Avengers On Ice

Ok, so I was wrong. I awoke to what appeared to be three inches of snow. I was originally going to go to the gym this morning, but the road still hadn't been cleared at 10AM, and the sky looked pearly-gray and iffy. I ended up finishing The Fences Between Us and writing in my journal instead, with the radio disco-ing away in the background.

(Incidentally, Fences was a hard read but a touching and well-written one. Piper, a thirteen-year-old girl living in Seattle in the early 40s, learns a difficult lesson in prejudice and sacrifice when her father, a minster for a Japanese church, follows his congregation as they're moved to a concentration camp in Idaho. Piper makes friends with the people there, and through her beloved camera, she discovers that no one is an enemy when you come to understand them. I actually kind of wish her Japanese friend Betty had been the protagonist so we could see life in the concentration camps first-hand, but other than that, this was an excellent, if harrowing, story. Oh, and the deaths of several major characters and fairly graphic descriptions of life in the concentration camps and in the war in the Pacific definitely make this a story for teens Piper's age and older.)

It was 11:30 before I finally settled down to putting the shelf together. Needless to say, it took me far less time to get it finished today than it did New Year's Eve. For one thing, I was doing it in the middle of the day, not during dinner. I was off today, too, so there was no need to rush. My morning had gone just fine, so I wasn't yelling at myself over every little thing. I had a good idea of put it together now, too. I got the shelf done and set up and the DVDs organized in two hours.

The shelf didn't fit where I was originally going to put it, so it went where the rack used to be. It did fit there (barely). I loaded it with the comedies and action and drama films and moved the holiday DVDs back to the smaller cherry heart cut-out shelf. To my delight, the DVDs barely took up two shelves. I didn't have as much overflow as I thought. Even moving the animated movies over just took up another shelf. I moved some of the non-entertainment books from the music area and put them on the bottom shelf. Moved the winter seasonal stuffed animals to the first shelf from the baker's rack, and the horses and remaining stuffed animals on the cherry heart shelf to the new one. The cherry Ikea shelf wound up staying right where it is. It's perfect. I love how everything looks now, and how much room I have.

Miss Ellie called me as I was finishing up the entertainment area. Apparently, I had a package in the mail. I pulled on my snow boots and headed out the door to pick it up...and barely got three steps before I realized I felt something crunchy under my feet. That "snow" was ice! It might have been snow early this morning, but it had probably rained this morning, and it must have frozen over. Just walking downstairs to pick up the package and the rest of my mail was treacherous. It was sloppy and messy, and the street still hadn't been plowed.

I never went anywhere else today. Made vegetable soup for lunch as I watched the two Backyardigans episodes revolving around snow and ice, "The Snow Fort" and "The Yeti". As "Knights are Brave and Strong" wound down, I decided that since I couldn't get outside, I would try what came in that package - a series of yoga DVDs done by a man who had designed his own yoga course to lose weight after many years of struggling. Lauren said it was a really good workout, and she loved it. I need a faster workout than the yoga and pilates DVD I have provides, one that really gets your heart pumping.

Well, this certainly did that! I just did the ten minute "Wake Up" and the 30 minute "Strength Up" discs, and I was breathing hard afterwards. The fellow was energetic and noisy, but fun. He did some typical yoga moves, often renamed to make them more "manly" (i.e, Child's Pose was called Safety Zone), and some of his own, such as the Black Diamond (basically, pull your arms back, pull out your chest, and breathe). There was also a lot of push-ups and crunches, and a lot of standing poses. I can do crunches, but push ups...forget it. My legs (except the bum knees) are fine. Bike riding every day will do that. My arms can't hold much of anything, including me. I just did Child's/Safety pose.

My neighbor Michael appeared while the DVD was running. He finally shoveled and salted my porch and steps. He said he regretted doing it earlier when it was slush, confirming my suspicion that it must have rained and hardened later this morning.

Ran movies while making sugar-free Apple Muffins and Italian Chicken and Tomatoes and steamed broccoli for dinner. I've been meaning to watch Captain America: The First Avenger since Christmas Eve, and have put off viewing The Aviator since October! The reason? Both movies are really long - The Aviator is over 2 hours! - and I simply haven't had the time.  I didn't get to all of The Aviator tonight, but I did do Captain America.

While I'm not a comic books fan, I did have some idea of the Captain's story going in. Once a 98-pound weakling named Steve Rogers who wanted to join the Army during World War II, the young man is injected with a serum that turns him into a huge, hulking youth. Turns out another man, a Nazi who has formed his own organization, has also been injected with the serum...and gone mad. He takes a whole battalion hostage in the hopes of turning them into super-beings, too. Steve was originally just used as a patriotic prop to encourage people to do what they can for their country. When he hears that his best friend has gone missing with the battalion, he becomes determined to rescue them...and then the serum...no matter what the cost.

This was done by the same director who did The Rocketeer, and it does show. The movies have a great deal in common, from the "little guys vs. big guys" spirit to the attempt to show that not everyone who is a German or of Japanese origin (a member of the battalion points out quickly that he's from San Fransisco) is bad, even during wartime. If you're even a mild comics fan or a fan of this era, it's highly recommended...especially if you have any interest in this summer's upcoming Avengers movie.