Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 

beetlejuice

The State Theater is having their annual Halloween Spooktacular again this October, so I bought tickets for a couple movies in order to support their efforts. That theater is really going to be something once they refurbish it. The first one, Beetlejuice, was tonight. I’ve seen it before, of course, but it’s been a while, so I figured why not? There were so many good actors in that film. And, so young (back in 1988)! Alec Baldwin, Geena Davis, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Winona Ryder.

My rating: 3.5/5

christiansburg, va

I visited Jake and Amelia over the weekend so I could see their new place. I got there around suppertime on Friday, about the time Jake was finishing up with work and Amelia with school. We were all kind of tired so we just ordered pizza for supper and hung out.

Amelia had to study on Saturday, but she was able to give me a tour of the school, which was impressive. I got to meet the canine instructors and I’m surprised I didn’t come home with one!  We also walked around the Hahn Horticulture Garden for a bit before heading back to the house. Before going to the school, we went to the Blacksburg Farmers Market. We almost weren’t able to find a parking spot (it was a football weekend: VT vs Pitt), but after circling around for a while, Jake found one. [Side note: that afternoon, Jake took a look at my brakes which have been making noise. When I got new tires the other week, the tire guys said that my rotors are rusty, but there’s no real problem. However, Jake took everything apart and lubricated the parts. So far, I haven’t noticed any issues, so hopefully the problem is fixed.] Once Amelia returned from school, we went to see her horse and then we came home and Jake cooked supper (with a little help from me).

On Sunday, Amelia had to work and study, so Jake and I were on our own. I wanted to check out Christiansburg Huckleberry Park, so we went over there and walked around. It’s mostly for kids, but they also have a really nice dog park (with artificial turf!). The Huckleberry Trail was nearby, so we went for a walk on it, too. It was a paved trail, my favorite kind. I’d like to know what is up with all this Huckleberry stuff, though. After that, Jake drove around town and showed me the highlights. That evening, we went to Eastern Divide Brewing Company for dinner. It was a really nice visit and I’m happy to see they’re doing so well.

I was a little concerned about boarding the dogs for the first time. And, on my way to Virginia, the kennel called to ask a question and I asked how Ralphie was doing and the response was “he’s not warming up to the staff”. Ugh. So, I got to worry about him all weekend. But, when I picked him up today, they said he was fine after the first day, except for some food aggression, which he does not exhibit at home. But, they were able to work around that and he’s allowed to go back again someday. So, that’s a relief. Tilly was her usual self. If you know her, you know what that means.

date #2

We had date #2 last night, with plans for a 3rd next week. We met at the Barnes & Noble in Greensburg, checked out some books, and hung out in their cafe until closing. We seem to have a lot to talk about! I bought a book that was on my list, and paid dearly for it. I paid the list price, but on Amazon it was listed for less than half that. Oh well, I guess it was worth it to use their building for 2 hours. With prices like that, I don’t know how that place stays open.

wine cave

Jake used to use the family room as his man cave. He and his friends would hang out down there all the time. Now that he has moved out, I’ve converted it into my wine cave. I did a thorough cleaning of the room and moved my wine stuff down there from the dining room. The room needs painted, but that’s going to have to wait a bit.

There are a bunch of ceiling tiles that need replaced (some have stains on them–they look like water stains, but I don’t know how that would happen; in most cases, there aren’t any pipes nearby, so is it from spills upstairs? who knows). I went to both Home Depot and Lowe’s and neither store had anything remotely close to the pattern. I checked online and found something in the same vein, but it’s really not a match, either (though it’s way closer than what they had at the store), but I ordered some to replace the bad tiles. I may end up buying more and replacing the rest of the tiles. We’ll see how much it bothers me once I have them on hand. I don’t use that room much, so it might not bother me at all.

While I was at it, I decided to replace the light diffusers. They have yellowed over the years and are kind of gross because they collect dust. I’m switching to these, which should solve both of those problems. I was going to buy them at Home Depot here in town, but they only had a few in stock and all the ones they had were broken! Why even have those for sale? I saw online that the Greensburg Home Depot had a bunch in stock so I made a trip there last night to pick them up. Luckily for me, they were in perfect condition. It was a little disorienting being in another Home Depot. It was kind of set up the same, but not.

Lastly, 20+ years ago when we redid the kitchen, Brian had to take a couple ceiling tiles out in order to access the plumbing. Our cat at the time (Ariel) decided that would be a great time to jump into the ceiling and check things out. In doing so, she took down most of the ceiling. When she jumped, it broke the cable, which scared her, so she ran forward, breaking other cables as she went. Of course, we had just about everything from the kitchen on tables in the family room, so the ceiling fell on those items (and I’m sure some things were broken). Then poor Brian had to do a ceiling project in the middle of a kitchen renovation. Anyway, the reason I tell that story is that he reused the cross tees even though a couple of them (four, to be exact) were bent a little. So, I bought replacements for those and will hopefully be able to replace them without the entire ceiling falling down. But, if it does, at least it won’t fall on my kitchen stuff this time.

date night

I met someone on Bumble not too long ago and we decided to meet this week. He’s from Pittsburgh, but offered to drive to Johnstown to meet. I wasn’t going to say no to that. I picked one of my favorite restaurants, Tap814, as the place. I had a great time, and I think he did, too, as we’re planning to do something else next week!