck/van that can move around based on where the activity is.

Clearly I Have Nothing to Say

 Some electricians were just hanging around the other day.
 A neighbor is growing parsley. I liked the shadows.
 And I'm ending with a bowl of summer.

(I'm sitting by the open window just a few minutes before 8am and I keep smelling vapor rub. ?? Weird.)

Summertime Fun

This is the scene of the crime:

 

A trampoline at 'mom's' best friend's house. The netting around it is definitely a safety feature, but one shouldn't get too laxed in their ways. The friend's youngest daughter (few months older than Vyron) managed to break her arm. See the ledge around the trampoline? That's where she was sitting when Darius bounced into the netting and knocked her to the ground. She has a pink cast on her right arm now. And she seemed to like the pain meds. Her mother said she would wake up in the middle of the night and call to her. "Mommy, I need some more meds. My arm hurts." Then all would be well once again in Happyville.

Not to be outdone, her older sister (perhaps six or seven) had been riding a boys bike learning how to do trick rides. "Look at me! Look at me! I can stand up on the bar!!" Wanna guess what happened next? What? Too easy? Well, maybe. She slipped and her private parts slammed right onto the bar. She had to have a few stitches done. And you know what the saddest part of this particular event was? The fear that the hospital staff would report the incident as sexual abuse. Its a witch hunt out there! (needless to say there won't be a picture of her injuries.)

 

This is just Darius showing off his sweat. He was playing so hard his entire body was wet and his hair was in little ringlets. No injuries, though. Well, not if you don't count that he was the one that bumped into the girl with the broken arm.

 

And the last of the injuries during this week long period of time brings us to Vyron. I don't have a photo of his injury because I don't want to be reminded of it. It makes me shudder.
He got his thumb closed in a car door. OUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU! His poor little thumb stayed tender... its still tender even though its been about two weeks. It looks like his nail is going to fall off, too. (shudder shudder) It makes me creepy just thinking about it. Poor little guy. Besides, it brings up memories of my own fingers getting shut in car doors. Does that happen to every child?

Uncle Walt

 
I couldn't let Walter Cronkite's passing go without a tip of the hat to him. He was literally our first news anchorman. The term "news anchor" was coined with Cronkite in mind.

I will always associate him with the death of JFK. I remember his sobering reporting and that he almost lost it, emotionally, on TV. I also, along with Lawrence Welk, associate him with my grandparents... watching the huge and heavy floor model black and white tv with Walt telling us what was going on in the world. "And that's the way it is... " I knew as soon as the news was finished, a good program would be coming on like Red Skelton or the Ed Sullivan show.

To be honest, I didn't realize Uncle Walt was still with us, but since he was 92 I'm not going to feel bad about it.

PS: Remember when tv programming didn't start until 2 or 3pm... up until then you would only see a "test pattern" on the screen. The programs would cease around midnight or shortly there after. I tell ya, I'm old as dirt!

One of Our New Politically Correct Phrases

"Portion Control"

Instead of saying "HEY! You're eating too much!!!" you can now say "Oh sweetie... you need to watch your portion control, bless your little heart." Its one of the new marketing phrases.

Last week we had a grey and misty/rainy day and I decided to fix some pinto beans while the weather was appropriate (as apposed to now when we are in the 90 degree range). As I waited for the pot to boil I glanced over the product information section on the package. The bag of beans contained 13 servings. I looked at the bag of beans. I looked at the bowl. "I don't think so."

I then checked out 'serving size'.... a serving of pinto beans (dry) is 1/4 cup. (00)

 

This is approximately 1/4 a cup of beans as the crow flies. (I don't have anything that measures 1/4... this measuring cup starts at 1/2 a cup, so I guessimated by sight.)

 

This is what 1/4 of a cup of dry beans looks like in a bowl. (For scientific purposes of measurement, I used a striped bowl. Please note color and size of stripe where beans end for later visual referencing.)

 

This is a bowl showing what a "wet" serving of beans would be... 1/2 a cup of beans. One laddle full. Is this a 'regular' serving for you? Am I outta touch? My serving would be a full bowl of chili. Then seconds.

It feels like a lie. False advertising. The bag of beans said the calorie count was something like 110 calories a serving. Well yeah! When a serving is half a cup.

"Hey, George. Lets promote this product as "reduced calories".... we just need to alter the package and make the serving size smaller. Easy Peasy!"

Are You a Coffee Snob?

 I don't consider myself a coffee snob, especially since there are so many coffees out there that I have not tried. However, I have spoiled myself and I do not like the massed produced cheap coffee. In the picture you will notice two different bags of coffee. This is a warning. Just because coffee is in a bag it does not mean its good tasting coffee. The Tully coffee SUCKS! Clearly they have used nothing but the cheapest of beans and didn't give a damn about the roasting. Tully coffee tastes like the kind that you pay $3 and get 50 pounds of it. I caved on getting Tully because it was on sale and at the time I was counting pennies. It was buy one, get one free. But as you can see, I quickly replaced the yucky stuff with something better. The Tully coffee will now be put up as emergency rations.


 I made myself a treat this morning.... iced mocha coffee. And to make sure it felt like a treat, I used a plastic cup. (hahaha... "ohhhh a plastic cup! What a treat that is!!") My daughter left the cup here and I kept it around just so I could fix an iced mocha and pretend I bought it. You know what the pathetic part of all this is.... its that I'm pretending with just myself. No one else will see it. Yet here I am, sharing this information. I gotta get out more.


 
The final product looks yummy. One thing about an iced drink...it sure goes down quickly! I think this might be my final 'pretend' with a plastic cup. I'm going to be sticking with a tall glass next time. No sense in putting on airs.

Point to the Blog

I was just skipping thru links and came across this entertaining blog and thought you might want to take a look, too. Its Miss Doodle's Day. I like how its done. Light, airy, and oh so French.

Sleepover

 
 
We had an impromptu sleepover the other night. 'Mom' and the boys stopped by to drop something off. It was late. The boys were already in their pj's and looked all clean, fresh, and innocent as boys their age are wont to appear. Vyron caught me at a weak moment and charmed me. (Its not a difficult task.)

"gamma, can I stay with you? Pleassssseeeeeee" with head cocked to one side, eyes looking up at me between dark lashes, smile playing on the lips. Damn. I dare a gramma to say no to that pressure!! I caved, okay? It took only a second. Sigh.

The boys were perfect that evening. Sweet young things that were actually doing what I asked them to do!! "No, put the screwdriver back in the drawer. There's nothing to take apart tonight." These are the short lived moments that keep hope for future generations alive. When will we learn?

The next day started off alright but progressed downward, as far as Darius goes anyway. Nothing out of bounds, mind you, but just not as sweet as the night before. I guess it might be akin to an evening out. By the end of the evening and the end of the alcohol, magic is in the air and you are surrounded by royalty. The next morning the magic has turned into a dank, smoke-filled room and there's an ugly toad sleeping on the floor. I think Darius was simply getting bored. These are the times that make me dream of the fairy tale. A fairy tale where young children could go outside by themselves (after a certain age, of course) and play until they were called to lunch. Sigh. Norman Rockwell...you big tease!!

Crime Fighter

Crime fighter, that's me. I don't have a cape or spandex shorts right now, but I think I could find a couple of metal bracelets if I looked for them good enough.

It was about 5am. It was light outside, but the sun had not risen yet. I guess you could say it was "by dawn's early light." I had just silently stepped out of my door to have my first cigarette of the day. One more child can have a medical procedure, but I digress. I leaned up against the building and glanced around. There, coming around the fence along the lot next to us, was a tall man dressed all in black. It was too far away to see faces. He stopped as soon as he saw me...then turned and walked back around the fence. (Its a fence that goes around another property and one side of it is up against the lot next to us.)

My first thoughts as this all happened were...

Who is THAT! followed by "Now that's odd. I wonder what he was up to...hmmmm."

I think I figured it out by the end of the cigarette. Folks in another apartment had locked up a small bike to one of the stair posts. I think the guy was going to rip off the bike... until he saw me. I'm guessing a crackhead. And he probably had not yet noticed the huge logging chain and lock on it.

So once again, I foiled a crime. And me without a cape!