Week 3

After the previous week’s not so productiveness, we had high hope for Week 3. Alas, it was not to be had, for Katie’s neurological issues, after being surprisingly mild for a few weeks, decided they had had enough with being on the back burner and decided it was time to be known. So, this seems to be a good time to tell you about them.

Much of the week was spent with Tim taking care of the house (dishes, meals, etc.), while also helping Katie out. Since work isn’t currently a factor, it cut down on the stress of it all, but still, it was draining. Katie on the other had rotated between, or had simultaneously:

What we call “scrunching” which is when her body locks down. It has varying degrees but mainly she can’t stop her body from trying to go into the fetal position and then it stays there
Spasming/flailing/punching/kicking: The limbs do as they feel and we hope nobody, including Katie, gets in the way of them, because they’re quite powerful (they could knock you out). A pair of Tim’s glasses may or may not have been destroyed because of this …while we were on vacation.
Having difficulties initiating movement: She’ll want to stand up, but can’t get the brain to make the connection with her body, or she’ll try to walk and might get her legs to drag forward s l o w l y, or she might make it a step and collapse to the floor, her hands and arms are similarly effected
Difficulty Thinking Clearly: Sentences and words won’t come out in an understandable manner, she’s repeat herself (including whole conversations) …a lot, or she’ll start tasks and get lost in the middle of them and thus not finish them. Sometimes she’ll wonder on to something else, sometimes she’ll get stuck not knowing what to do.
Aching, which is mostly due to cerebral spinal fluid issues. It’s all over and it hurts.
Smashing: Her hands will decide it’s cool to smash things into her. A good example
Katie Covered in Marker

happened this week when Tim gave Katie the daily pill box we keep track of our vitamins with, then left to use the bathroom. When he came back, not only had Katie not taken her vitamins, but she now had marker all over her face that had rubbed off the pill box due to her hands deciding to smoosh it into her face instead of opening it.
Head shaking: Her head will keep going back and forth very quickly as if to vehemently say “no”. Mostly it just gives her headaches.

Thankfully, like we said, these things happen far less than they used to, and there used to be other stuff, but this is currently what we deal with. Sometimes nightly, sometimes daily, and sometimes momentarily.

…And that’s Katie’s problems.

Otherwise, this week a trek was had to gather food supplies, but only after realizing there were no vegetables in the house and Tim had near nothing to snack on (He doesn’t eat often, but when he does it’s all the time). Our avoidance in doing so was not out of financial distress, rather simply wanting to avoid the craziness that is the supermarket currently, besides we had made our 1 week worth of groceries last nearly 2 weeks. A mistake was realized, however, with the fact that it was the first of the month which is apparently a popular day for doing such activities.

There was no wheat flour, anywhere. 5 places. No wheat flour. We did however score some yucca flour, so we will be gluten free for the remainder of our bags (yes we bought 2, because: no flour, also we plan to not go back for a month).
Trader Joes was our first encounter with a store limiting how many patrons were allowed inside. Over the past week, others have followed suit.
A few checkout lines now feel like banks/salad bars, due to the addition of sneeze guards to protect the cashiers. It was interesting to see who deemed it a worthy addition. Wegmans & Costco were team “Nay!”, while Aldi, Trader Joes, and Kimberton Whole Foods (not any relation to Whole Foods, it’s the local “natural” market, it’s a constant source of confusion as we do have Whole Foods here) were team “Don’t Sneeze On Me, Argentina …or anyone else!”

We didn’t watch any movies this week. It might be because we didn’t find time to hook up the VCR or it might because of Katie’s rough week thanks in part to the weather shifting around a lot and Spring being springy. Your call.

We made a video for Tim’s work where Tim suggests at home stretching to do to help maintain a pain free life. Hopefully it made the cut and we will be able to share it with you guys at a later point.

We attended two Zoom meetings. One was lead by a friend of ours who is Plant Dude (official title) at the ever so loverly Longwood Gardens about spring gardening tips (not that we have a garden). We got to see his Ted-Ed Talk and some news reports he had been a part of a while back.

The other was about “Finding resilience in a time of anxiety.” It was basically camp reunion for Katie, and also informative and a nice grounding from an Orthodox perspective. By the way, it was announced this week that the summer camp Katie attended every summer growing up and was a camp counselor for two summers was cancelled for this year. She feels awful at the thought of anyone missing out on any of those experiences.

This week marked an interesting change in our outdoor life. The Governor of Pennsylvania has requested that one wear a face mask when being around others might happen. We’ve gone the cut up t-shirt and handkerchief route. They are not enjoyable to wear, especially with glasses.

One finding this week, via facebook poll of friends was that many did not drink milk through Twizzlers growing up. Tim is not surprised. Katie’s just happy not to be alone.

Like we said: Slow Week.

The grass lumps our neighbor’s yard had us pondering their cause

Easter Decor arrived at one of the best dressed housed in town

Rory, who lovingly has spent much time giving our couch the distressed look, is finding the quarantine unbearable

Week 2

This week, all conformity to a structured lifestyle degraded. Partly, it had to do with Spring attacking, causing aches and for some of us difficulties walking & thinking. Mostly, it had to do with early on in the week deciding to go for a quick stroll around the building before we feasted on our pulled pork & grits dinner (there was spinach involved too -no worries, Mom).

As we walked past our neighboring units, someone on the balcony above said “Excuse me!” in our direction, which turned into a 4 hour socially distancing conversation, which the man who lives below also joined in on.

We got back to our place at 1am …at which point we ate dinner.

After that, our life was ruled by whims, which we finally decided yesterday evening was enough of a vacation and managed to go to bed at a reasonable hour and grudgingly be woken by an alarm.

Still, some stuff happened.

We actually did go for walks. “Keep out” signs welcomed us to the ballparks.

Homemade almond flower, flax-seed-to-replace-eggs, and grape-seed-oil-to-replace-butter brownies turned out to be a total failure.

Grocery shopping was avoided. Hence the amount of swaps in the brownies.

Both of us participated in some self-care. Tim’s face-mask had snail slime in it?!?!?

White House press briefings entertained us (he totally has a tiara on).

Candles were added to our decor because we enjoy setting off the smoke alarm periodically, just to keep things exciting (specifically when we blow them out).

We’re nearly halfway through the 900+ page book (His Dark Materials, by Philip Pullman, anyone?) which we borrowed from friends …9 months ago? Eight months of normalcy = 100ish pages, you do the math. The hope was to finish it during the whole 15 Days to Stop the Spread deal (btw, yes we read books together, out loud).

Now we have 30 more days… plus an indefinite amount of time because that’s how long they’ve expanded our business and school closures: literally, indefinitely.

On to the movies!

Movie #4, Katie’s Choice: Now & Then (1995)

“Fresh off all the 90’s nostalgia, I decided that even though we don’t own Now & Then, Tim needed to see it. Thankfully, our Bing rewards points tallied enough to allow for a movie rental. I couldn’t remember the plot or even if it was good, on any level. What I did know was that in the early days of CD’s I kept this one on repeat and fell asleep to it every night the summer before 6th grade. Five minutes into the movie, it was obvious to all present (meaning me, Tim, & Rory), why I had loved it: small town, vintage cars …clothes …bikes …everything, catchy music, strong friendships…

Tim’s Reaction:

“Classically produced in the 90’s. A lot of oldie by goodie cast choices from that era, including a cameo from Brendan Fraser, which I’d say was my favorite scene in the movie. Aside from that I’d say it was a far more well put together film than the Babysitters Club, which was another coming of age film put out at the same time. I found the cotter pin of the whole plot unexpected and unique: the four main characters, obsessing over a long deceased child who they came upon during a moonlit seance in a cemetery and the unknown circumstances that surrounded his mysterious death.

Superlatives:

Best Scene:

“While enroute, via their bikes to the next town over to do library research, the girls come across Brendan Fraser, who plays a hitchhiking Vietnam War veteran. The scene leads to some thoughtful banter. In it’s entirety, it felt almost unnecessary but I loved it mainly because of the fact that Brendan Fraser found them very curious, and they found him equally as curious, but they both accepted the other without judgement, minus Chrissy, as noted by this exchange:

Chrissy: ‘You’re hippy, aren’t you?’

Vietnam War Vet: ‘You’re a trip.’

Chrissy: ‘My mom says all hippies are sex fiends’

Vietnam War Vet: *laughs*

Best Quote:

Vietnam Vet: “You can believe in yourself, if you’re lucky.”

Movies 4 & 5, Tim’s Choice: Blade & Blade II

“Blade II was chosen because it is, in my opinion, the best vampire film ever made, but you have to watch Blade to understand it. Blade in itself is a decent movie, but I wouldn’t consider it one of my favorites.”

Katie’s Reaction:

“Overall, I agree with Tim. Blade II is by far better than Blade. Still, Blade was good. It immediately felt like The Matrix meets Harry Potter where Blade is a Muggle that dresses as a Ninja Turtle/Batman/Morpheus and bears a striking resemblance to Arsenio Hall, while the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack plays in the background. The subtly of the fact that it was a horror film was a nice lead in to Blade II where it became quite a bit more in your face with the music, scenery, and all around darkness. However, the dialogue: (at times) ugh.

Blade II on the other hand, just by being filmed a bit later benefitted from improved special effects. They also suddenly had much better choreography and music. I especially liked how much they paid homage to the face that it was originally a comic book by over caricaturing certain dynamics of the fight scenes. The freeze framing & lighting was perfect, all that was missing were the ‘Pow!’, ‘Bang!’, ‘Boom!’, and of course ‘Fatang!'”

Superlatives:

Best Scene:

“In Blade II, after stealing a vampire’s motorcycle by jumping on his back and chopping off his head with a strand of silver wire (sweet effects here btw), Blade proceed to ride over to his black 1960’s muscle car (because what else would he have?), just to blow it an air kiss.

I literally laughed out loud.

It’s within the first fight scene and I instantly declared it the best part. I was both correct and not disappointed.”

Best (worst?) Special Effects:

“In Blade, where you think it can’t get worse than a bloody slinky dog-esque vampire, but instead you’re in for a treat at the end when the exact same vampire becomes a dart board full of anti-coagulent serum darts and undergoes a transformation into a bloody exploding Stay Puft Marshmallow Man piñata.”

Movies 6, Katie’s Choice: Shirley Temple Shorts

(Yes “Movies”, plural, because they more or less count as one movie in total length)

Runt Page (1932)

Dora’s Dunkin’ Doughnuts (1933)

Glad Rags to Riches (1933)

Kid ‘N’ Africa (1933)

Merrily Yours(1932)

“I’ve realized how much this is a study into the forming of me (though other movie favorites will be left out of this, just like Tim’s picks are a study on that which influenced the creation of him.”

“I’ve always had a fascination with history, especially the sociology portion of it. Shirley Temple helped a lot of people escaped the Great Depression and then suddenly at the end of it, everyone was pretty much over her. Because of this, I find her films an interesting study of the era. These shorts are especially captivating to me because they are where she got her start, during the early days of talkies -when major movie productions were less polished and a bit closer in quality to the home movies I’d make with my friends growing up. It had been a while since I viewed these and I had to keep reminding myself these weren’t movies made to look like they were created in the past, rather they were indeed made during my grandmother’s childhood. Many of them are parodies of films I have yet to see.”

Personally, while others kept picture of boybands and Leonardo DiCaprio on their walls during their pre-teen years, mine were adorned with Shirley Temple, Bill Cosby (I know, but the public didn’t know yet!), bnl, and stills from the latest Disney/Pixar film. I was a odd one (and admittedly still am…), in way that is even considered odd in this age of nerds being popular.”

Tim’s reaction:

Runt Page

“‘Runt Page’ was the most hilarious/WTF/and-why-even that I have ever seen. From the get go, there were non-stop laugh-out-loud moments, followed by me saying: ‘I don’t understand what’s going on at all.’ The best element by far was the adult voices dubbed in for the toddlers, I was particularly fond of the Irish accent. One of the babies seem particularly buff for his age. The gigantic safety pins on the diapers was a nice touch (also absurd and ridiculous). Things got real when they started swinging around revolvers and shoving each other in desk drawers, and lets not forget, young Shirley Temple playing some gangster baby’s side piece throughout all of this.”

**Fun Fact* Katie and her friends used to hide in a desk drawer at her childhood church, and now she wonders if this is what inspired that. Though she’s pretty sure it was pure childhood fascination/curiosity of being able to fit in such a small space. Also: bordom.

Dora’s Dunkin’ Doughnuts

“This film began with a smattering of Three Stooges style slap stick that continued throughout. Much of this humor was painfully predictable, but still made me laugh. Perfect example: When our mustached protagonist locked his bike to a stair-railing, only to ride off a moment later, resulting in him vaulting over the handle bars. The plot took some wild turns, when a school teacher went from neglecting his schoolhouse full of children to flirt with the local Doughnut Wench, which then evolved into him exploiting his students to advertise her doughnuts at a big city radio company. From there, there were fist fights, people slapping each other in the face, others getting clobbered with microphones, and somewhere in the middle of it all Shirley Temple is just being cute. To sum it all up, our mustached hero declares his love for Dora the Doughnut Wench as a giant wedding cake devours them whole. #worldscreepiestcaketopper”

Glad Rags to Riches

“For starters, I was immediately let down by the lack of adult voice talent dubbed-in over the babies. I’m still trying to figure out, whether the babies in reality are that difficult to understand or if it was the film quality degradation. This plot was much easier to follow than Runt Page, the only challenging part was that everyone sounded like children speaking the adult’s lines in Peanuts cartoons.”

“There was some more Three Stooges style comedy when Shirley Temple’s fiancé kept losing his ice cream to a dog, unbeknownst to him -not sure what it had to do with the plot, but it was funny. The wealthy night club owning protagonist was a baby Horace Vandergelder, Shirley Temple sang a song, some baby police officers showed up, and the fiancé ended up naked in a barrel. The whole thing wrapped up with an awkward fade-out on his bare baby bottom.

Kid ‘N’ Africa

“This can be summed up with one word: Racism. The 1930’s were …different times.” It was a painful reminder that the only role a black person could get at the time were maid (or similar) and cannibal/savage.”

Merrily Yours

“Basically, this was the earliest embodiment of every 80’s film about a nerdy teenage boy. That about sums it up, but it should be noted that our main character (an older teenage boy) is sharing a room with a toddler Shirley Temple. What’s up with that?”

Photo Round Up

Rory, Coping

Spring Blowing

Telephone Pole sige

Spring Springing

Rainy Day Rory

A pirate’s tree house

Rory, ready for Dinner

An unexpected introduction

We’ve been pondering starting a blog for ages and been encouraged to do so for even longer. The name alone, we’ve had for something like 3 years!

But, alas, Life.

Starting a blog is a daunting task. Above all else was the question of what exactly our introduction to the world should be, as well as how to keep up with posting.

Then, suddenly (like much of the United States …and world), we were both granted two weeks off from work because Covid-19 was spreading rapidly across the county we both work in (more than double that of the the rest of our state). Oddly, our own own county has barely any cases, and our city has zero.

In the course of a week we went from being told all daycares and schools were closed (so Katie was out of her job as a preschool substitute teacher), to our gym shutting down (we were there when they got the call), to the closing of the spa where Tim works as a massage therapist. With that last one came the order for all non-essential businesses to close and for everyone to stay at home as much as possible and remain 6 feet apart from each other when going out. Suddenly going anywhere was filled with empty shelves, people donning gloves and masks, and wide berths being given in between individuals.

#socialdistancing <—the world’s new slogan

We’ve been lucky in the fact that we are still allowed to go for walks around the neighborhood. The government encourages it and says it’s for fitness purposes, provided we practice our #socialdistancing, which makes us feel like we’re living through the propaganda of World War 2.

Even prior to this, we would go for walks daily, but in a lot of ways these strolls now feel like walking into our childhoods in the 1990’s: bikes being parked outside homes, kids running around their yards, random sports being played in driveways (by parents and kids alike). We even spotted a jump roper yesterday (Jump Rope for Heart, anyone?).

For our part, we’ve seen the dishes for several consecutive days be completely finished (which never happens because we don’t have dishwasher -yay saving $100 on rent?). We’ve shifted from accomplishing things on our “need to do” list and have moved on to our “should do” list. Which isn’t quite our “want to do” list. Though, starting our blog was on that last one, so clearly there are no laws regulating our lists anymore

…much like our sleep schedule.

Week One

Friday was when things stopped feeling like a race to catch up.

For the first few days we caught up on chores and sleep and then settled into life with a “stay-at-home” order -which means we can leave our residence, but only if necessary for things like food, medicine, & walks.

We own a lot of movies that have not been watch over the years, mainly because Katie has sensory issues, so depending on what’s happening with her neurologically she’ll either have no problem, react to any noises or lights with convulsions, or fall asleep. However, her not working at all is making her much more tolerant of such things (but not completely, at which point we know it’s time to take a break).

So, what better time to share each other’s movie collection.

BTW, we’re old school and mainly have a DVD/VHS collection, whose longevity we worry about daily -on our list of “should do”: digitize them all.

Movie #1, a pick from Tim: Eraser (1996)

“I felt this was a good place to start because it’s filled with action, unintentional comedy, and Arnold (last name not needed, for there is only one Arnold) has always held a special place in my heart. Plus, I hadn’t seen it in …20 years?” -Tim

Fun fact: We acquired this movie when a co-worker of Katie’s father was giving away his DVD collection. Our CD collection is quite random for the same reason.

Katie’s Reaction:

“You can’t watch this film without commenting on how ridiculous it is, in the most admirable of ways. It really just made me want to Mystery Science Theater 3000 it.

It made me think of Stephan on SNL:

‘If you want a movie filled with hair-don’ts, not the guy from Veep, horrible yet revolutionary for the time special effects, and a reminder of the days of car phones…'”

Superlatives:

Favorite Scene:

“It starts with a classic Arnold “Nyaaa” as he launches himself across an airplane and ends with him landing on a car, while 2 kids on bikes welcome him to Earth. Seriously, you need to watch this.”

Airplane Scene

Most Disorienting:

“Arnold is not a Robot.

I kept thinking every time he was injured, with say shrapnel going through his hand, that he’d be fine because he’s a “cybernetic organism living tissue over metal endoskeleton.”

Turns out that’s only in Terminator. He’s not always the Terminator, sometimes he’s just a dude. Not cool, Arnold. Not Cool.

Also, he’s not always a time traveler. I don’t even know why we watched this.”

Most Eye-opening Moment:

“This film begs the question: How many priests are in the witness protection program?

Is my dad in the witness protection program?

Is Tim’s?”

Of note:

“In classic Katie-fashion, I kept forgetting the plot while we were watching the movie, but I blame that more on the fact that it’s more than a bit over the top.”

“Vanessa Williams’ character is refreshingly ahead of her time aka not always a damsel in distress.”

Movie #2, Katie’s Choice:

The Babysitters Club (1995)

“After being filled with 90’s nostalgia, I chose this because I longed for its release during the summer between my 5th and 6th grade year.

I loved it, but not so much for the actors, plot, or anything else that comprises an excellent movie, rather because the Babysitters Club book series was a huge part of my childhood. I’d check them out 5 books at a time (not an exaggeration), from my local castle of a library (also not an exaggeration- Kingston, NH knows how to make a library), and drink them all in (after skipping the intro because: redundent), just to return them a week later and repeat the process.

I could not recall if the movie was good. I just knew it need to be viewed if Tim were to ever understand me as a person. Yes, I say this 12.5 years into our marriage.

Also, it has Alex Mac -enough said.” -Katie

Tim’s Reaction:

“The movie itself felt like a TV show where the dialogue sounded more like a play script, being preformed by a high school. If it were made today it could easily be made a higher caliber.”

(Katie would like to note that Netflix has chosen to take on this challenge. Also, he had yet to experience the early 90’s series that aired on HBO, catch the easily-stuck-in-your-head intro here.)

Continuing on with Tim’s reaction…

Superlatives:

Most Disturbing Scene:

“When the 17-year-old love interest, after coming to terms with the fact that he had unknowingly been dating a 13-year-old, professes his love for her, stating that he’ll be back next year.

To which she [Stacey] says excitedly: “I’ll be 14!”

To which I say: “and he’ll be 18 and that’s illegal.”

…and then they kiss.”

Of note:

“I spotted a lot of actors that I recognized.”

Movie #3, Tim’s Choice:

Die Another Day (2002) AKA Pierce Brosnan’s final repraisal of James Bond

“I picked this one because I felt it was a nice follow up to Eraser with action, special effects, more unintentional comedy, and an all around fun film.

Katie’s Reaction:

“Right off the bat, I’ll let you know I kept confusing this with Mission Impossible,

Ice Dome …greenhouse?

especially during scenes like when Bond belays down the ice dome. Also, my only other Bond film experience has been with Daniel Craig’s Casino Royale.

(Fun Fact: We saw it in the theater the day after we got engaged)

This movie had me not only preferring Daniel Craig’s rendition of Bond, but caused me to realize that I all around just don’t care for Pierce Brosnan as an actor.

Oh, and the lair in Iceland I kept thinking was the Sydney Opera House on the outside (which I’ve only seen in photos) and on the inside was Superman’s Fortress of Solitude (which I’ve only visited twice). Not to mention the moments it sprinkled in bits of Star Wars vibes with its wide open spaces and futuristic vehicles.”

Ice Palace

Sydney Opera House

Superlatives:

Biggest Disappointment:

“When this came out there was an obsession with Halle Barry, but clearly it wasn’t due to her acting ability. This came out 5 years after Eraser, yet the woman’s roles were a huge step back. Which is especially sad given how cool they could have made 2 side-kick spies. In the end they were essentially sex objects. Miranda Frost’s Character at one point must have been fresh off the shooting of Aaliya’s ‘Are you that somebody’ music video“ (apologies for getting that baby noise stuck in you head).

Miranda Frost “Die Another Day”

“Are you that Somebody”

Best Inventions:

“The invisible car, the watch that can brake the ice, and the hang glider plane. All of these I could see being useful in my everyday life.

All around, I like how much Bond is ultimately a totally different take on Inspector Gadget. (I grew up with the cartoon and longed to be Penny, no apologies for getting that song stuck in your head)

Final Summation:

“The acting was meh, the plot was ok, but the inventions and visuals were entertaining and the Mystery Science Theater 3000 level was great.

Around Town

Walks are always a part of our life, usually twice a day. The difference now is that when you come across someone on the sidewalk, they act like ant who has had a leaf dropped in their path -they have no idea where to go and sometimes spin in circles.

Shopping trips are dangerous, mostly because people are so set on their mission to acquire toilet paper that they nearly plow into you with their shopping carts.

(we had 2 near misses)

Photo Roundup