Yes/No Detroit

Quarantine, end of week 12. Things were pretty "normal" this week in my home—I'm getting used to living in a chopped up house—with the exception of some wasps. In the U.S., however, things were far from normal.

What I've been up to this week:Cooking. My EveryPlate box was supposed to arrive last Friday; I got an email from UPS saying it was arriving MONDAY, which was pretty annoying. It ended up showing up on Saturday. I have another one coming today, as well. Watching the news. Protests going on in all 50 states at one point, I read, and luckily most were peaceful. Chasing wasps. I REALLY hope my (already torn up) condo doesn't have a wasp infestation ... yesterday one appeared out of nowhere, and it was the third one in about two weeks. I'm terrified of wasps but I chased it down with my electric racket, and finally killed it. Yesterday I saw a grey moth in my house as well. So I'm hoping they're not all hanging out in the exposed rafters or somethin…

The Hunt is now out on digital, and will be out on Blu-ray and DVD on June 9th. Two of my lucky readers will win a digital code for the movie!

About the film:
Who is the hunter and who is the hunted? Decide for yourself! From producer Jason Blum (The Invisible Man, Halloween), director Craig Zobel (Z for Zachariah, “The Leftovers”) and writers Damon Lindelof (“Watchmen,” “The Leftovers”) and Nick Cuse (“Maniac,” “Watchmen”) comes a “clever, gory, often very funny” (Ty Burr, The Boston Globe) film that has “all the makings of a cult classic” (Forbes), as THE HUNT arrives on Digital May 26, 2020 and on Blu-ray™ and DVD June 9, 2020 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. Featuring  “a seriously cool action performance” (William Bibbiani, The Wrap) from Betty Gilpin (“Glow”), THE HUNT includes behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of this suspenseful thriller.

Twelve strangers wake up in a clearing. They don’t know where they are, or how they got there. They don't know they’v…

Quarantine, end of week 11. This week was infinitely better than the last, probably because I returned to my condo (admittedly a chopped up condo, but still with working A/C), and wasn't living out of a hotel.


What I've been up to this week:
Moving back to my condo. I checked out of the hotel on Saturday and have been living here ever since. They're now saying they won't start work until 3-4 weeks, probably from NEXT week, but I have working A/C ... the only minor annoyances are I am minus one light in my kitchen, and my upstairs bathroom has half a floor (they had to take it out due to water damage). Cooking. I cooked my remaining EveryPlate meals when I got home, and I'm receiving a new EveryPlate box today. I originally was going to get Blue Apron this week, but canceled it since I didn't know if I'd have use of my kitchen this week ... really I should have just delayed it till Thursday or Friday, but I didn't think about that. Most of the meal deliver…

Quarantine, end of week 10. Can we please go back to last week, where my greatest concerns were getting some exercise and wondering why my meal boxes were one day late?

On Sunday, around 5:30pm, it sounded like it was raining hard outside; I went to the 2nd floor of my condo, and everything was soaked. It was "raining" in my kitchen, too. I called a neighbor and she showed me where the water shutoff switch was, but by then, everything was wet. I had to file an insurance claim (luckily I have homeowners' insurance) and then the remediation/restoration people came out with fans to start the drying process.

The cause was actually the hose that connects my washer/dryer to the water—apparently it's a 24/7 "live" line, and the hose, which looked very old, had split. My washer/dryer is very old too—probably about as old as I am—and luckily is still functioning, though now I'd like to get a new one sometime this year, hopefully when stores reopen.

I've been…

*Disclosure: I received a screener of this film to review. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

I wasn't sure what to expect from The Vast of Night, but based on its premise it looked interesting. Unfortunately, I wasn't fully engrossed in the film until the very end.

Synopsis:(Google) In the 1950s, two kids search for the source of a mysterious frequency that has descended on their town.

(Amazon Prime) In the twilight of the 1950s, on one fateful night in New Mexico, a young switchboard operator Fay (Sierra McCormick) and charismatic radio DJ Everett (Jake Horowitz) discover a strange audio frequency that could change their small town and the future forever.

For the first ten to twenty minutes of this movie, there is a lot of talking, and not much action; finally, the leads figure out that something strange is going on, and it's then that the action starts.

The leads (McCormick and Horowitz) are good here but I found the film hard to get into, and also a little…

Quarantine, end of week 9, and I made the mistake of weighing myself ... ugh. They don't call it the "COVID-19-15" for nothing ... my goal for next week is to step up the walking, I only walked like one time this week though I hope to on Sunday as well.


What I've been up to this week:
Cooking and ordering takeout. More of the former, surprisingly. I had EveryPlate boxes last week and this week, and last night I made a BBQ chicken sandwich with fries, which was okay. I think my favorite EP meal from last week was the sweet and smokey meatloaf. Last Saturday, the Church at Clawson and Barb's Pizza and Perry's Pizza were giving away free pizzas, so I went and got one, since it's literally down the street ... I was thinking they'd be small but instead it was a HUGE pepperoni pizza (pictured above), so I ended up freezing most of it. On Sunday, I made the mistake of trying to get Indian food delivered through GrubHub—since it was Mother's Day, they were …

Quarantine, end of week 8. Our governor just extended the stay-at-home order until May 28th, which I'm not super surprised about, but she also opened up some job sectors that aren't very people-y, like real estate, construction, etc.


What I've been up to this week:
Ordering from Postmates, with various luck. Last Friday I had a $25 referral code to use, so I wanted to order some Indian food, which I had been craving, from Postmates. However, they really don't have many Indian places to choose from, so I ended up trying out Ahan Thai, in Royal Oak. The delivery driver apologized to me because he said the app had him pick up my order first, then make a few other deliveries, then deliver to me last ... my food was still warm-ish but could have been warmer.

Then yesterday, Postmates was offering a promo code, "SENDAPINT," for free ice cream for friends/family. I tried sending one to my parents' and boyfriend but there were no Postmates drivers in the area. For …

April is finally over ... not that May is going to be any different, but at least it's a fresh new month. This marks the end of week 7 of quarantine. Technically the "stay at home" order ends May 15th, but I wouldn't be surprised if the governor extends it until end of May—Gov. Whitmer just extended the restaurant closures until May 28th, as of yesterday.


What I've been up to this week:
Doing takeout. On Saturday, I had a $20 Sedona Taphouse gift certicate that was expiring, so I used that for their chicken marsala and mashed whipped potatoes. The food was just okay, but I give them kudos for their curbside procedure; myself and a few other cars were lined up outside the restaurant, and they brought out a few orders at a time. On Sunday, BJ's Brewhouse (Sterling Heights, Taylor, Livonia) sent me a $10 coupon, so I trekked over to the SH location to get takeout; I couldn't resist that + their current deals, which include a free Pizookie with orders over $9.…

End of week 6 of quarantine. Our governor is expected to extend the stay-at-home order until mid-May, but some stuff may open up May 1st (mostly outdoorsy things, like golf courses, etc.).


What I've been up to this week:
Doing takeout/delivery. Probably too much, to be honest, but oh well. Last Saturday after my infusion, I got Panera Bread curbside takeout, and I was very impressed with them; I didn't even have to "check in" via the link they emailed, I literally pulled up to the curb and someone was out with my order. They also threw in a free muffie (muffin top), which was great. On Tuesday, Wing Snob in Sterling Heights was offering five free wings, so I stopped by there and also ordered some garlic parmesan fries, which were delicious. On Wednesday, I did delivery from KouZina, in Royal Oak, since they were offering free delivery and I was craving chicken lemon soup; the food was tasty, but it was still kind of pricey. Cooking. I received a Home Chef box this week…

I haven't done an all-out personal/rambly post since my Xanga days, but here goes.

If it gives you any indication of what life is like nowadays, I thought this was quarantine week 5, until I looked back at my calendar. On March 13, I brought my laptop home from work, "just in case," and by Monday, March 16, coronavirus had ramped up so much that we were highly encouraged to work from home. The week after that, most of the office was working at home, and that brings us to now, end of April.

I live by myself. I have always enjoyed living by myself, but lately it has been really hard. I consider myself a self-sufficient person, but I think human beings in general are not supposed to be without other humans, or at least having conversations with them, for this long. I had a ten-minute conversation with a condo neighbor the other day and that was the longest in-person conversation I had had in weeks.

It's been about 5-6 weeks now since I've seen my parents or my boyf…

*Disclosure: I received a digital copy of this movie for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.


I was excited to recently receive a digital review copy of Wendy, which is headed straight to digital during this pandemic; I had seen the trailer a while back and it looked like an interesting new interpretation of Peter Pan. Wendy wasn't entirely what I expected, but was more of a coming-of-age story.

IMDb synopsis: Lost on a mysterious island where aging and time have come unglued, Wendy must fight to save her family, her freedom, and the joyous spirit of youth from the deadly peril of growing up.

I feel like the title is kind of misleading here; The Lost Boys would have been more appropriate, since it wasn't entirely Wendy's story. It basically follows her and her group as they go to a "mysterious island" (aka Neverland), where kids don't grow up; except some kids DO grow up, as we find out later, since we meet some "pirates,&q…

End of week 5 of quarantine (yes, I'm still counting), and I finally broke down and ordered a desk and nice office chair. I ordered both on Wednesday afternoon and the desk showed up one day later, which really impressed me (shoutout to Staples.com!) and the chair will be here Monday.


What I've been up to this week:
Doing takeout. More than usual; last Saturday, I got pepperoni bread and a mushroom pizza from Saroki's Pizza, which is in a Shell station on Woodward in RO, because I had a $10 gift certificate that was expiring. The pizza itself was just okay but the pepperoni bread was DELICIOUS, and I had a ton of leftovers. They also did curbside carryout for me, which I appreciated. Sunday was Easter so I did my Bob Evans ham order, and was pretty disappointed in that ... the food itself was okay, but they lost my online order - at 5pm, for a 5:30pm pickup, I got an email from them saying the order was never communicated to the restaurant. I called the restaurant and they l…

Congrats kids, we've made it to the end of week 4 of quarantine ... and we are going to be here a while, as Governor Whitmer just announced that we are quarantined until the end of April (4/30, to be exact). Yay.


What I've been up to this week:
Same stuff as last week, mostly, including cooking. I had an EveryPlate box last week, and I made honey butter chicken (see above; was supposed to be chili honey butter but I can't do spice) and a few other tasty meals, including Mediterranean pitas. This week I have Dinnerly, so far I have cooked a "Chinese takeout pepper steak" which was just okay ... it was more sweet than peppery, for some reason. Next week is Dinnerly as well. Doing takeout, although not too much. On Tuesday I was already out so I grabbed Detroit Wing Company for dinner - their happy hour deal (3-5pm, every day) is fantastic, they do 40% off boneless wings. Normally you can order online but for the HH deal you have to go in-person or call ahead. I have …