Watch The Robot Apocalypse With Bougie PB&Js

Top of the Tuesday to you, bots and tots. What's shakin'? Or jiggling? Multiple answers accepted.

Today I thought I'd share some cool stuff I'm watching and/or reading and/or eating, along with random photos from various Life Activities. Cool? Cool.

First, the movie John and I watched last night that I highly recommend:

The Mitchells vs The Machines

A family on a road trip gets waylaid by the robot apocalypse, and HIJINKS ENSUE. Super funny, extremely current with social media references and parodies galore, fabulously fun action, and heavy on the feel-good schmaltz - but not in a Pixar tear-jerker way, so we're good. I laughed out loud so many times with this one, definitely give it a watch on Netflix the next time you need some light-hearted laughs.

The Mitchells is made by the same folks behind Into The Spiderverse,  btw, so it has a little of that zany animation style. Less comic book and more story book, though. Also if they don't make a plush of the wall-eyed dog then I will RIOT. :p


Here's another way to add a little excitement to your evening:

Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds this adjective choice hilarious, because the people in line with me did NOT. Pthhp.

Also, really? A neck mask? Listen, I don't know who needs to hear this right now, but your neck looks awesome. Seriously. Save your exhilarating neck mask dollars for something better, like, uh...

Oh! These!

These were the snacks at our last Craft Night: three dollar wine from Aldi that everyone agreed tastes like a kids' juice box - but is somehow 8% alcohol so LOOK OUT - and Bamba Peanut Snacks from Trader Joe's, which taste like peanuts that have been transmogrified into Cheetos. Super weird, but good. And not too salty. Which could probably describe a lot of us here.

Kari, who brought the Cheeto Peanuts (Cheenuts? Peatos?) claims if you put both those and the wine in your mouth at the same time it tastes like a bougie PB&J, so there's your homework this week. Taste test and report back.

I'll have a proper update later, but John and I are still working our tails off most nights over at the rental renovation. Last night John was crawling around in the attic and suddenly slammed a screwdriver through the ceiling of the room I was in, so when people tell you the excitement fizzles after 22 years of marriage, don't you believe them.

Oh yeah, we keep it kooky.

Yesterday I set my phone down on the book I was reading, and it looked so pretty I had to take a picture. Which I needed my phone for, ha. But don't' worry, I made it work:

This is The Bloggess' latest book, Broken. If you've never read anything by Jenny Lawson, well first, RUN to her blog (start here), and then I highly recommend all of her books for laugh-'til-it-hurts goodness. I'm really enjoying the pace on this latest one; it's more measured, a little less breakneck speed. Jenny has interspersed her trademark zaniness with more real-life check-ins, more beautiful brokenness, and it's a good mix of laughs, gut-punches, and hope.


Weird side note: the dust jacket on this book is a tactile nightmare, so I had to take it off:

The paper feels like smooth soft suede covered in microscopic sandy grit that you can't see and won't brush off. I've never had a sensory issues with anything, but five minutes of holding this book made me twitchy, ha. Even John gave a yell when I handed it to him.

So yeah, if you DO buy a physical copy of Broken, be sure to pet it first and come tell me if it feels weird. FOR SCIENCE.


Backing up to Craft Night: we didn't just get schnockered on cheap wine and Peatos. We got schnockered on cheap wine and Peatos AND crafted stuff:

I'm really proud of my font selections here, because I'm usually TERRIBLE at picking fonts. (These are Aquerelle & DK Wayang, btw.)

I think I'm still planning to hang this rainbow yarn from it? Maybe? I thought it would be cute to clip hair barrettes on... although I don't use many hair barrettes. I don't know, should I braid the yarn? HALP.

Oh hey, remember the Harry Potter-inspired kitchen we did for our friend Dana last November? We decided he should name it The Broken Wand, because Dana is a wand maker and that sounds like a cool pub name. We even left a blank spot on the wall in the dining area for a future sign.

Well. Dana did make a wooden sign using one of his wands, which we then took home for 5 months (haha WHOOPS) for John to finish off. John designed and cut the lettering with our Cricut, wired up the light to a hidden switch, and now the sign is finally back where it belongs in Dana's kitchen:

LOOK HOW COOL. That's a blue fiber optic light at the break in the wand, so it looks like unicorn hair. Eeee! Dana found the resin hand at a home store years ago and never knew what to do with it. So perfect, right? Reminds me of the pointing hand on Knockturn Alley's sign.

From this angle you can just see the metal toggle switch John installed on the bottom.

And for reference, the sign is hanging on this wall in Dana's kitchen:

Sorry I didn't get a photo from a distance after we hung it up! I was too focused on getting fun shots like this instead:

Ooohhh. Ahhhh.

My birthday is this week, so tomorrow I will officially no longer be the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Boo. I wish I could say 42 was a better year, but you know what? The Epbot Discord is one year old tomorrow, and if that were the only thing I had to mark my 42nd year on this earth, well heck, that's still worth celebrating. I'm so proud of the community you Discord bots have formed over there, and so SO grateful for mods Phillip, Kate, Rose, & Melody. I wanted to make a safe space for people to come together online during a hard year, and you all made that happen. There's no better birthday present than that.

Well, except for maybe this other birthday present I bought myself:

MUWAHHAAAA LOOK HOW CUUUUUTE!!

(It's the Made By Robots knit vinyl. There's also a special toasted version with angry eyebrows(!) and a Slimer.)

This Friday is Movie Night over on Discord, by the by, and we're watching Bringing Up Baby, an old Carey Grant & Katharine Hepburn flick I've never seen. Care to join us? I'll bring the $3 wine!

Or if you can't make it Friday, we also have a matinee showing Sunday afternoon. Smaller crowd, but that makes chatting easier.  :)

I hope you're having a happy, healthy, hilarious week out there, my friend. And if not, grab onto someone you love and hang on; the better stuff is coming.