Harry Potter Feast
I know a few people were interested in the Harry Potter feast I went to earlier this week, and someone at Alamo Drafthouse finally did what I've been wishing they'd do for ages... take pictures of the food! So you can check it out on their blog if you like. And they're not kidding about that wine that went with the halfblood sausages... most wines give me an instant headache, and even the ones that don't (mostly ice wines) I've never really enjoyed. I'm hoping when I track this stuff down it's A) readily available, and B) reasonably priced.
Non-spoilery review of the movie... I liked it much better than the book. But then, I liked HBP much better than the book, too, because I really did not like books 6 or 7. Malfoy Manor looks exactly like I thought it would, except for Tom Felton, who got odd looking as he grew up (and not Benedict Cumberbatch-style good odd looking, either). The location shots were gorgeous, and my favorite part was anything with the house elves, who are tiny, big-eyed bundles of awesome.
In other news, I have about three weeks before my parents get here for the holidays. There's a hole in the floor where the guest bathroom toilet should be. At least that means the moldy floor that had been absorbing a slow leak for the last several years is now out of the house. Tile guys come on Monday to give an estimate, so I'm hoping everything will be back together and working by the time anyone needs to use it. It looks like the whole job (including a new toilet for the master bath, one that actually fucking flushes the first time, thankyouverymuch) will be less than two thousand dollars. We'd saved money up intending to have our 'native Texas habitat' aka the back yard fixed up over the winter, so really, this was a best case scenario for major home repair.
That said, I cannot tell you how unpleasant and stressful it is to have strangers in my house. I had a mini-meltdown last weekend before any of the work actually started, and backed out of hosting a holiday party for the people I knit with. I like throwing parties, but I just couldn't cope with planning one while worrying about how many working toilets the house would have and whether the tub or vanity would have to come out (they didn't).
I'm still knitting lots, with just a manageable list of things to make before Presentmas. I'm going to try to surprise my mom by making and freezing cookies before she gets here, so we don't have to spend three days baking, and instead I can teach her to knit. Her friends from the motorcycle club want her to learn so she can commiserate with them over the lack of good yarn shops in their area.
I'm mostly managing to keep up with sherlockbbc-fic, but I've had to start a "To-Read" bookmark folder for anything over 10k words. I'll save those for January when I'm half comatose with cedar fever. It's amazing how good a delicious account is for keeping me honest about leaving feedback. I'd feel really guilty if someone noticed I rec'd their story without commenting.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! (Showing my age here... anyone else remember Horshack? And not from Nick at Night?) Because everything circles back to the knitting in one way or another... I published my first knitting pattern, for socks based on Watson's sweater. Ravelry has a nice new feature that lets me show my project to non-members. It's fun to watch other people make my pattern, and a tremendous relief that someone, a non-native English speaker at that, has finished a pair of socks and not come at me screaming about mistakes in my charts or directions.
I picked up the new MCR album this week, and I'm surprised by how pop-y the songs are. I was never a huge fan of their music (too much screaming, and godawful mixing imho), but I think I really like the new stuff. And bless their hearts for being grown-up and moderately successful-at-life, unlike some other bands I can think of. Yes, entire-rest-of-bandom, I mean you.
I can't imagine I'll be posting much if at all until the new year, so let me wish you a relaxing, non-stressful season with good food (but not too much) and good visits with family (but not too long) and good friends who don't look at you funny for spending time on whatever fandom you're into these days.
Non-spoilery review of the movie... I liked it much better than the book. But then, I liked HBP much better than the book, too, because I really did not like books 6 or 7. Malfoy Manor looks exactly like I thought it would, except for Tom Felton, who got odd looking as he grew up (and not Benedict Cumberbatch-style good odd looking, either). The location shots were gorgeous, and my favorite part was anything with the house elves, who are tiny, big-eyed bundles of awesome.
In other news, I have about three weeks before my parents get here for the holidays. There's a hole in the floor where the guest bathroom toilet should be. At least that means the moldy floor that had been absorbing a slow leak for the last several years is now out of the house. Tile guys come on Monday to give an estimate, so I'm hoping everything will be back together and working by the time anyone needs to use it. It looks like the whole job (including a new toilet for the master bath, one that actually fucking flushes the first time, thankyouverymuch) will be less than two thousand dollars. We'd saved money up intending to have our 'native Texas habitat' aka the back yard fixed up over the winter, so really, this was a best case scenario for major home repair.
That said, I cannot tell you how unpleasant and stressful it is to have strangers in my house. I had a mini-meltdown last weekend before any of the work actually started, and backed out of hosting a holiday party for the people I knit with. I like throwing parties, but I just couldn't cope with planning one while worrying about how many working toilets the house would have and whether the tub or vanity would have to come out (they didn't).
I'm still knitting lots, with just a manageable list of things to make before Presentmas. I'm going to try to surprise my mom by making and freezing cookies before she gets here, so we don't have to spend three days baking, and instead I can teach her to knit. Her friends from the motorcycle club want her to learn so she can commiserate with them over the lack of good yarn shops in their area.
I'm mostly managing to keep up with sherlockbbc-fic, but I've had to start a "To-Read" bookmark folder for anything over 10k words. I'll save those for January when I'm half comatose with cedar fever. It's amazing how good a delicious account is for keeping me honest about leaving feedback. I'd feel really guilty if someone noticed I rec'd their story without commenting.
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! (Showing my age here... anyone else remember Horshack? And not from Nick at Night?) Because everything circles back to the knitting in one way or another... I published my first knitting pattern, for socks based on Watson's sweater. Ravelry has a nice new feature that lets me show my project to non-members. It's fun to watch other people make my pattern, and a tremendous relief that someone, a non-native English speaker at that, has finished a pair of socks and not come at me screaming about mistakes in my charts or directions.
I picked up the new MCR album this week, and I'm surprised by how pop-y the songs are. I was never a huge fan of their music (too much screaming, and godawful mixing imho), but I think I really like the new stuff. And bless their hearts for being grown-up and moderately successful-at-life, unlike some other bands I can think of. Yes, entire-rest-of-bandom, I mean you.
I can't imagine I'll be posting much if at all until the new year, so let me wish you a relaxing, non-stressful season with good food (but not too much) and good visits with family (but not too long) and good friends who don't look at you funny for spending time on whatever fandom you're into these days.