Do You Know Jules Verne?

Back in the days of Ye Olde 2010 I saw the new TRON movie with Drewbles and my sister at the trusty (only) movie theater of my hometown.  I liked it best of our group, which was not really saying much.  It looked really cool and had a lot of potential, but mostly it was kind of dull and also there was CGI Jeff Bridges to contend with.  Oh well, right?

Well.  Last fall I noticed it was streaming on Netflix, and I decided to give it another shot.  I sometimes put on some Netflix thing to listen to at work, and that seemed as good an option as any.  And then...something happened.

Confession: since October 20th of 2011 I have watched TRON nine times.  Nine.  Nine times.  That is eight more times than any other streaming movie on Netflix.  That is seven more times than any Office episode and at least six more times than any episode of the The IT Crowd. 

I don't know how it happened but somewhere along the line I really liked that movie.  Did it help that I was listening to it and couldn't see CGI Jeff Bridges?  Perhaps.  Did it help that I have an irrational fondness for Sam Flynn?  Who knows.  But that brings us to today--a day where TRON is no longer streaming on Netflix.  

Oh, the hours that TRON and I could have spent together!  Mine are bitter tears.  Even though it's STILL kind of dull and has CGI Jeff Bridges, I will miss it.  Here's to you, TRON, and all your inexplicable delights.  We'll always have Flynn's Arcade.

And those nine times. 

The Tennis Ball: An Update

The post title is a little misleading because it's not as though the Tennis Ball is up to anything. It's not even up to, you know, existing. But I finally had my follow up appointment with Dr. D. last week and thought the news was worth recording. So here is the final chapter in the Tennis Ball Saga. I like to call it The Tennis Ball Saga: Full Color.

The most exciting part of the appointment was that I finally got to see the photos Drew saw a month ago. It's a strange thing to see the actual insides of your own body. It looks so straightforward in a medical diagram but really it's just a bunch of squishy things squished next to other squishy things.

But what you're all REALLY wondering is what the heck did this Tennis Ball look like? Right? Well. I'm sorry to say I don't have copies of the photos. But here's a little recreation I whipped up in Photoshop:
You knew that was coming! Here's the real deal:Pink, shiny, veiny. It reminded me very much of a slightly deflated balloon, and Dr. D. said it almost as large as the actual uterus. But it's no more and apparently the removal was very straightforward and simple. Even though I never felt it I have since realized it would sometimes be squashing my bladder. Yep. Unsquashed Bladder: the unexpected side effect of being Tennis Ball-free. And hopefully this is the last time my bladder comes up in a public venue.

AHEM.

Another photo I saw was of the endometriosis creeping all over an ovary. It looked like chocolate sauce, to be honest, but you'll just have to imagine that one--I draw the line on medical illustrations at fibroids. So, they removed all that, but he suspects there's more elsewhere in the region, and that it is most likely the real culprit in preventing offspring thus far. Just as a brief explanation of endometriosis is, it's when cells from the uterine lining (the endometrium) grow outside the uterus, which leads to various problems. The cause is unknown so there's no real cure either, and it's more about management. I can't say the news was a terrible surprise, and it won't be to anyone else who has known me through my younger years. Dr. D. thinks either my symptoms haven't been too bad or I just have a high pain tolerance. I'm not really sure either, not having been in anyone else's body for comparison, but I would say I have an Advil-assisted pain tolerance. Oh, Advil, how I love you and your sweet, sweet medicine.

Did I mention they found some cysts too? Of course! Those are gone now too.

So, that's just kind of what's going on now. No more tennis ball. Also no more surgical glue (hurray!). Just me and the endo. And Drewbles. Two out of three isn't too bad, eh?

Something Gross, Something Awesome

Last December I tried out this new "molten chocolate" body wash. I like chocolate, I like soap, why not combine them, right? When I bought it it was a delightful milk chocolate color (showing here). In the new year I noticed that it was not looking so milk chocolate-y anymore. In fact it was looking more like, well, old-meat grey. Showing here:
I was finally too grossed out to use it anymore. Happily it did no damage to my fondness for chocolate or soap.

Moving on. I have a great weakness for pajama pants. I have Pokemon pants, Strawberry Shortcake pants, Egyptian mice pants, Halloween pants (2), snowflake pants, Batman pants...and yet I am always enthralled with new ones. My sister got me these pajama pants recently and I have been wearing them ever since (as the wrinkles will evidence).
Look closer, for the full awesome.
Bird cages! Birds! They're just delightful and unexpected. I wish I were wearing them right now.

Bonus Drewbles, in the kitchen WHERE HE BELONGS:

You Just Gestured to All of Me

News that is not news: I love the movie How to Train Your Dragon. It is awesome and by far my favorite thing that Dreamworks has ever done (granted, there is not much competition for that title).

News that IS news: I learned this very morn that there's a stage/arena version of it opening down in Australia this year. And here's the thing--it looks AMAZING. Look at Hiccup and Toothless, who is an animatronic/puppet.
Amazing, right?? I thought it was some kind of Photoshop job. If you want to blow your mind further (seriously, mine was blown), you can watch a video of a nadder in action via this article. It's huge! And amazing! Did I mention it's amazing? It breathes smoke! And fire! They aren't as cute as they are in the movie, but I can't believe how real they look.

I expect John Hammond will show up with an explanation at any minute.

Oh, Like the Week-end?

I love a three-day holiday weekend. It's really the best kind of weekend. I enjoyed this last holiday weekend so much I can't resist documenting it. It was such a satisfying combination of fun, laziness and productivity, and really, isn't that best kind of holiday weekend? Here is how we celebrated the births...lives....existence....of Presidents:

I reacquainted myself with Diablo II. I mention this first because this was an ongoing activity through the weekend. I think it's been three years or so since I played, and it was just as fun as I remembered. All that was missing was my family peeps to play with online! Wanna play, peeps?
(Look at all my dudes--skeleton dudes, skeleton mage dudes and my blood golem dude. Score.)

We saw an early bird of this movie.
(Pretty good. Someone cut Sam Worthington's hair before it becomes a true mullet.)

We ate many good foods, including this Thai coconut soup (twice), more of these chocolate cookies (much more than twice), some Poppers, pulled pork (the in-laws get credit for this one) and some random things at Sam's Club. We finished off the weekend by having grits, which are always delicious and not at all fattening. Right?

We got some books signed by this lady:
I've only read one of her books, but since most authors I read are long since dead, I thought I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to meet a living one. She was very pleasant and not uppity at all, though some people are disgruntled by her dislike of Tangled.

I finally started running again on Saturday. I was very slow.

One of my goals for this year was to go through my closet and get rid of all those things that have escaped previous purgings because I think I'll wear them. I never do, so off they went at last. Look at this haul!
I also finally gave up my beloved and truly tattered pink hoodie.
I don't want to talk about it.

Side note: does anyone know where I can find a pink hoodie with a) no words or logos and b) that is not made out of velour?

I then went on to clean out the fridge but I decided against photographic evidence of what I threw out. Some people were so enthralled with the look of some rotting potatoes they even wrote a Facebook status about it. Other people were too disgusted by the smell to care much for the look of them.

And that about sums up our weekend. Now I can start counting down to the next, which is Good Friday. It's only um...some number of days away.

That Parasol is Too Small

This week I introduced Drewbles to the following mini series:
It's in the same line of "historical reality" shows as The 1900s House and The Edwardian Country House. I haven't seen those so I can't tell you how this one compares, but essentially, it's five single men and five single women put in this house for two months. The ladies all have chaperones to keep things proper, and everyone has a different history (inspired by their real life), social status and role. For instance, one lady is a countess but is secretly impoverished, one man is a naval officer and one lady is rich but has no title. The chaperones are all trying to get their girls the best matches, but of course everyone is constrained by the rules of the day.

I first saw this in Ye Olde Bloomington with Marcue and Ann, and lately I decided Drew should see it too. His comment after finishing the first episode was "This is so interesting and strange." If that's not a ringing endorsement, I don't know what is! But seriously, not only is it entertaining to watch modern people bumble their way through two months in the Regency period, but it's also super informative. If you have any interest in Jane Austen at all, it is definitely worth watching to learn more about the time period. Not only is there class, courtship and propriety, but there is also chamber pots, hermits and egg whites! Plus, if you have ever wondered how lady folk dealt with Aunt Irma, this has the answer. It will give you a new appreciation for modern *ahem* lady products.

To sum up: Watch it! It's only two discs and it will show you a whole new side of the Regency world.

In Which Our Hearts are Warmed by Tiny Furry Creatures

Happy Valentine's Day, world! I'm going to celebrate by wearing more red than usual, working, eating sushi and watching the traditional Disney movie. Later this week I will continue to celebrate by making these. Or maybe these. Or possibly both.

This year my Valentine's Day gift to the world is some pictures (none of which I took, alas, but you can find their source by clicking on them, if you so desire). I'm not sharing just ANY pictures though--I'm sharing KITTY PICTURES. Don't try to fight their cuteness.

Happy Valentine's Day!

In Which I Have No Tennis Ball

And now for the final act...the Tennis Ball's last stand.

But first I have two things to say. 1) No one need feel bad for not knowing about any part of this saga. We kept it under our hats. 2) Thanks for the well wishes! They were much appreciated.

Back to the Tennis Ball.

Tuesday dawned very early so that we could be to the hospital at 6 AM. We waited for a bit then I was sent off to get my blood drawn. Let me state for the record that I had my blood taken a number of times in January and never had a single problem. Sometimes I even watched the needle go in just to be tough. This time I got all hot and dizzy by the third vial and had to crumple up in the chair so I wouldn't pass out. After I dry heaved a little I felt all better.

The rest of the morning was much less eventful. In fact, I will break it down into the events that transpired, chronologically:

1) Nurse Jose walked in on my half-dressed self.
2) I put on Hospital Socks so my freshly painted red toenails went unappreciated.
3) I camped out in the pre-surgery area for a long time.
4) Nurse Jake made two attempts to get my IV in.
5) They took my glasses.

I mention my glasses because it meant that I never actually SAW the tiny robot hands in the room. I didn't see much at all except for blurry, blue-ish people wandering around a blurry room. Once I was on the table Nurse Jake told me to take some "yoga breaths" into the mask and I'm pretty sure I was out mid-courtesy laugh.

Can I just say how disorienting it is to wake up in a different place, in a different position with no memory of how you got there and without a brain capable of understanding anything? Well, it is. I have no idea how long I was in the recovery room, but at some point the nurse asked if I wanted to go see my husband and I said "Yeeeahhhhhhhh."

Off I went back to my room, falling asleep along the way. I am delighted to say that I had the mental capacity to follow through with my one goal for the day, and that was to make my first words to Drew be "What happened about me?" I DID IT.

And now for the medical information portion of this story. I actually never saw the doctor after the surgery, but he gave Drew the scoop whilst I was busy being passed out. Drew even got to see pictures of the Tennis Ball! I'm so jealous. I'm hoping I get to see them at the follow up appointment. It seems unfair that so many people have seen my innards and yet I am not one of those people.

Oh, back to the medical stuff. Essentially, they made three smallish incisions and the Tennis Ball was taken out without a hitch. They also found a bit of endometriosis on one ovary (why does it feel so TMI to write the word "ovary"?) and snipped that off as well. Who knew, right? It's strange to think that so many things can be going on in your body without your knowledge. Thank goodness for tiny robot hands. Oh, and those doctors.

I spent most of the afternoon doing this:
I also spent some time lying on the bathroom floor because I thought I would pass out in there. There is no picture of that.

But here are some pictures of the prizes I got:

The sponsors of "How to Survive Wednesday"

At long, long, long last! And not a trace of...whatever that new one is called (that's a legitimate brain freeze)

I wish I had got a picture of these at the hospital when they were in better spirits. Hydrangeas are so lovely and so fickle.

Flowers from work. Thanks, work!

And thus the end of the saga. I have since named my snip snapped abdomen Tummy Tummisimo, and it appears to be healing up fine. It seemed weird to post a picture of the snip snaps, but if you would like to see how it all looks, I will happily email it. Who WOULDN'T want to see my stomach, right!?!?

In Which I Send the Tennis Ball Off in Style

I mean, it's the least I could do after...hmm...well, never mind that. Anyway, here's how the ol' Tennis Ball and I are spending the night:

Stopping at the library to stock up on reading material
Eating a lot of delicious Indian food
(In case you're wondering--we had Chicken Tikka Masala, Lamb with mushrooms, garlic naan, regular naan and cucumber Raita...so good)

Watching some Daria
Playing some Harry Potter
Having this fellow wait on my every whim (you're doing great at it, fellow!)
I hope you've enjoyed your night, Tennis Ball, because you aren't getting Indian food and snuggles where you're going.

In Which I Expound on a Tennis Ball

Disclaimer: Hopefully this blog post does not sound blithe. I'm not blithe about it per se, but I prefer to write about it with a certain degree of blitheness. It's a skill I learned from Gilbert Blythe. Oops, there's that blitheness.

Once upon a time, at the start of 2012, I was with child, but spoiler: I'm not anymore. I'm not saying that to get pity or whatever (though of course I won't turn down pity)--it was very early and it's just one of those things that happens. But it does play a pivotal role in the rest of the story so there it is.

So back in the early days of 2012 (ie, January 3), I was at home with Drewbles. I'd started bleeding the day before and it was getting worse the next day so we decided to get a professional opinion on the situation. We tried one place, then another and were finally sent to the ER, which makes this story sound much more urgent that it really was. It's much more dull when you know that insurance coverage and a lack of certain equipment was the blame.

And so began my first foray into the ER. It mostly consisted of Drew and me sitting there talking about how we had been sitting there forever. But in the process of our stay, which lasted several hours, they did a *ahem* quite invasive ultrasound and the doctor casually announced there was "a mass." After which he proceeded to leave and never return. Thanks, doctor!

The doctor arranged to send us to a nearby women's clinic two days later so they could pilfer some more of my blood. He also set up an appointment with another doctor, who turned out to be totally MIA the day of the appointment. Thanks, doctor!

Luckily one of the nurses came to talk to us and actually was interested in the mass! Thanks, nurse! So what was that mass? A uterine fibroid. (Fibroid=a benign growth) Can you guess how big it is? Yep, it's the size of a tennis ball. Just a fleshy mass the size of a tennis ball all up in my bidness.

By the by, I don't recommend doing a google search for pictures of fibroids.

It was another few days before we could meet with a third doctor, who actually exists AND was very helpful. He confirmed the miscarriage and we talked a long time about this fibroid. Since they're benign, doctors often will just leave them if they aren't causing any symptoms. But given the size of mine and the possibility that it is squishing my baby-making vitals, the doctor said it would be best to take it out. He also said there's a chance it could be an ovarian cyst, which means I could wind up one short in that department. BUT we'll be optimistic and stick with the fibroid theory. So this is what is going to happen this Tuesday:

Just imagine that penny is a tennis ball. Okay, so maybe that isn't *exactly* how the surgery will go. Actually the best part about this whole thing (besides having the tennis ball removed, I suppose) is what will actually be doing all the work:
Tiny robot hands! That may not be the official term but you get the idea. Here is how it actually all works:
The doctor sits yonder and controls the robot hands while utilizing a tiny robot camera to see the insides. In the past they removed fibroids via c-section so let's give medical science a big hurray.

So instead of having a baby AND a tennis ball, we now just have the tennis ball. Hopefully sometime we will have the one and not the other, but at any rate, come Tuesday the tennis ball will be history.

In Which I am Successful

Remember the magnets I made to improve my running motivation? Well, they were not *entirely* successful, but I did keep using them. It was encouraging to see a board with at least a few magnets on it, but my motivation for running was just MIA until last fall or so. Even so, it has been a good long time since my board looked like this:
5 days of running, 3 times with Pilates and one 5K! I'm hoping this will make up for not doing a lick of anything next week, and I'm also hoping this same motivation will stick around until the week after. It's so much easier to sit at a desk all day when I've been running beforehand.

And just because you asked, here are pictures from the 5K this morning. Drew's Pop came along too and both menfolk placed first in their age group. Drew also won a frisbee of all things. I got um...well, anyway, it was great and fun and very cold.

(Check out those guns!)

(It was so bright I thought my eyeballs would burn up.)
Oh, did I mention that there was a frozen yogurt walking around?

Dilemmas

Tonight we're supposed to have this white bean soup for dinner (pureed white beans and I get along). It's healthy, it's good for me and it requires using my immersion blender, which is always a treat. The trouble is that I keep thinking about something we had for dinner last week...
Look at them sitting there so innocently, stuffed with cheese and eggs and bacon. True, it would require a stop at the store while the poor white beans go neglected and unloved. But do I really care about beans in the face of this possibility?
No. The answer is no. Those beans never had a chance.

In Which I Compile Another List of Recipes (aka, Beans)

I've been thinking a lot about tennis balls lately. I know that sounds ambiguous at best and random and stupid at worst, but it's still true. One of these days I will explain my tennis ball thoughts, but for now I will talk about food. Food > tennis balls.

On a side note, is anyone else still frustrated with extra holiday poundage? Harumph. Though I have to say, all that fudge was worth it...at the time...and now...

First, I have made chili. Not once but twice! In the same week! This is impressive because I have never been a big chili fan, mostly because I am not a big bean fan. Black beans and I are great friends. White beans and I are acquaintances. All the other beans and I are frenemies--I'll eat them when I must and make barfy noises the rest of the time. Black beans are the sole reason why I liked these two chilis:

Slow Cooker Chipotle Chicken & Black Bean Chili
I am a fan of anything in a crock pot. If I could make everything in a crock pot, I would. Anyway, this was super tasty. I'm not really sure exactly what the chipotle taste is, but it was good. And hot. Side note: if anyone knows what else to do with chipotle peppers in adobo sauce let me know...

Healthy Spicy Beef and Black Bean Chili
Super fast, super easy and tasty. I think if you spent a little more time on it it could be better and more interesting, spice-wise. But sometimes fast wins out over interesting.

Crock pot Mango Enchiladas
I combined these two recipes, and they were so very delicious. I don't know when exactly I became such an enchiladas fiend, but they're so good. They have quickly climbed up my list of favorite foods.

Bloomin' Onion Bread
My advice is to make this today. Maybe even right now. Then proceed to devour the whole thing in one sitting. Okay, don't do that, but that's what you'll WANT to do, despite knowing how much butter is in it. But I cannot say enough that you should make it RIGHT NOW.

Crockpot Cheddar Beer Chicken Tacos
Okay so ours were minus the beer. Still good! Yep, that's pretty much all I have to say about this.

Tomato sauce with Onion and Butter
We had this just last night and today I keep thinking about how good it was. I was skeptical--I mean, three ingredients? How could that really be so great? No, let me tell you--it was really, really good. It might have converted me from ever using bottled sauce again. It takes a little while, but for how much effort you actually have to put in it's totally worth it.

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Yeah, it really doesn't look like much, but you'll want to keep eating it anyway! I almost halved the buffalo wings sauce so that it wasn't too hot.

Chicken Taco Soup
More black beans! I should start my own black bean farm. This was another victory for the slow cooker (I didn't sautee my onions before hand), but since we had it the same night as the Bloomin' Onion Bread it got a little overshadowed.

Well, now you know what we've been eating lately. You can sleep well at last.

PS: No, I didn't get any of these from Pinterest.

PS: Bonus recipe for fudge (I left out the nuts because they just don't belong in my food).

In Which I Offer a Link

...to our art blog! I can't even remember if I ever mentioned our art blog on here, but it's been humming along (more or less) for a good while now. Tonight I finally added a link to my sidebar and here is another one, just in case anyone has been missing out on it all this time.

That's all.

A Puzzle

Well, I guess it's 2012 now. How weird. That deserves its own post, I suppose, but for now, here is something unrelated to New Years. For Christmas, Drewbles got this cool puzzle of the Disneyland map (1000 pieces) and we spent a couple of nights putting it together this week. Look how grand it is in completion:

(That's the last bits of my Captain Rex helmet marshmallow lollipop)

Now I will illustrate the difficulties of it. For one thing, the pieces are quite little and for another thing, there is a LOT of detail on there. I'm pretty sure that the only things not labeled were smoking areas and bathrooms. The only downside was noooo Captain EO.
And of course the picture on the box wasn't big enough to be terribly helpful.
Even so, what fun is a puzzle without a challenge? We will surely put this one together again and again.

Christmas Postscript

Just because.

XD

I still can't believe this is actually happening in my life. It looks so great I won't even fuss about how good looking some of the dwarves are, hah.

Something for the Archives

Just in the interest of housekeeping...

• The Shadow of Your Smile, C
• Turn of the Screw, B
• The Thirteenth Tale, B
• Jude the Obscure, B+
• The Beatrice Letters, B
• Lemony Snicket, A-
• The End, A-
• The Penultimate Peril, A
• The Grim Grotto, A-
• Beastly, C
• The Slippery Slope, B+
• The Carnivorous Carnival, A
• The Hostile Hospital, B+
• The Vile Village, B+
• The Ersatz Elevator, A
• Sisterhood Everlasting, C+
• The Austere Academy, A
• The Miserable Mill, B+
• The Wide Window, A-
• The Reptile Room, A
• The Bad Beginning, A-
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, A
• The High King, A-
• Taran Wanderer, B+
• The Castle of Llyr, B+
• The Black Cauldron, A
• The Book of Three, A-
• Entwined, A-
• The Invisible Man, B
• The Island of Dr. Moreau, A
• White Fang, B+
• Crocodile on the Sandbank, B-
• Cold Comfort Farm, A-
• Clockwork Three, B
• The Return of the King, A
• The Two Towers, A
• Fellowship of the Ring, A+
• Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, A
• Mockingjay, B+
• The Princess Bride, B+
• The Silmarillion, A+
• The Phantom of the Opera, B
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, C+
• Violet Eyes, C+
• Alice in Wonderland, B+
• The Dark Divine, C-
• The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More, B+
• Neverwhere, B+
• James and the Giant Peach, B+
• The Witches, A
• The Incredible Journey, A-
• The Luxe: B
• Julie & Julia: C+
• The Girl Who Could Fly: C+
• Just Take My Heart, C+
• Peace Like a River, A
• Three Willows, B
• The Prestige, A
• The Return of the King, A+
• The Two Towers, A
• The Fellowship of the Ring, A+
• The Hobbit, A-
• The Children of Hurin, A+
• Brave New World, A
• Catching Fire, B+
• The Hunger Games, A-
• The Graveyard Book, A+
• Camille, B+
• Confessions of a Shopaholic, C+
• Everyone Worth Knowing, B+
• On the Street Where You Live, B+
• I'll Be Seeing You, B+
• The Devil Wears Prada, B+
• Everyone Else's Girl, C-
• Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself, B-
• We Have Always Lived in the Castle, A-
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, A-
• A Great and Terrible Beauty, B
• The Talented Mr. Ripley, A-
• Persuasion, A+
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, A-
• The Wrath of Mulgarath, B
• Coraline, A
• The Ironwood Tree, B-
• Lucinda's Secret, B
• The Seeing Stone, B
• The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, A+
• Return of the Native, A-
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: A-
• Forever in Blue, B-
• Girls in Pants, B+
• At Home in Mitford, Karon: B
• The Dollmage, Leavitt: C
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: A-
• Far From the Madding Crowd: A-

A minor aside...

Do you remember that episode of the Office called "Drug Testing" (season 2)? In it, Michael Scott says "I hate drugs, I hate them." Okay, so that's a really short thing to remember, but I've seen that episode like 15 times. ANYway, I feel that way about computer viruses. I just hate them.

To back up, last night little Quinn got attacked by some kind of stupid virus thing. It completely confunded avast!, slowed things down and kept my Internet from working, even after a boot scan took care of a few files. I wound up doing a system restore and so far that seems to have fixed the problem. But it is so so so annoying to me that instead of working on the things I planned to do last night I had to instead do a bunch of scans and restarts and fussing, all because some girl with a lip ring (see the aforementioned episode) made this stupid virus.

Anyway. This vexes me, but in the interest of ending on a positive note, here's a gif.

I'm not sure why this is so funny...

...but it is! *snort*