it’s 10:37 on saturday night and i’m sitting around eating plain yogurt with granola, chopped apples and honey on top, listening to crowded house and thinking about the movie starring the hottest dudes ever i just watched for the fourth time.
2 words, people: steve mcqueen.
3 more words: with a gun.
who in today’s moviestardom® even compares, seriously? all that cool with a crooked smile and sheepish charm in spades.
i love it almost as much as the original.
2 more words: toshino mifune.
all of kurosawa is so excellent i may have to ‘flix the lot of them. soon.
last night husband saw Blade Runner: THE FINAL CUT (or so ridley says. we bought THE DIRECTOR’S CUT thinking he’d tweaked all he was gonna. dude, make up you MIND.)
anyway, he said it was great and we’re going OUT to watch it together this week if the babysitter consents. excited about that.
is anyone into the latest version of jane eyre currently on pbs? i like it.
started the inspector morse series again. john thaw is amazing just walking around onscreen being himself.
• • •
in other news, the fridge died yesterday, or we thought it died until i poked around online and figured out i could take off the inside freezer panel and check things out, which led to emptying and cleaning as it hasn’t seen since the scratch ‘n dent showroom floor, letting it stand for 24 hours to completely defrost (despite the “frost free” badge, my appliance-guy friend says they all need it once in a while) and blowing hot water through a little piece of flexible tubing into the evaporator line, after which a yucky little bunch of food gunk came spurting out. i guess that’s what was keeping it from running cold enough because it’s humming now and ice is freezing and boca burgers are hockey pucks again.
isn’t all this fascinating?
so i’m feeling like the maytag guy, only busier.
i can’t count how many times we’ve taken a few minutes to look online before reaching for the repairman’s number. the internet diy boards are goldmines, if you can get the hang of sorting through far too much info., some helpful, some rubbish. we’d never have made it through the kitchen remodel without a lot of hand holding and much advice from the kind people on thathomesite.com and similar places.
of course, if we could afford to pay for it all to be done by experts, we would. experts are worth their weight in gold. we did hire a wonderful man to help us with the electrical (which we won’t touch with a ten foot pole sander) and drywall. he taught me everything he knew. and i loved it. if you need some mudding and taping, i’m your girl. you can’t see the corners from where you’re sitting, but i think my first job ever turned out pretty damn well, and it was so damn much work i’ve decided to brag about it whenever possible.
• • •
so that’s all that’s fit to print from robot headquarters.
what are you up to this weekend? seen any good flicks lately? repaired any appliances? stocking up on joint compound?
inquiring minds want to know.
23 Comments so far
Leave a comment
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>
I’m so impressed by your nook. Having done something similar, I can attest to the difficulty. You rock a drywall knife.
Comment by Sarah Jackson January 5, 2008 @ 11:49 pmWow you are so clever, I wouldn’t have a clue! I love the colours you have chosen. Job well done I would say!
Comment by Ruthanne January 6, 2008 @ 4:17 amoh, I do admire your kitchen. :)
my husband just fixed our dryer. on a Saturday afternoon, with a big load of wet towels waiting for a place to go. my hero!
I love John Thaw- he brought so much to that role.
Comment by j January 6, 2008 @ 7:02 amI love the idea of the cookbook nook. My brain is slowly beginning to churn.
We’re going to Home Depot today to let the kids pick out their room colors.
Comment by Shannon January 6, 2008 @ 7:56 amI remember when I was MUCH YOUNGER “everyone” (the women in the neighborhood)would always say my Dad looked like Steve McQueen… I always thought he looked more like Paul Newman…
OK… so I should expect you to arrive at my door at what time? HOLY COW chickie… you ROCK!!! Great job on the kitchen!!! ***sigh*** I am trying to make my husband realize there is a DIFFERENCE between “done” and COMPLETED… LOL… TRYING being the operative word!
BRAG BRAG AWAY!!! You’ve earned the right!!!
LOVE the “pantry” doors next to the fridge???
Lala :o)
Comment by Lala January 6, 2008 @ 8:02 amI am going to set up a tent in your kitchen. Hope that’s ok.
Comment by Rachel January 6, 2008 @ 8:40 amgirl, i’m about to go to costco because yesterday when i was stocking up on gluten-free sausages i stumbled upon an isle with wooden floating floors which ended up costing $1.54 A SQUARE FOOT.
oh my hell. can you image? the freaking peel and stick flooring i was going to do in the converted breezeway is 1.02 a square foot and that was going to be a temporary fix.
so, the question of the days is — i’m not going to mind the wooden floating floor not matching the rest of the house when i rip out carpet. right?
Comment by capello January 6, 2008 @ 8:46 am(i’m really glad you said ALMOST as good as the original - i finally saw the M7 version and because I love 7S so very much i pretty much thought M7 sucked - in comparison - maybe if I’d seen it first?)
also, when you DO pay a repair guy - watch closely! ;) my husband learned how to clean chunky peanut butter clogs out of … some tube… so we won’t have to call him again. nice.
Comment by kirsten January 6, 2008 @ 10:14 amLove the kitchen. Nice job. I rewired a thrift store lamp yesterday, still waiting for it to blow up. Congrats on fixing the freezer.
Comment by mary January 6, 2008 @ 1:53 pmI’ve been recommending Pan’s Labyrinth to everyone I’ve talked to the past couple weeks. I had never heard of it til then. It’s rare that I will just sit and watch a movie without doing something else and when I realized it was subtitled I almost turned it off. I spent the next two-ish hours sitting on the living room floor watching the tv intently.
*Note* That was not a movie for children imho.
Comment by Emily January 6, 2008 @ 3:15 pmi thought you said “like the maytag guy, only *bustier*”.
you’ve only seen “the magnificent seven” four times?!?!?!
steve mcqueen. mm. the great escape. who doesn’t love steve mcqueen?
like kurosawa i make mad films. ‘k, i don’t make films, but if i did they’d have a samurai.
the nook is awesome.
films - we’ve got a clive owen *and* a viggo mortensen in the netflix pile. that’s all.
appliances - can you come over and fix my oven? i’ll make you a pizza after. and i won’t have to snap off the edges to make it fit in the toaster oven.
Comment by Lori January 6, 2008 @ 8:57 pmp.s. i have an autographed picture of harrison ford.
Comment by Lori January 6, 2008 @ 8:59 pmhi, I’m new here. :) I love your nook.
We are seeing Juno next weekend…I cannot wait. happy new year!
Comment by stephanie January 6, 2008 @ 9:00 pmI got Chris the giant “Blade Runner” DVD set for Christmas. He may see the theater showing this week, too. I’d go, but we don’t have a sitter.
Thanks for the “Jane Eyre” tip! I just set it to record in the DVR. Too bad I missed the first part…
Comment by amy h January 6, 2008 @ 10:14 pmWatched ‘Capote’ the other day. It was interesting. Hoffman did a wonderful job playing Truman Capote.
Last night I watched ‘Stardust’. It was a very good flick and I would watch it again.
Good job on the drywall and fridge fixen.
Comment by Crystal January 7, 2008 @ 7:48 amHey, ya wanna come over to help me rip up tile in my kitchen? It would be a nice skill to add to your list ;-)
Comment by beki January 7, 2008 @ 10:13 amI fixed my sewing machine, but not this weekend. That was last week. This weekend I did a whole lot of lolling.
Comment by pricklypearbloom January 7, 2008 @ 11:28 amPacked away all the Christmas which sent one 6-year-old boy over the edge with tears of sadness. It was not wise to also say that the tree would be going in a shredder for recycle. Long conversation ensued discussing that trees are not peoples or animals and hence not sentient creatures. Sigh.
Really liking the new Jane Eyre. Did you see the promo for 6 Jane Austen Masterpiece productions? Looking forward to it :)
Comment by Jennifer January 7, 2008 @ 12:58 pmWonderful work on the book nook. Took me a sec to realize those were not two additional fridges to the left of the one… Gah, cold meds. Anyway, cannot contribute to the high-end movie recommendations. I saw Enchanted with my 11yr old last night and loved it. But I’m a sap.
Steve McQueen. Mmm. Yes. And old school Harrison Ford, too. *sigh*
Comment by Chris January 7, 2008 @ 2:01 pm* Steve McQueen. I heart Steve McQueen. Which is a last five years thing. When I was a kid I just didn’t get his alure.
Comment by laeroport January 7, 2008 @ 2:02 pm* Do NOT, please, tell my husband that there is yet another version of Blade Runner out there.
* I watched Jane Eyre last night in my rocking chair while doing embroidery, all by myself. Quite a nice way to pass a Sunday night. It reminded me of traipsing over the moors of North Yorkshire with my friend looking for THE Wuthering Heights. We never found it. And The Jane Austen Masterpiece Theater onslaught - I’m booked for the rest of my Sundays.
* I sanded our bathroom in prepration for painting (next weekend), picked paint colors (orangish) and bought fabric to make a shower curtain. Whew!
* I’ve only hung drywall once - on a Habitat house. The only trick I know: mark the corners of the electrical boxes with lipstick, press the drywall into place and cut out the space where the lipstick transfered. Did I mention it was all women working on that habitat house?
* See you next Saturday?
That deceptively simple-looking cookbook niche is very cool looking! :) Okay this is silly, since I am almost positive someone asked you this a long time ago, but what is that door next to your fridge? I just love your kitchen…
Comment by Chara Michele January 7, 2008 @ 2:36 pmbeautiful kitchen! well done.
Comment by meg March 11, 2008 @ 1:52 pmI adore the green paint color next to the blue paint on the island in your kitchen!
Comment by Carrie March 24, 2008 @ 5:10 pm