Foreign Shows: La que me vida robo, Zhong Wu Yen, Velvet

I watched another show in Mandarin--a Taiwanese soap called Zhong Wu Yen. I like watching things in Mandarin. I picked up a few words, but the story was so trite! Toward the end I just wanted it to be over. The end was so predictable.

I thought I would start watching a Spanish soap opera, try to improve my Spanish. I tried watching La Que Me Vida Robo. I started with training wheels: subtitles. It was easy enough to understand, so I watched a few episodes without subtitles. Again, such a trite story. Upper class folks falling in love with working class, disappointed parents--totally trite. I couldn't take it. I stopped watching after about 5 episodes.

I just watched the first episode of Velvet-with subtitles. I'm not sure I can watch it without subtitles--Spanish accents, and they speak quickly. The thing is--same trite story. Store owner's son falls in love with worker. Parents of both kids disapprove. I don't know if I can keep watching. Maybe I should try and watch movies in Spanish.

Netflix Movie: Wolfcop

Recently this image of a cheesecaking werewolf kept popping up on Netflix. I kept laughing and shouting "Wolfcop!" Ross added it to the queue. I thought it would be a great Sunday afternoon movie. I expected a horrible C rate flick. Actually, we liked it. It was funny. Not so bad that we laughed funny, but actually funny.

There are some rather graphic scenes, but I couldn't look away. In all but a couple of places the special effects were good. We were both surprised. It was a fun movie, and apparently Wolfcop 2 is in the making.

How I got a one of a kind dress for about $10

My mom and I like to shop at Savers and Goodwill.  On my most recent visit to El Paso we went shopping at two different Savers locations. Here is how I got a great dress at a great price.

1. We went on a Holiday weekend. Because it was Memorial day weekend Savers had all clothing 50% off. I bought an all cotton dress for 6.50. I liked the material and cut of the dress, but I thought the black and white was boring.

2. I bought a bottle of fuchsia liquid rit dye at Hobby Lobby. With coupon it came to $2.40. Always use those 40% off coupons when shopping at Hobby Lobby. I have the app on my phone which makes it easy.

3. I used my new pressure cooker to dye the dress. I didn't use the actual pressure cooker function. I used the saute function to heat up the water, dye, and dissolve the salt. I got the dress completely wet before adding it to the bath. I turned the pressure cooker to warm and then let the dress cook for about 1.5 hours--stirring and shifting the dress regularly. After cooking the dress I rinsed it a bit in the sink, and then threw it in the washing machine. (Just to be safe I ran a tub cleaning cycle on the washing machine when the dress was done.)

4. When it came out of the dryer I had a whole new dress. I'm so happy with how it turned out. I then sewed shut one of the seams that had come unraveled. That's probably the reason it ended up at Savers. Someone didn't want to bother fixing that slight problem. I hand sewed it shut, and because it is the seam in the arm pit, it didn't have to be perfect. My hand stitching skills are pretty sad, but I knew I couldn't fit the sewing machine foot in the little area I needed to sew shut.

Voila. My new dress.

Book: Calves in the Mud Room

I checked out a bunch of small, short books for the trip to Las Vegas, and then I didn't end up reading any of them. Last night while Ross was playing video games I plowed through Calves in the Mudroom by Jerome Brown. It has been a while since I read a real book. I enjoyed this one. The author doesn't explain everything--leaves some things up to the imagination. I liked that. The long, descriptive list of what was in the guy's truck---didn't think that was necessary.

The main character helps some cows give birth. That's something I've always wanted to do. Sometimes I really think I shoulda been a vet.