Whole House Plumbing Blockage

So last night, while I was cooking dinner of course, the kitchen sink backed up. I had been cutting a butt-ton of veggies for breakfast tacos (for dinner, yes, delicioso), and also I had cooked bacon for pasta alla carbonara the day before, so I wondered if it was caused by a conglomeration of veggies and solid bacon drippings. I'm good about pulverizing stuff in the disposal, so I wasn't sure what happened, but that was my only guess. Yes, I know you're not supposed to put bacon drippings in the sink, but I hate collecting gross oils in a container. *gag*  I run lots of hot water after it, and it's almost always fine.

When I ran the disposal, the water flowed from one side of the sink to the other, which I've never seen.

Jeff started collecting the gross veggie water and dumping it into the powder room toilet, to get rid of it so he could investigate further. Then the toilet blocked up and water started flowing out of the bottom, where it meets the floor.

A few minutes later, Lauren flushed the upstairs toilet, and water came up into the kitchen sink. It was like a living nightmare. Where was something going to back up or overflow next? We were like, okay, EVERYONE STOP USING WATER.

Called the plumber, who spent until 12:30 am clearing out the sewer line about 15 feet down the pipe leaving the house. Every 25 years or so, these things can happen. I blame those toilet wipes we were all using years ago.

If more than one plumbing thing gets backed up in your house at the same time, stop using everything and get a plumber out. If you push things too far, you may get raw sewage oozing into your sinks, tubs, dishwasher, etc. Luckily we didn't!

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Monday, Monday

I was all psyched to bake dried apples, rather than buying processed apple chips, and then I read a comment under a recipe that said you basically spend 3 hours baking one apple's worth of dried apple slices on two trays. Bummer. I did read that if you bake thick slices, rather than mandolin-shaved ones, they are chewy and good, so that would at least make more servings per recipe.

We watched another crap movie the other night- The Assistant. We really like Julia Garner from Ozark, so we wanted to check it out, even though it is one of those movies with a higher critic score and abysmal viewer score on Rotten Tomatoes. Always a terrible sign. We should have known. It was an hour-and-a-half watching an admin assistant at a production company go through a single crappy work day, dealing with a dirtbag boss that we literally never saw. 

 

Long scenes of stirring coffee, washing break room dishes, walking to the adjoining building... She doesn't really speak to anyone socially, which is sad and strange, and also adds to the dullness of the day. It was just so laughably boring. We would have turned it off, but we began to think something ultra-dramatic would happen at the end of the day, then she went to get a muffin and... then the movie ended. Wow. We were tricked into staying with that thing to the very end. At least it didn't go two full hours. We're still Julia Garner fans.

 

We watched The Butler, which was good.  Next up in entertainment viewing, the new season of The Servant. YES. 

Laura is getting her vaccine tomorrow. She's in Hays county where people don't wear masks, so I'm not too keen on going there to wait in line for the shot. I may wait until the Johnson and Johnson vaccine comes, so I only have to go in once. We'll see how things go. Hopefully the process will improve a lot over the next couple of weeks. Right now, we just aren't getting enough vaccine in Austin, like most places, I guess!

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Staycation

 For my 80's pals:

 

And some vintage Go-Go's for funzies...

 

 

Who didn't want to dance like Belinda Carlisle? So cute. And I had those earrings. Well, not THOSE, but you know, ones just like them.

 

Sunday Stealing: COVID

 
1. Day 1 of serious isolation behavior: March 13, 2020
2. First trip you had to cancel. We had reservations for first weekend of April in Fredericksburg with my brother- and sister-in-law. :(
3. Other trips canceled: No Christmas in Dallas for the first time in decades.
4. Last trip out of town before isolation. Christmas in Dallas 2019.
5. Farthest from home since isolation. I feel like we drove down to Granzin's in New Braunfels at some point after the lockdown. Because, sausage.
6. Last Meal sitting in a restaurant before Isolation. Oh man, I have no idea. Might have been Mandola's or Pieous.
7. How many books have you read? 0
8. First event you didn’t attend due to virus. O'Henry Pun-Off
9. Date and event of last over 200-person event. Probably a show at Zach Theater or a homes tour.
10. Last live music event. 10,000 Maniacs at the One World Theater in 2018
11. Things you are eating more of since isolation. Popcorn. We bought a small popcorn maker to replace our huge movie theater-style one. MUCH easier to maintain.
12. Things you are eating less of since isolation. Meals out at nice sit-down restaurants. Takeout from most of them is not great, so we get takeout from casual restaurants.
13. What restaurants have you gotten take-out meals from? Mandola's, Chuy's, Kerbey Lane, Salt Lick, The League
14. Have you found yourself bored in isolation? YES
15. Have you gained or lost weight? Gained :(. Still in the same size clothing, just tighter.
16. Do you drink alcohol? yes
17. If so, more or less in isolation? less
18. What entertainments have you explored? mostly streaming TV/movies, puzzles, video games
19. Gotten into anything new? Nah.
20. Have you done crosswords? Board games? Jigsaw puzzles? No, no and yes. LOTS of puzzles. We lost our puzzlebuddies due to the lockdown, so we're a duo most of the time. Lauren joins us now and then.
21. Have you cleaned out some cabinet, drawer, closet, etc. thoroughly? Several! Biggest improvement was cleaning out and reorganizing the junk drawer in the kitchen. Last weekend, we finished paring down and deep cleaning Lauren's living space upstairs, which was quite an accomplishment.
22. Are you spending about the same amount of money? Much less. Reduced dining out, and no weekend road trips. Not spending much on Target runs and that sort of miscellaneous stuff either.
23. Done Zoom, Facetime, etc. meetups? Yep.
24. Had a social occasion with a small group of people you consider safe? The only in-person socializing I've done, other than very short interactions at a distance, is once with KathyL and once with Laura. We hung out outside, socially distanced. Jeff and I had dinner with Jim on the back porch one evening.
25. Did you vote? In Person? On Election Day? I voted early, in person.

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Aggies!!

 

WHOOP!

 

And congrats to the Alabama Crimson Tide, 2020 champs! What a game! SEC SEC SEC

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HBO Weekend

As someone said, if inciting an insurrection isn't an impeachable crime, nothing is. If this type of behavior by elected officials is tolerated, the country will fall apart. Censure is not enough.
 

After the insurrection, Trump told the participants that he loved them and they were special. This man-baby has not "touched a stove he won't touch again," for God's sake. Get real, Republicans who are still on the Trump train to nowhere.

Quantum leap to a very light subject... We tried to watch the movie Let Them All Talk on HBO the other night, and it is the worst. I thought it would be great, with the big talent lineup. Despite the title, no one really talks about anything of any importance whatsoever, and when they speak, they spend most of their dialogue on ummms and uhhhhs. (Every time someone says a throwaway word, take a drink!) We stopped watching about a half hour in. I couldn't take any more. I did enjoy watching Gemma Chan as a "real girl" after being so used to watching her as a robot on three seasons of Humans. Ha!

The Bee Gees documentary was fun to watch, with all their music, and bonus Andy Gibb. Reminded me of my Tiger Beat days, and my childhood bedroom literally wallpapered with magazine posters, including the Bee Gees and Andy.

Also watched Jo Jo Rabbit, which was great.

The Flight Attendant jumped around too much without much progression in any direction the first few episodes, so we stopped watching that. I also never could muster up any sympathy/empathy for Kaley Cuoco's character, since she's just drinks and parties and doesn't do anything to help herself. The show wasn't funny enough to overcome those things. Maybe it's not supposed to be funny?

Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling was super-interesting. I had no idea he was so into self-reflection and journaling and Buddhism, etc. Of course it was so funny, too. Lots of surprising scenes of small groups of giant names of comedy just hanging out together.

Did I mention Normal People before? It's a Hulu show, a great Irish drama series about a complicated young couple who go in and out of each other's lives in their teens and 20s.

We did get outside this weekend, too. (WHAT?! I know.) We hung out by the boat launch under the Pennybacker Bridge. It was FRIGID. Oh my god. We didn't stay long, but it was nice to just sit by the water and absorb some nature.

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Resign

The human garbage that is the President needs to resign. Seriously. We cannot tolerate any more of this insanity. It's only a few more days, but still. 

 

I made it through the shock and sadness stages of grief from Wednesday's insurrection, and now I'm on to the just ticked off stage. I think that may be out of order, but there you go.

 

The President and his goons have repeatedly encouraged and directed these traitorous anarchists' violent behavior for years, and they bear full responsibility for their part. If there is no punishment, it will continue to happen. They cannot be above the law any more than the people who carried out their bidding.

 

The current charges against the jackholes who entered the capitol are mostly unlawful entry. While that's better than trespassing, it makes it sound like they walked through an open gate labeled "Employees Only." It doesn't quite capture the fact that they stormed the country's capitol, destroying barricaded windows and doors, to stop the the government from confirming a President-elect. Prosecutors need to get this right. They must fully prosecute these people.

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Survey Time

Answer each category with a song title that includes something in the category. No repeats and don’t use the internet. (It's tempting, but try not to!) Go with the first song that comes to mind.

 

Something to Wear - "Raspberry Beret" Prince

A Place - "A Summer in Ohio" from The Last Five Years musical

A Food - "Watermelon Sugar" Harry Styles

An Animal - "Black Cat" Janet Jackson

A Number - "1, 2, 3, 4" Plain White T's

A Color - "Brown Eyed Girl" Van Morrison

A Girl’s Name - "Adia" Sarah McLachlan

A Boy’s Name - "Samson" Regina Spektor

A Profession - "Tiny Dancer" Elton John

Day of the Week - "Friday I'm in Love" The Cure

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Aggies!!!!!!

Happy New Year! #5 Aggies Orange Bowl win over NC 41-27! Whooooop! The game was close until the 4th quarter, which made for a good game, but... ack. Lauren went up to bed in the 4th, and immediately the Tarheels got a dramatic touchdown. I was about to tell her she needed to come back downstairs and get back in her seat, since she'd obviously upset the Aggie Football gods, but then we started looking like ourselves and took control of things. Whee!

In the TV recs department, I have the following for you:

"Letterkenny" season 9 on Hulu: a couple of lame-o episodes in this season, but still hilarious. Needs mores produce stands scenes.

"Home for Christmas" on Netflix: a very funny and entertaining comedy series from Norway, about dating, friend and family relationships. Total winner! 2 seasons available.

We just got HBOMax for a month, so I'm about to watch some things like Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling, The Undoing, and the Bee Gees documentary. 

 

Bee Gees, y'all!

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