Homemade Soup Day!

Mood:

Homemade soup is so much better than canned or store-bought soup. Even if it's simple, it seems to taste better. You can also control things like how much salt is put in. So many of the canned stuff has too much salt.Even for me. You can make your own twist on it, too. 

The last couple of days have been abnormally cold for us. Felt like my face was frozen after each walk...I got both walks in today, despite the cold! Go me! 

In Toshi Densetsu no Onna, the case was about a professor who was trying to make the first automaton or a robot that thinks and feels on its own. He was killed in an accident where he was taking a bath and working on his laptop. He had a device setup so he could work through it while he took baths. This time that device wasn't properly mounted, and the laptop fell in the bathwater. Kind of a sad way to go. He was using his late wife's body to make the robot. His partner in the project is continuing his research. He decided to work on 2 robots, using his partner's body and the wife's that was already being worked on. Kind of freaky.When everyone was gone, they came to 'life' and walked all the way to a gundam statue seeming to be praying to it. At least, they were finally together again...Plus, no one was murdered in this one. In Rurouni Kenshin, they're still battling the gang that's holding Megumi. They made it to the commander at least. 

In Hitman Reborn, they started the battles for the guardian rings. Finally made it that far in the manga! It was a pretty cool part in the anime, too. The first round is Ryohei vs Lussuria of Varia for the Sun ring. Sun guardians tend to be very athletic and good with their fists and/or feet. Ryohei's into boxing, and one of the few members in the boxing club at the school. Lussuria's into martial arts. He has a metal knee with a metal plate over it. The match was in a boxing ring with lights shone on it as bright as the sun. Lussuria has sunglasses on, so it's not a problem for him. But, Ryohei's fighting blind. Since it's made to be like a fake sun around them, it can burn them as well as dehydrate them. (Which is what's happening in the pic. He also punched Lussuria's metal plate, that's why he's bleeding.) Later, in the story with the anime, Varia becomes much more likable and don't seem as 'evil'. I like Lussuria even if he's a bit 'odd'. He's very flamboyant. I started liking Ryohei more during the fight, too. He's an amazing fighter. 

Started writing the 6th story to my nightmare anthology. I'm starting it off seemingly innocent. Although, the idea itself sounds freaky. Later, it might be hard to write since it's so gruesome.But, hopefully I can muddle through it.

Played my clarinet. Did some advanced classical solos and jazz tunes. Only a few mistakes this time. Not bad. Better than when I played last Saturday. On Saturday I managed to do it for an hour, but didn't sound that great at the beginning. Hoping to play during the weekends again. 

日本語

Today I studied more compounds for 反. 反感 or はんかん (hankan): antipathy, revolt, animosity. 反逆 or はんぎゃく (hangyaku): treason, treachery, mutiny, rebellion, insurrection. 反響 or はんきょう (hankyou): echo, reverberation, repercussion, reaction, influence. 反語 or はんご (hango): irony, rhetorical question, antonym, word in reverse. 反抗 or はんこう (hankou): opposition, resistance, insubordination, defiance, hostility, rebellion. 反作用 or はんさよう (hansayou): reaction. 反芻 or はんすう (hansuu): rumination, regurgitation, chewing the cud; turning over in one's mind, thinking over something, pondering, musing. 

National Carrot Cake Day!

Mood:

Yay for carrot cake! I'm not usually a big fan of it, but when done right I absolutely love it. Some have too much frosting, some are too dense, some have too much 'stuff', etc.It's great when it's simple and light on the frosting. I also don't like when the frosting is too rich. So, I guess the conditions have to be right...It's a pretty interesting dessert though. Yesterday was Crepe Day. I love crepes!I had an opportunity to make them in my high school French class. They were easy, but awesome! Plus, you can stuff it with any filling(s) you want. It's pretty versatile. They come in all sorts of sizes, too.

This my wallpaper for February. It has various characters from Hitman Reborn. The short one in the middle is Tsuna, Mukuro is to the left of him, Hibari's on the other side, Fran and Mammon are to the left of Mukuro, Yuni is below them, Chrome is under her, Giotto (or Primo) is at the bottom left corner, Dino's at the top right corner, Gokudera's to the right of Hibari, Bel's next to him, and Yamamoto is at the bottom right corner. If they really wanted a group pic, I'm a little disappointed that Ryohei and Lambo aren't there.(They're Tsuna's other guardians. There are others in the pic who are allies, but at least have all the guardians...) But, then again they don't even have Reborn, who's a pretty central character. The design is more like the manga's, so that's interesting. I still like it, and it has some of my fave characters. 

My Italy calendar features Capri this month. Interesting how they have me going from Venice in the north to Capri in the south the next month. Skipping over everything in between.They apparently highlight each region it features, so now there are two darkened areas. There's a little info on the region and its history. The main pic is a view of Capri with Vesuvius on the mainland in the distance. There are a bunch of houses/other buildings close to each other overlooking a cliff. Vesuvius looks interesting barely peaking out from the clouds. 

My Jewish calendar features a parochet, and the maker's unknown. It's made out of textile, silk, velvet, silver thread, glass, brass, and cotton. From The Hague, Netherlands; 1885 and 1932. A parochet is a curtain that covers the Torah ark in a synagogue. Some change it according to what holidays are being observed. Like, generally a white one is used during the High Holy Days or the days starting with Rosh Hashanah and continuing to Yom Kippur. (Also considered the 10 Days of Awe.) The most important holidays of the year for us. They can come in many different designs and colors (for other times during the year). This one has 2 lions guarding the tablets and a crown over them, there's a curtain designed around them with a crown on top of it, and an excerpt of a text in Hebrew under that, the sides have star of Davids' going up and down it, there's a bottom fringe to it. They also feature a parochet crown which had an anonymous maker. It's made out of textile, velvet, metallic thread, glass, and silver. From Germany; 1865-1890. The last one is a mirror parochet that also had an anonymous maker. It's made out of textile, velvet, gold thread, and sequins. From Dwingeloo, Netherlands; 1897. Very interesting stuff.

The month-long holidays are: Berry Fresh Month, Canned Food Month, Celebration of Chocolate Month, Great American Pies Month, National Cherry Month, National Hot Breakfast Month, Potato Lover's Month, American Heart Month, National African American History Month, National Pet Dental Health Month, National Women Inventors Month. Some are important causes, some are to make you appreciate things you may take for granted, and some are just for fun. I love all the food related ones! Heart health is very important. It's also very important to go over African American history. People tend to not think about the dental health of their pet, so that's good to promote too. And, it's pretty awesome that women inventors are celebrated throughout the month. Very important ones this month.

Well, so far I've done all my exercise stuff this week.(I know it's only Monday, but still...) I got both my 2-mile walks in (a bit more difficult to squeeze in on laundry day), and did my morning sit-ups. Decided to start over at 60 sit-ups twice a day this week. Its been a while since I actually did a full week of them. I think I'll keep it all up this week!It's a really good start! Just need to do my evening sit-ups before going to bed, for today. I also went to bed early and got up early, like I've been trying to do. Hopefully, I can keep it up. I think I have more energy during the day when I do that. Plus, I feel like I have more of a day. 

Yesterday, we went to Costco and Trader Joe's for our monthly shopping trip. Got some cool stuff. I found some sliced honey roasted turkey for sandwiches. The slices are really thick, but it's very good. The only problem is it's 2 pounds of meat.Hopefully, we can finish it before it goes bad. It's one of those no preservative ones, so they go quicker than some of the other types. I don't know, maybe since it's so good it might be eaten up by then. Also, got some all chicken breakfast sausages. I'm not used to having breakfast sausage. It's also got some apple and sage in there. Tried some earlier today, and it was very good. There are a lot of them, as well. But, they can be frozen for a long time. I love trying new stuff.There were a few other interesting things, too. Also, got another candle at a different place while we were getting the other stuff we needed. This time it's called Pure Vanilla Joy. It smells awesome!It doesn't even have to be lit and it smells. The one I had before was Apple Cinnamon, and it wasn't as great. Too much cinnamon smell. 

We went to Red Robin for dinner after we went to Costco and Trader Joe's. I didn't really feel like having a savory kind of 'dinner'. So, I got their chocolate brownie cake. Which is more like a chocolate molten lava cake with ice cream on top. The sauce around it had strawberries in a 'berry' syrup. (The berry was probably raspberry and strawberry.) The ice cream had more of that syrup and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. It looked very sloppily put together, but was really good.All the TVs were tuned in to the Super Bowl. So, you couldn't escape it. There weren't very many people there. The few who were, were mostly shouting at the TV. Our local team won by a landslide. I think I heard that this was their first Super Bowl win. Good for them. There might be a parade soon, too.