Everything else, another round up

I topped up a few categories over on the list, but I only have a couple that I will write up here.  I am going to try to make regular visits back here as I move forward on my projects, so this won't become too much of a habit.

For a lot of reasons, I haven't been reading much at all in the past two and a half months.  I'm in the middle of two non-fiction books (and really six if you count reference books, but I won't take credit for those unless I work all the way through) now, so I will catch up hopefully on that count.  I did read two fiction novels in my time away:

• Let Me In by John Ajvide Lundquish - a Swedish vampire story that is very engaging, if a bit graphic at points. A young boy meets a curious young girl next door who never seems to change.  A group of drunk friends starts to watch its own go missing, or go extremely bizarre.  It was apparently made into a movie which I am going to sit down and watch on Netflix streaming if I can ever get Austin to watch a scary movie with me.
• Julia's Chocolates by Cathy Lamb- This novel sells itself as a Ya-Ya sisterhood of sorts, and I suppose that is a decent description.  A young woman escapes an abusive relationship and a history of neglect to her aunt's house and finds an unexpectedly diverse group of women and, of course, love.  I don't think it ever got far enough below the surface to really win me over, but the characters were interesting, if predictable.

Even when I'm not reading, cooking or doing much of anything else, I have been getting as much as I can out of Netflix. We've watched some bits and pieces of series, so I didn't really count those.  Here is a summary of what we have been watching: 

• Damages, Season 2
• Dexter, Season 3
• South Park, Greatest Hits (sometimes I let Austin pick)
• Avatar: The Last Airbender, Book 3
• Kick-Ass
• Big Love, Season 3
• Mamma Mia (such a disappointment!)
• The League, Season 1
• Whip It! 

That's the rough update.  The rest will come more closely to real time, I hope!

Stoner Chili Sunday

While I was silent, we hosted a day of chili cooking/eating and football watching to honor a friend who was a serious friend of both.  I cooked our friend David's secret recipe and others brought their own twists on chili (even if David would have been horrified at the beans, the chicken and the vegetarian versions), corn bread, cole slaw, guacamole and other delicious items.  I've never seen so many people in our apartment, but we made it work and had a lot of fun (and surprisingly few leftovers).

The Long Catch-up

Since the end of December, I haven't been doing much of anything around here.  Seriously - hardly any cooking, reading, writing or exploring.  I have a couple of things to add and cross off (a potluck, a couple of books here and there, loads of Netflix movies and shows) and will do that shortly.  I haven't gone away and hope to be more active in days to come!