Happy Snowy Valentine's Day

Unfortunately, the Portland Goodwill trip last Friday was canceled due to snow and freezing rain!  Such a bummer.  Ended up working part of the day then riding with Stan and Susan to pick up their grandson in Spanaway.  Lots of semi-truck wrecks on the road but we made it there and back safely.  We stopped at Ramblin Jack's Rib Eye in Chehalis for dinner on our way home.  They actually had indoor seating!!  How sad we live in times like these that being able to sit inside is a plus not a given!!

The snow continued through Saturday so I stayed inside, watched movies, and painted a couple rocks. Viking called to see if I had received a box. Checked outside, through the snow, by the mailbox, and no box!  Let him know and he said check my email. A gift certificate for Valentine flowers was sent to me from him which was a sweet surprise.  

Today got up early, showered, make-up, and put on jeans, sweater and even my bra (!) rather than hanging out in leggings and tee. Worked for a couple of hours then hitched a ride to Dollar Tree and Target with S&S.  Returned home, worked some more, then joined everyone for a prime rib dinner.  Yum!  Even received a pink rose from Susan's daughter Amanda. 

President's Day holiday tomorrow will be devoted to studying for my final CRM test.  Will be positively glorious to be done with the course and hopefully pass my final test. 

Paul Rudd No Match for Kirk

Went outside my comfort zone today.  Instead of a tried and true black and white or Hitchcock classicsok, decided to go for a modern movie from 2018 called The Catcher Was A Spy.

It starred Paul Rudd, who usually does comedy or rom-com, as Moe Berg, a baseball player who became a U.S. spy during WWII.  Based on a true story, it also starred Sienna Miller, Paul Giamatti, Guy Pearce, and Jeff Daniels.  I had great expectations for this movie.

Alas, my hopes were dashed as sarcastic, whimsical, and comical Rudd did not make me believe for one minute he was a baseball player or a spy.  I kept expecting him to utter a wisecrack or goofy comment. In one scene, he was beating up some tall, muscular dude and all I could think was "Paul Rudd would never win that fight."  Couldn't even finish the film and switched to Kirk Douglas in The Detective.

Took Friday off as Viking and I are scheduled to explore several Goodwills in Portland, Wilsonville, and Lake Oswego. And then boom!  Winter snow storm is looming and could be up to 7 inches. Viking wasn't willing to throw in the towel so if the flakes hit, he'll be picking me up in his truck and we'll return to Portland for our browsing.  Kind of him and works for me!!! 

Treasures and Toilet

Yesterday met up with Viking in Hazel Dell to first try out Killer Burger.  He's been many times but me never.  They said they had "seating" so we figured why not.

Lots of burger selections and each one contained bacon. I went with the classic cheeseburger with an egg for good measure. Viking got a burger with mushrooms, onions, and Swiss fondue.

We found the "seating."  It was in the outside porch seating area. Only two picnic tables were covered: thankfully, the rain had taken a short vacation so it was a perfect spot in the sun.

Burgers were, in a word, killer. Big, loaded, and messy. At one point had to remove the bun because it became too darn soggy. Viking even added the Killer peanut butter sauce to his burger 🤢.  Fries were also tasty although I discovered one downside - no tartar sauce!  Fries without tartar is like the beach with no ocean or jelly with no peanut butter.  Downright sacrilegious!  Had to suffer through with ranch as a sad substitute.

After lunch stopped off at 78th St. Goodwill to hunt for treasures.  The longer we were in there shopping, the sweatier we became.....it was a sauna inside or we are just too hot blooded. Had to strip off my jacket to continue the search. 

Once done at 78th we made our way to the Salmon Creek Goodwill. Again, it was sweat city but we still thoroughly enjoyed our scavenger hunt for bargains. We are now planning our next trip to scour Goodwill in the Portland area.

Perfect picture Goodwill find!

Today was designated The Day of Cleaning (this should be read loudly with echos for full effect.)  I was not looking forward to it but it had to be done. Spent 8 hours cleaning, sorting, and organizing my closet, including my shoes which were in utter disarray! Had scads of clean clothes to be hung which meant moving two items to one due to a slight shortage of hangers.  Discovered I have developed a fondness for corduroy jackets, all of which were thrift store bargains.

Closet done, moved on to changing the bedding, dusting, Windexing mirrors, and vacuuming.  Saved the bathroom for last as it's my favorite! Yes, I'm sure you registered the sarcasm in that line.  May have a bundle of skills and abilities, but timely cleaning of personal facilities is not one of them!

To begin, threw the immense amount of cosmetics and hair products into a basket to clear the counter. Attacked the counters, sinks, toilet, and shower.  Used Susan's Shark mop on the floor. You add a little water and cleaner to the container, plug it in and it heat steams the floor as you mop. Going to add that gadget to my list of necessities for my next home.  Finished casa commode by organizing beauty and hair products. Even lit a candle to celebrate the end to The Day of Cleaning (don't forget the echos!)

It also turned into Audrey Hepburn day.  Had Funny Face, Charade, and Roman Holiday on during my sanitation soiree.  Classic!!

Relaxing with Roman Holiday

And now here it is 5:40 pm and methinks a shower is in order due to the layers of caked-on sweat built up from Goodwill and today. May even reach to the bowels of my energy to paint my nails. Miracles have happened!

Farewell Icons

January and February have been rough for our icons. The following legends have passed; while they were in their eighties and nineties and to be expected, it's still a tremendous loss.

May you all rest in peace and thank you for the memories!!!  

Christopher Plummer aka Captain in The Sound of Music died at 91;

Hal Holbrook, 95

Cicely Tyson, 96

 Cloris Leachman, 94

Larry King, 87

Hank Aaron, 86

Singing in the Rain and Star Trek

Between working, classes, and tests I was still able to churn out a couple of rocks.  

New Journey Around the Sun Begins!

A big Happy Birthday to twin brother Todd and me on January 30!  Wow...can't believe we are 57!!  Yikes!  At least I only feel 37!

Primed for my birthday by taking two webinars on Thursday and Friday from 6am to 3pm. Yes, 6am!  It was Central time so there you go!  Thursday night had Abbie the hair goddess color and style my hair. Decided to get a bob/lob style as it just hasn't had a real style in awhile, especially when it's in a pony all the time.  She added some more blonde and it turned out bellisima!!

Friday after work Viking visited and we ran a few errands. Viking gifted me with a sweet silver bracelet along with a TON of acrylic paint his mom was no longer using.  We stopped at Big Lots and I found a three shelf organizer to store my paints.  My current process is all my paints in a large bag and I'm forced to dig for the right color.  This will make my painting life much easier.

At 6pm joined Stan/Susan for dinner at Teri's restaurant.   The front had plastic screening and we were seated inside by the front door with a small heater.  Damn it was cold!  Viking ran back to the car and grabbed me his jacket which I used as a blanket.  Great meal which we finished off with a surprise deluxe cupcake from Susan.  Also tried a Teritini, which was a mix of vanilla vodka, kahlua, butterscotch, and cream.  So icy cold and tasty it beckoned for a second round and I happily surrendered!

Spent the evening watching Doris Day in Calamity Jane. Songs were vaguely familiar (and not as well written) as Annie Get Your Gun. Sure nuf when I looked it up Wikipedia said it was made following that blockbuster.  Cute movie though.

Went to dinner with Sam on Saturday. We decided on Porky's Public House.  Porky's installed a rollup garage door, a tent, and enrobed all outdoor space in plastic.  I had come prepared with layers and jacket but there were so many heaters the coat had to be shed!!  Described the Teritini to the waitress; they made a flavorful attempt but the original was better. Sam and I also toasted my birthday with a tequila shot!

Here's my attempt at a recipe. 

Ingredients

• 1.5 ounces Butterscotch Schnapps
• 1.5 ounces Kahlua
• 1.5 ounces Vanilla Vodka
• 1.5 ounces half and half (the recipes I found showed Bailey's but I don't think that was used in the Teritini)
• 2 maraschino cherries

Instructions

• Fill a cocktail shaker with ice and pour liquor and cream into the shaker.
• Shake to combine. Pour over ice in cocktail glasses, serve as shots, or serve as a martini. Or throw a straw in the shaker as that'll do!! 😉
• Top cocktails with maraschino cherries.  Enjoy!

Dinner done, we stopped by Jordan and Candy's.  They gifted me with a canvas, frame, slippers, and more paints!  They also served me a sweet little chocolate dessert that was sublime.  Arriving back home, spent the evening sorting and organizing my paints while watching Whatever Happened to Baby Jane.

Today picked Sam up from Jimmy's, who gave me the most perfect cup. He said it screamed me and I have to agree.  

After dropping off Sam, hit Goodwill and found a few 99 cent specials along with the following shirt which is definitely in the running to be christened "The Ugliest Shirt of All Time!"  I wanted to add a note to it saying "You are better than this!  Do Not Buy!" but cha know some sad soul will!

Went to Walmart for groceries, ate Teri restaurant leftovers for dinner and am now watching The Girl, which is a movie based on Tippi Hedren, Alfred Hitchcock, and the making of The Birds which ironically I watched last week.  Serious Me Too issues Tippi experienced with Hitch.

May you all have a fabulous week!  Happy February!

Odds and Ends

If you haven't been under a rock, you've had to have seen all the Bernie Sanders mitten memes floating around. Not sure why, but these crack me up!!!

Was grocery shopping and ran across this ice cream. Couldn't help myself so picked it up. It is so tasty! Yummy coconut with tangy, sharp mango with a kick sherbet running through it.  Try it.....you'll like it!

Here's an odd one. Was surfing the web and ran across an article about people who met a celebrity in some weird way.  The following was posted saying when the kid was 11 he played chess against Morgan Freeman. What struck me was that the chess player looks just like my friend Michael, who passed in 2014 and not Morgan Freeman. Scarily so. I searched all over to find an article with details about this casual match; only found a Reddit article that had been archived.  So strange I may continue searching to see when and where this picture was taken.

Worked almost five hours today to get on top of tasks. Then spent time doing -yes, you guessed it - painting. Decided to follow up the Don Knotts rock with Willy Wonka.