Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
miscellany

halftime “show”

Kelly Clarkson, Trace Adkins, and Ashlee Simpson, oh my!

Did you notice the big anarchy A that was on stage? Sid Vicious is rolling over in his grave right now. And just who was running the sound for this thing? I’ve heard better sound at a Lost Circus show. And what was up with the girls in black cheerleader outfits? Did Ashlee Simpson see the video for “Smells Like Teen Spirit” recently and think to herself, “What a great idea–and I’ll bet no one’s heard of this Nirvana band. I’ll have to use it in my set.”

Just some things for you to ponder this evening.

pets

big. sweet. rip.

The vet called with the results of Ripley’s 12-week thyroid test. Everything is great! Her numbers are now exactly where they should be, so she won’t have to be tested again for a year. Not only that, but she lost a few pounds since being on the thyroid medication and is acting more like a four year old dog than the seven year old dog she will soon be. You can tell that’s she’s in a much better mood these days. Hopefully, this will be the last of our trips to the vet until the summer when her annual shots are due.

holidays

new year’s day 2005

Today we did our standard January 1st stuff. That is, we put away all of the Christmas decorations, disposed of the tree, and had our traditional meal consisting of roast pork, kielbasa, sauerkraut, and dumplings. This was all topped off by a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Riesling. Yum. Not much else to say about today, but can anyone else believe this weather?!? I mean, isn’t it supposed to be around -4 right now? I hope my plants don’t get tricked into thinking it is spring. I saw some garlic sprouting in my garden today. That can’t be good. Unless the temperature stays this way until March, that is. But, I’m not holding my breath on that one…

holidays, movies

red dragon

We did another movie and a margarita night for our New Year’s Eve celebration. This followed a veritable cooking marathon of making Lasagne Verde al Forno (Baked Spinach Lasagna for my non-Italian readers). I made this for Brian’s birthday a few years ago and it was a total pain in the ass, so he helped me out with it yesterday. Of course, when I made it for his birthday, I had the flu, so I had to nap between steps (yes, it takes so long to make that you can take a nap between the steps).

Anyway, Red Dragon was the first book in Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter trilogy. It was originally done in 1986 as a movie entitled Manhunter, but with the success of The Silence of the Lambs and Hannibal, they decided to redo the movie with Anthony Hopkins in the role he has become famous for.

I, of course, have read the book before, but this movie made me want to read it again. I also saw the original version of the movie and remembered enjoying it, but I don’t recall the details. The remake was just as good as far as I can remember. Unlike the original, this one had an all-star cast: Anthony Hopkins (creepy as usual), Edward Norton (up there on my favorite actors list ever since I saw American History X), Ralph Fiennes (I was having Schindler’s List flashbacks whenever he picked up the shotgun), and Harvey Keitel (one of the few movies where he doesn’t ‘whip it out’).

The movie was good enough so that I paused it when it was time for a bathroom break. Even though I knew the plot, I was still on edge the whole movie, so I give it a thumbs up.

Here’s the Flick Filosopher’s review of the original move. Much still applies.

Happy New Year, everyone!

friends

the day the talking stopped

Our good friends, the Shaffers, invited us over this evening. I guess you could call it a holiday visit.

We were hanging out in the kitchen eating, drinking, and swapping stories. For the first time ever, Brian was at a loss for words–he was in the middle of telling a story and suddenly had no idea what he was talking about and completely clammed up. Come to think of it, this happening was probably funnier than the story would’ve been so it all worked out ok.

Jake enjoyed playing with Katie and Johnny. The poor kid was hoarse by the time we got home. No sooner were we walking through their door to leave did he ask “when are we coming back?”

There always is a downside to hanging out with the Shaffer clan, though. Every time we end an evening with them, my face hurts from smiling/laughing so much. What can I say, my facial muscles aren’t used to such a workout.