y. whitelist

I am thankful for:

• my husband, my best friend, my everything
• our mutual childfree belief
• our two cats and one turtle who bring us many giggles and lots of love
• that I still have two grandparents living; two finer people might not walk this Earth
• technology that is more often my friend than foe
• reasonable health for us both
• my small business, especially during this economy, and my clients whom I hold dear
• pants that are too big

Happy Thanksgiving!

BTW, while I had the best of intentions of wearing the new/fabulous earrings to the dental hell this week, they interfered with my headphones. The stems were poking me in that freakishly sensitive area behind the ear lobe. #ThatHurt

So, I didn’t get to wear the Bling to the Thing, but rest assured, they are getting put to good use!

#HellsYeah!

Once again, Thank YOU, Tacori!

If you are paying attention, you’ll notice that this post is coming to you from the not-even-wee hours of the morning.

Insomnia is a bitch.

Weed, that is Weeds–the Showtime series–is great for passing the time at, say, 4am.

Actually, it’s more than that. It’s a great show that I never gave credit to. Of course, this is mostly because we don’t have Showtime, but thanks to Netflix, I can enjoy Weeds (and Dexter, HBO’s Six Feet Under, and some others, too.)

Here’s the real “problem” with the show: It’s funny. That’s not so conducive to sleeping. And, since I tend to finish what I start, it’s addicting (LOL) nature keeps me from sleeping, even after 4am.

Damn good reason to watch the show, if you ask me.

Please, no spoilers, I’m only in Season Two.

While researching some blog material back in the spring, I found that Tacori was giving away an engagement ring from their new line. So, I signed up to win the beauty. I didn’t win the gorgeous ring, but I did win one of the other 99 prizes: a pair of “Jelly bean” diamond earrings in a “pincushion” style mount.

I didn’t know what I’d do with them. When do I ever have an occasion to wear something like that.

They arrived today and I may never take them off. They are stunning.

For the Planet

I read somewhere recently that fabric softener is environmentally one of the worst chemicals to have in your home…not because of the harm of the product, but because of how it’s made. They use a lot of terrible/harsh chemicals to produce it cheaply and then use a bunch of other chemicals to cover up the nasty smells. I used to make my own dryer sheets (sponges soaked in softener)…and since I remembered a method of using Distilled White Vinegar (for the same results but without any smell), I started “the Googleing”.

For the Budget

I found this recipe for softener. Other similar recipes add baking soda, but I’m going to try to skip that part at first. I can always add it in.

In the search, I also found this nifty little site: Being Creative to Keep My Sanity. She made laundry detergent, dishwasher detergent, and some other crafty goodness. The ingredients for these two overlap, so I was off on an adventure. (And, with our grocery store in a full-on renovation, what an adventure it was!)

Shopping

At this moment, we have a full bottle of softener and a full bottle of dishwasher detergent. But the laundry/dish ingredients overlap, so I sought ingredients for all three.

We had these on hand:

• baking soda (why on Earth did we already have ~7# of this stuff??)
• Borax
• OxiClean
• TOTAL TO BUY THESE: ~$12, I’m guessing

I bought:

• Pink Zote laundry bar soap (Fels-Naptha works, too, but I couldn’t find it and she likes Zote better.) – at Home Depot
• washing soda
• a cheese grater
• lavender essential oil – $10 for a small bottle that will last forEVer – at WholeFoods or your local/favorite health shop
• TOTAL SPENT: $20

If we I make all three, I’ll eventually need:

• citric acid – wasn’t at my grocery store…going to keep looking
• epsom salt
• Lemi Shine rinse aid (powder) – $4
• distilled white vinegar
• TOTAL TO SPEND: ~$15, I’m guessing

Except where noted, all of these are at most grocery stores.

Now, if this were all me, I’d have bought all the stuff to make all of it and made a day of this. It’s a BYE week for both Miami and A&M, so what else is there to do on a beautiful Saturday when I don’t have a wedding? However, Emil is more than skeptical. He’s willing to try this, but has very low expectations it will work. The funny thing is that I do the laundry and dishes most of the time, and he doesn’t even like fabric softener. So, why should he care at all, right? Anyway, Ms. Creative Sanity swears these are both better and cheaper…and then there is the environmental impact, so I’m going to try.

For Blue Lime

Emil & I did our normal thing and compromised. (You can translate this to “she’s crazy, so he brought her down a little closer to Earth” if you’d like.) I’m only making the Laundry Detergent since that’s what we’re almost out of. I’m also making a half batch since the bars of soap were so cheap and I’d only be wasting cheap ingredients if it’s a big ol’ FAIL.

Step 0:

Organize the stuff and take a pic for the blog!

$2 for half the washing soda
+ $3 cheese grater
+ $4 OxiClean (in the ziplock)
+ $4 Pink Zote (for two…leftovers!)
+ $3 baking soda
+ $4 Borax
= $17 (if you don’t count the cheese grater)

Step 1

Grate the soap bars. I expected this to be difficult, but the soap is surprisingly soft. I counted grates for half a bar, ~600 on a new, medium-sized grater. So, 1800 for this batch, 3600 for a full batch.

Step 2

Because I was only using half of each box, I poured half of each into a mixing bowl.

Step 3

Mix well.

To be fair, I really did 1/3 of each product and then 2/3 of each product to help with the mixing.

I had a paint stir to mix, but it was too “slow”, so I just dug in with my hands and mixed it like meatloaf.

Make Time

~15 minutes from set up to storage

Step 4

Blogging…at least 30 minutes of time. Way longer than making the stuff, but also part of the fun!

Bonus

The OxiClean scoop is 1 Tablespoon. Free scoop!

Total Time

~45 minutes. Not bad

Ta Da!

It smells great and isn’t overpowering. I can’t wait to try it out! It’s very strong for cleaning…and only takes 1 Tablespoon per load.

If this works we won’t buy laundry detergent for a very long time!

The Ah HA! Moment

According to Google Shopping:

• the cheapest liquid with OxiClean is $5 for 35 loads
  $0.14 per load
• the cheapest powder with OxiClean is $11 for 95 small loads
  $0.11 per small load

Our math (yes, Emil helped):

• this homemade version is $17 for 224 loads
  $0.08 per load
• the full recipe is $27 for 448 loads
  $0.06 per load

Another Bonus!

Emil likes the smell and was surprised at how much cheaper it was, too. He’s already less skeptical than before!

Even in Texas, we have to be prepared for hurricanes. Here is a list suggested by an online friend, Brenda.

Brenda’s hurricane preparation tips (seen & heard about, practiced from time to time, and thought about again since what happened along the East Coast with Irene) include:

• …Move more than 100 miles inland though even that doesn’t always work as we all have seen over and over.
• Dry cereal (small individual packages can make serving measurements easier)
• Nonfat dry milk.  Very helpful in dry cereal when all refrigeration (and electricity) has ceased.
• Old fashioned hand fans or battery operated ones.  They don’t do much but it provides a bit of comfort in the hellish and endless heat that will ensue.
• After his first few hurricanes my dad insisted on a gas stove (for the rest of his life) so while we had no power for two weeks post-Camille we did have regular meals.  He also had a camp stove that I have now.
• Tins of sardines and hand operated can openers (plural for when the first one breaks after years of trustworthy work)
• Milk jugs full of water
• Outdoor (charcoal) grill; gas okay, too, if you have a new propane tank.
• …Chocolate will melt but still tastes good.  I cannot remember ever wanting one post-hurricane.
• Wine does not taste good at room temperature when air conditioning has ceased & room temp is 95.  I have tested that one.
• Super-long electrical extension cords in case, as friends of mine did, you find that your neighbor on another grid across the street has electricity and is willing to share.  Not sure this is safe but it worked for them.
• Some people use generators.  That is how my neighbors didn’t lose the contents of their refrigerator during the last one we had.
• Wash a lot of clothes in case you have to survive for two weeks without washing any.
• Scan your favorite pictures and documents and upload them at least into emails and DVDs, if you haven’t done so yet, just in case.
  Seems to me this is when laminating back-up copies of pictures seems more important than archiving them.
• Refresh your first aid kit.
• Get extra sanitizers like rubbing alcohol.
• Have that pet carrier handy.
• Free extra ice
• Buy extra ice and put it in your usual picnic coolers
• Lots of batteries and flashlights as you would not believe how easy it is to injure yourself in the dark when no lights whatsoever exist.
• Return…library books so they don’t charge you…
• Buy new backpacks in Labor Day sale (seen advertised at Family Dollar for one)
• Do not feel guilty because that something in the air feeling made you momentarily anticipate the thing as though it wasn’t a pending disaster.  It is atmospheric.  I can sniff one out and stay awake in the night any time the least tropical depression is within about a thousand miles from me.
• Sometimes pictures can be salvaged, but do your best to keep them from any water damage in the first place.  See this Library of Congress discussion.” http://www.loc.gov/preservation/emergprep/ or http://www.loc.gov/preservation/care/photo.html

Thank you, Brenda, for sharing and being willing to offer a re-publish, too!

Please consider these things along with the typical hurricane-preparedness lists you’ll find to be sure you can endure not just a hurricane that might hit your city, but also one where your city might have to endure the fallout. In Austin, Katrina and Rita both caused population booms.

This week’s incident at the Alamo Drafthouse tugs at my heartstrings.

NSFW: She Texted, So We Kicked Her Out

For those who don’t want to endure the NSFW video and blog, here is the gist:

1. Alamo warns (several times) that calls/texting during their movies is forbidden.
2. Girl texts.
3. Girl ignores two personal warnings to stop texting or she’ll be thrown out.
4. Girl continues to text.
5. Girl is thrown out.
6. Angels from the heavens sing down upon those below.
7. (Dumbass) Girl leaves Alamo a voice mail explaining how irate she is that she was thrown out.
8. Girl is an instant Internet legend. Thank you, social media.
9. All is right with the world, again, as order is restored to the adult movie theater experience.

Backstory

And now, for the back story as it relates to me/us.

When Emil and I started dating, I mostly refused to go to movies. We went to a few coveted faves, but each time, I was disappointed, at the very least.

One time (after we were married), when out with friends to see Madagascar, I made a big stink…with good reason.

The punk-ass kids—there were ~6 of them—behind us wouldn’t shut up.

1. I asked them, nicely, to stop talking. (I remember being a teenager with only the movies as a place to hang out. I cut them some slack.)
2. I told them sternly to be quiet.
3. I told them to shut the eff up. (They giggled, so I thought I really had their attention this time.)
4. The fourth time, I stormed through the very large theater building, stopping at each employee along the way, until I found the one-and-only manager. I knocked on the box office door; I saw him look through the peep hole and then walk away. I bet he could hear my blood curdling from that little lack of customer service. I beat on the door with my fist until he came out. After he ignored me, my demands went something like this, “We paid $16 to see this movie and we can’t enjoy it because some unsupervised kids behind us won’t shut up. I want you to take care of it, and I want my money back, too. Oh, and I saw you try to ignore me.”

He followed me all the way to our theater where I dramatically pointed (not unlike the Evil Monkey from Chris’ closet).

He dragged the hoodlums outside for a good ten minutes. When he did escort them back in, it was to the front row and they were perfect angels for the last (what? maybe 20 minutes at this point?) part of the movie. He must have verbally beat them within an inch of their lives.

Grownup: 1
Punk-ass kids: 0
Cinemark Theater: 0 (He gave us a refund and movie passes for the future, which I’m sure Emil used.)
Friends: 0 (They never invited us to go with them, again. …not that I blame them….besides…)

…I vowed to never go to a movie theater again.
I amended that vow when we visited Beth & Marc in Austin and went to an Alamo Drafthouse.

Frontstory

What is annoying about most of the comments is how the “authors” are completely ignorant of how an Alamo Drafthouse theater is set up or how it works. “Take over our theater” won’t work. The reason Alamo is successful is:

• Every row of seats is its own “level” or landing. Everyone has a good view. You aren’t sitting on a slant.
• Every row has sections of a drink/food rail. It’s like a small bar or counter so you can eat/drink at your seat.
• The layout prevents the possibility that someone could kick your seat during the show. There is an aisle back there and another rail.
• You can/will get food/drinks during the show (good and inconspicuous service, too!). You write your order on a piece of paper and tuck it into the rail. Servers see the paper standing up, crouch & sneak over, and quietly whisper questions if they have any. It’s a little like the flags at Panchos. They don’t bother you, ever. But, they are there if you need them.
• They tell you to arrive at least 45 minutes before the show so you can get seated and order. They ask if you’ve been before so they can give you the “orientation” if needed. They serve buckets of beer, so you can order food/drinks and then be done to enjoy the show.
• They bring the checks in the last few minutes of the show. They have this down to a science and know exactly when to do this.
• The atmosphere of Austin being “weird” is the big reason the theater is successful: Austinites appreciate the arts!

Today

I’m still not a huge go-to-the-movies fan, but when we do, we Alamo.

I’m sure that “irate” is an SAT word that she didn’t remember from any prep course in high school.
Scott coined the term punk-ass-kids. A similar group of teens rear-ended him/Jenn at a red light at ~40mph…with no brakes. They were chatting and no paying attention. The brand-new-hadn’t-even-been-home-yet SUV was totaled.
One time, Emil and some friends coerced me into a Lord of the Rings showing. While I love the movies and seeing them on the big screen, I hate their “cult”. I was all set to sit in the car for three hours until Emil made puppy-dog eyes at me. I told him this was the last time. Since it was the last LOTR, he didn’t care.

When we first starting looking at cars to replace BB and Little Blue Car, we went to the same family of dealerships where we bought BB. It’s a Honda/Toyota/Scion/etc. group. We were looking at and drove the Honda Fit. While we had a fabulous experience buying BB, in the wake of the quakes/tsunamis in Japan, and coupled with Honda’s slimy sales tactics, we weren’t happy. But, apparently, they don’t read their Yelp reviews before repeatedly calling formerly-potential customers.

Our sales person from that day had called right when we got back…and with the luxury of Google Voice, I blocked him from calling again. However, as technology would have it, he can call from a number of lines and, today, manged to get through . I was on my way out the door and off my game for just a moment….a moment of weakness. argh!

The convo went something like this:

Hello, Ms. Loosa, this is (not his real name) from Round Rock Honda. How are you today?

Fine. How are you?

Great! Listen, I just wanted to see if you and Aaahmeeel (also not Emil’s real name!) were back in town from your trip and if you were still looking for a Honda or Toyota or a Scion or any other “.
(Really…he said something not much different than that!)

“Actually, after we left your dealership, we drove up the road to Mazda. They were willing to work with us on the price,
so we bought TWO cars from them.”

Well, if you ever need anything from our family of dealerships, maybe with your next vehicle purchases, I’d be happy to help.

Thank you.

When I told Emil the story at dinner (’cause it’s just too juicy to tell in a 140-character Tweet!), he was all giggles!

#Booyah, Honda. Don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out!

zoom-zoom

I will repeat this because I know they care: Round Rock (city of), you lost the tax revenue on not-one-but-two vehicles because of one slimy salesperson. We quite likely would have purchased two cars from that RR dealership. But, by driving just a little further north, we found some down-to-Earth and real people. And, we contributed to all that lovely tax revenue in Georgetown, instead. (You’re welcome Ali & Andy, and the Winklers, too!)

Google Voice gives me an extra layer of call screening. He got through because he called from a different number. He still had to state his name to connect the call.

Our experience with Roger Beasley Mazda was so good that Emil (yes, Emil!) wrote a letter to Mr. Beasley to thank and recognize our sales person and the rest of the staff at the dealership. You should have seen the faces of our salesperson (Mark, who was at the top of the board for the month with-or-without our purchases) and the other staff members when we gave them a printed letter. I guess no one does that anymore! Our full review on Yelp will come when we get our real license plates and my cargo net.

Emil even signed our letter “Zoom-zoom, Emil & Lori Luza” Nice.

Now that we neither one work for a university, our holiday cycles have shifted. For example, Emil had to work late for this year’s election day (He works for the County Clerk), but Veterans’ Day was a county holiday. So, he planned a wonderful little mid-November mini-vacay for us…to Fredericksburg.

Wednesday morning, we slept in, loaded the car, took a scenic drive, and were in town by 2pm. We found the headquarters for the B&B and checked in. Our cabin was ~15 minutes out of town on 21 acres. It was peaceful bliss.

The outdoor shower is amazing, even in November.

As soon as we had the car unloaded, we sat in the rockers on the front porch and watched the birds and butterflies. The weather was just perfect—~70 degrees and a gorgeous day—so there was much to see.

We made a few little and tentative plans for the evening. We hadn’t had a vacation in a long time and have rarely had one that didn’t have an agenda of events to attend and sights to see. It was nice to have four days with nothing particular to do. We’ve been to Fredericksburg several times. We’ve seen the shops and toured the wineries. This time, we were here without much new to see.

We headed into town for dinner at the Rathskeller. Lori had a glass of Columbia Crest Shiraz and the avocado crab dip, which turned out to be our server’s favorite menu item. Emil had the Weiner Schnitzel with buttered noodles (shocker, huh?). Our meal was fabulous! There were six desserts on the menu that all sounded wonderful as well. So, when we are craving sweets, that will be one of the first places we think of.

We returned to our cabin to take advantage of the amenities. The dew had already begun to settle, so without dry wood, we had to postpone a fire, but the sky was 100% clear and the stars were the brightest we’d seen in a very long time. We stargazed on the front porch and had a little mini-scrabble tournament with our own flex on the rules and no scoring. We determined the winner by who went out first. Lori won both matches. Once we crawled into bed, we were both goners. The bed had one of those Tempurdepic mattress toppers. The only way to describe this bed is to say that it “eats” you. At 5am Lori awoke to the cold (it was probably ~40 degrees outside and we slept with the windows open), so we watched dawn creep up and watched the sunrise all while still bundled under the covers.

We went for an early breakfast at Taqueria Altos de Jalisco’s. It was fabulous. Then, we drove to the Old Tunnel where we saw our first bat emergence a few years ago. The sign said they had emerged the night before, but only took ~10 minutes to leave the tunnel; the season had, technically, passed. We decided it probably wasn’t worth a visit at night. We walked down to the tunnel viewing area, saw the few bats that haven’t migrated, yet, and then took a scenic drive back to our cabin with a little stop at the visitor’s center for more information about the Nimitz museum (and the new part that is supposed to open in December) and other area attractions.

We spent the afternoon riding our bikes around the property, viewing the other cabin still under construction, and seeing the new bridge that the neighbor is building to cross a creek. We also spent another chunk of time watching the birds and butterflies. Again, it was great to have nothing to do!

bike trail

Thursday evening, we went into town for dinner and some German beer and then came back to the cabin. Emil was victorious in 3-out-of-4 games: Scrabble (with scores this time), Ticket to Ride, and the first of two rounds of dominos.

Friday the 13th started off true to fame. We were going to have breakfast at Andy’s, but it wasn’t in the cards. The place was crowded with only two servers. Of course, as luck would have it on this day, we got the much slower, weaker, forgetful server. She wanted us to want coffee and juice and was befuddled that we did not. Then, she was ready to take our order before we had read the menu. We asked for just one minute, but she never returned. We watched her take the order of several other tables, skipping us every time. We looked around, held our menus over to the side, and made eye contact with the other server. It felt like she couldn’t serve us because we didn’t fit the mold of coffee-drinking breakfast diners—-and we weren’t even the youngest people in the place! Emil’s comment was, “Clearly, she’s never played Diner Dash!” So, we headed back to Taqueria Altos de Jalisco’s where we knew we’d get good food and good service.

And then came the massages from Above and Beyond Day Spa. Emil signed us up for massages (a first for both of us) at our cabin. Mmmmmm.

The massage therapists had gotten lost on the way to our cabin and said there were some buffalo about three miles north of us. So, after the “massage-hangover” subsided a bit, we hoped in the car to go see them. They weren’t near the fence along the road, though, and we never found them. Instead we made the loop around to Enchanted Rock. Emil hadn’t been since he was a kid and Lori had never seen it. Eventhough we weren’t dressed for it, we made the short-but-not-easy hike to the summit. From the parking lot it was a 465’ climb over .6 miles. The top is at 1800’ and offers some fantastic views of the Hill Country.

The way back from Enchanted Rock led us back into town too early for supper, so we headed out to Luckenbach. It felt a little like a petting zoo this time. A guy with a longhorn and saddle was loading up his prop photo business as we arrived. One of the resident cats, Miss Kitty, let us love on her for at least a minute or two. And, the chickens and roosters were very active and quite entertaining to watch. It was nearing sunset, and they were getting ready to roost. It was funny to watch them go from the ground to a table to a roof to the limbs of the tree. Some of them even preferred to be way up in the tree and not just on the first branch they could reach.

When it started to get chilly, we headed back to town for supper. Dinner at Kelly’s Café was amazing.

After such an active afternoon, we were both ready to go back to our cabin for more of the R&R part of our trip. We each won one game of Ticket to Ride and then Lori beat Emil in two dominos matches.

We sank into bed early and then slept in on Saturday morning. We got up just in time to pack up, check out, have a leisurely breakfast, and get on the road to Austin for a big game day: a Miami watch party at the Daily Grill and the Settlers of Catan board game group at Dragon’s Lair.