Book 12 (of 12) ...and a movie (How to Train Your Dragon)

Another forgotten gift (so selfish) from my brother Corky. He sent me HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, A movie that I really enjoyed and highly recommend, even though I had no interest in seeing it and only saw it because it was the less stereotypically "male"of the movies that Brett wanted to see (it's not that I hate "male" movies quite as much as it is that I find long battle scenes incredibly dull). HTTYD is not as funny the 4th time you see it, because you know where all the funny parts are, but if I take a year off, I will love it once again. Everyone I've gotten to watch it has cracked up during it.

It may be my favorite movie of the year. Definitely better than Avatar.

My Brother Also sent me the book, How to Train Your Dragon, which worked out nicely for me, because although I finished book 11 several months ago, I haven't read anything leisurely (or practical) since. I figured I could squeeze in a children's book before 2011, and the book was much longer than a picture book, so I didn't feel like I was cheating. I can justify one children's book out of 12 in a year, right?


Title: How to Train Your Dragon
Author: Cressida Cowell
Genre: Children's Fantasy
Synopsis:Time has come for young Hiccup and the other boys of his age to be initiated into their viking tribe. Step 1: Catch a Dragon. Step 2: Train the Dragon. Step 3: Demonstrate his mastery over the Dragon. Hiccup, however, is a wimpling of a viking, and in order to train his dragon, he must develop an alternative lesson plan. Though Hiccup continuously fails, he saves the day in the end.
Review: Neutral Fact: This book is completely different than the move. While they both tell the stories of vikings and dragons, the relationship between the dragons and vikings is so dramatically different, that I wonder at why they bothered using the same title... just change some of the character names, and it is 95% a different story. Problem 1: My synopsis is more exciting than the book. Problem 2: I cannot, for the life of me, figure out how some one read this and was inspired to write such a clever screen play. I am amazed at the talent of this writer, who was able to mix two imaginative subjects (vikings & dragons) and create such unimaginative story.
Bottom Line: Watch the movie, skip the book (gasp). 2 stars.

Polo Sharing

Yesterday B told our dog to "grow a pair." I think this is hardly fair, as the last time he grew 'em the vet took them away.

If Gigi lays in Polo's bed, he won't share it, even if there is plenty of room for him, but if we kick her out, he'll take up residence, and then we can usually put Gigi in the extra space and with a little coaxing persuade her to stay.

Some dogs like Whippets and Greyhounds are known to pile up on top of each other, but it appears these other muts here have personal space issues.

The forgotten gift

How rude of me, I open 3 gifts that and only mention 2. I'd opened the 1st a few days before I left, so it wasn't on my mind.

Austin & Tracie, knowing that B & I like to experiment with Julia Child's cook book (some recipes we love, some depends on which one of us makes it, a few that just aren't compatable to my palate), gave us a copy of Julie and Julia, the movie

This was one of those slow paced movies that managed not to drag. The previews didn't originally intrigue me, but watching it I found it more interesting than I expected. Not life changing, not a nonstop comedy, but still a good film. Plus, Meryl Streep is a fun actress, and I always like that he-actor who plays her husband, whoever he is.

Soda: Fruity

What's not to like about a fruit soda, really. Unless of course it is a cheep grape or orange "flavored" Soda... but even those are good when the mood strikes.
I liked Rième Peach. It was a nice "middle of the road" for me. The clean effect of a flavored seltzer water, but with more flavor than most. A favorite of the seltzer/Perrier style, i'd say. I appreciated that it didn't have a heavy mineral flavor. Generally speaking, everyone liked this one, until....

Bundaberg Peachee: This one quickly out rated the Rième because it had far more flavor without being to dense. I noticed a slight peach jello flavor that no one else acknowledged. Just enough to add that extra sweetness, but not enough to make you want to vomit at the idea of drinking liquid jello mix. I, however, am on the fence. I agree that the Bundaberg is far more exciting, but I am just too happy that Rième was good flavored french tasting seltzer water that didn't taste to minerally. I think there is a time and place for both.

Sidral Mundet: I am pretty sure I tried this a couple years ago when I did my tour of juaritos and other spanish market sodas. I forgot that I liked this one. In my opinion, it is way better than apple beer, because you can actually taste the fruitiness. apple beer is too bland for Brett and I. On the downside, this soda has less head than apple beer, and I think it could use a bit more carbonation power... but that is the downside of plastic bottles.

AT LAST, A PARTY IN EVERY BOTTLE!
the bottle that was just to pretty to pass up.

Don't worry, this was the non-alcoholic version

Drink Comrade! It's this or the Gulag!

Oh, but is it really?

We shall see...


No Hablo Russian.
My Favorite Part.>>>

Lennonade: The Lemon sodas have been so vastly different, I'm not really sure what to say. Fever Tree was very clean but left a nasty taste on your tongue almost immediately. Bubble up was sweet and old fashioned tasting, This one... was perplexing? Like most pink lemonades, it's color promised so much more intensity than it delivered. It was simple, and while it didn't have the flavor of countrytime lemonade, there was some quality that made me want to relate it to a powdered lemonade version of a soda. Maybe it was the pink flavor? Soft lemon flavor that wasn't very sweet or sour or tart, but wasn't flavorless either.

Soda: Take me back

Double Cola: Dad, naturally, opted out of this one. Not a favorite, but not a nasty. just there. Leaned more towards Pepsi than Coke, but with less punch in my opinion. It also lost carbonation quickly in your mouth .
Bubble Up: I liked it. More limy and more general flavor than sprite or 7 up, but there was so mething different about the lemon lime flavor. I cant figure out if it was more natural or more artificial. Maybe a bit rhine flavor? Anyhow, this one beat the bitter lemon one for sure. It was mom's favorite one of that night (paired with the fruity ones I'll list next). She admits that might be the nostalgia of it, but I agree that it was a good one.

Soda: Return of the roots.

Red Ribbon Root Beer: We had an extra one, since brett bought one to drink right away, still good, but not exciting.



Manhattan Special Sarsaparilla: We like Sarsaparilla. sorry these descriptions are all vague. This is one a lot of people liked, and I agree that it was good, and better than the red ribbon root beer, but it definitely needs more power to the flavor. I haven't found my idea root beer yet.

Soda: Gingerly

I should really write about these the moment we finnish. They are all starting to blur, but I'll do my best to recall details of two nights of soda binging (okay not quite binging). I'm glad we have a handful of poeple to split the bottles with. It wouldn't be the same if we only tried 2 at a time, and If we were to try 6 bottles by ourselves, then that would be way too much sugar than is healthy.

I new My dad would be interested, but I've been excited at everyone else's enthusiasm. Cerise asks when we are going to do it, Wes started bringing home some extra sodas to add to the mix, and my mom—who only drinks water and has excellent sugar restraint— has tried each and every one with us so far (1-2 tsp at a time). It's all about family time.

Here we go, hopefully I don't miss any.

Gingers


Fever Tree Ginger Ale: While the Fever Tree Bitter Lemon was a dissapointment (Wes still holds that it was decent) the ginger ale wasn't bad. Clean flavor, light. Nothing punchy or zangy though.
Jamaican hot hot hot.: Takes a second for the Hot to set in, but it does set in quickly, and linger. It may have a best taste logo of some sort on it, but I am unmoved. All hot, no ginger flavor. If you can't taste the gingerness, it's just heat without purpose.
Americana Honey Lime Ginger Ale:: I admit that this one could use more bite, but this didn't stop it from being the consensual favorite ginger of the night. It had a nice sweetness that I think is necessary to complement the ginger. If had more heat and bubbles, it would have the potential to be an all time favorite.
Wes brought home this one to add to the mix.

Maine Root Ginger: This one reminded a lot of people the Spruce beer. I don't think it was nearly as bad, but like unto the spruce, it wasn't one I'd seek out. More hints of that medicinal/chemical cleaner taste than one would want in a soda. This brand isn't a total loss though. B had some root beer and sarsaparilla when staying with his mother last week, and I got to try the sarsaparilla. We agree that the sarsaparilla would be worth moving up to the second round of comparisons, if we could afford one.

Soda the Pop

Anyone who knows me probably knows that I love to try new drinks. If I drank (alcohol), I'm sure I'd be all over wine tastings. I've shared before my adventures with ooba, wine country soda, and juaritos.

I wish I'd been more thorough in my reporting in the past, so I will try to do that now, and mention, that I LOVED the Ooba hibiscus lime. Later found hibiscus-orange and hibiscus-something else, but lime was the only one that wowed me. Brett liked it all right, but was not nearly as captivated as I remember being. I wish I wrote down which of the wine countries I liked the best. I think it was Pinot Noir.

Well, Brett's Beckstom relatives (minus Austin and Ammon's families) were in town this week visiting the paternal GParents' who live in my home stake ( thus being the third "second degree way" that connects me to the Beckstoms). Wednesday, around noon, we went (at the grace of Beckstrom invitation) to Galco's in Highland Park.

I never knew that such a wondrous place existed. Isles and isles of soda pops, many with crapy labels, some with prop 65 warnings because their labels contained lead ink (oh wonderous imported carbonation).

There were soda's with coffee (ew), soda's with kava (um, isn't that a polynesian narcotic?), soda's with chocolate (horrible, I'm sure, but I bought some), soda's with communist propaganda (amusing), and soda's with carbonation tablets you add while opening (leave it to the orient; I'm picturing the commercials for it right now)...

and I realized, this could be my dream... To open up a crazy thorough soda pop shop, right next to the state liquor store.

Between Brett and I, we bought 28 new sodas to try... and that exercising restraint.

THE DRY BRANDS:

Rubarb, Cucumber, Kumquat, lemongrass.

Saturday we tried the Rubarb (mom, dad, Cerise, Wes, Brett, and I). It was alright. Fun to try, but not a favorite. Very Dry (hence the name) and very much like a lightly flavored Perrier or San Pelegrino in that it was not super sweet and had lots of super tiny bubles.

The Blossoms:


Cucumber, Rose Petal, Lavender Flower, Jasmine, Elderflower

Saturday night we (same peeps) tried the Cucumber. We'd been told it was a favorite, "refreshing," and that kids loved it. We all agreed that it was pretty awesome. We would totally get it again. "It's like cucumber, but good." melon-y.

Vintage Reproductions

Double Cola, Bubble up. Haven't tried any of these yet.

The (non) Beers:

Birch Beer, Spruce Beer, Sarsaparilla, Olde Rhode Island Molasses Root Beer, Red Ribbon Root Beer.

Saturday we tried birch, spruce, and the molasses root beer.
The Birch Beer was worth trying. It was lighter in color than rootbeer, and had a redish tinge, that reminded me of the strange red shade of red velvet cake. Milder than rootbeer, didn't taste like root beer, but was definitely similar/related. Brett said it had a slight fruity flavor.

The Spruce Beer was NOT a favorite. I thought it was tolerable, though not preferable. Everyone else described it as smelling and tasting like Pine-Sol. I, personally, thought it was more like carbonated ricola euctalyptus cough drops... but then again, I've never tasted Pine-Sol, so I wouldn't know. Most people agreed that it had a euctalyptus flavor to it after I said that, but they still think it tastes like Pine-Sol. This was the only soda of the night that ended up in the fridge unfinished for days.

The Molasses Rootbeer was a definite favorite. Good flavor, I will definitely have to remember this one and get it again sometime to compare to other root beer favorites. I thought I would hate the molasses in it, but I didn't even notice. The last time I had a molasses root beer was a Bundaberg root beer I got at Macey's Grocery about a month and a half ago. It was okay, but not a favorite. Nothing like the rhode island molasses.

Brett and I had , earlier, tried the Red Ribbon Root Beer on our own. Both the Beckstrom's and the store owner hyped it up, but Brett and I were unmoved. It was a good flavor, but far to mild. I like a nice rich root beer.

The Gingers:

With Ginger Ales being one of our favorite varieties to test out, you'd think that Brett and I would have poped these open first thing, but we haven't. Maybe tonight.

The Chocloate

Not only does chocolate soda sound weird, but this is 97% fat free, which makes it even more delicious, I'm sure.

The Fruits

Rième Peach, Bundaberg Peachee (though I did not like that rootbeer weeks ago, the ginger ale was interesting enough, so I wanted to try the peach), Americana Huckleberry, Reeds Spiced Apple Cider (B really likes the ginger ale of this brand), Hot Lips Pear, Lorena Pomegranate Blueberry, Ever-tree Bitter Lemon, Lennonade.

The only of these we've tried was the Bitter lemon. First instinct is "ahh" but the moment you breath or open your mouth it turns to "euheheh." Its like licking the rhine. the bitter should have tipped me off.

Solder on!

While I got the soldering stuff that I so desperately wanted over a year ago, I never shared the magic I made with them.

I was never super excited by the necklace pendants people were crazy about, though I liked the pendant concept, so I made family photo versions and put them on homemade ornament hooks instead of necklace chains.

I made some for B's Mom last year. I borrowed them back to photograph them, but now I'm feeling lazy. For now, here are the ones I made for Gma Joyce this year (because I didn't finnish-or start- them last year.):







And then, because I had nothing to wrap them in, but had lots of scrapbook paper from the magnet making, I made an envelope. Shame on me. I slipped up and was influenced by the evil scrap booking industry I work for. Morals compromised.

Can't. Stop.

Must. Magnetize.

We got the stuff to make more of those magnets because my mother was interested. I got carried away.

So simple, yet with the potential for so much personality.

If I'm not careful, I will out-magnet Mary. I used to not care much for magnets, but these are pure joy to me... Plus they are actually strong enough to hold things to the fridge...plus they are like a never ending set, so I can be eclectic, yet tidy and crisply clean, which is my ideal in design/decor.

I am a bit afraid though, that I will make too many.

Here are some my mumsicle made.

theme gifts

So, I didn't get many things to unwrap this year, which makes Brett super happy, because he loves getting money, but it's kind of funny because of the two things I unwrapped, I got that foraging book from carrisa, and then this foraging book from Brett's Mom.


I am happy to report that I like them both. Carrisa's book is more regional, which is nice, and it has a lot more plants in it. B's Mom's is more universal (so plants you can find in most areas), and although it has fewer plants in it, is more thorough on each of the plants it lists, and includes many recipes along with the plant descriptions... so I now have a recipe on how to make homemade marshmallows from the mallow that grows near my condo.

Let there be pope.

I had these made for my family christmas. I was intending to do a different kind of Pope Light, but Brett found this engraving option, and, though it was more expensive, it was far more useful as a gift than my idea.

After Brett did all the work of finding a good priced place who would do it in small orders (cheeper engraved then the plain ones on Amazon), I decided to try and make the logo fancy. I go back and forth on whether I like the font I used, but I'm glad I didn't just have them pick a font and do whatever.

What the Pope Light? Two Christmases ago My brother Corky had the christmas gifts shipped to the family house. Nathanial started peaking, and before he got caught he caught a glimps of the words "Pope Light." We spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out what a pope light was, and how the heck Corky bought it on Amazon when there were no Pope Lights on Amazon, let alone anywhere on the internet... although now there actually are a few out there.


Turns out it was a Pop Lite popcorn maker, and that Nathanial cannot read. Nathanial claimed to be fairly disappointed that he didn't get a Pope Light.
...and that's how the Pope stole Christmas

Non-Fiction Happyness.

I love gifts that show you know their intended. I often try to get people personal gifts, and though I'm sure they don't always love them as much as I hope they would, it means a lot to me when am able to give someone a gift that i truly chose for them specifically, and is not just generic.

Some people I just can't nail down and have to guess around, and I hate it.

This is why I really appreciate this book that Carrisa gave me for Christmas before I left.


I'm hoping that next year I will go on more hikes, and that I will learn to identify (and maybe even try eating) some of these plants.

I find it far more interesting than food storage, and I think it should count, at least in the summer.

Pillow Palooza.

One of Mary's obsessions are pillows. She can't help but buy ones for the season or her mood. It's one of those things that gets on my nerves sometimes because she periodically begs me to come over and help her organize and dejunk.

I actually don't mind doing this, except new junk always replaces the old in-between spring cleanings.

It's a good thing that she is otherwise perfect.

It is also good that she does not yet qualify for Hoarders (reality tv).

Anyhow, in an attempt to fulfill her need for changing decor while minimizing the out of season throw pillows stuffed in large baskets by the couch, and in order to satisfy my recent craft hungers, I gave her a personal gift with somewhat judgmental undertones (oops).




Two pillows with two sets of interchangeable pillowcases, the intention to make more covers soon for her upcoming G'day, and the offer to make some with fabric she brings me.

Not perfect, but overall a satisfying sew outlet.