Thor cosplay: Mjolnir

    On January 17, 2018, I started work on Mjolnir, what I figured would be the easiest or at least most forgiving part of a female Thor cosplay. In and around various other projects, I built an external framework, filled it with foam, and watched it explode awkwardly out badly-joined seams. On March 26, I gave it up as a bad idea.

 

     Version 2 started off on May 27th, using a solid core this time: two yoga blocks. I carved a channel for the handle, used a butter knife blade to ensure it would all stay together (this was before I knew about contact cement), and filled in the gap with caulk and extra EVA foam strips.

Greenhouse/ craft area

     For the last few years, I've built a small but useful greenhouse under the back porch to keep potted plants over the winter. It was cramped and simple, but it did its job, and gave my gentleman somewhere covered to smoke in nasty weather.

     Unfortunately, because it was small and just closed in with 2x4s, the smoke would largely come back in the house with him when he re-entered, and then slowly seep out all the sides... including the one where the air intake for the HVAC sits.

Why people hate insurance companies

     In early October, I received a letter from my insurance company asking for documentation to support an insurance claim from a visit in May. Annoying, but more annoying because it was a yearly checkup at a practice that I'd been to the year before - also for a yearly checkup, also coded in plain English on the claim as a yearly checkup - that they'd contested and I'd proven was covered. But, bureaucracy, so ok, I gather the documents and send an email as requested on October 24th, well within their 45 day response time.

     No acknowledgement of receipt, no response.

     Two weeks pass, the deadline to submit passes...

Delicious baking error

    A while back, I was in the process of making cookies and my brain somehow short-circuited. I'd mixed together butter, eggs, sugar, and brown sugar, then confidently grabbed the eggs from the fridge and dropped two more in. Not really sure why, but of course I only realized it after I'd added both, and was standing there, staring at the soupy mix in confusion. Should I toss it? Double the whole recipe? Attempt to scoop out the extra eggs? All of those required significant effort, and I was already tired, so I said to heck with it, it's extra protein, I'll just continue on and see what happens (always a good idea...).

     What happened is I ended up with something more like muffin batter than cookie dough - not as wet as cake batter, but definitely too sticky to roll into cookies. Again, though, I was too invested in it to stop, so I just dumped it all into an 8 x 8 pan and shoved it into the oven to see what would happen.