Project House Update: Hot Hot Mess

Look how much progress we've made on the fireplace!

Yes, it looks like a bit of a mess right now, but it's changed a lot since you last saw it four months ago. Here's where we last left it:

Now, you can barely see any of that terrible orange-y brown. All the sheets of tile are up. What Dan ended up doing was fitting and placing full, unaltered sheets on the fireplace and coming back later to fill in the edges with individual tiles. He did a row at a time, letting them completely set before going onto the next one.

The only real challenging one was the one that bridged the opening. It took two sets of hands and was almost a disaster. If we were to do it again, I would set them in the spanning row until it just reaches the opening, let them dry completely, then do the thinner bridge pieces.

The lefthand wall edge and the gas key hole (what the hell is that called?) are done, but the righthand wall and the fireplace opening are still left to do.

My job in all this fun is to clean the tiles. That's what all those weird, ugly dark spots are. Just wet, clean tiles. I sit for an hour every evening on that tiny stool and remove the extra, messy mortar that Dan accidentally got on the tiles when installing them. I've worked out a pretty good system with a bowl of warm, clean water, a stiff bristled toothbrush, and tooth pics.

Since it will be impossible to fill in all the gaps and get the edges perfectly smooth, Dan found a grout in the identical color of the tiles. The plan is to just it to fill in all the tiny little gaps, the ones that are big enough to see, but not big enough to tile. We may end up using some of it to line the opening of the fireplace. And there's still the interior of the fireplace to do, too. They make black thermal paint for things like that, right?

We're finally in the home stretch. Once all the tiles are installed and cleaned, carpet can be reinstalled. Since tiling is such a dirty process, no point in installing carpet until the fireplace tile is 100% done. And once there's carpet, there can furniture again. Maybe in time for Thanksgiving so my dining room doesn't look like this anymore:

Although it worked great for getting out of hosting last year so maybe it's best not to rush.

TV Round Up: 2014

In both 2011 and 2012, I wrote a post on almost every single new show that debuted in the Fall. It was A LOT of posts, which is why I grew tired of it by 2013.

However, this year, every single show will be reviewed in one big post.

If you get bored and go back and look at those old posts (you could start here), you'll see that my ratings were surprisingly accurate. Anything I gave a B- or higher survived the full season. I'd like to say that my ratings also correlated to which shows also got a second season, but TV executives are stupid (I miss you, 'Go On').

NBC:
A to Z - Let me put this up front: I do not like 'schtick'. Off of the top of my head, I can't name one 'schtick' show that has succeeded in my eyes. The closest, before the end of last season, would have been 'How I Met Your Mother' and the fact that they went back to the schtick at the end ruined the show for me. That being said, I don't like the 'schtick' of this show. I like Zelda, she has depth. Andrew, however, is an annoying wimp. I'm not calling 'romantics' wimps, just this guy. Maybe this says a lot about my view on people and relationships, but I really want Zelda to force Andrew to grow up a bit before dating him. He's naive and selfish. The two leads weren't even my favorite characters. I found the bearded best friend to be the most endearing character. And the British female best friend. B
Bad Judge - I like Kate Walsh. I like feisty mess Kate Walsh even better. It's got a well-rounded cast. It may not have much of a direction right now, but I much rather start watching a show without a direction than one with one that's poorly executed. For this show to last, though, it's going to need more of a larger story, like the development on 'the Mindy Project'. B
The Mysteries of Laura - Couldn't make it more than five minutes. Left to take a shower and came back. Basing a hole show on one barely likeable character was not a smart decision. It would have been much better if they had just eliminated the family aspect of the show and only focused on the police department. C-

ABC:
Blackish - The cast has great chemistry. It seems to rely a little too much on popular sitcom tropes rather than being its own show. The voice over was a bit over the top and the screen labels and the visual hyperbole. It's probably just over the top since it was the pilot, but if they reign it back a bit, it could be interesting. B+
Forever - First series to get a hulu favorite of the new bunch. Good fit for ABC, it felt very much like Castle. I like the idea of a big villian, but shows become so disappointing after the big villian is resolved (aka Red John on the Mentalist). I like the backstory on Abe, it's a nice twist. I wish, though, shows wouldn't pair opposite sex partners just for sexual tension. Why couldn't they just be platonic? I really wished the secret would have been revealed to the lady cop by the end of the episode, too. And why does his former wife look like she's 17? Probably to prevent her from looking older if the series run for several years. The showrunners better hope the main guy doesn't age poorly. A-
How to Get Away with Murder - This pilot sucked me in more than I thought it would. The final twist was pretty great. However, I don't think I'll be watching this show. I have a hard time trusting Shonda Rhymes. Her shows start out enticing and quickly escalate to absurdity. Also, I really wanted the guy from Harry Potter to play his character British. Why couldn't he have an accent? If you're going to burn and bury a body, wouldn't you dig the hole first and then burn it in the hole? That way it reduces the risk of someone seeing the fire and you don't have to move burned guy into the hole? It'll probably be great for people that like these types of shows, like Scandal and Revenge, but it's not for me. A-
Manhattan Love Story - Ok, another sitcom based around a schtick: internal dialogue narration. The only reason I want to like this show is for Analeigh Tipton. She's adorable. However, the show tries to turn her into a blonde version of Jess from 'New Girl', but shyer and less quirky. It's endearing, but not believable. And the male lead could be interesting if they focus on him growing into a better person from being around the female lead (not a good sign when you don't know the character names). This could be a better show if they round out the cast and make it more of an ensemble. Purely focusing on two characters who have loud thoughts won't be enough to save it. C-
Selfie - This show got so much bad press before it even debuted that I decided I needed to like it without having seen it. I love Karen Gillan (redheads got to stick together) and any show John Cho has been on has been great (I MISS YOU, GO ON and Sleepy Hollow is just insane, yet genius). However, it's another show based on a 'concept' of John Cho mentoring Karen Gillan until she's a better person. When will writers learn that you can't sustain a show on these concepts? You're just setting yourself up for failure. Hopefully, it will evolve, but for now, I'm skeptical. C+

CBS:
NCIS: New Orleans - I like spin-offs. None of this clunky character introduction. Strong cast. Soft spot in my heart for the guy from 'Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift'. Nothing remarkable about this show. It's just like watching an episode of 'NCIS: Los Angeles' set in new Orleans. B
Scorpion - I'm really not a big fan of the 'I'm so smart that I can't function in normal society' schtick. Why do people believe that geniuses can't take care of themselves? I know they try to explain it away, but I don't buy it. Also, "I have a high IQ" "I have a high IQ" "I HAVE A HIGH IQ". Ugh. I could become a fan of this show if they flush out the supporting characters. You know I'm all for a well-rounded female mechanical engineer on TV, as long as they make an effort to round her out, not just immediately make her a romantic interest for someone. And I love Robert Patrick, I don't know why though... C+
Stalker - I wanted to like this show. I have such admiration for the way Maggie Q plays strong characters. This show is terrible, though. It starts off thinking its viewers will buy whatever they sell. A car wouldn't explode like that. Period. It's not how cars and gasoline work. I don't like when shows use 'the news' to talk about the case, but says things that the real news would never say, like 'burned alive'. Also, Dylan McDermot's character has absolutely no redeeming qualities. He's a misogynistic, obnoxious asshole and any attempts by the writers to get me to feel sympathy for him will go over like a lead balloon. I read a review which talked about how much this show hates women and I have to agree. Maggie Q strength unfortunately is not enough to balance out the harm this show does to women. D

Fox:
Gotham - I want to like this show, but I'm fearful that they're trying to do too much to live up to the mythology of the characters. It felt like they were trying to tie too many characters into the premiere. I would have been fine with them waiting a few episodes or even until the second season to introduce characters like Catwoman, the Penguin, Poison Ivy, and the Riddler. I do like that they made Alfred rough around the edges. B
Gracepoint - Well shot, the opening tracking main street shop is quite impressive. However, that's not enough to draw me in for a ten week mini-series. I can't say anything other than the filming struck me as good during the episode. If I didn't see episodes 2 through 9 and only saw who did it in episode 10, I would be okay with that. C
Red Band Society - This show has potential, but I have a hard time seeing right now how you stretch the premise into a whole season, let alone several seasons. And I found myself poking apart the show. If Leo is going through chemo, which is why he is bald, shouldn't he not have eyebrows either? Also, couldn't they hire an actor who is actually missing his leg? Bright spot: childhood crush Thomas Ian Nicholas, aka the 'Rookie of the Year'. Ugly spot: Astro, the punk from X-Factor who should just go away. This could be a good show, but I don't know if it's for me. B

I can't get the CW at my house. I may start watching some of their new shows once they're up on Hulu.

That's every show released by the time I post this! Well, minus 'Cristela', 'Mulaney', and 'Madam Secretary'. Perhaps the lack of review speaks more than a review itself. 

Fan of Friday: Week of 10/3/2014

Lately, I've been very into Sean "Day9" Plott. It's actually quite odd if you know anything about what he does.

Image Source

He hosts several gaming themed shows on Youtube.

He hosts a show on 'Magic'. I've never played 'Magic' before not do I have any desire to play it.

He hosts a show on 'Starcraft'. I'd never heard of 'Starcraft' before seeing his show.

While the games he plays are completely foreign to me, it kind of makes sense with my history of gaming. I really just enjoy watching other people play games. Growing up, I didn't play that many, but I love watching my dad play. Even now, some Sunday dinners turn into us all sitting around the living room, yelling instructions at him as he shoots aliens or Nazis. 

I don't know exactly how I got started watching his shows, but it's worth it because he's so good at weaving a story. He goes off on tangents quite often and I usually find the tangents the most entertain part of the show. It's amazing when you consider he shoots everything live.

My favorite show that he does is called 'Mostly Walking', where he and two of his game design friends play old adventure style games. You don't have to know anything about games to enjoy some humorous people play drinking games about the ridiculousness of the dialogue of a game that's 20 years old.

He's quite addicting, so be careful before you get drawn in. At least he films like three hours of footage a day so you won't run out of things to watch any time soon.

How to Stock a S'mores Party

Over the weekend, we had our annual pool party. Yes, I know it is technically already Fall, but since the pool was still 80+ degrees, no one cares.

In addition to the traditional swimming and barbeque, this year I made a S'mores bar. Here's what you need to build your own s'mores bar:

Graham Crackers:

• Regular graham crackers
• Chocolate graham crackers
• Cookies (I accidentally bought some soft baked ones. They didn't hold up well for s'mores. Pick drier, harder cookies.)

Marshmallows:

• Plain marshmallows
• Flavored marshmallows (Chocolate brownie were tasty)
• Peeps! (We didn't end up using Peeps because I couldn't find any. We did have a very spirited debate at the party if the sugar on the outside would burn before the marshmallow inflated.)

Chocolate:

• Hershey bars
• Reese's
• Filled or flavored chocolate squares (these Lindt ones were a bit small, but quite tasty)
• White chocolate
• York peppermint patties
• Dark chocolate

Other fillings

• Fruit, like strawberries and bananas
• Spreads, like peanut butter and nutella

Tools You'll Need

• Long skewers (short, wooden kabob skewers worked, but I really thought my hand would be medium rare by the end of the night.)
• Paper plates (So you don't have to clean up afterward, just into the fire they go!)

Part of the reason we had so many options is because we had so many dietary restrictions. One of my friends can't have chocolate, so she used white chocolate. Another one of my friends can't have dairy, so she used dark chocolate. And a third friend can't have gluten, so he brought some gluten-free cookies.

It was an amazing success. We spent the night gathered around a firepit, debating the best way to toast the marshmallows, and trying so many types of s'mores until we couldn't move.

If you'd like to watch a bit of video one of my friend's filmed of Dan trying to build the fire, it's quite entertaining. Thankfully, he didn't burn down the house. Not bad for his first real fire.

Fan of Friday: Week of 9/26/2014

Apparently, for the last couple months, I've been in love with blacks and grays.

Not exactly practical in 100 degree heat...

In the image below is every item of clothing I've purchased recently (minus two shirts from my England trip).

Maybe my inner spirit is in a mood, but I just want to wear black. I want to be a badass in black. I'm not. I'm not a badass at all, but black feels good right now. I'm Sandy at the end of 'Grease' in my tight black pants, sleeveless sweatshirt, and faux leather jacket.

I think, after some reflection which really shouldn't be inspired by a post this shallow, that I've been feeling kind of tread on lately and black makes me feel stronger. Less weak. Even if it's just a black top with polka dots made of sleeping kittens.

I don't usually wear black with black, but if I start doing that, someone should really start to be concerned about why I feel so helpless...

British Youtuber Haul

I promised it on Monday in my post about my trip to England and I'm actually delivering!

It's my first video!

Yes, it's ridiculous. And yes, I felt painfully awkward through most of it. So please be kind.

However, let me know what you think. I would love some feedback, and maybe some ideas of things to talk about if I ever work up the nerve to do this again.

Have You Even Heard of Bournemouth?

A couple of weeks ago, I traveled for work yet again. For the third time in three years, I went back to England to work on the robot of a very important customer. If you'd like to read about my first two adventures, click here or here. The robot was having a different problem than the last two times I was sent out to fix it, so fortunately I didn't need to pack my tools and could travel a bit lighter. It did mean a handful of side effects I wasn't expecting since this wasn't the usual problem, but nothing too catastrophic.

The first time I went to England for work, we worked in Bournemouth but stayed in Basingstoke. The second time, we both worked and stayed in Basingstoke. This time, we stayed in Bournemouth and worked in both Basingstoke and Bournemouth. It made for a longer day than normal, but it was even longer by all the celebratory pints my coworkers kept throwing back afterwards. And it did guarantee that we got to eat at our favorite restaurant, the Portsmouth Arms in Basingstoke. I was quite sad to learn that it was a chain, though.

The hotel we stayed at, the Royal Norfolk, had to be the prettiest hotel I'd ever seen. Every little detail was gorgeous. It made me feel like a princess and a complete mess at the same time. I definitely was not put together enough to fit in.

The walls were a little thin and there was no air conditioning, or even a fan, so I didn't sleep that great. However, everything else was spot on.

Including the location. The hotel sits on top of a hill, surrounded by beautiful old churches. At the base of this hill, a two minute walk, was a beautifully manicured park and the midpoint of the shopping district.

On the other side of the park was the beach. A traditional English beach with a pier, rows of rentable cabanas, and families taking in the last of the sunny summer days.

Once we had finished working, we had a free day to sight-see. We leave an extra day in case there were any unforeseen problems, but we've fortunately never needed to use it. On our last two visits to England, my boss wanted to see Stonehenge and Bathe. This time he wanted to see the ruins at Glastonbury. It sounded like a nice day, but I wanted to spend some more time in contemporary England. In a move that made me incredibly nervous, I asked him to leave me behind so I could explore Bournemouth and do some shopping. It probably wasn't the greatest move for my career, but it couldn't hurt more than any other ridiculous decision I make.

And I don't regret it at all now. I had the best day. I sat in the park, watching tourists pay for the overpriced balloon ride. I found an aviary full of adorable birds that I can only assume chirp with a British accent. I explored the old churches that were still intact.

My favorite part of the day was afternoon tea. Sitting on the veranda of the gorgeous hotel, people watching on the street below. And since I was alone (which I think scared the waitress a bit), I didn't have to share any of my delicious treats with anyone else. I'm not a big fan of tea, but it was probably the best tea I've ever had.

However, most of my day was spent shopping. I brought back a good assortment of goodies and souvenirs. I went into just about every store. I made a list of the things I wanted to buy as I went. And in traditional British blogger fashion, I'm trying to make a haul video. If everything goes according to plan, it should be up on Wednesday.

Stay tuned...

Odile, You Tease

Remember the great storm of 2014? Remember how Hurricane Odile was heading straight for Tucson? She was going to clobber us with five to seven inches of rain. People all over town panicked. The City of Tucson distributed over 10,000 sandbags and people queued for hours to get their hands on the them. My husband's company sent him home early to beat the storm. We charged our electronics and gathered flashlights in case we lost power. We bottled water in case we lost water. We moved everything not nailed down out of our front and back yards.

And you know what happened?

Nothing. Every weatherman in town had to eat their hat.

Some pretty clouds that hid the mountains and that was it.

Odile missed Tucson completely. Other than some sprinkles of rain in the morning, we didn't get any rain. This may seem like a good thing, but in a desert, we needed the rain. Most of the city was excited for the storm.

It was fun watching all the news programs the next morning. They danced around, trying to avoid admitting they were wrong about the storm. The panic was for nothing.

Although, they're already talking about Hurricane Polo, so they may not have learned anything from this... 

You Can Always Go Downtown

Usual weekends for us are fairly slow. We like to stick around the house, or at least our side of town. Since this past weekend was an anomaly for our system, it deserves documentation.

Friday started out fairly typical. I ran to the grocery store after work and bought the supplies to make up a double sized batch of Sriracha mac and cheese. We both have lunches for the week now. Round that out with an Amazon Prime showing of 'Beverly Hills Cop', which neither of us had seen before, and it was a nice, average Friday night.

After not being able to sleep, I leaned into it and got up early for a run. Have I mentioned before that I'm training for a run in the beginning of October? It's a five miler and I'm nowhere near that distance right now. My run Saturday morning was 3.1 miles total, but I did have two walking breaks. If I could do five miles with some walking breaks in under an hour, I'd be pretty happy.

Most of my afternoon was wasted lying in bed, finishing my book, Timeline by Michael Crichton. There are definitely some major plot holes, but I'd read just about anything from the man who brought me Jurassic Park.

Then we began our long, busy night. My sister was in a play! A play guys! A friend of hers wrote it and cast her. She had been rehearsing for weeks so we stopped and picked up some hydrangeas as a present when we drove all the way to downtown to see her perform. 

Before the play, we grabbed some dinner at a new place called Diablo Burger. I can't say I found their burgers particularly spicy, but the veggie burger was yummy, the seasoning on the fries was tasty, and I love a place with good condiments already on the table. {Sidenote: the place that we go to for Pub trivia never has any condiments on the tables, even ketchup. When you ask for it, they bring a little tub of it and it's never enough. It's just the worst.)

We timed it almost perfectly, just enough time to inhale some burgers before walking over to the play venue. I'd post some pictures of the play but 1) they all came out blurry and 2) my sister would probably kill me. She was great, though. So proud.

Instead of actual play pictures, how about one of the flyer for the festival?

After the play, my sister and all of her friends and family went out for drinks at the bar across from the venue. I never go to bars so I was excited to try something new. Except they wouldn't let me in. Womp womp. Something about a new law when it comes to driver's licenses. Realized afterward that I had my passport on me so I could have gotten in, but I was so embarrassed that that bar is now dead to me. DEAD TO ME!

Instead, we went to Hub Ice Creamery and I got my sorbet on. I'd never been there before, but it was quite good. We took our tiny cups of delicious, delicious ice cream and wandered around the INSANELY busy downtown. Downtown Tucson, which honestly has always kind of been a joke, is less of a joke now guys. There's actually stuff to do and see. I'm quite proud of my town for finally getting it together after all of these years.

And it had also been forever since I'd just hung out with people. Just strolled and explored and chit-chatted. And of course, took some selfies.

Shaking it up once in a while apparently isn't a bad thing. Who knew?

Changes...

Over the last couple of months, blogging really hasn't been a priority for me. I've been telling myself that I have been neglecting this space because my life has gotten busy, but that's really not true. Yes, I have been busy, but definitely not so much that I can't take 20 minutes and an Instagram picture and form some sort of post.

Let's be real, this blog not exactly about quality for me. It's about just getting it out. Whether it's a journal entry as to what I've been doing or a crazy opinion rattling around in my brain or even a cat picture, I need to express myself.

I'm going to stop waiting to make progress on house projects and post about them as they lay because honestly, I think most people hate those people who can do a whole living room redo in just one weekend. Most of us (especially Sam and Rusty) can't even manage to put together a piece of Ikea furniture in that amount of time.

Anyway, I'll be here more. Hopefully I'll push my comfort zone a bit, even if it's just to have something to write about. I'm bringing back 'Fan of Fridays' and admitting to some loves that are incredibly ridiculous and uncool. I'm going to try some different styles of posts. Knock on wood, I'm even going to try making some videos. If anything, it'll be something to see, like a train wreck perhaps.

And I am totally open to suggestions. If you have anything you'd like to see more, let me know below. I can only run on my own ideas for so long.