The shows must go on

In high school I used to watch two soap operas, Days of Our Lives and Passions. I can’t even begin to tell you how epically bad Passions was in particular. But it was oddly satisfying to spend my teenage time incredulously watching these ridiculous stories unfold. If I’m remembering right, I think Days was on at 1 and Passions at 2. My senior year I didn’t have a seventh period class, so I often got home in time to catch Passions. Or sometimes I’d tape it. Yep, on a VCR. And then purposely watch it later with friends in my free time.

Pandemic time has been ripe for soap operas. A few of note have been Crash Landing On You (opening the world of K-dramas to me), Nashville (a rewatch), and Outlander (falls maybe a bit more on the historical drama side, but still very soapy. Must watch edited). This week I binged Virgin River, which was 10x more egregious than anything else I’ve watched this year, but no magic talking puppets or witches, so, more in Days territory than Passions territory.

Anyway, I have a running bit whenever Matt walks in while I’m watching a soap opera, which is to explain to him exactly what’s happening on screen in that moment in as much detail as possible. Literally every time he’s walked in this past week during Virgin River there’s been an entirely different story with different characters. This game is extremely amusing for me but Matt informed me tonight that it’s not as funny for him. Well just because he couldn’t care less that Charmaine is having Jack’s twins (twins!!), Muriel is putting the moves on Doc by taking him for salsa lessons, Brady pretended to kill Spencer but actually put him on a bus to LA with Maxine and the baby, Lily had a secret pregnancy and then left her baby on the doorstep of the health clinic, Lyddie isn’t managing her diabetes properly, Hope had a heart attack, Mike is about to bust the fentanyl ring wide open, Mel cauterized Calvin’s gunshot wound using only an extremely hot pocket knife, OR that Paige accidentally killed Wes who is a dirty cop, Preacher got rid of the body and then Wes’s identical twin brother Vince who is also a dirty cop, showed up looking for him (surprise!), doesn’t mean I’ll stop.

"Is there room for one more?"

As the pandemic marches on, I have this weird over-stuffed feeling in my head. I've been:

-Watching shows (soap operas and historical romances preferred. Re-watching is welcome)

-Reading novels (mysteries and historical romances preferred. Re-reading is welcome)

-Reading articles (mostly about racism or politics or racism in politics)

-Listening to podcasts (mostly about politics or racism or politics in racism) 

My brain feels a little like my stomach does at the end of Thanksgiving Day, when I serve myself up yet another piece of pecan pie with whipped cream just because I want to and my stomach is made out of something stretchy, right? 

How much is too much?? I have never, NEVER read this many books in such a short span of time, not as an adult anyway. It's not like I have more time than before. I guess I'm more motivated so I just make it happen. Also, audiobooks and podcasts are really easy to multitask with. The shows and novels are helping me escape, and the articles and podcasts are helping me learn.

People always tease me for putting out a salad on Thanksgiving because it's basically left untouched, but I needed a "salad" (aka brain fiber) at this "Thanksgiving" (aka pandemic binge-read-watch-listen-fest) so I have been trying to read and discuss scriptures with my kids more. This week we have been doing pretty well with it, usually reading and discussing over dinner. I still feel over-stuffed but I am just trying to make my "stomach" AKA brain expand, because it is craving the escape and the learning and, so it seems, the spiritual and communal boost. Phew, this metaphor is getting elaborate and confusing.

Now, that first season of Nashville isn't going to re-watch itself, so if you'll excuse me.

Thanks for British TV

Speaking of bougey stuff. Sometime in the last few years I’ve moved almost exclusively to watching British/Masterpiece shows... for me it started with Downton Abbey, Doc Martin, and Call the Midwife. Then Foyle’s War, Sherlock, and Victoria. Lately it’s been Poldark, Endeavour, and Grantchester. Thanks to Hannah and my parents for encouraging this habit.

They’re fluffy, and yet they feel highbrow because of the accents... But also I feel like they’re way less trashy than American TV. Is that mostly because the ones I like the most are period pieces? Regardless... two thumbs up.

Putrid throat

Polly got croup and then Matt got pneumonia and then I got... Something. I don't know what you want to call it (maybe putrid throat... Poldark reference) but it felt like it could be croup and/or pneumonia and it knocked me down pretty good for a while. It's Sunday night and I've pretty much been in bed since Thursday night. OK, yesterday afternoon I got up for a few hours and then this afternoon I forced myself out of bed from about 2 pm to 7 pm. Oh and I showered yesterday. Hoping that tomorrow I'll be ready to face real life. And maybe even shower again.

In the meantime, I sure am grateful that since Friday afternoon, Matt has taken care of all the kids and the house and the grocery shopping and making dinner and church and anything else that might come up, so that I could stay in bed that whole time.

I'd like to say I've been sleeping, but in all honesty I have spent most of the time watching TV on my iPad. With a little bit of reading. OK and some napping. I rarely make time for TV shows (which I'm fine with) and also don't make much time for reading books (I'm not fine with that). Now I'm almost done with The Audacity of Hope (LOVING IT), and in between reading, I binged pretty much every random TV show or web show I came across that looked interesting. (Gilmore Girls reboot... Poldark... A Different World... Drunk History.) And some things that looked interesting but turned out to be super overrated. (e.g., This Is Us. sorry if you're a fan!) I think my brain might be ready for a rest from the screen time. I kinda feel myself turning into an iPad zombie of sorts.

Next up: Monday!

Nashville

Have I posted about this already? If you haven't been watching Nashville, now is a good time to start.


The pilot re-aired last week and this week (tomorrow!) is a new episode.

I don't know why I'm so into it--I guess because I started watching it live from the first episode, which isn't normal for me. Maybe because I don't really watch any other TV besides Parenthood. And maybe because I love the music and the soapy plot lines. And Connie Britton.

And Sam Palladio. Wish I had video for these two songs instead of lyrics (half of which are probably wrong).


And I just like everyone in this song. Does anyone else think the flask-sipping rocker producer guy is going to turn Rayna into a drunk?

Wednesday nights. Check it out y'all

Freaks and Geeks

Have you seen Freaks and Geeks?


I know I'm about...13 years late on that one but I never tried watching it until it came on Netflix. If you're unfamiliar, t's kind of like The Wonder Years but set in the early '80s, and it only lasted one season. I read somewhere that the writers knew pretty early on it would probably be canceled, so they used all their best stuff and that's why every episode is so funny and awesome. I can see that. I laughed. I cried. OK I only actually cried once (the end of the Garage Door episode), but I laughed a lot.

I don't know if it's for everybody. Maybe if you like John Hughes movies, because that's sort of what it reminds me of. The main character's parents are right out of a John Hughes movie.

   

Anyway. Check it out. Here's a scene that's not particularly funny, just heartwarming if you know the character. Lonely, geeky Bill was one of my favorite characters.

And some dancing.

Hey. Ya.

Do I need a Scrubs label? Maybe...



I love this song, except that I don't love the Janitor awkwardly lifting Lady at 0:40.

I love Perry Cox. And Bob Kelso. Also, Elliott's a whiner. Her "earnest voice" and "earnest face" are my least favorite things about the show.

Moving on: so I actually meant to post about how we have been living in our house for a year now. Actually a year and a month. Long ago I imagined that I would have some pictures for you by now so that you could see the improvements...minimal though they are...and yet, no pictures. Probably because every room is still lacking something--just something. Living room is lacking a rug. Dining room is lacking a light fixture. Stairwells are lacking paint. Our room is lacking lamps. Bathroom is lacking paint on the dresser (which I will do in the next week). Basement isn't really lacking anything glaring, I just don't have pictures of it because it isn't that exciting. Ida's room is lacking in decor altogether. Yeah, did I mention that? Theo and Ida are in separate rooms now. After 6 months of tired children who would not go to sleep in the same room within 2-3 hours No Matter What We Did, we decided just to separate them. I think we'll put them back together eventually, but for now they are separate. Baby will sleep in our room for a few months and we'll re-evaluate in the fall.

Anyway, so there is my Scrubs/Hey Ya/house update post. I had a ridiculous list of things to get done before the baby comes which will remain unfinished. We did get a lot of things done though. Just not the main floor bathroom... maybe later in the year. And also the backyard is currently a mud pit but I have been promised that it will have grass before June. And also I never cleaned the carpets but hopefully will clean the stair carpets because those are what need it the most. My current goal is to stop caring about any of this because none of it matters. At all.

Oh, and last thing which I find exciting: The baby has dropped! My other babies also dropped about a month or so before they arrived, which makes it a little bit difficult to walk but so much easier to breathe. I am So. So. Excited. to meet this baby in person.

Back to school, back to school

I was going to make a fall mix for you but I realized that I still have my fall mix from last year on the sidebar (even though it's labeled "January" for some reason).

So instead I am going to share this little tidbit with you. When I think of fall I think of school starting, and when I think of school starting I think, among other things, of my 2 favorite cancelled TV shows, which happen to be set in schools.

(enjoy a little Latin flavor at the very end of that one.)

Can't beat 'em!

Season 1 of Veronica Mars is still the best (2 and 3 went slowly downhill, I'm sorry to say). So many quotable lines and I love all the characters. Unfortunately a little crude at times and the crudeness got worse in the final 2 seasons. Felicity, you may already know of my love for, and all the seasons of that one are awesome. I re-watch them when I want something on in the background while I do a mundane chore like painting. Season 1 of VM has been on lately while I organize files.

Slightly embarrassing confessions out in the open, now please proceed with your normal September activities.

A confession.

I am trying so hard not to clean my house right now--a perfect time to do it since the kids are completely passed out from a morning at the pool and I literally have nothing else to do besides clean, unless you count writing up overdue preschool contracts--that I am sitting in my bathing suit eating stale cookies and looking at blog posts from July 2002. Here's what I found.

I'm watching "Passions" right now. Why do I watch it?? Seriously, there is not one character on this show who doesn't bug me. Pilar - annoying. Sheridan (Diana??) - really annoying. Simone - annoying. Ivy and her stupid wheelchair - really annoying. Charity - REALLY annoying. Anyway. I should just turn it off.

Yeah...I guess I haven't really changed as much as I would have liked to in the past 8 years.

I can always think of something unproductive to do late at night when I'm waiting for Matt to get home from work.

Such as, play '90s TV show theme song trivia games.



First of all, don't ask me how I found this. Secondly, my favorites in this game? #4, #17, and #27. #4 because I had completely forgotten the song and hearing it made me burst out laughing, #27 because I could picture Brandon doing the punch thing to Dylan during the claps at the beginning, and #17 because it is my FAVORITE SHOW EVER!

And also #21 because I used to watch that show while babysitting when I was maybe 14, and I totally didn't find it entertaining at all but I thought I should be watching it because it was on MTV and therefore cool.

If you are dying to know the answers, you can click on the YouTube logo to watch the vid on YouTube; the poster included the answers there in the video description.

Sorry Mom, I know you totally won't get this at all, I just had to post it anyway...

I'm no Superman

Am I the only one here who watches Scrubs?

Granted it's really not as good as it used to be, but I still luv it. Matt and I watched the season finale (J.D.'s "finale") a few nights ago. (To watch the whole episode go here) I almost teared up during the very end. How can a slow-motion montage containing weddings and babies and set to Peter Gabriel not make a person tear up, right? Although maybe it won't make you emotional if you don't care about Scrubs...




It wasn't because I love the staff of Sacred Heart so much (although I do). Rather it got me thinking about my life. Lately my life has been, shall we say, HARD. I have cried over it...mostly out of frustration (Theo: "Mama so frustrated") but also out of exhaustion and out of sorrow for my own mistakes.

But I really have nothing to cry about. (Even if I did spend my free time today cleaning up very old avocado pieces pounded by determined babies into every nook and cranny in the kitchen and reading articles with titles like "To Spank or Not to Spank," I could have been lying on the couch eating bon-bons for all anyone else cared.) So, Matt and I watched this montage and I thought about how sweet and beautiful J.D.'s "fantasy future" looked, dressed up in slow-mo and the melodious strains of yon Petey. Then I thought two things about my own life:

• My future life doesn't seem like it's coming fast enough sometimes. (Today the somewhat immediate future is all the future my brain can grasp even its my most reflective moments. The moment Matt will walk in the door. The day Theo will take a break from throwing bone-rattling tantrums every 20 minutes. The night I will sleep for more than 3 hours in a row.) But someday the real and long-term dreams I do have for my family's future just might come true. Who's to say they won't?
• My present life is not stylized, color-saturated, or set to violins. In fact you might have been a little scared to see it today...or any day last week. But somehow, even despite me, it is sweet and beautiful and all I ever could have dreamed about.

(Who would have thought I could glean such magnificent lessons from Dr. John Dorian. Good times.)

The facts were these

Pushing Daisies will always remind me of being pregnant with Ida and the first weeks after she was born. We watched the first season on DVD and then followed the second season as it aired.

I am so sentimental. Not long after an era has passed, it becomes this perfect little crystallized memory. I can picture sitting on the couch snuggling Ida in those early weeks, talking with Hester or Matt or my mom late into the night and sometimes passing Ida around. Or sometimes desperately trying to get her to stop crying, but I prefer to remember the cozy chats.

Pushing Daisies was kind of a silly show, but it's one thing that I associate with that time. Similarly, I associate Scrubs with Theo's newborn days. (the musical episode...) Rarely as life is happening do I think, "I am going to miss this when it's gone." I guess that's a good thing, because I'm too busy enjoying it at the time.

Or perhaps too busy looking forward to the next thing. The next thing, in this case, being Ida as a full-blown baby. She's definitely no newborn. Not as snuggly but, happily, more independent and still so very sweet.

Anyway, if we ever get nostalgic about fall '08, we'll always have 2 seasons of Chuck, the pie-maker, Emerson Cod, and Olive Snook to bring the memories back.

BTW the final 3 episodes of Pushing Daisies will air on ABC beginning May 30.

I fell into a burning ring of fire

Generally when people rave about a TV show my reaction is, "Sorry, don't have the time." You might think I mean that I don't have the time because my life is filled with meaningful things (which it is, kind of, I mean I do other stuff besides washing sheets) but it is more because I already watch too much TV. Granted I watch most of it online and almost all of it several days or even weeks late, but I still watch a lot. Between Lost, Desperate Housewives (don't judge), Scrubs, The Office, and 30 Rock, how am I supposed to squeeze anything else in? Plus the occasional episode of House that Matt makes me watch. Luckily most of my other favorites have been canceled. (Pushing Daisies, anyone? Veronica MARS, for heaven's sake?!)

But I've now watched 2 performance episodes of American Idol in a row. I even watched them live, using my TV. It's almost unheard of. I watched it 2 weeks ago because I had read an article on the plane about it and wanted to check out, first and most importantly, Michael Jackson Night, and second, the tattoo-sleeved girl from Utah. Then I watched it last week because hello, Opry Night! Matt doesn't want me to get into American Idol, because then I monopolize the TV which is also the computer. But I like the company while he's at Mutual on Tuesdays, plus our antenna is broken so I don't trust the DVR, and then it's not like I can stop watching an episode in the middle.

I'm not addicted or anything--not that it can't happen--but it's kind of fun to watch the performances and judges live. In HD, so I can enjoy the pancake makeup without the limitations of that pesky camera.

What would you do? (If you answer "get a new antenna" then we are definitely on the same page.)

Oh Dixon...oh Jack...oh Sloane.

I mentioned this in tomorrow's post, which happens to be Ida's very long birth story, and I thought it deserved its own post:

Alias series finale. We watched it the night before Ida was born. Recap: Irina and Sloane getting it! What was coming to them, that is. Loving Jack Bristow. Loving Dixon. (how can you not? I wish I could find a picture of my favorite Alias moment: season 2, Dixon as a nightclub DJ in Mexico City.) And still loving Sloane. Thinking I need to own Alias: The Complete Collection (Rambaldi artifact box included in the set!) Thinking I need to be J.J. Abrams's friend since I am his biggest fan. Well, his biggest fan who doesn't dissect episodes of Lost frame by frame on online message boards. OK, maybe more like Felicity's biggest fan but I also like everything else J.J. Abrams does.

Season 5 started off somewhat slowly--so slowly that I stopped watching it when it aired and it took me 3 years to try again--but I ended up thinking it was one of the best.

What did you think?

If you haven't watched Alias yet--what are you waiting for?

40

Happy birthday to Sesame Street.


I am actually way out of the Sesame Street loop--I haven't watched an entire episode since the '80s. Like way before Elmo showed up. But I think Theo will like it someday...someday when he wants to watch something other than Raffi and Charlie Brown...someday when I learn how to work our TV. He likes the songs anyway. Even though I haven't really watched it in many years, I'm pretty sure I'll still like it. Because I can never get tired of watching Muppets move.

Does anyone know

Does anyone know where I can find a list of ideas by the character Sean Blumberg from the TV show Felicity?

Oh thanks.

Holding up Your Heart into the Sky

So my most recent obsession (besides, of course, little T) has been the Scrubs musical episode. I've watched it 3 times in the past week. "Guy Love" was my personal favorite selection.

I can't help it...it's just funny to me.



I taped over the episode last night (yeah, I don't have TiVo) so that I wouldn't be tempted to watch it again. Although there is always YouTube.

"Honey, He's Teasing You. Nobody Has Two Television Sets."

TV Land recently chose their top 100 most memorable lines as seen on TV. Here are the top ten.

1. Heeere's Johnny! (Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show)
2. One small step for man ... (Neil Armstrong)
3. You're fired! (Donald Trump, The Apprentice)
4. Baby, you're the greatest. (Ralph Kramden, The Honeymooners)
5. Ask not what your country can do for you ... (John F. Kennedy)
6. D'oh! (Homer Simpson, The Simpsons)
7. Where's the beef? (Wendy's)
8. Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis? (Arnold Drummond, Diff'rent Strokes)
9. Yabba dabba do! (Fred Flintstone, The Flintstones)
10. I am not a crook. (Richard Nixon)

Donald Trump's is number three. Number THREE!

Sorry, TV Land, but you're fired. How did Donald Trump get above "yabba dabba do"? And "I am not a crook" is way better and more quotable (especially if you say it in a Richard Nixon voice) than "You're fired."

I really find this very puzzling.

While we're doing stupid reality/game show lines, wouldn't "You ahhhh the weakest link, goodbye" make it above "You're fired"? Or "Is that your final answer"? (Both of those kind of date my reality-TV watching, I know. I'm sorry, I'm very much behind the times.)

I guess maybe the most memorable TV lines are also generally the most annoying.

What lines would you pick if you had to write this list?

I'm still thinking. (I'm much better at movie lines; we weren't allowed to watch much TV.)

Now That's News You Can Use.

I've been "holding down the fort" since Matt's been in DC and Matt's parents have been in Bear Lake.

I enjoy coming home to an empty house and doing whatever I want. I enjoy being In Charge of household happenings, and I enjoy peace and quiet. After a few days, though, the complete silence starts to wear on me and I find myself standing in front of the fridge trying to decide which yogurt to take to work. I select Blueberry Patch, then think better of it and trade that for Red Raspberry.

"Good choice, Lizer," I say out loud.

Also, when I'm home alone, I often do silly things like watch 3 hours of a detective show late at night. I did this last night (Veronica Mars, my new favorite which totally isn't scary, but it kinda is when Matt's not home and it's dark outside). Why am I compelled to do this when I'm alone? Have I learned nothing?

So then of course I check all the closets and under all the beds before I go to sleep.

No one there but me. (phew)

In related news, most meals now take me < 2 minutes to consume. I see food and attack it, and suddenly I've eaten it all.

Also, no clothes in my closet fit me anymore, especially skirts. I expected this and I do think it's fun, but it seems to have happened overnight. I'm not big enough for maternity clothes, just big enough not to fit in my own, with no desire or cash to go buy bigger ones. People at work are making jokes like "You look like you swallowed a grape!" and I'm gratified that they haven't noticed the fact that I pretty much wear the same ill-fitting, half-buttoned outfit every day.

Everyone gets home today. I think I'm going to have to start eating a little more slowly so as not to gross them out. Otherwise, it'll be nice to have them all back.

Possibly My Last TV Reference of the Season, Depending on Whether I Decide to Watch the Alias Finale

I was so happy to see Rex again last night!

Even though it was only in flashbacks, it was like the old Rex was back and the world was right again.

You never realize how much you're going to miss a guy until the neighborhood pharmacist kills him.