Super Koala: Summer Countdown Final Update 2

Hello Cap’t Spazzmataz, who is sitting two feet away from me.  Maybe three.  I’m terrible at distance.

Even though we are in each others presence, I am still going to do my weekly summer update.  As of today’s end, there are only seven days left!

1. Catch Up on My 2015 Reading Challenge – Sadly, I only read three books this week.  That means I am still seven books behind for my challenge.  Strength.

2. Do 1,000 squats and 1,000 sit ups – I have a remaining 670 squats and 630 sit ups.  Crunch time.  Bazinga.

3. Run 50 miles and do 50 total minutes of planks – 28.9 miles left.  I really don’t want to talk about the planks…

5. Cook three new meals – I cooked something!  I successfully cooked this Cajun Chicken Alfredo Pasta, the recipe for which can be found here.

As can be viewed by the picture, my finished product was not nearly as beautiful as seen on its blog of origin.  Also, it easily took me double the times provided to make the sauce.  But I got so many compliments on the finished product.  Sparhawk took it to work, and everyone wanted the recipe.  Two meals left.

8. Watch five things off my Netflix “List” – Thus far, I have finished Orange is the New Black.  I also watched Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2 (adorable) and Repo! The Genetic Opera (dark).  That means I have two left.

12. Finish Kingdom Hearts I – So. Much. To. Play.  I’m only at Wonderland.  Shame.

13. See four movies – This past week I finally took the time to see Spy.  It was so, so, so good.  I loved it, which is something I never thought I’d say about a Jason Statham movie.  Also, Jude Law looks like he’s had horrible plastic surgery on his mouth.  Sadness.  Two movies left!

14. Write 25 pages – Six pages down, nineteen to go.  Whaddup.

Super Koala: Summer Final Countdown Update 1

Hello Sisterly!

As my list is large and lengthy, I decided I would write weekly updated to inform you of my progress toward said goals.  I must admit, I have forgotten about some of them.  Obviously, I need to double my efforts!

Anyhow.  Thus far I have tackled the following goals:

1. Catch Up on My Summer Reading Goals – I read five books this week!  Lamentably, I’m still eight books behind.  I shall get there.

2. Squats/Sit Ups – I sort of forgot about this one.  That being, I have 870 and 830 left of each.

7. Reorganize my closet – I am so proud of myself!  I spent so much time yesterday completely reconstructing my closet and it. looks. beautiful.  I have pictures for evidence.

Before:

After:

It’s gorgeous!  And, it was super fun cleaning as the kittens used my closet as a fantastic jungle gym the entire time.  Best cleaning company ever.

11. Go to Silver Dollar City – this one is fully completed.  Sparhawk and I went on Tuesday and encountered the smallest lines we ever have during the summer time.  It was quite pleasant.  We did all of the roller coasters, stopped in at the glass shop, and then Sparhawk surprised me by buying us a cinnamon roll to split.  A very lovely Silver Dollar City day indeed.

13. See four movies – BBKF and I saw Train Wreck this week.  It was way better than I was expecting and gave me a soft spot for LeBron James, which I didn’t think was possible.  Obviously, I need to rewatch Space Jam to reaffirm my forever love of the greatest basketball player: Michael Jordan.

That’s all I got so far!  I’ll keep at it!

#11 – The Giant Cinnamon Roll Adventure

One of our major quests of the summer was to find the best giant cinnamon roll in Springfield. We had three contenders. Hurtz Donuts, Lambert’s Cafe, and Alli’s Family Restaurant. All three places sported very tasty looking giant cinnamon rolls, but we had to figure out which one was the best. We judged on four different criteria: taste, price, size, and appearance.

Taste:

I thought that the cinnamon roll from Lambert’s tasted the best where as Super Koala argued that it was Hurtz. However, we both agreed that Alli’s was the least tasty. Sorry Alli’s.

Price:

This category was much easier to judge because it was based on fact rather than opinion. Lambert’s had the cheapest, Alli’s was in the middle, and Hurtz was the most expensive.

Size:

Both Super Koala and I agreed that Hurtz’s cinnamon roll was the biggest, and Lambert’s and Alli’s were the same size.

Appearance:

I believed Lambert’s cinnamon roll to be the most appealing to look at, followed by Alli’s then Hurtz. Super Koala thought that Lambert’s and Alli’s were lacking something special, so she gave them the same rating with Hurtz bringing um the rear.

We graded on a scale of five. Here are the official ratings.

Super Koala:                                                           Captain Spazzmataz:

Hurtz       Lambert’s       Alli’s                                         Hurtz        Lambert’s        Alli’s

Taste:               5                   4                3                                                4                  5                  3

Price:                3                   5                4                                                3                  5                  4

Size:                  4                   3                3                                                4                  3                  3

Appearance:      3                   4                4                                                3                  5                  4

From the very scientific data above. It is clear that Lambert’s with a total score of 34 out of 40 has won the Giant Cinnamon Roll Challenge, and is now deemed the best giant cinnamon roll in Springfield!

Alli’s 28/40

Hurtz 29/40

Lambert’s 34/40
Winner!

20. Vintage Veranda

 

Today, Captain Spazzmataz and I celebrated a most momentous occasion.  Our MamaBird came to Springfield (tragically to take the Captain away from me.)  Regardless, it is exciting to have her visit.  Not only was this her first time seeing my new house, but it was also her birthday!  To celebrate, we went to a delicious and adorable lunch at the Tea Room at Vintage Veranda, a cute little gem I found not too far from my hizzouse.

After an in depth round of pictures, the enjoyment of the exceptional surroundings, and the perusing of a daily menu, we placed our order.  The food that arrived was absolutely delicious.  Seriously, everyone should go.  The broccoli cheddar soup I had was easily the best broccoli cheddar soup of my life.  Food is served on unique plates, decorated and prepared in a most wonderful fashion.

The folks at the Tea Room are also undeniably evil geniuses.  They have your waiter bring out a dessert tray, clearly displaying the many scrumptious items crying out for consumption.  We were weak in the face of terrific tastiness.  C.S. got herself a macaroon, something she’s become very fond of since our trip to Elle’s, and MamaBird and I split a slice of Butter Finger cake.  Marvelous.

– The Sisters Ravens

P.S. We sadly won’t have a post for Fantastic Caverns or Archery.  We were not able to complete these during Captain’s visit, partially due to happenstance and partially due to MamaBird’s more important birthday festivities.  However, the summer is not over yet, and we hold out hope!  The bucket list shall continue at a later date.

7. Sidewalk Chalk & 16. Askinosie Tour

Well, we are tragically nearing the end of Spazzmataz’s time in Springfield, which means we’re nearing the end of possible time to complete bucket list items.  Needless to say, we are very sad about this.  But we’re also being diligent about completing our list!

Yesterday, the weather was absolutely gorgeous.  It’s gorgeous today, too, as a matter of fact.  To celebrate this, we finally decided to get some quality sidewalk chalking done.

I actually don’t have a sidewalk, so we decided to chalk part of my back patio.  Puppies were very invested.

After a lot of indecision, we decided to chalk a border, which allowed for some idea procrastination.  Ultimately, we went with the sun and moon theme.  Sara took the moon half, and I took the sun.  However, we were interrupted in our endeavors, because we had a tour scheduled at Askinosie Chocolate Factory.

If you’ve never heard of Askinosie, you should definitely look up the company.  They do a lot of incredible things, not only for the Springfield community, but also the global community.  This is particularly amazing when you see how little the establishment is and how few people work there.

Throughout the tour, we learned some interesting things about chocolate making, something I know nothing about for how passionately I enjoy it.  We got to taste test some excellent samples at the end, but at the beginning we tasted what they call “nibs,” which are just roasted cocoa beans.  Captain valiantly ate all of hers, but she’ll probably tell you that was a bad idea.  I only tasted a little and promptly disposed of mine.  I am not so brave.

At the end of the tour we got two cocoa butter based white chocolate bars made from cocoa from the Phillipines and a fancy bar called El Rustico from Honduras.  They are extraordinarily delicious, and the tour was a good time.

We came home, had some excellent dinner prepared by Sparhawk, finished our exquisite chalk masterpiece, snacked on some chocolate, and lazed on the weather.  A+ day, I do think.

– The Sisters Ravens

#24-27 – Le Museums

Yesterday, Super Koala and I made our second to last trip to Branson. This time we visited four museums: Veteran’s Memorial Museum, the Toy Museum, Harold Bell Wright Museum, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum. We got free tickets from our parents who bid on them at an auction.

The first one we visited was the Veteran’s Memorial Museum. I didn’t think it was going to be all that fun, but I think it turned out being my favorite. There were ten rooms and over 2000 items on display. It very much so out did my expectations.

Model USS Missouri

In the first room, there was a model of the USS Missouri. It was one of the biggest ships in Pearl Harbor. It survived the attack and is still there, but it isn’t in use anymore. When I was in Hawaii, we got to play in front of the ship, so It was cool to see it again, even though it was just a model.

We saw a lot of other really cool stuff too. There were so many uniforms from all different years and countries. They were really cool.

There was this really cool old flight helmet and an old organ.

There was a huge list of names of Americans who served and died in WWII, so of course we had to find someone with our last name. There was only one, but it is very possible that it is someone from our family. Many of the boys in our family are named Robert, and many of them have been in the military at one point or another.

In the middle of the room of names, which was the last, was a giant statue depicting 50 soldiers storming a beach and each one had the face of one person who died in each state. Super Koala posed with the man from Missouri.

After we left, we headed to the Toy/Harold Bell Wright Museum. On our way there, we saw a sweet old car, the Titanic, and King Kong.

At the Toy Museum, we discovered that the Harold Bell Wright Museum was actually inside of it. There were so many things to see in the museum. there were a lot of really cool old bikes and little cars. There was also an awesome Disney section.

The Harold Bell Wright Museum was just a small section of the Toy Museum. To document our being there, we took a picture with a lovely photo of him.

The next step in our adventure was Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Museum. Upon entry, we found an odd objects sculpture of a dog with dainty paws!

There were lots of really cool things there, but some of theme were just to creepy or gross for Super Koala to look at. Here are some of the more appealing things we saw.

To get out of the museum, you have to walk through one of those spinning tunnel things. Super Koala tried to be a chicken and go around, but I made her go through it anyway.

All in all, it was a really cool trip and I am glad we went. On our way home we stopped at Fuddruckers for lunch/dinner. It was the first time wither of us had been there, and we were both impressed by the burgers. They also had one of those cool Coke machines that has all of the different flavors of everything. Those are my favorite, and it made the experience even better.

 

 

22. Minigolf

 

On Friday, the Captain and I journeyed to the illustrious and innovative “Fun Acres” for a rousting round of pint-sized hitting balls into holes in the ground.  This statement is actually hilarious because, if you’ve ever been to Fun Acres, you know it is neither of those things.  However!  It is incredibly cheap to play, and it is sort of precious in a slightly-falling apart way.  It’s definitely got character.  Each hole proudly features some sort of gimmick, as all great mini-golf courses do.

I think the dinosaur and the turtle were our personal favorites.  Though, Spazz looks really excited to see that rocket.

Basically, Spazzmataz absolutely crushed the front nine.  Especially in comparison to me, because I got a 10 for two holes.  Par for the front nine was something like 27.  And I got that in just two turns.

But the back nine saved me.  I absolutely killed it, if I do say so myself, and actually made par overall for the back.  Le Capitan could not say the same.  She tragically maxed it out scoring an 11 on one hole and a 15 on another.  This means that I came out the winner, in a true underdog upset.

V is for Victory!

– The Sisters Ravens

#2 – Go Bowling

Yesterday we had a wonderful night out with dinner at Waffle House and bowling afterwards with BBKF and Sparhawk.

I have only gone bowling a handful of times, and the first game we played I definitely lost. Actually, I lost both games, but I still had fun, so that is all that matters! I took a picture of our first sore board, but it was digital and really difficult to see, so I won’t put it into this post. In short, BBKF won, Sparhawk came in second, Super Koala was third, and I came in last (that was the standing for both games).

Sparhawk and BBKF are really competitive and Super Koala and I think they should start a league. Anyway, at the start of the second game, I got two strikes in a row and it was pretty awesome! I felt pretty great. Then, once we were almost done with our last game, they turned off the lights and dropped down screens and played music videos (as represented in the last picture of BBKF). It was a really great time, and I think everyone had fun, so it was a successful night.

 

4. Dollar Movies & 14. 1984 Arcade

 

 

The events highlighted in this post actually occurred on different days.  But they would make for a very small post, so we are doing them together.  The first happened this past Tuesday when Captain Spazzmataz and I went to see Divergent for just a $1.50.  Magical, I know.  Particularly as it normally costs at least 20 dollars for us to see a movie together.  Fortunately Springfield is home to a cute little movie theater that does almost dollar movies on Tuesday.  Chicka-yeah.

Overall, the movie was enjoyable.  I was a little distressed by the inaccuracies to the book, but C.S. has yet to read the book so she was not bothered there.  Unfortunately, we have discovered that all movies are terrible, and there is little happiness to be had in films with real people.  (Thanks, The Fault in Our Stars.)

Our next adventure took place just yesterday, when the Captain embarked on a great culinary adventure.  We went to Kai.

For you potential non-Springfieldians, Kai is kind of fancy.  It’s Japanese style food and their main draw is lots of tasty sushi.  On this absolutely momentous occasion I got the Spazz to try not only my edamame appetizer, but also(!) my sushi!  Which just so happened to be on fire.

This is a phenomenally significant feat.  I’ve been trying to get this to happen for years.  Jury is still out on whether or not she actually liked it.  But hey, I’m happy.

We next walked ourselves to 1984, a really excellent arcade in downtown Springfield.  As the name suggests, everything is time period appropriate to the year 1984.  So basically, lots of sweet, older games that can be played for cheap.  We discovered the absolutely horrifying Rally-X, and were quickly addicted, probably from the trauma-induced adrenaline.  Try playing it for yourself.  You’ll know what I mean by horrifying when you jump for the first time.

After some dawdling at other machines, I reunited with my true video game love, Ms. Pac-Man.  Notably better than Mr. Pac-Man, tucked away shamefully in the corner.  And then it was off to Hurts for some doughnuts, and home for Jimmy Fallon.

Quite the lovely evening.

– The Sisters Ravens

#8 – Origami Party

The Super Koala and I dabbled in origami recently. I don’t know if I would count it as a party, but we did listen to music, and we were together. We used a kit that I had gotten a while ago. It had lots of origami paper and an instruction booklet that shows how to make many different geometric shapes.

The first project we did was a pinwheel.

It required two sheets of paper each, and we had to cut them into four squares. Seeing that neither Super Koala or I are expert cutters, this was a very difficult and time consuming step.

Once we finished cutting, we each had eight squares. After lots of folding and a few frustrations, our squares looked like polygons.

Then we had to link our polygons in a very strange fashion and they turned into octagons.

After being octagons for a little, we finally figured out how to turn them into pinwheels.

Even through some struggles, Super Koala successfully made a pinwheel on her first ever origami expedition!

The next day we had origami party part two, and this time we made a three-dimensional diamond.

This one was much more difficult, and once we got through the folding part, our two halves of the diamond looked like this.

Then all the directions said was to put the two pieces together by inserting the points into the pockets. It took us a very long time to figure out how to do this. There was much throwing and frustration.

However, I finally achieved the fusing of the two halves, and Sparhawk got Super Koala’s to work.

 

Overall, it was a very good origami experience, and it was super fun doing it together.