Once again I stayed back in Salem for the weekend because the forecasted temperatures for Maine were just too low. The cost did not exceed the benefit of driving all the way up to Bethel. I am sure some people will say it was -80, but it wasn’t too bad and the snow was great. I think I will use my past experience of skiing when its cold and know that it is miserable and uncomfortable to ski when the temperature is below zero. Okay moving on…

Friday night = Me doing nothing
Saturday = Watching some taped TV and then napping followed by the movies
Movie memorable things:
1) Dottie the popcorn lady (Caitlin if you are reading this, she hasn’t changed a bit in five years) She tried to get me to buy a combo and I said no and used my gift certificate to buy a regular popcorn. She then told me how I don’t get change back if I use it and for only a quarter more I could get a large. I said I didn’t have a quarter and also knew I wouldn’t finish my regular size.
2) You get to put butter on the popcorn yourself now. I guess they became tired of people saying you put too much on, now they just say do it yourself. It wasn’t easy, but I managed. The only problem is getting butter on the bottom of the popcorn.
3) While watching the trailer I realized just how much of an impact they have on what people will and will not watch. It is just insane that the people I was sitting next to are the people that will decide what movies are made. I mean not directly but on some level.
btw the movies I saw were Big Fish and Cold Mountain. They were both good, but I didn’t think Cold Mountain was anything spectacular.

On to Sunday. I did laundry cleaned up and made some pizza dough from scratch. I then went to take some pictures of the Merrimack River. See below.
Icy Merrimack River
I went back to my parents house to visit. It looks like the crew from While You Were Out had been there. It looks good. I came back home to make some pizza on the new pizza stone I bought on Saturday. I made my own sauce and then flattened out the dough. My only problem was that I couldn’t figure out how to get the dough onto the stone, so my first attempt was a failure. I put the sauce on and then the cheese on and couldn’t get it into the oven. Finally I just went with my old stand by pizza pan and it turned out great. I just can’t wait to try out the new stone. Anybody have suggestions on how to get the pizza onto the stone.My First Pizza Now I am sitting here watching the Golden Globes. Oh yeah I also got a digital thermometer. It is now 5.9 degrees. The low was -2 and the high was 14. Brrrrrrrrrrrrr. Get me out of here and send me to a warmer climate.