Sun, sand, surf, and....prawns.
Well, we had pretty much the quintessential classic all-American Independence Day, I have to say. Which we NEVER do. Well, not as completely as we did this year, anyway. But seriously--camping, grilling, family picnics (complete with frisbee & bocce ball), self-launched fireworks, catching a movie, swimming at a lake beach, and riding jet skis? CLICHE.
But sooooo much fun. The weather was perfect, for all of the above, if a bit hot and sticky for some other types of activities, so it was lovely to be outside for that much of the weekend. It would have been better if we'd managed to get into the drive-in movie on Saturday night like we'd hoped, but everybody else was apparently hoping the same thing, so it didn't happen. Instead we saw a really awful, terrible, WRETCHED movie at a normal theater. It's been a long time since I was that close to walking out of a movie, seriously. So do not, whatever you do, see The Happening. And always, always check Rotten Tomatoes before you see anything. (18%?!)
In other news, our house is currently something of a disaster area. Allen is redoing the last remaining knob-and-tube electrical circuit this week, and while he's making good progress it's causing lots of blown insulation and little bits of plaster to accumulate all over every flat surface in the house. I'm not even attempting to clean it up until he's completely done. But this is a big step in the Quest for the Finished Basement, so I'm happy. I do feel like sort of a useless lump, though, since there isn't much I can do to help and there also isn't much I can do anywhere else in the house while this portion of the project is in process. One interesting note: Allen discovered a whole bunch of very crumbly St. Paul Pioneer Press newspapers from October 4, 1936 (!) insulating the ventilation fan in the kitchen, so that was an good find. It was a little hard to piece it together when it was so mildewed and falling apart in my hands, but there were enough intact bits to see some hilarious 1930's advertisements, a few panels of the "funny papers" (including the Katzenjammer Kids, probably one of the only really old comics I know about), and a whole lot of the society pages, in which we learn who is getting married to whom, and what those whoms wore (a peach-colored gown with a purple taffeta hat and matching slippers?!). Ever since we became homeowners I've harbored a fantasy of finding some long-hidden historical treasure (akin to the cigar box of toys found in the wall, in Amelie), so I guess this is as close as I can realistically expect to come.
Well, I need to go return keys to the friends I was cat-sitting for over the weekend (and pick up the wine they brought back for us, since they were passing through Madison, WI and visited our favorite winery, Wollersheim, mmmm), and since that's really all the interesting stuff there is to tell at the moment, we'll leave it at that.
But sooooo much fun. The weather was perfect, for all of the above, if a bit hot and sticky for some other types of activities, so it was lovely to be outside for that much of the weekend. It would have been better if we'd managed to get into the drive-in movie on Saturday night like we'd hoped, but everybody else was apparently hoping the same thing, so it didn't happen. Instead we saw a really awful, terrible, WRETCHED movie at a normal theater. It's been a long time since I was that close to walking out of a movie, seriously. So do not, whatever you do, see The Happening. And always, always check Rotten Tomatoes before you see anything. (18%?!)
In other news, our house is currently something of a disaster area. Allen is redoing the last remaining knob-and-tube electrical circuit this week, and while he's making good progress it's causing lots of blown insulation and little bits of plaster to accumulate all over every flat surface in the house. I'm not even attempting to clean it up until he's completely done. But this is a big step in the Quest for the Finished Basement, so I'm happy. I do feel like sort of a useless lump, though, since there isn't much I can do to help and there also isn't much I can do anywhere else in the house while this portion of the project is in process. One interesting note: Allen discovered a whole bunch of very crumbly St. Paul Pioneer Press newspapers from October 4, 1936 (!) insulating the ventilation fan in the kitchen, so that was an good find. It was a little hard to piece it together when it was so mildewed and falling apart in my hands, but there were enough intact bits to see some hilarious 1930's advertisements, a few panels of the "funny papers" (including the Katzenjammer Kids, probably one of the only really old comics I know about), and a whole lot of the society pages, in which we learn who is getting married to whom, and what those whoms wore (a peach-colored gown with a purple taffeta hat and matching slippers?!). Ever since we became homeowners I've harbored a fantasy of finding some long-hidden historical treasure (akin to the cigar box of toys found in the wall, in Amelie), so I guess this is as close as I can realistically expect to come.
Well, I need to go return keys to the friends I was cat-sitting for over the weekend (and pick up the wine they brought back for us, since they were passing through Madison, WI and visited our favorite winery, Wollersheim, mmmm), and since that's really all the interesting stuff there is to tell at the moment, we'll leave it at that.