End of 2012

The last day of 2012 and it's actually chilly here in Baton Rouge. Jane and I have many errands to run. I have lots of things to do around the house too -- being at my mother-in-law's house was inspiring to purge and organize (although the turning of the calendar also has something to do about it I'm sure).

This year Jane went on five airline trips -- a total of 20 flights (takeoff and landing). I had miscalculated before and said 18. Glad I recounted:

• BTR --> DFW --> LAX
• LAX --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> DFW --> OKC
• OKC --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> ATL --> CDG --> TXL
• TXL --> CDG --> ATL --> BTR
• BTR --> DFW --> LAW
• LAW --> DFW --> BTR
• BTR --> CNT
• CNT --> BTR

That's a well traveled baby!

Jane's vocabulary is expanding. She doesn't say Mama very often, although it is what we consider her first word. Dada is her favorite word hands down. During our trip to Virginia she picked up "Popeye" or "Paba" for Grandpa. So that's been pretty cute.

Our New Year's Eve this year will likely consist of soup and going to bed. I got a few Crock Pot recipe books from my sister and am going to give one of the soup recipes a try (gotta get started soon). Shawn and I go to bed pretty early these days, so I'm not even sure if we'll push ourselves to stay up until 12. If only we could sleep in ... maybe in a few more years.

Whatever you're doing, have a Happy 2013!

Christmas Tree Skirt

This is the Christmas tree skirt that I crocheted for my mother-in-law this year. It took me over a year to finish because it was so many pieces. They're asymmetrical granny squares whipped together with a border -- from a pattern in a book Gran gave me. The number of ends I had to weave in was something else.

Unfortunately she doesn't have a tree that can make use of the skirt. (Hers is a small jobber that sits on a table.) But it's sort of draped around the tree anyway.

I'd like to make myself one, but I might look into a different pattern. I love green and red for Christmas, so this is perfect ... but I also like the idea of a filet pattern in white. For our tree this year I used some buffalo snow.

Christmas Cooking 2012

It's been a hard working Christmas for me in the kitchen. Since the day after we arrived in Virginia I've been making something every day. And nearly every step of the way something has gone wrong.

It started with the cake. I'd seen a recipe in a magazine and didn't think it seemed too hard. But the payoff looked gorgeous -- like it always does in magazines. After making the cake batter to perfection I was thwarted when the cakes rose over the sides of the pans and made the bottom of the oven super messy. Luckily there was foil on the bottom of the oven so cleanup wasn't too difficult. But the cakes were pretty much useless -- too soft in parts and crusty in others.They really seemed like brownies in consistency.

After pondering a while I gave up and decided to bake a regular box cake in two layers and go ahead and make the cream cheese frosting. With the excess frosting I mixed the half of the ruined cakes to make cake balls (kind of gross, and I never bothered to cover them in chocolate candy coating like you're supposed to ... so they ended up in the trash ... maybe it only works with store bought frosting?).

But the box cake turned out OK -- domed but OK. I iced the two layers and then did the decorating -- pressing crushed candy canes around the sides. I also made peppermint red-and-white meringues for the top. While the meringues dried, I left the cake on the counter with the candy canes in place. It was covered in the cake carrier and when we got back the candy canes had melted, leaving the sides of the cake pink and a puddle of goo underneath. YUCK.

Little did I know that cream cheese frosting must be refrigerated. SO that solves the mystery of the melting candy canes (I think?).

We went ahead and ate the cake at a family party and it didn't get an awful reception. It was just sad sitting next to a pristine bundt cake that was on a plate made out of actual peppermint candies. Pinterest much? Oh me.

There have been similar fiascos as the cooking has continued. We never had exactly the right tools -- missing a rubber spatula, no big mixing bowls, it takes more than 30 minutes for water to boil on her stove, etc.

In addition to the cake I also made cream cheese cutout sugar cookies. I've had that recipe from my aunt for 10 years, so they turned out fine -- although it didn't seem like it made enough because I used such a giant cookie cutter (I brought one from home just in case ... and lucky for me because my m-i-l couldn't find her cookie cutters either).

Other desserts included banana pudding pie, pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheesecake. As of this writing we've only eaten pumpkin pie -- and it was only OK. I think a problem is that Shawn's grandma's recipe calls for "milk" and I'm pretty sure she means "evaporated milk" -- which is a game changer. It still set up and tasted right. It just wasn't as dense as it should have been.

The banana custard for the pie was difficult, and I'm not sure I did that right. It said to bring it to a boil after it thickened ... but with the stove not being hot enough it thickened and would not boil. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep cooking it until it was a thick unmoving block ... but that's where I was headed so I stopped. I'm not sure if I overcooked or undercooked it. In any case it doesn't look like the picture (let's be honest, none of my recipes do).

For dinner we had

• cranberry salad (my mom's recipe -- easy, tasty and one I've made before ... a rare win for me this season)
• 3-cheese scalloped potatoes (all you magazine ... turned out OK EXCEPT the bottom got too brown because the casserole dish was metal and we didn't use the baking sheet underneath because there was no room)
• mashed sweet potatoes (mainly for Jane -- easy enough I didn't mess it up)
• broccoli and mushroom salad (real simple magazine -- yummo)
• deviled eggs (m-i-l made these ... needed mustard!)
• creamy corn pudding (real simple magazine -- yummo except that it too got a little too brown around the edges ... and it was in a glass casserole so it may just be the oven was too hot or overcrowded? she only has one rack in the oven, which made timing everything super difficult)
• turkey (m-i-l did this too and it got a little dried out ... we didn't have a deep roasting pan so I wasn't able to get many juices/drippings for the ...
• cornbread dressing (Shawn's grandma's recipe ... I got close. Consistency was almost right but it was missing some flavor, probably from the lack of turkey juice)
• store bought yeast rolls (the bottoms got too brown ... there is no timer in her kitchen!)

I am wiped out. Still need to make whipped cream for the pies. 

I don't think I want to be making this meal again in any kitchen but my own. And even then ...

Hope you've had a Merry Christmas.

Crochet: A Granny Square

Finished this granny square baby blanket with the puffiest softest yarn, Red Heart Buttercream. It's bulky and worked up quickly. I interspersed some "Cupcake" purple yarn and embroidered an "A" in the middle (the baby's first name starts with "A").

I got it mailed off today. The baby was born 5 months ago, so I'm only a little late getting this finished!

The Spirit of the Season

I am fighting a losing battle with myself. I want to stop wanting THINGS and be content with all the amazing things I have -- and the people I have to share them with.

But I am susceptible to marketing and jealousy like woah.

It's Christmastime, so there are tons of "hot deals" and "buy now" messages pervading me. I have read so many gift guides and thought "oh, I want that!" And being at others' homes and seeing the beautiful decorations my tree doesn't seem like enough. And I want more-more-more.

Specific example: Christmas china. The idea of having special plates, bowls, cups, glasses to pull out for December is suddenly oddly appealing to me (although come January - November decidedly less so!). Bringing myself back to reality I remember that i have wedding china I've never used (and don't have a safe place to store so it remains in its box in the utility room). And I don't have people over to eat with any regularity anyway, even around Christmas (THAT is something I could change in good conscience though).

I want to have good habits and attitudes to pass onto and model for Jane. Not being so obsessed with gadgets and clothes and possessions. But I am tempted to shop-shop-shop all the time, including for her.

Of course I can't not shop for her at all -- she is growing and developing and needs bigger clothes, more challenging toys, etc., many of which I can get at consignment shops and garage sales (although it's definitely easy for me to still go overboard). But I can certainly work harder to reign myself in.

In our pre-parenthood dreamland, we were determined to limit her toys, especially plastic. And like everyone else said -- our living room is overflowing with baskets of toys and books ... and we've even boxed up a good portion of her toys to swap out in May. So even there, in what seems like it should be a concrete "in-and-out" system, I fail.

And even as I'm confronted by my blatant consumerism I feel some comfort in buying gifts for others this season -- picking out presents, wrapping and shipping them -- oh the efficiency. Until I come across blog posts and books that feature people giving up gift giving to those they love in favor of helping the poor and needy -- either entirely or half for family and half for strangers.

What does gratitude look like? How can I do better -- not just at Christmas but all year -- at being grateful myself and instilling gratitude in my family? How do you fight the "want-more-stuff" monster?

Voyeurism and Reality Blogging

The idea that blogging is similar to reality TV keeps tumbling around in my head (and I'm fairly certain I've written about it before...or at least I meant to). So while I'm adamant against watching shows like "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" and "Real Housewives,"* I LOVE reading blogs that give me a peek into someone else's life.

From the twee blogger writing about style and fashion to the mommy blogger presenting a realistic look at life with a toddler to the healthy food blogger who mixes in stories about her family to the trying-to-be-funny but missing the mark honesty of a decidedly non-crunchy blogger (brags about feeding her kids Little Debbie snacks; the feeding probably isn't uncommon but the unabashed pride in doing so certainly is among what I read anyway).

In some cases I know more about these women's lives than I do about my sister's! (To be fair I definitely know what's up with my sister's life, but I don't know the level of detail that some bloggers provide.)

And rather than be annoyed and unsubscribe, I find that I revel in knowing more about these people ... and they become characters in my mind. Sometimes I want to talk about them -- and I do tell my husband about some of the more ridiculous things that come across my Google Reader.

So that brings me to me -- and how I am documenting my existence online. Do I reveal too much? Not enough? Am I presenting myself as merely a character, or do I allow some of my truth to be seen in the posts? Most (if not all) of my non-spam readers are people who know me in real life, which makes me approach blogging differently than I might otherwise.

My blog doesn't have any commercial value, so if I am trying to create a marketable character I'm not doing so well. If my blog is just a place to communicate with people who know me in an unobtrusive way (read if you want, don't if you don't), then I think I'm on track. I also really like this blog as a record for myself. I can go read older entries and remember exactly what it felt like to write those words and sometimes even where it was I was doing the writing.

How much do I love this face?!

But this isn't a completely safe place either. Anything I publish -- including pictures of Jane -- can be seen by anyone. Am I doing her a disservice by writing about her and using her picture and real name? Could it have longer lasting consequences? Do I deny myself the joy I get sharing about her? Or just do it in a more contained platform (should I Facebook more? be content with my weekly email?)? No pictures? Use a pseudonym for her? (Some people just say "Daughter" or "Baby" or initials, etc.)

While I am thinking about these things, I don't expect anything to change around here -- I'll still write infrequently and think of posts I want to write MUCH more frequently. I'll keep reading others' blogs and think "I can't believe she posted that!" in a judgy mcjudgerson way. And there's always November...

*I confess I watched some of "Miss Advised" this summer ... because I am a closet "cat lady."

Christmas Movies

Something I didn't mention in my TV watching confessions was how much I like to watch TERRIBLE Christmas/holiday movies.

ABC Family, Lifetime, Hallmark. Those would be my channels in years past -- I can't count how many of the lame-oh, eye rolling movies I've watched. They're so bad they're good, at least to me.

I remember a particularly good/bad one we watched at Shawn's Aunt Diannia's house -- Wilford Brimley suddenly grabbed his left arm and Diannia shouted "heart attack!" And sure enough, that's what he had. Shawn and I still sometimes shout it out randomly and crack up, years later.

Last year I watched many while Jane was still small and sleeping all the live long day. But this year I'm not sure if I'll watch any of them. I've seen ads in some of the magazines I read -- which I'm letting subscriptions lapse as I can stand it, because seriously -- so I've seen a few I would LIKE to see. I think there's one with TorI Spelling. I mean, come on! Donna Martin in a TV movie with a holiday twist?

But I'll make due with plenty of Christmas tunes and a particularly annoying Jingle Bells-playing monkey (a gift to Jane last year at her Indiahoma shower ... not that I'll name names).

Whatever the case playing with Jane is always better than any old movie...

Read: MWF Seeking BFF

MWF Seeking BFF: My Yearlong Search For A New Best Friend by Rachel Bertsche
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I checked out this memoir digitally, which I think is the best invention ever (or not, but I really like being able to do that ... I'm not one to crave zillions of digital files of books I'll never read again, can't sell or give away and never remember to try to loan out to someone who has the same device as me, etc.). I would even pay a couple bucks to rent books digitally -- maybe like Netflix for Novels & Nonfiction or something? I do have Amazon Prime and can borrow a book a month that way ... but the available titles are mostly self-published things plus the Hunger Games trilogy, which I've already read. Meh.

Anyway, the book itself is about the author's year-long quest to make friends in Chicago because all her friends live elsewhere.

There's a fair bit of friendship/relationship research information included but I didn't really like those parts of the book and enjoyed more just the straight up story of her year and how it went on her "girl dates."

I've never actively sought girl friends myself, even though I do need those types of relationships. Girl friends don't come easily to me, and I'm not a very social person by nature. (See November 2012 television posts!)

I wouldn't want to repeat the author's experiment -- she went on 52 FIRST girl dates in the year, meaning all her follow up meetings with women she met didn't count toward that goal. I can't imagine going out every week even with people I know, let along with a new person every week plus old pals. Yikes.(Oh yeah, and she was in her first year of marriage too ... I don't know how she managed to also work full time or sleep!)

But the book could inspire me to be friendlier, talk to people more and maybe invite someone to do something sometime. I definitely say yes to invitations a lot more than I would naturally because I know how important it is to be connected to people even if it's hard to establish those connections.

Overall I liked the book and the author has a blog: http://mwfseekingbff.com/ that I might start reading too.

View all my reviews

The End: What I Would Watch and What I Don't Watch

So NaBloPoMo is at an end. Again, I don't think I won any of the prizes given by the organizers, despite being a diligent, if boring, daily blogger. I also am having second (third? fourth? sixteenth?) thoughts on the wisdom of spelling out my TV habit so clearly, especially when it comes to implicating Shawn in a few of the shows. I know it's not a good habit, and I could spend time dissecting why I succumb to it and don't really try to break it. Maybe next November?

Ah, I just remembered another show I DO watch: Rizzoli and Isles (which came back on this week after hiatus -- TNT). I like Angie Harmon a lot, but the show itself is really hokey. Another police drama with two female leads (detective and medical examiner), but they've both been the target of at least one serial killer (sometimes two) and the show is only a couple years old. Anyway, that gives you an idea of its quality...

I also watch basketball -- NBA and college especially in the spring -- so our TV gets use for that. (Although it's such a small TV that watching sports on it is pretty difficult.) Otherwise I think I've pretty much spilled my guts about my TV habits. **red face**

But pressing on, since embarrassment is a hallmark of this blog. So, what I WOULD watch if I had more time, was willing to spend money on premium channels, etc.

• Dexter (already seen all the seasons but the current one ... got hooked during the writer's strike when they showed clean versions of the show on CBS)
• Homeland -- another Showtime show with Claire Danes (I've seen most of her work since MSCL) that EVERYONE is talking about. I've heard about it from my mom, on NPR, on a variety of blogs, etc. 
• West Wing -- it's streaming free with Amazon Prime, and I would love to go back and watch every episode. I saw many of the later seasons but not as many of the first and never all in order.
• HGTV and DIY, specifically House Hunters and house renovations shows like House Crashers, Bath Crashers, etc. I used to spend hours with those on as background.
• Food Network -- Good Eats is an awesome show. I know it's no longer being filmed BUT Alton Brown has specials on the network and I'm sure they still air old GE eps (and they're really great even when re-runs). Also Trisha Yearwood apparently has a show on Food Network. I love her music and her cookbooks, so I'm sure I would love that show.
• Law & Order: SVU reruns. I watch some of these, but I would love to have a marathon day and just watch my favorites. Ditto for Law & Order: Criminal Intent reruns. Love me some Bobby! (Who I saw once in NYC.)
• Speaking of Ice-T (of SVU fame), I love the show Ice Loves Coco -- a reality show about Ice and his wife. It's so funny and bad. I've seen three episodes: once at the gym and two at my sister's house recently because I was channel surfing while waiting to pick up Shawn at the airport.

I'm sure there are many more, but these are what have been tumbling around in my head this month as I've been writing this series. There are also probably current prime time shows that I could easily get hooked into, but I do my best to avoid any new show trappings!

So you'll notice I do not watch any reality TV (although I would watch Ice Loves Coco, definitely a reality show). I used to watch America's Next Top Model in the first couple cycles -- back when I was in the target demographic I guess. And house hunting shows could count as reality? (HAHAHA, no.) Before we got married I watched hours of horrible bride shows and WAY back when MTV was new to me I loved watching Real World/Road Rules type stuff in college. But otherwise I'm pretty reality free. I also don't like singing competitions (I like Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood, but I never actually saw the American Idol competitions) or talent competitions (I've watched a handful of America's Got Talent episodes at other people's houses, and while mildly entertaining definitely not how I choose to spend my TV time).

Basically give me a script, some pretty people, a mystery and a good love story and I'm on board. (OK, I'm also on board if the show is pretty terrible, as evidenced by what I watch.)

Hope you had a great November. See you next year.

What I Watch: Cougar Town and Dallas

Two shows that are on hiatus and are more than a little embarrassing to say that I watch.

I started watching Cougar Town when it premiered -- I think the same time as Modern Family -- because it's created by the Scrubs people (and I love Scrubs) and just kept watching it because it was so wacky and weird.

The show is about a group of friends in their 40s, love to drink wine and play a game called Penny Can. They live in Florida. Originally it was about a divorced woman (Courteney Cox) going after much younger guys, but it evolved into a much better show. The title doesn't make any sense now, but they make jokes about it in the title cards -- a blink and you'll miss it kind of inside joke I guess.

It was on ABC but apparently is now moving to TBS starting on January 8. I'm glad I looked it up, as I'm not sure my DVR will automatically record something that's on another channel.

The revamp of Dallas wasn't something I was interested in watching BUT my mom and aunt were here during the series premiere and we decided to have a look. It was so bad it was good. And even Shawn got nostalgic and would watch it with me. 

I don't know how they're going to handle the next season now that Larry Hagman, aka J.R. Ewing, is dead. My mother-in-law said they'd already filmed the next season (or next part of it, since it's a TNT show with split up seasons) so at least they can write him out gracefully. Sadness.

One of the lead characters is played by an actor (Jesse Metcalfe) I first saw on the soap opera Passions. That show premiered when I was in high school -- maybe the summer right before college, and so I watched it religiously for a while. Eventually I stopped and they don't make it anymore. It was REALLY bad.

Passions also had the guy who played Keith on later seasons of Scrubs, so maybe he'll show up on Cougar Town in future seasons (lots of other actors from Scrubs have been on the show), and it will make these two shows being in the same post make a little more sense. Basically writing two-for-one because I'm running out of days in NaBloPoMo!

A Baby and Her Tree

Baby's first Christmas tree, and our first tree as a married couple. We never bothered in the apartments and didn't have a tree to put up last year when we had a newborn. This is a pre-lit faux tree we bought at Hobby Lobby last year for 75% off.

Only the front is decorated, and I didn't put anything at all at the bottom. We have plenty of room to grow and get more ornaments. I have some from my childhood, some that were Grandma Jane's, some that have been gifts (including a birthday present this year, a beautiful glass star), and several we have collected on our travels: Canada, Germany, Caribbean, etc. I would like to crochet some flat angels and some more snowflakes. Maybe next year!

What I Watch: Star Trek

A local channel - ME TV - plays the original Star Trek every Saturday night at 8 pm. Our DVR records it, and Shawn and I will watch an episode whenever we feel like intentionally watching TV together, which isn't often but is usually on Saturday evenings.

When we were dating we'd watch Star Trek: Next Generation together--my first introduction to the Star Trek universe. Although we had the string quartet play theme song as we walked down the aisle after being married we are far from Trekkies.

Shawn has seen most of the original series episodes, but I haven't. And even the ones I have seen I forget and like to watch again. There are a few Shawn will say "let's skip" and some that he hasn't seen or doesn't remember. He wants to skip "Trouble with Tribbles," but I keep saving it on the DVR hoping he'll change his mind and we can watch it again. It's hilariously weird.

The show is so campy and funny, and I'm a big Spock fan. I love Kirk's over-acting and the wacky sets and 60s-style costumes. I love the interplay with Bones and Spock and the inevitable "He's dead, Jim" almost every episode. Poor red shirts (a red shirt crewman almost always dies during an away mission).

The version we watch has had its external shots redone with CGI, so we don't like that as much/would prefer the authenticity of the model ships being filmed on a painted backdrop (or however it worked back then). Otherwise it's a good show we can share, and I guess we'll watch it until we get through all five seasons.

What I Watch: Fringe

Fringe is a show I've watched since its beginning, and I'm not really sure what it was that drew me. Actually it was probably Joshua Jackson. I've always been a Pacey fan myself. But I found I really liked the show, which is another that I watch with a strong female lead in Olivia.

It's now my only Friday show, but before it was on Thursdays after Bones. I had to choose between Fringe and Grey's Anatomy (I chose Fringe, but I could always watch Grey's online later).

Fringe is a scifi show that's not like any scifi I've ever watched ... not that I've watched a lot of scifi. It is not something that Shawn likes at all -- in fact he makes fun of me for watching it BUT sometimes he likes it because of the Walter and Peter dynamic ... the Walter character has some pretty good one liners and zingers.

Basically the show is about a team of FBI agents who investigate paranormal events (X-Files-ish I guess, but with the addition of a wacky scientist who's had part of his brain removed, making him hilariously weird). There's definitely some hardcore romance, which I love. But the longing is so prolonged. Every time Peter and Olivia get together they write some way to tear them back apart.

There was a huge storyline with an alternate universe, complete with a Fauxlivia. Our Olivia was trapped on the other side in a prison in the dark, and that was the cliffhanger end of a season. I can't tell you how many times I thought of that over the summer -- wondering how they'd ever set it right. Even knowing it was just a character and nothing was even remotely real I still WORRIED about Olivia. (Spoiler: they did sort everything out, although not without doing some damage to the Peter-Olivia relationship ... which then got re-written or re-wired when Peter disappeared from existence only to be pulled back by their love, but their history never actually happened ... or something. Still not clear on that one.)

This is Fringe's final season, and it's like a COMPLETELY different show. We've fast forwarded to 2036 (the characters didn't age because they were frozen in amber for 20 years), and they have to fight to reclaim the earth from future people who have come back to trash its resources. It's bizarre and frustrating, especially because with the super powerful enemy "The Observers" it seems impossible for them to actually triumph.

I keep watching though because I believe that they will triumph. I want to see the resolution of the Peter and Olivia love story. And at this point it's habit. I've watched every other episode so I might as well see it to the end.

Pop Culture Nexus is a site that has a feature on Fringe -- screen caps of the episodes with funny commentary. It stays true to the show -- it's not written in a mean way, as the writer LOVES Fringe. But it adds another element of entertainment to the show I think. I haven't been reading it this season, but I did for a while last season. It's full of spoilers though, so if you watch the show or plan to (previous seasons are available on Amazon for streaming ... free with Prime), probably avoid that site.

Thirty Two

Birthday offerings at Indiahoma UMC

Jane's mama is 32 years old today...

Shawn got the Christmas tree put up and I'm going to work on decorating it today. We have so many ornaments that I've collected but have never been able to actually display. Going to be fun!

Tonight is Bible study so no big evening out for us. I'd like to go out and get Mexican food some time this week.

I also need to get my flu shot and TDAP shot. Suddenly paranoid AFTER our first big travel. D'oh. Jane's vaccinated though, so at least there's that.

It's a beautiful day for a birthday -- overcast, cool and rainy. Our yard is covered with leaves, the Christmas music is playing for the first time this year and I'm in a pretty good mood.

I'm going to try to take advantage of at least one Cyber Monday deal and buy my Christmas cards. I've bought a few different ones here and there when they were super cheap (like only pay shipping cheap). But I want to get Jane's picture using this tutorial. The guest room is set up, so we'll see how it goes. Hopefully I can get photo editing time during Jane's afternoon nap.

Wish me luck...

RIP Router

I still have a couple more TV shows to write about, but since we came home to a fried router I thought I'd write about that, since it will make blogging that much harder.

Apparently when you power up and power down a router enough times it eventually just dies. They don't come with power buttons -- at least not the model we had -- so wasn't protected from that. Even though it was plugged into a surge protector that didn't save it.

SO we still have internet via the modem if we plug in directly BUT without wifi my Draw Something time is severely limited. Not to mention that reading my Google Reader feeds without my iPod will be nearly impossible for me! Oh how my habits have changed. I don't sit at a computer all day anymore!

Hopefully we'll be back up and running by Tuesday, but until then I'll hobble along and use my Connectify program to create a small wifi hot spot when my laptop is on and connected to the internet.

Home Away

We're homeward bound today. It's been a great trip. Remember when I would obsessively write every detail of every trip? I will probably do some highlights with pictures of this trip, but nothing like my Owen-filled detailed posts of old. (But there will be plenty of Owen in any wrap up ... I still love that kid like a crazy person!)

Wish us luck getting home, although it should be infinity times easier with two of us to wrangle a toddler. And it actually wasn't all bad when I did it myself.

Happy Small Business Saturday, and I hope I can find one en route (unlikely in DFW I'd guess) -- or make it home and do some Etsy shopping just to say I did.

(This tiny laptop of my mom's is nice, and I'm grateful to have been able to use it and keep up with NaBloPoMo, but I'll be glad to get back to my own machine, photos, etc.)

What I Watch: Psych

Psych might be my favorite current show. It's another crime show -- mostly a comedy but with some drama mixed in.

I love Shawn and Gus, and Shawn and Juliet. I love the goofy jokes, 80s and 90s references and the wacky crime solving team.

Another show that I started watching because my mom turned me onto it. And I LOVE it. It's another show I can watch again and again in syndication. I might even watch it if I had the DVDs (I only have DVDs of two shows: My So-Called Life and Felicity).

Anyway, I watched tons of reruns on Ion and USA during my pregnancy. I wouldn't be surprised if Jane recognized the theme song: "I know, you know that I'm not telling the truth. I know, you know you just don't have any proof..."

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving from our turkey to you.

What I Watch: The Big Bang Theory

I love this show, and it's one of the few that Shawn will watch with me regularly and intentionally. It's centered around academics -- totally stereotyped but also hilariously accurate sometimes.

One of the characters is socially inept but also OK with it (his mother had him tested so he knows he's not insane) -- Sheldon is so funny, and the actor who portrays him (Jim Parsons) does such an amazing job with his body language and dry one-liners.

Sheldon has a "girlfriend" in later seasons -- Amy Farrah Fowler -- who is played by Mayim Bialik, formerly known as Blossom (whose book Beyond the Sling I recently read).

We always laugh out loud at this show, sometimes because it reminds us of something we've experienced, but usually just because it's so outlandish and such a ridiculous portrayal of the way academia works.

It's definitely one of my favorite shows and one I would be sad to give up if I ever did abolish TV entirely. It's also one that I can watch repeatedly in reruns, which I did earlier this year when Jane was still small enough to keep facing away from the TV (what a bad mama!).

What I Watch: Community

Here's another NBC sitcom that's currently on hiatus. I've watched it since the beginning because of Joel McHale. I was a big fan of The Soup (don't watch anymore because I actually HAVE cut back on TV watching, despite what this month is showing me/us). I watched it back when it was Talk Soup and Skunk Boy was the host. (I didn't watch it when Greg Kinnear was the host, but that's probably because we didn't have cable then.)

Anyway, I think Joel McHale is super cute and funny, so I checked out his show and I liked it and kept watching. It doesn't get the best ratings because it's kind of a wacky only-some-people-will-get-it kinda show. And I like being one of those kinds of people I guess.

This is a show about a group of friends -- originally a study group for some class -- at a community college (I think in California?). The main character, Jeff, was an attorney who'd never completed his undergraduate degree, so he gets fired and decides to go get it so he can get back to practicing law and making money. The other characters are so assorted and have different reasons for being at the school -- some fresh from high school all the way up to an old retired guy played by Chevy Chase.

All in all it's a really clever show. There is some drama behind the scenes with the show's creator being fired and Chevy Chase being apparently a real pill about everything. I have no first-hand knowledge obviously, but I do read things and sometimes information sticks around in my head, although not always in pristine 100% correct condition.

They have really good bumpers at the end of Community (Troy & Abed in the Morning...) but I often miss part of it because of the previously mentioned DVR issue since NBC airs their shows to straddle the break between shows. Annoying!

I'll be glad when the show is back on the air. It was supposed to start in October, but now it's been pushed to February. This is the fourth season, so maybe it will be the last given ratings and the incongruity of being in community college for so long? (Although that's not even the most bizarre thing about the show.) My DVR is set, so whenever it comes back -- Thursday or otherwise -- I'll catch it (or most of it I guess).