Angela Law

animal lover, gardener, knitter, and gourmet cook
 
movies

boogie nights

I caught this movie on Sunday while Brian and Jacob were at the Steeler game. I’ve been wanting to watch it for a long time (I probably taped it a year ago), but Brian and I could never find the time because the movie is over 2 1/2 hours long. Anything over two hours (assuming it isn’t kiddie fare) and you can just forget about it. Jake isn’t in bed early enough for that to ever work out and I need my beauty rest so I’m not staying up late to watch tv.

That said, I rather enjoyed the movie. I thought it was going to be more of a “fun” movie, but it did have some drama as well. Mark Wahlberg did a great job with the main character (good thing seeing that his music career went down the toilet. Remember Marky Mark?) and for the first time ever, I liked Burt Reynolds. He played the director of the porno flicks. This movie was about the porn industry in California in the 70’s and 80’s.

One thing I have a love/hate relationship with with these types of movies (from the 70’s and 80’s, that is) is that the people look all goofy with their hairstyles and the way they dress. It’s kind of painful to watch, really. On the other hand, it’s kind of funny. Or maybe it would be if I didn’t live through it.

You can expect to see a deluge of my pseudo movie reviews in the next two months. In February, Brian’s sister got him a two month subscription to Blockbuster Online. After waiting eight months for him to start up the subscription, we all decided it would be better if I were in charge of it. Our first three movies arrived today. I guess I know what I’m doing this weekend. If nothing else, Brian’s sister is going to get her money’s worth out of that gift.

do-it-yourself

bathroom remodel: day 24

I came. I saw. I primed.

I finished priming the bathroom this evening. Sort of. We still have holes in the wall (and will be creating more, I’m sure) from our ongoing electrical work. But, I’ll be able to spot prime those areas, so the bulk of my priming work is done. It’s surprising how much better the bathroom looks already.

Brian worked a little on the vanity this evening. Once he gets the base done and I finish it, we’re going to install it so that we can get a sink in the bathroom (assuming our vanity top ever comes in). Then he’ll work on the doors and the drawers at his leisure. As long as his leisure gets them completed before Thanksgiving, that is.

books

mary, mary

I just finished reading this book last week. It was ok. There was a “plot twist” at the end that I saw coming from about 100 miles away. I do enjoy Ed McBain books, though, and I did enjoy this one. It’s just not a “must read”. Ed McBain is the pseudonym of the author Evan Hunter. I have not read any of Evan Hunter’s books. One thing that intrigues me about Ed McBain is the fact that he wrote a book with Evan Hunter. Exactly how do you write a book with yourself? It was probably just a publicity stunt, but it kind of makes me want to read the book just to see what’s up. I should probably read an Evan Hunter novel before I do that to see if he has a different writing style.

do-it-yourself

bathroom remodel: days 22 & 23

Check another thing off the list! The past two evenings were spent replacing the old outlet and adding an additional one. This involved cutting seven holes in the wall so that the new cable could be run. Ugh. I guess I will never be done with patching the walls. Luckily, the area that we cut into will be hidden by the vanity so I guess I don’t really even need to fix it, but I’m far way too anal retentive to leave a bunch of holes in the wall.

I also did a little patching of the walls the past two evenings. I think those walls are just about ready. I need to prime before this weekend’s planned project of installing the tub surround, so they better be ready soon.

One one hand, it seems like things are rolling along. On the other hand, I know we still have a ton of work to do. I guess if we keep chipping away, it’ll be done eventually.

do-it-yourself

bathroom remodel: day 21

I guess I will take some credit for doing work in the bathroom today. Brian and Jacob were at the Steeler game all day so I filled my day with fun things like cleaning the kitchen cupboards and working on the bathroom.

We’ve come to the conclusion that the toilet really works, so I hacksawed off the ends of the mounting bolts and snapped the bolt covers on. Earlier in the day, I ran to Home Depot to buy some more stuff for our project–most importantly a new chain for the flushing mechanism and a light bulb for the exhaust fan. We needed a new chain because our toilet has such great flushing power that it managed to flush the old chain down the drain the first day we used the toilet. I had a temporary fix in, but wanted to get the right part in there. I, of course, was not able to find the right part, but I was able to improvise with what I bought. I also adjusted the flush lever because it was not working as I would’ve liked. And, I caulked around the toilet base.

After all of this, I did some more drywall work. The good news is that I should be done with that soon (except for the holes Brian is going to be putting into the walls for the electrical work, that is).