Quick Hits – May 2016

This month has been more about reading than watching TV and movies, which you will see reflected below.  I have been really concentrating on reading more.  I used to read all the time, but as an adult it feels so hard to focus.  It is so much less energy to watch TV or a movie after a long day at work.  Reading takes effort and concentration, which I struggle to exercise.  Lately I have been making the effort to carve out quiet time to read more because I know I enjoy it so much once I get into the right frame of mind.  Because this month’s entertainment leans more to the book side, I decided to forgo one of the TV series reviews and did a third book review.

Warning:  Although I tried not to delve into plots too deeply, there are potential spoilers in the reviews below.  Read at your own risk.

TV Series:  Supernatural:  Season 8 (2012)

Season 8 was a return to the Supernatural I love.  My husband and I devoured this season in a couple of binge watches.  Season 7 (which I did not review) was dedicated to the eradication of the Leviathans, which were nasty people-eating monsters, and no fun at all.  They were defeated at the end of the season and have completely disappeared from the storyline.  Season 8 returns to demons and angels.  Castiel has found his sense of humor and lost his superiority complex.  Crowley returns as the main antagonist because Dean and Sam have found a possibility to lock the gates of hell forever.  The show relies heavily on some great secondary characters including a vampire named Benny that Dean befriends, a prophet named Kevin who is helping the Winchesters to close the gates to hell, and a bumbling hunter named Garth who keeps crossing their path.  The humor is amped up again with some great episodes like Hunteri Heroici and LARP & the Real Girl.  Overall, I just felt like this season returned to the ideal mix of good chemistry between characters, a feeling of hope to overcome the obstacles, and humor to make it fun.

Movie:  Annie Hall (1977)

Over the last couple of years, I have enjoyed several Woody Allen films with my favorite being Midnight in Paris.  Because of this, I thought it might be nice to watch some of his older films.  I picked Annie Hall on name recognition initially. (Full disclosure:  This movie was referenced in the series finale of Dawson’s Creek, but I assumed it was a Spielberg film due to Dawson’s idolization of the director.  I was surprised to see it in the list of Woody Allen films on Netflix.)  When I saw the critical acclaim, awards, and Diane Keaton attached to it, I figured it would be a great one to watch.  Overall, I would say my reaction to the film is underwhelmed.  I liked it well enough, but I ended feeling just a little disappointed.  The movie is funny in an understated way.  It also tells a pretty timeless and relatable story about that one relationship that you can never truly forget.  However, it does feel dated, which is understandable, but it makes harder for someone like me to get the cultural references.  The biggest thing though was that it lacked the whimsical feeling that his modern films have.  The artsy cinematography and fantastical storylines are what I like the most about Woody Allen films.  Annie Hall was not a bad movie, but I think you need to be aware that it is not much like what he puts out today.

Movie:  The Diary of a Teenage Girl (2015)

I liked this movie, but many people will not.  It follows the story of fifteen year old Minnie’s sexual awaking, starting with losing her virginity to her mother’s boyfriend Monroe.  The relationship with Monroe obviously does not work out with hurt feelings on all sides, Minnie, Monroe, and Minnie’s mother.  Additionally Minnie makes other rash sexual decisions including a fling with a rich boy from school and an instance of prostitution (blow job to a stranger for $5).  The time period (70s) and setting allows for a freer morality around sex and drugs with the result being much less worry over the pedophilic nature of Minnie’s relationship with Monroe and much more focus on how everyone’s feelings play into the storyline.  Minnie is obviously still immature, so her narration and reaction to events reflects that innocence.  Her mother and Monroe are also immature despite their ages, and that is also reflected in how they deal with the situation along the way.  I felt the story was very authentic, not overdone, and relatable.  However, viewers who are offended by explicit sex scenes and/or the Monroe/Minnie relationship should just skip this one.  Bonus:  Kristen Wiig turns in a great performance as the mother, showing she can hold her own even in more serious roles.

Book:  Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (2012)

I chose this book based on false assumptions and had no idea what I was actually getting.  When I told my therapist about an ex-boyfriend who became a fitness & nutrition nut, she asked if I had read Me Before You.  Because of that, I assumed the book was about the relationship between the main character and the fitness nut.  In actuality, the relationship is about the main character and her quadriplegic employer, leaving the fitness nut boyfriend to more of a side plot.  However, the initial misunderstanding did not keep me from enjoying this book.  I absolutely loved it.  The story is so powerful.  It is about rethinking first impressions, overcoming obstacles, knowing what you want, and accepting things that cannot be changed.  It is not the most tightly written book.  There were a few things that just did not seem realistic (what 27 year-old in the western world has never used a computer?) which were a little distracting from the flow of the storyline.  The plot though more than compensated for any bumps in the storytelling.  I highly recommend it to those who love romances.  I also cannot wait for the movie version due out soon.

Book:  No One Knows by J.T. Ellison (2016)

I recently joined the Book of the Month Club which for a monthly subscription gives me a choice of one of five books recommended by judges associated with the club.  For my first pick, I chose No One Knows by J.T. Ellison.  It had been a while since I read a suspense thriller, and this one looked good.  For the first half of the book, I really enjoyed it.  It did remind me of Gone Girl (saw the movie, but not read the book), but I did not consider that a negative.  Unfortunately, my enjoyment fell apart in the second half of the book.  The book skips around between narrators and time periods, so that it leads up to the final plot twists.  However, the early chapters do not flow nicely into the final conclusion.  There is a subplot surprise that pops up at the end of the novel that just seems pointless.  Then, the conclusion to the main story feels forced and inconsistent with the earlier characters.  I just felt confused and uninterested by the end instead of engaged and wowed by the whodunit.  I think there are better mysteries out there, and hopefully I will read one soon.

Book:  Steadfast by Mercedes Lackey (2013)

Mercedes Lackey is one of my favorite authors.  I first started reading her Heralds of Valdemar series when I was in middle school.  I have not stopped reading her since, consuming a sizable chunk of her work.  While the Heralds will probably always be my favorite, I am also a big fan of her Elemental Masters series.  These are gritty tales, set in Edwardian England, full of underground magic, encompassing a constant battle between good and evil.  Each novel is loosely based on a different fairy tale, although I admit I do not always recognize it in the story until I look it up later.  Steadfast is based on the Steadfast Tin Soldier (I did not recognize it).  The book is based on a circus dancer, who is on the run from her abusive husband, unknowingly a danger to everyone around her due to her untrained elemental fire magic.  Two men, both elemental mages, take it upon themselves to help her escape her past and learn to control her magic.  I enjoyed this book, but it was not my favorite of the series.  Mercedes Lackey is an enchanting writer that makes me keep turning the pages until the very end.   While that was true for this book as well, I was left feeling unsatisfied by the ending.  It was just too quick and pretty.  The buildup of the story took forever, while the climax was introduced and over in a matter of pages.  The characters introduced subplots and plans that never contributed in the end, and the actual resolution felt too convenient.  I am glad I read it, but the books that came before it in the series were better.

Overflow:

TV Special:  Kevin Hart:  I’m a Grown Little Man (2009) – Yes

Book:  Bridget Jones:  The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding (1999) – Yes

See you next week!

Plated Review

As I have stated before in this blog, I feel overwhelmed by work, chores, and obligations.  I am constantly on the hunt for ways to save time and/or make my life easier.  Meals are one area that I find very, very time consuming.  I am currently exploring options on how to make lunch and dinner preparations easier.  One of the things I recently tried was the meal delivery service called Plated.  I ultimately decided it was not the right option for me, but I wanted to give it a fair review in my blog.

Plated is one of several services out there that sends ingredients for dinner to your door.  The consumer still has to cook and assemble the meal.  You get the preparations for two to seven meals each week for two people for $12 per meal per person.  Larger families can be accommodated by picking more than one of a meal and multiplying the recipe.  Each week, there are seven regular meals from which to choose included in the weekly price.  Plus, there are two upgraded meals (pricier cuts of meat) that can be chosen and two desserts that can be added for extra fees.  Each recipe takes approximately 30-45 minutes to make.  Each meal is in the 500-700 calorie range.  There are usually several vegetarian and dietary-needs-friendly options.

I actually really liked the service.  It just is not a good fit for my current needs.  Although I was saving time on the actual meal planning, it was not saving me much time in grocery shopping or meal preparation.  I still had to go shopping for other household needs (lunch, snacks, etc.).  While it might have shaved a few minutes off the grocery store trips, I still had to go every week or two anyway.  Meal preparation took as long as, or sometimes even longer than, I was doing already.  The meals still required a fair amount of prep work:  rinsing, chopping, mixing, etc.  Then, most had several items to actually be cooked in some fashion.  Plus, I had to keep stopping to read the recipe to make sure I was doing things right, which I do not do with more familiar options.  The food itself was good, so I would be open to trying the service again if my evenings are ever freer.  For now, I am going to look into other options, either more freezer options or meal delivery for prepared food.

Finally, here are a couple fun fact exercises just to add a little more detail to the mix to aid in decision-making for anyone considering Plated or similar services.

Five things I liked about Plated:  1) Ordering from a menu every week instead of having to come up with ideas on my own, 2) New recipes which I get to keep and make again if I want, 3) Increased vegetable intake, 4) Easy to use website, and 5) Good food.

Five things I did not like about Plated:  1) A little expensive, 2) A lot of packaging, which while necessary for safe shipping, just felt wasteful, 3) Inconsistent portions (most were a good size, but a couple meals left me hungry while others provided leftovers), 4) Variety – Options are good, but sometimes it seemed like there were too many vegetarian options, too many Asian choices, too many things with mushrooms, etc. in a given week, and 5) Locked into meal options a week in advance with no room to wiggle as weekday plans changed.

Five favorite recipes (in no particular order):   1) Beef Noodle Bowls with Dinosaur Kale and Mushrooms, 2) Chicken Meatballs with Curry Tomato Sauce and Greens, 3) Crispy Calamari with Greens and Miso Vinaigrette, 4) Pizza Dough Tostadas with Italian Street Corn, and 5) Chicken Marsala with Roasted Fingerling Potatoes.

If you were considering using Plated or another service like it, I hope you found this review helpful.

See you next week!

One Year Anniversary

It has been one whole year since I created my blog.  My first post went live on May 6, 2015.  Since then, I have posted fifty-three blogs.  Similar to the check-in I did at six months, I wanted to take the opportunity to look back at what I have accomplished.  I want to revisit the original goals outlined in my first blog as well as some of the tasks I set for myself at the six month check-in.  At the end, I will discuss the future of my blog for this coming year.

The first goal I gave myself was to write more.  I definitely write more than I did before starting the blog.  I have maintained the weekly blog with only a few weeks that were “non-blogs”.  I have also been a little bit more consistent with journaling this past year that I was before.  I am not sure if the two are related, but overall I am happy that I have been writing something, anything lately.  I have done no more work on the novel or any other kind of creative writing.  Mentally, I just do not feel able to devote the time and energy needed on a project like that.  I have been considering whether a different type of writing project might be easier at this point in my life.  I have considered expanding to other blogs, such as travel, entertainment, and food.  Entertainment I have already incorporated into this blog as a regular feature, although in the future it always possible to separate into its own project.  Food I have been discussing with a friend to do in the form of a challenge blog which I think might fun.  I have also considered trying to write short stories instead attempting a full-length novel.  These I could either post online in blog format or I could look into submitting them to some type of publication.  At times, it is a struggle to keep up with just this one blog though, so I may just have to delay writing more until I am in a better place professionally and personally.

In my original post, I indicated that I may use the blog in a journal-like manner to explore the inner workings of myself.  In my six month check-in, I backed away from this goal.  I found it difficult to be too personal in my blog because I fear retribution from those close to me and I fear asking myself the tough questions.  I think I still have not done much deep soul searching in this blog space.  I am working with a therapist to overcome my anxiety about life in general and my tendencies to bury myself under the expectations of others.  In time this may make me comfortable being more open online.  For now though, I think this aspect of the blog is probably defunct.  I have found my rhythm writing more observational and event driven blogs about the things that touch my life.  While some of it might be a bit personal, it probably will not delve into a journal-like quality any time soon.

The final original goal was to entertain others.  I have no way of knowing for certain if any real person has ever read my blog.  It seems unlikely.  My number of views per blog has risen slightly since the six month check-in as I now receive 6-11 reads on most of my posts.  However, I will continue to assume these are search engine bots until I see some evidence of actual human consumption.  The fact that I do not have a readership is still not a surprise, because I have done nothing to promote my blog to others.  I have not told any family or friends, I do not post to other blogs or forums, and I do not advertise in any way.  To be honest, I am a little scared to put myself out there for a real readership.  So until I find my courage, I will have to be satisfied with mostly writing to write.

When I look at the tasks I set for myself at the end of the six month check-in, I find I have not made much progress on them.  I did say the most important thing was to just keep writing.  I have done that and made it the full year.  I also wanted to do better at giving the blogs the time and effort they deserve, and I have not done that consistently.  Some of my blogs are exactly what I wanted them to be, and I am happy with the results.  Others I have written from the start to finish in the hours before posting, which does not give me much time to edit and improve.  Plus, I have done a number of cop out blogs that are not real writing projects.  I wanted to learn more about the Blogger site and what features were available for me to use.  I have learned how add pictures to my blog, but I have not done any more investigation than that.  I also wanted to set up my Google+ profile, and I have not done it.  I definitely made no progress on my bonus goal that involved getting my blog out to the public in some way.

So where does this leave me for the coming year?  I definitely plan to continue the blog.  My posts will probably continue in the same vein that I have been using for the past couple of months.  I will start with the update on the Front Room Project, post two to three lifestyle blogs, and end with the month’s entertainment reviews.  I will try to do better about not skipping weeks like I did this past year.  Obviously things come up unexpectedly, but a number of this year’s misses were work related which I usually know about in advance.  I will work to make sure content is always the best that I am capable of producing.  I am going to poke around the Blogger site like l said I would six months ago to see if there is anything there to improve my blog.  Aside from blog content, I am going to focus on building my online presence.  I will work on my Google+ profile as well as determine which other social media sites it might be beneficial to join.  I am pretty proud of what I have accomplished in my first year, but I know I can do more and do better.  Hopefully, year two shows some improvement.

Here is to a successful year of blogging.  See you next week!

As Expected – Front Room May 2016

As expected, I made very little progress on the front room during April.  I mentioned in last month’s blog that I would likely be overworked and exhausted, which was pretty much the case.  I did manage to unpack one big box full of board games and puzzles.  The ones that belonged to my stepson were taken downstairs to his toy shelves.  The rest were stacked on the second little white shelf in the front room to wait for final organization.  The box itself went out with the recycling.  I honestly think that was all the work I did.  Some stuff was moved around a bit over the month, but I do not think I actually went through anything else.  The comparison pictures are below, April on the left, May on the right.

I have high hopes that May will be the turning point for the project.  Although there is still some potential for disasters until we file with the SEC at the end of the month, (fingers crossed) I should mostly be done with the fiscal year-end work.  Now I should have more time to focus on other things.  My first goal for May is to finish cleaning out the room.  There are a few more boxes to go through, some things to move to different rooms, and scattered junk to put away.  My second goal is to finish the design phase of the project.  I need to visit Crate & Barrel still to see what type of furniture they offer.  I need to revisit the stores I liked the most, West Elm and Z Gallerie (and Crate & Barrel if it makes the cut), to get a good idea of what direction I want to go.  I need to measure and plan the furniture needed for the spaces.  Finally, I need to make some decisions on what to buy so I can start putting the room together.

I know this blog was pretty short, but I really did not have much to include in the update this time.  April was a brutal month (it always is).  May should be better.

See you next week!

  

  

  

  

PS - I think the pictures turn out better when I take them at night.  What do you think?