Shake n Bake...and I helped.

I cooked up some chili yesterday. It is pretty good; not as good as the chili from Hard Times Cafe, but they create chili professionally, so I'm not taking it too hard. When I first moved into my apartment, my mom let me bring a whole bunch of pots and pans from her and my stepfather's kitchen, but I only used the smallish ones so a few months ago I gave her back the big ones that were just taking up space. Of course those would have come in handy last night, but oh well.

I cooked the turkey meat in two shifts, and then the actual chili in two more shifts. It was good practice. My kitchen looked like an assembly line. I was even bright enough to freeze most of it, since I already have a whole bunch of perishable things. Also I cannot wait for the Thanksgiving leftovers! My mom is all crazy-Atkinsy and will not want to keep anything around, so I need to prepare for a major Tupperware influx.

As far as the Mouse v2 goes, I may have been hasty. I left traps out all weekend, sprinkled with Cheerios, and nothing has happened, so maybe I really do have a ghost-daughter haunting me and making the rustling noises in the walls. Although, hello, daughter? Choosing a studio apartment for your "haunting n' hanging around" was not so bright. Next time, find a yuppie couple with one of those fancy new condos down the street. The hardwood floors and metal spiral staircases will sound great with those chains I know you're itching to drag around.

Yesterday I did see Bridget Jones part 2, and I am sorry to say that it was baaaaaad. Whoever adapted it from the book made a lot of wrong decisions, because the book is great, but the screenwriter changed and added and deleted things crazily. So the plot was more convoluted than it had to be (Bridget would get all mad at Mark for something, and it would seem to come from nowhere because key scenes had been left out), and even the dialogue was illogical.

Plus what was up with Renee Zellweger being so incredibly squinty / pouty? I know that is her schtick, even in real life, but she took it to a very bad place in this movie. And I loved her in the first, so it makes me sad.

HOWEVER. Hugh Grant can do that thing where he wears that blue shirt and leaves it partly unbuttoned and then leans over and whispers and has those blue eyes in ANY DAMN MOVIE HE WANTS. Even in this one. He was the one redeeming factor, and my friend Azalea agrees with this. There was that one scene where he and Bridget were making out that we had to watch through our fingers, because we were freaking out so much over the hotness. Who knew I was such a slave to the man-cleavage? Is news to me.