Stuffed Green Peppers

I made stuffed green peppers for dinner, the first time I've ever prepared it myself. They turned out very well - I seriously, objectively think they were some of the tastiest I've ever had. The kids (minus Junie) liked 'em too, and Smiley praised my cooking. Yay me.

Lorenzers

Lovely Molly

Last night we Netflix'ed "Lovely Molly", a horror film composed largely of "found footage". Molly is a newlywed who moves into her deceased parents home and slowly unravels, slipping either into insanity or demonic possession. I vote for the insanity route myself, so I didn't agree with Lisa's assessment that the narrative was left unresolved in the end. She has a valid point, but I liked the ambiguity. I'm going to go against the majority here and give this a good rating, because dangit I *did* enjoy it (how much of that you can chalk up to Gretchen Lodge's incredible performance is incalculable). Grade: A-

Well Done, Brewers

Congratulations to the Brewers on notching a second consecutive winning season - an impressive accomplishment, given that they were 12 games under .500 with only 42 games left on the schedule. IIRC they had a similar surge to finish off a Trebelhorn year, back in '87 or '89. In other baseball news, my Yanks are back alone in first with two to play, congrats to the Tigers and Prince on clinching the Central, and to the Nationals for their first ever division title. Well done all.

Happy Fall!

The New Daughter

Just finished watching "The New Daughter", a horror film starring Kevin Costner. Costner moves his family to an idyll country home, only to discover the earth mound on the property is an ancient burial mound populated by deities who seek to restore their power by corrupting his daughter. I liked the movie. No big surprises, but it was more than substantial enough to than keep my attention and I liked Costner's acting; he physically portrayed the father as a jittery, somewhat fear driven guy. Grade: B+

YaYa Opens Her Nook E-Reader

Sure, I did a Christmas morning post, and loaded it with pictures. As I said in that write-up, however, YaYa's reaction to her Nook was worth a post all its own.

She'd been asking for a Nook, the electronic e-reader, for over a year. I had no doubt she'd use it, since she's a voracious reader, but I just couldn't afford it. Around November an opportunity arose for me to get one for her, and I didn't hestitate to fork over the cash.

She saw her Nook before it was wrapped, but Lisa (after scolding her for snooping) brushed it off by saying it was a gift for me. We made this all the more credible a statement by having me open my Nook first. She was happy for me, but you could tell she was jealous.

And then we gave her the package.

I don't think she knew what it was. Not a clue. And then she came unglued.

She started crying. She tried covering her face, but the emotions were too strong, and she lay there on the floor short of breath and weeping.

I thought she was doing this for show, but it quickly became clear that wasn't the reason. No. We had simply SCORED THE BEST GIFT EVER for the kid. :)

She calmed down and opened the Nook cover we bought her, but began to cry again. Ginger, who at the time wasn't very close to her (they grew closer here in 2012) went and put her arms around her to support her.

What a great moment. What a great reaction. What a "remember this forever" Christmas memory :)

.500. Finally.l

And with that I win my fantasy match-up, bringing my record up to 2-2. More importantly, I beat the commish aka Socialist, and that is a sweet and sassy thing.

The 1995 Project

I have been sorting through and organizing the hundreds - and I mean hundreds  - of letters, cards, notes, ticket stubs and receipts Lisa and I accumulated in 1995, the year we first met. It's nostalgic, certainly, but a little bothersome. As many of you might remember, there was a bit of a persistent bump in the road that year.  Whenever that subject came up many of my letters reek of ignorant (but sincere) rationalizations for my behavior, dismiss Lisa's objections as selfish, and, well, to put it plainly, in retrospect, I sound like an ass. While I've made up for it over the last 17 years it's still hard to read. I destroyed one of the worst of the bunch, but that pissed Lisa off, saying it's our shared history and not to be disturbed. Easy for her to say; my grandkids are gonna read this stuff and get the deeply mistaken impression that I'm not The Greatest Man Ever. How can she do that to them?

Costume Time

What costumes are your kids mulling over for Halloween? Who's already got the glue gun, sewing machine, and velcro on the ready? We've got a Cinderella, ninja, goth rag doll, and Katniss Everdeen in the works @ our house :) Large pumpkins at the pig $1.98 w/ card btw :)

- Lisa