Ah, the luxury of time. I've been off for a week of Carnival (a.k.a. mid-winter break), and have actually been very busy without leaving the house. I'm back to my "Becky-home-eckie" routine of cooking, baking, sewing, refinishing furniture and claiming domestic bliss on a budget...
It all came from reading a book at the same time as seeing a movie of the same story. Last Saturday afternoon, M the boys and I went to see the latest Bill Murray film called "The City of Ember" (La ville du l'ombre en francais) about a post-apocalyptic town underground that is past its best-before date...the city is dying, the supplies are running out and the generator has seen its best 200 years ago. Everyone is in patched clothing, reclaimed yarn sweaters, eating varieties of potato dishes and making do with pencil stubs, paper flattened from soup can labels and wondering when the lights will go out for good. The 12 year old heroine discovers the "instructions for egress" in tatters and she with the help of a friend find the way out to the surface. The book (of course) was better, but the movie was stunning in its cinematography and accuracy to the essence of the original story. Bill Murray was creepy as the villain, and having watched his career over the decades, has certainly done only films that he wants and will give him a chance to portray a variety of characters...in this one, think "Ground-hog day" meets "Lost in Translation"...
So back to the "living like its the depression" theme of this blog entry and my holiday:
What embarrasses me about my life-partner? No, its not his speedo or the ear-hair length contest he's having with himself--its his penchant for brocantes (yard sales) and gleefully pausing on Tuesday nights outside large piles of garbage... picking through for the diamonds among the nuggets...but this time I have to bow at the foot of the sensai. M found three really (no, I mean REALLY) dirty and broken down chairs of which he saw alone the potential--being Danish Modern. They only needed new seat covers, foam and some waxing and "wham-O!" 17 Euros later for supplies, we are the proud owners of three new chairs that have new black "leather" padded seats, polished bentwood backs and a new lease on life. They match perfectly with our other chairs as well (who have the same colours, but in reverse--black backs and legs, wood seats). I owe him an apology: I scoffed and walked away from them, and he wouldn't let me..they came home and now I welcome them since they're actually more comfortable than our originals (that I bought). If you recall, this is M's third success: the other two being the mirror and his lamp find...check out his blog history for more on those!
To continue on the patch-and-repair theme, D also is the beneficiary of 6 pairs of jeans snatched back from the goodwill bin by patching, stitching and fusing over the knees for just a few more months until the shorts come out of the bottom drawer. He's so hard on clothes: if it isn't chewing the cuffs of his shirts, its "break dancing" on cement or practicing his slide to third base through gravel. I hope he grows out of this, it costs me a lot in thread and time.
Ah, but the frugality isn't over: the sewing machine isn't just for mending, as I've been excited to sew again and all while learning more French...there's no greater incentive than a fab pattern in a french fashion magazine to get me to crack open the translation dictionary and fabric stash at the same time. The results this week have been a box-pleated skirt (shin length, perfect for boot wearing, since its still the season in this part of Europe until May for boots and scarves--two essential Belgian fashion accessories) and a yummy cranberry-red Faux suede blouse that is half finished.
Now the kitchen hasn't been ignored in all this family studies renaissance: this week its been chocolate chip cookies and banana muffins from scratch, a meatloaf and a really hearty red pepper soup also without any boost from Knorr or Kraft. To top it all off, a decadent (not dirty-thirties version, though) pan of brownies that took 400 grams of chocolate (noir du noir Cote D'or) and six (yes, I said 6) eggs along with the requisite cup or so of flour and the same of sugar. Suffice it to say that the batch is very intense and we're slowly nibbling our way through it. This is the kind of brownie that actually NEEDS whipped cream to cut the richness...yikes for our cholesterol levels!
Ah, but one can't live by oat bran and water alone, right? I'm just doing my part to show Dalton, Steve, Barrack and the those world leaders who had stocks in the the World Bank of Scotland...making sure I am comfortable with my frugal side from student living still.
And on a related note as to why I've not blogged in a while--my computer time has been taken up with other more pressing activities: a six week online course on how to use interactive whiteboard presentation software--a serious challenge to my creative skills!
The weekend is almost upon us. I have marking still to do and the final assignments for this online course that has taken me four weeks so far. The main thing I've learned from this is that I am not very good as a virtual student. I either work too hard at the task/assignment or not enough without the support, encouragement and guidance of a real-live instructor and classmates. This course really put M out: most weeknights in the past month I've been glued to the computer creating interesting activities for maximizing this technology...now is it my company or his laptop that he misses the most? I dare not ask!
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