December 2008: SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, White Elephants, and Xmas

December 7th, Sunday - SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE. This year's feel-good movie. It was engaging and emotionally riveting and at the end you just want to dance. It was a very, very good movie about a kid from the slums who get to be on an Indian version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" The child actors were fabulous and the hustle and bustle of the Mumbai was mesmerizing.

December 8th, Monday - White Elephant lunch at work. Seriously, who thought this game up?

December 12th, Friday - Susan's birthday party at Don Cucos. I finally get to see the SoCal TWOP crowd again. They told me all about their trip to England to see David Tennant as Hamlet and how he gave them a good look, in the middle of the performance! Fun! They met up with some of the TWOP crowd in the UK and had a great time. One day, Daryl and I will get to go to England, too. Maybe we will soon, now that we've gotten rid of our credit card debt. Who knows?
Here's the birthday girl. The picture was taken with my iPhone.

Here's Sharon. Also an iPhone photo.


December 13th, Saturday - The Parker/Wheeler Xmas party in the old Victorian house on El Mio. This was a fun party.


There was another White Elephant trade and Daryl and I scored a nerf Clone Wars rifle. Booyah! It was a heavily themed Star Wars party, I have to say. And then we got a lovely tour of the house, which I had never heard before. It was all fascinating and from now on when I go to the house, I will be studying the ornate hinges on the doors. The Parkers really did a lot of work getting the house together and liveable. And they did a great job fixing it up after part of it got burned up. Oh and we also watched the movie, EINSTEIN & EDDINGTON, with Andy Serkis and David Tennant. Good fun. Who knew Einstein was such a loon? and a raunchy one at that?

December 24th, Wednesday - Daryl left for Indiana. Boo.

December 25th, Thursday, Christmas Day - Susan and her mother took me up on my offer of a Christmas dinner and I once again disbelieved my thermometer. At least I could entertain my guests with my brand new DVD of DR HORRIBLE. I brined the turkey this time so the breast remained moist and tender while the rest of the legs cooked. I made the gravy the same way as I usually do and boy was it salty. I guess I didn't think that so much of the salt from the brine would get into the gravy. Whoops. It was nice to entertain someone on Christmas, especially since Daryl was gone. And it gave me something to do, too. Although I had so many leftovers I had to freeze most of it for when Daryl got back. I think I had the same Christmas dinner for breakfast lunch and dinner for three days straight. At least I got to eat pumpkin pie while I was at it.
This time I brined the turkey. It felt weird not chopping it up to cook separately. It had a crusty, salty outside and a moist, tender inside.

Here's most of the other food I cooked. It included Cornbread Sausage Stuffing, Green beans, Candied Yams, Pumpkin Pie, and Giblet Gravy. Look, I actually have place settings and nice napkins!

I just have to add this picture of Daryl's cousin's daughter, Marryn. Isn't she adorable?


December 30th, Tuesday - Daryl is back in LA. Yay!

December 31st, Wednesday, New Year's Eve - Robb and Kellee came to town! They just got back from a wedding in Columbia and were excited to show us their pictures. Columbia looked lovely and it looked like they had a great time. We hung out and celebrated New Years, by writing stuff we wanted for the new year on origami paper and throwing them into the ocean, and then writing stuff we didn't want for the new year on paper and burning it at midnight. We'll see if that worked.
Robb & Kellee in our tiny office.

Robb, Maurissa, Kellee, Me, & Daryl at Swingers for a New Year's Eve dinner.

Goodbye 2008! I shall always remember you as the year we got of credit card debt right when the financial markets went haywire.

November 2008: Elections, Turkeys, and BOLT

November 4th, Tuesday - Daryl and I left early to vote. There was a long line at our polling place. It took 90 minutes. A woman brought her two kids with her and they would jump up and down saying "O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma!" It was cute. I also realized that our neighborhood is full of polite, patient people. We were going to Mo's election night party, when we heard the news that Obama won because people in our neighborhood were shouting and screaming. I felt bad because I made Daryl wait while I ate dinner. I knew Mo didn't have any food for me and I knew it would be hours before we could get away and eat. And Daryl wanted to be there at the election party when it was announced. Who knew we would know by 8p? When we finally got there Mo set me to work on an Obama pumpkin and we listened to Obama's speech. There was a pool to see who would guess when McCain would give his concession speech. Once again, who knew it'd be before 11p? Met a cool friend of Mo's named Lolly, a drummer at Acme, or is it Comedy Sportz? I liked the fact that she didn't know you could legally get marijuana in Venice with a doctor's prescription. The only reason I knew is because I read about it in THE NEW YORKER magazine.

November 22nd, Saturday - My first free Saturday after working 7 days a week. I've discovered that I'm pretty cranky when I work that much. It's extra, extra important to get plenty of sleep if you work that much. I think I need at least eight these days. It also helps to not have to cook as much, too. Thank God I have a house cleaner!

November 27th, Thursday - Thanksgiving! I did my usual dinner of cornbread sausage stuffing for a deconstructed turkey. I didn't believe my thermometer so we had to make Christian and Yuri wait for an hour while the turkey got to the point where it was safe to eat. I made giblet gravy and while I was pouring it into the gravy boat, Daryl called it "brown gold." I liked that. I also made candied yams, haricot verts, Yorkshire pudding, and Daryl set out a cheese plate for appetizers. I also baked a pumpkin pie and served it with whipped cream. Yuri brought mashed potatoes and I loved it because she served it on lettuce with little tomatoes around the edges. It was all lovely. It really is the best holiday of the year.

November 28th, Friday - Saw BOLT. In 3D. It was delightful watching this movie. There's a scene early on where Bolt gets chased by helicopters and it was so fun to watch the rotors come out at you and see the dog run by! It's a Disney movie,so you know the ending will be happy, but it was fun hanging around the characters until they got there. And the dog looked so cute. I cannot express how much more fun it was to watch it in 3D. It made up for the children behind us. One of them peed her pants, and another threw her sock at me. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOVIE! Maybe next time I go see an animated movie, I'll go to the late show. Maybe all the little kids will be asleep by then.

October 2008: Pigs, work, and Mo's birthday

October 12th, Sunday - Christian, Yuri, Daryl, and I all went to see a Tractor Parade at Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark. The tractors were largely antique John Deere tractors, kinda like this.

It was fun, but the best part was the pig racing. I kid you not, the little piglets love to run. Probably one of the most adorable things I've ever seen.

There was also a corn maze that you couldn't cheat at because they put netting all around the pathways. We all got out because we followed Daryl and his never-get-lost gene. Here we are victorious.

In the course of the maze, however, I stepped in a divot and twisted up my ankle. It hurt a bit more than it usually does, but I just ignored it. And boy was I wrong to do so. Ouch. We also got to get gluten-free pizza at a place called PizzaSalad. So yummy.

October 19th, Sunday - And thus begins my tale of woe, I begin working 7 days a week. Monday through Friday I'm at Disney, Saturday and Sunday at Christian's. It's a lot of work, but I'm saving up money and we're nearly done with paying off our credit card debt. And one day, I will own my very own car.

October 27th, Monday - Mo's birthday! We all celebrated Mo's birthday at El Coyote, where Mo got drunk on tequila. Daryl and I left, of course, because 1) we don't drink, and 2) we had to go to work the next day. But Josh and Steg were there to make sure she got home ok. She also saw a real live bullfight in Mexico just the day before. (Just doing something new for her birthday.) Welcome to 38, Mo!

October 31st, Friday - Missed the Halloween party. Boo. And I had a rockin' costume, too: I was a hippo ballerina. I wore it to work, but not a lot of people dressed up. I didn't win anything this year in the decorating contest, but I did like my entry. Here's the bag from the back.

Here's the bag from the front.

Daryl didn't finish his costume on time. Boo.

September 2008: TROPIC THUNDER and DEATHBOWL TO DOWNTOWN

September 1st, Monday - It was Labor Day, so we saw a movie, TROPIC THUNDER. So very, very good. Robert Downey, Jr. is really having a good year. I wasn't that impressed with Ben Stiller, but the rest of the cast was fantastic. And I think I love Jay Baruchel. Also, the bad guy in the movie is a kid and he's terrific. Somebody, Disney, or Nickelodean should give this kid a show.

September 8th, Monday - We went to a screening of a movie called DEATHBOWL TO DOWNTOWN. It was all about skateboarding and skateboarders in NYC. I now know what an "Ollie" is and I feel all the richer for it. They also played a documentary before the movie about people in public spaces that I swear I saw back in high school. We went to the after party, too, networking a bit, and by "a bit", I mean Christian and Daryl talked to people and I just stared at my toes. Yuri was excited to be at her first Hollywood movie party. I just kept thinking that I needed to get home so I could work out in the morning. I am such an old person.

September 21st, Sunday - For our monthly celiac dinner we went to The Pink Pepper. It was very, very yummy. Pink Pepper Spring Rolls, Spicy Green Beans, Green Curry vegetables, Pad Thai. All of it fantastic. Highly recommended restaurant.