July 2013 Round Up and Pinspirations

Post from July 31, 2013.


Dog image from 123RF. Rope frame by MandaBean (no longer available). Font is Kristen ITC.

What books, magazines, and/or articles did I read this month?

• If you read nothing else that I post here, read this one. And have a tissue ready. Sweet. Sad. Beautiful. Radio Host Live Tweets His Mother’s Last Hours In Heartbreaking Tribute (Buzzfeed)
• The Pixar Theory: Every Character Lives in the Same Universe (Mashable)
• Stranded Dave Matthews hitches ride with fan to show (CNN)
• Scientists discover what’s killing the bees and it’s worse than you thought (QZ.com)
• To me, this just falls into the "duh" category! The Hole in Our Collective Memory: How Copyright Made Mid-Century Books Vanish (The Atlantic)
• 30 Abandoned Places That Look Truly Beautiful (Espression of Truth)
• 7 Mind-Blowing Disney Urban Legends (KISS El Paso)

What movies and/or tv shows did I watch this month?
* TV Time:Doesn't seem like we watched much at all, movies or TV. Major Crimes, Rizzoli & Isles, Perception, and Suits is about all that's on right now, and they're keeping us plenty busy.

* New Films: Monsters University (clever, but not as great as the first), The Lone Ranger (absolutely awful; I'm actually sorry I saw it), and Man of Steel (quite good, by far the best of the three we saw in the theater this month)
* Old Favorites: Sky High (showed it to L; not his first time, but he hasn't seen it in so long that he forgot everything), Jurassic Park, Backdraft (forgot what a good movie it is), Cars 2

What fun things did I do with my family and/or friends?

Celebrated my 15th wedding anniversary with a kid-free weekend in Jacksonville, which included this amazing deep dish pecan pie. Celebrated my birthday a little early by going out for a wonderful girls' weekend with a group of old friends, some I've known for over 10 years!

What gifts did I give and/or receive?
There were several little gifts given and received at our girls' weekend, but what happens within the pandemonium stays within the pandemonium! (Like a herd of cows or a flock of geese, a group of parrots is known as a pandemonium. We loved the term so much, we adopted it for our group!)

What special or unusual purchases did I make?
I bought a bunch of new summer work shirts, since none of the ones I had from last year fit! We also started on all kinds of wedding preparations, including a new outfit for Luke and a completely new head to toe outfit for me, including shoes and jewelry!

What illnesses or health concerns did I have?
None, really. The month went quite well overall in that respect. Nice for a change!

What new things and Pinterest pins I try this month?

I had my first first Philly cheesesteak while we were away on our anniversary trip. Quite tasty! Will definitely try one again. And after years of meaning to, I finally tried the chicken bake at Costco. Super yummy, and plenty to eat half and take the other half home. It reheated beautifully at work.

For Pinterest items and recipes, I tried one this month, and I completely neglected to mention one last week, so I'll do it here now. For this month, I tried some pecan pie muffins (recipe link; pin link). I thought they were good, but they tasted a lot like my Christmas cake recipe and not so much like pecan pie to me. Tasty, but not the taste I was after, if that makes sense.


Last month, I tried some Bisquick Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe link; pin link). I thought these were just okay. I prefer a chewier cookie, and these were more cakey. However, Luke absolutely loved them!

What were my accomplishments this month?

Click to biggify.

Honestly, making it through the month without gaining any weight is a huge accomplishment!


Don't faint, but I actually finished TWO cross stitch pieces this month. I know!! And I finally bought fabric I am happy with for the third of my three fairies in the series that I'm working on. Honestly, making it through the month without gaining any weight is a huge accomplishment!

What were Luke's accomplishments this month?

Luke seems to be enjoying his summer so far. He definitely enjoyed staying with Nana and Papa for a weekend while Mommy and Daddy ran away to Jacksonville. He pretty much got to eat wherever he wanted! I think my parents enjoyed it, too. We might have to try it more often! LOL

What were this month's disappointments or frustrations?
I'm sure there were some, but since I'm writing this over six weeks after the fact (oops), I can't really think of any. If they weren't bad enough to make it onto Facebook, Twitter, or my long term memory banks, then they can't have been that bad!

Anything else noteworthy to record?
The royal baby was born! His Royal Highness Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge was born on July 22.

In completely different news, I think it has rained absolutely all summer long! It hasn't been blue-blazing hot, which has been nice, but seriously, the rain and wet and lack of sun is starting to get very old. Maybe we can dry out some in August, especially for MIL's wedding?


Monthly Round Up concept courtesy of Katie the Scrapbook Lady, tweaked by me.

Currently feeling: rounded up yet again

Wordless Wednesday - July 31, 2013

Currently feeling: 1983 called; they want their shirt back

Weddings: A Conversation With Luke

Original image Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos, modified by me

Me: Do you know where we're going this weekend?
Luke: To see Nana and Papa?
Me: Well, yes, we are staying with Nana and Papa, but we're going down there so we can go to Grandmama's wedding. She and Mr. T____ are getting married. Do you know what that means?
Luke: We get to have cake?
Currently feeling: slightly mixed up priorities

Theme-a-licious 2013 - Jubilee July - Final

Jubilee July - It's time to celebrate! What are you celebrating this year? Stitch on your holiday-related projects, OR find some WIPs you know you'll never finish and set them free.

Well, I have some celebrating to do, and I hope these count, even if I didn't exactly follow the theme. My biggest celebration? Finishing TWO pieces!! First up, a piece I likely started in 1998 or 1999:



Finally finished our Georgia Tech piece! Not sure it was worth waiting 14-ish years for, but it's done. Wow, my technique has changed/improved since I started it! LOL And I know some people who definitely consider football season a holiday season, so maybe that sort-of counts?

Next up is a piece from 2006. Well, it was part of a class I took in 2006. I didn't actually start this half of the class project until 2011.



Here are the two halves together. Not sure when this will get "fobinated," but the stitching is complete. Yay!



And how did I celebrate these wonderful finishes? By starting something new, of course! LOL Hey, two finishes and only one start, so I'm still ahead. I was also celebrating finally finding the perfect fabric for my third Mirabilia Fairy. Ta-da!



That's totally a fairy, right? Well, she will be. One day. Eventually.  Thanks for looking! I hope to actually, you know, participate in the rest of the months.
Currently feeling: like celebrating!

Super Busy July

Been really busy. You might have noticed. I've done all of my Wordless Wednesdays for you, to give you something to look at, and here's a quick preview of some of our July adventures:



I won't get to write about it for a while yet. I did want to let you know that I'm still here, and I'll have a couple more pictures for you in a day or two, but July details will just have to wait a bit, possibly well into August. Hope you're all doing well!

Currently feeling: crazy busy, but with good stuff!

Wordless Wednesday - July 24, 2013

Currently feeling: like it has been raining non-stop for a month!

Wordless Wednesday - July 17, 2013

Currently feeling: well, you got up! (good thing she's cute)

Movie Muse Shorts: Monsters University, The Lone Ranger, Man of Steel

Monsters University - They certainly gave it the old college try with this one. (Sorry, it was too easy.) It was a fun twist on the characters we know and love, and it was quite a good movie. We enjoyed it very much. They certainly tried to make magic happen twice, and though they had all of the pieces, it just didn't quite gel like the first one did. It was more "this moment was good" and "that part was nice", but not "what a great movie" as a whole. L really liked it, though. Six months later (when I finally got around to writing this review), it is the only movie from this summer that he remembers seeing. He actually saw 4 movies between May and August, and he has a notoriously bad memory, so it really is saying something that this is the only one that he can specifically recall. (Definitely the best of the four, in my opinion.)


The Lone Ranger - I could make this a simple three word review: Don't see it. But I know that wouldn't sit well with some of you. I've seen plenty of bad movies; some of them I even like, in spite of knowing how bad they are. But there is a difference in "that was a bad movie," "I didn't like that movie," and "I'm sorry I even saw that movie." Unfortunately, I'm sorry I ever saw The Lone Ranger. Far and away the worst movie I have seen in years. It is NOT a Disney movie, in any way. I'm sorry, but in my opinion, there are just certain lines a film released under the Disney banner should not cross, and this movie crossed more than one of those. If you wanted to go there with your film, that's fine, but go there under a different name: Touchtone, Miramax, whatever, but not Disney. If I could bleach my brain of this film, I would do it in a heartbeat. Just very disappointing and disturbing (yes, disturbing!). Do yourself a favor; don't even bother.


Man of Steel - Okay, so Superman is trying to go all Dark Knight on us. That's okay, they didn't do a bad job. I thought casting was actually quite good. Henry Cavill certainly has dimples (and muscles) in spades! He even does a better job of pulling off the Clark Kent aspect than I ever anticipated (though he doesn't get to do much of it; maybe next time). The backstory was interesting, though as a non-reader of the comics, I have no idea how much is "real" and how much was made up just for the film. Even Russell Crow was better than I anticipated, as was Zod. Honestly, my biggest issue was getting to the end and having them break their own rules, which is a cardinal sin in this type of film, IMO. There was no reason for that; they could have figured out some other way to "go there" and still have it conform to the rules of their universe. Overall, worth seeing. I'm interested to see where they go from here.

Currently feeling: like most of the summer movies were a bust

Wordless Wednesday - July 10, 2013

Currently feeling: high up on the Dames Point Bridge in Jacksonville, FL

Wordless Wednesday - July 3, 2013

Currently feeling: there really are no words for this odd art in my work building