Star Wars: The Force Awakens review (spoilers obviously)

So I went on Saturday at noon at the mall near me and this is my take on it:
I LIKED IT ALOT!
So I read the Young Jedi Knights books as a kid and my mom told me about a lot of the happenings in the Expanded Universe since she read a ton of the books. Here's what I know from the books:
Hans and Leia get married and have three kids - twins Jacen and Jaina and then Anakin. Luke marries Mara Jade (Emperor's Hand) and has a kid, Ben. Luke starts a Jedi Academy on Yavin IV. Jacen is good with animals but turns to the dark side and is totes evil until he gets killed, Jaina is good with mechanical stuff and is an amazing pilot, and Chewie dies saving Anakin. And there are clones. You think someone is gone but nope. Except Chewie - he's totally dead. His nephew Lowbacca (Lowie) is friends with Jacen and Jaina and they go to the Jedi Academy.
So in the movie, I was super happy that Chewie doesn't die! He might be my favorite character from the Original and Prequel Trilogies. I was so tense every time he was on the screen - he and Han walking down corridors with Chewie in the back and not looking behind him was too stressful. I'm thinking Rey is Luke's daughter. Since they gave Ben to Han and Leia, I'm thinking Rey is Jaina and is Luke's daughter. UPDATE: I'm now thinking Rey could be a Kenobi, since she has the British accent.
I liked BB-8! I was worried that he wouldn't live up to the hype, but they gave him personality and he had good chemistry with the cast.

Overall, two thumbs up :) :) :) and I will totally see it again.

Independence Day Adventure

 So this weekend (Independence Day), my husband and I drove to Virginia Beach for an awesome weekend. Our trip down was fine, our stay was great, but then came the ride home. It took about 4 hours to drive down, but it took about 7 hours to get home. All because of 301.
Our GPS decided that was the route to take. Our GPS was very misled. At one point the road narrows to one lane to get over a bridge - to do this crossing, a 10 mile stretch of road took over two hours. Yes, it was horrible. As we were waiting there, I should have taken pictures of the decrepit buildings. Some looked like they had not been updated since the 50's.
 After finally crossing that bridge, we realized it was close to 9pm (we were suppose to arrive back home at 8pm originally) and we needed to stop somewhere to eat. We are not fans of Burger King or McDonald's, so we were looking for a Wendy's. We could not find one, so we decided on Taco Bell (yes, bad idea). The one that is right here: Taco Bell on 301 They were playing country music, were out of straws, and took quite a while to give us our tacos. I should fill out the survey on the recipe. Anyways, after leaving there we needed to turn around to get back on track to go home.
 Around here is when I think our GPS was hacked by Steven King or someone like that. Our GPS decided that Parkway Subdivision Road was a great place to travel down to turn around via Race Car Place and Industrial Parkway. The Google Map street view does not do this road justice: creepy road The trees are all very tall now, and it was dark. We pulled off the main road and stopped right there. We noticed the mailboxes all lined up at the road, meaning the mailman doesn't even venture back there. Mark turned on the high beams, and the lights lit up the dirt path disappearing into the tall dark trees with no signs of life back there. I wish we had taken a picture. We both said ABORT ABORT ABORT and got back on the main road.
 We turned around at the next intersection, which happened to be Shining Willow Way (remind you of a horror movie?). And we decided to ignore the GPS as she tried to take us through inner city D.C. at night instead of just staying on the highways. Eventually we made it home!
 One last note about the trip - we were driving along on a rural road (probably was 301) and were passing a huge corn field with no houses in sight. About halfway through the cornfield, we spotted a sign on the side of the road... for a school bus drop-off. Remind you of another horror movie? Yeah it was weird.
 Moral of the story: Sometimes your GPS seems to be plotting against you.

How I draw a comic

How I draw a comic to post at Comical True Story:

 I start out by drawing a cell. How do I get them the same size? I found this nifty pad of paper somewhere. And yes, that's a retro pencil there.

 I then go to my idea book and select a comic to draw.

I first draw in pencil, then I ink it. After erasing the pencil, I scan it to my computer, crop, and post. Pretty simple.

How to make peanut butter

It's really quite easy. You need:

Peanuts. That's the only ingredient (they don't need to be super extra-large, but I went to Costco and that's what they have). As a side note, you want to check the ingredients to make sure there's just peanuts in there (you'd be surprised what some brands add to just peanuts). NOTE: You can use whatever nuts you want! Doesn't have to just be peanuts - mix it up (ha) and use mixed nuts or whatever strikes your fancy!

You will use: 

A food processor, spatula, and jar. If you use a mason or other small-neck jar, you'll want a jar spatula (makes less of a mess).

Now for making peanut butter!

First, put the peanuts in the food processor. 

 Blend them up.

 Scrape down every once in a while (maybe 3 times?). If you have a strong processor, you don't really need to do this part. 

 It should go all granular then start thickening.

Scrape it down and up (sometimes a layer gets stuck on the bottom and doesn't mix in).

 You're done when it balls up (you can kinda see the ball of peanut butter on the far side below). UPDATE! Don't stop at this stage - wait for it to get back to liquid (a minute or two more) and you won't have to mix your butter as much in the comic days.

 That's done! UPDATE it's not done, mix longer so it's all liquid, not a big ball.

 Mix it til you have your desired consistency, but you want it rather creamy. I think if you want it chunky (I haven't tried this), add more peanuts about now and just blend a little bit. Actually you want to chop some nuts separately then hand mix them in.

 Put it in your jar!

 And that's all! Well, other than cleaning your dishes and such. You don't have to refrigerate it, but it won't separate if in the fridge.
 Enjoy!

Settlers in a Pit

 What if you combined the games Settlers of Catan and Pit? I'm thinking through how this would work. You'd start the game like any Settlers game, but when it came time for your turn it would get interesting. Instead of saying "two sheep for a brick!" you'd just say "2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2" or maybe "2 for 1, 2 for 1, 2 for 1" or something like that. I'm thinking players can only trade with the person whose turn it is (like in the regular game, you can only trade with the person whose turn it is). The turn would end when you end the bidding, build your stuff, and hand the dice to the next player. You could get in the situation where the one player is like "1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1" and everyone says "we don't have one to trade!!!!!" and it would be just like regular Catan.
 Someone needs to try this and report back.

Let It Go

What if, when you needed to fire someone, you did so by sending them the song "Let It Go" with the message "We need to let you go" - would that soften the layoff? Also could add "As you go away, don't slam the door" or "We don't care what you're going to say."

Conversely,  you could use the song as part of your resignation letter. "You can't hold me back any more" and "I don't care what you're going to say" work quite well as part of a resignation, especially from a less-than-optimal work situation. Also could add "One thought crystallizes like an icy blast: I'm never coming back - the past is in the past!" But that could burn some bridges...

Motherhood vs Fatherhood

 Why is it that we train up little girls to be mothers, but don't train up little boys to be fathers? If little girls play with baby dolls because they want to be mothers, shouldn't little boys play with baby dolls (to a lesser extent) because they want to be fathers? I know mothers are the primary caretaker of little kids, but fathers should be quite involved as well (for the sanity of the mother, if nothing else).
 I've heard it said that motherhood is the greatest calling a woman can have (and I do believe it is crucially important), but why is it that fatherhood is not seen as a great calling as well? To put it plainly, why is it seen as weird if a girl does not aspire to be a mother, but it's totally fine if a boy does not aspire to be a father? Why do we glorify motherhood but stay silent on fatherhood?
 I understand that fathers are normally the ones bringing in the paycheck (i.e. primary job away from the home) while mothers stay home and take care of the kids and house (i.e. primary job inside of the home), but shouldn't parenting be done by both parents? Shouldn't both parents see their primary job as parenting? If there are two adults in the household but only one is doing the parenting, it is basically a single-parent household.