Midwinter and still sane

Over the past week I have been doing the happy dance around 5 pm. Why? You might ask. Well, let me tell you - it's still light out. Grant you it's not full blown bright, but it's light. I can see where I am going. Even at 5:30 now it's still relatively light. And that my friends means one thing - Spring is coming.

For those of you who don't have 8 months of winter it's probably no big deal. But up Nort' here. It's huge! And I start to get giddy. I start to fantasize about sandals, bare toes, and fun bright clothing. Of green grass and warm breezes. Of sitting out on my porch and watching my puppies play in the yard. And my kitty sleeping under the lilac bush. Oh yes dear friends, visions of warmth dance in my head.

If there is one thing you can say about Minnesotans it's that we REALLY appreciate our weather. We grumble at the severe cold. We cheer at the snow fall. And we simply basque in warm weather. As soon as it hits about 60 here it's all about being out doors. Hell, in the spring as soon as it hits 40 we are golfing and storing the parkas for the rest of the year.

You should see how goofy happy people get when the tulips and crocus make their first appearance. It's the talk of the state. Everyone has to tell everyone else that their daffodils are up. It's almost funny. Almost. But more, it's celebratory. And it brings us all together. It's probably the real reason there is such a thing as Minnesota nice. Those who suffer together play together. And just get along.

I went to a new cinema at the Rosedale mall today. I was with Other Girl J and it was my first trip there. We were having breakfast first in Panera.

Newt: So, is it easiest to just walk through the mall to get to the theater?
Other Girl J: There is no mall entrance.
Newt: What? Why the hell not, it's in the mall?
Other Girl J: It was designed by some moron from California.
Newt: Ok, so.................
Other Girl J: The only entrance is outside. And, get this, the ticket windows are also outside.
Newt: Get the hell out
Other Girl J: No, seriously, it was on the news the other night. They have to remodel the whole thing.
Newt: What DUMBASS would sign off on a design like that?
Other Girl J: Probably someone who made the assumption that NO ONE would actually come up with such an asinine design for Minnesota.
Newt: Seriously? It's outside?
Other Girl J: Yep.
Newt: Wow, what a dumb ass.

So off we go to the theater. We ran up the stairs at the back of the cinema and it lead us around to yes, the outside ticket booths. Though probably because of the publicity they are getting now has a tent like structure in front of the box office windows. And, because we have to continue with the stupid, it's a tent that only has two walls. And giant space heaters in the ceiling. But the back side is WIDE open. Good waste of energy people.

So after shivering like a mo-fo we got our tickets and ran inside. Ahhh, warmth. But that's not the end of this. No, we walked up to the super slick new concession stands with electronic price boards. But in an effort to be sooooo cool and flashy they blink on and off to change look/commercial, whatever. So as you are trying to figure out what the hell to order - how much leg,arm, first born, they will charge you for popcorn. It's like a strobe effect that blinks on and off. Basically if you don't catch the price/size/options in half a second or less you have to wait for it to blink and change. Then, if you are lucky what you were trying to read is still in the same place. It might have moved. No kidding. Someone will have a seizure one of these days. Just watch...............

Anyway, we went to see Pan's Labyrinth. Very interesting and very good movie. Only I have to warn you it has some seriously uncomfortable graphic violence. Which normally I'm okay with. But when the majority of the gore is caused by a sadistic evil man it becomes more uncomfortable and hard to watch. I must admit I looked away and closed my ears more than a few times. Overall I loved this movie. It was beautifully done. And I cared very much for the characters. It has subtitles. It's a Spanish film, and it's beautiful. What I have always loved about films with subtitles is that after the first 10 minutes or so you forget you are reading the words and feel more like you are hearing them. That has always sort of surprised me at the end of foreign films because as I walk out I remember the things the characters said. In English. I love that aspect of those films. It's always thrown me a little after the movie. I think that is why I prefer subtitles to dubbing. I can get into the film so easily. The reading becomes subconscious after a point. But when a film is dubbed I spend the whole film going nuts over the fact that voices don't match the characters look and even worse the lips don't match the words. Oh, not to mention that the actual dubbing of conversation sounds like dubbing rather than coming from the scene naturally.

I made a dessert for my co-workers Friday. I'm not sure if I mentioned it. But we had it at a party and it was really good. It's simply Granny Smith apples cut up into bite size pieces - about 1/2-1 apple per person. Cut up snickers bars. I also cut up 1 snack size bar per person. And a tub of cool whip. Mix them all together adding cool whip just until nicely coated and serve. That's it. It is so good. I got the tub of cool whip that is just slightly bigger than the small tub. I figured that way if people wanted to plop some extra on top they could. But going on the idea that people don't want their apples completely drowned in cool whip I just added enough to coat it well.

Then today, still feeling a little Betty Crocker I made whole wheat sugar cookies. I cut them out in Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore shapes. Then iced half with an orange peel drizzle. They actually came out pretty good. And since they are whole wheat they are healthy right? Right??????

Wow, I babbled about way more than I thought I would.

Hugs to everyone