Great television

My Monday was as equally lazy as my Sunday.  I spent most of day catching up on tv shows and cleaning the disaster area that is my desk. Blue Bloods, Mr. Sunshine, and The Defenders are the shows that I have to catch up on during my days off.  These shows rock my socks! It's been a long time since I've had shows that were must see TV.  It reminds me of college when my week nights were planned out by which shows were on TV not by what homework I had.

Mr. Sunshine is a new show on ABC. Featuring Mathew Perry and one of my favorite's from The West Wing, Allison Janney.  The show is filled with quirky characters and a behind the scenes antics of running a large events center.  It has great potential, but I really doubt it will last long before getting the axe.

Blue Bloods is probably my second favorite show on TV right now, behind Castle. Everyone on the show is great!  Tom Sellack as the New York City Police Comissioner is amazing.  I've missed an episode or two so I'm not entirely on board with the Blue Templar storyline.  And it's a little hard to believe that in a force of 35,000 - these few members of the family would have so many overlapping cases and miraculously bump into each other during the course of their day.   And the fact that all the Reagans, one on patrol, one a detective, one a lawyer, one the commissioner, and one the former commissioner can all sit down together for a big family dinner frequently makes it even harder to "believe."  I'm glad the family is close-knit and all but I know better. Law enforcement does not play so kindly to such a white picket fence version of family life.

I guess what's more intriguing to me is the history and tradition underlining the show.  Each generation is drawn to the blue.  It's the family business.   I have no doubt that families like this, minus the rank, exist in New York, or any other large city police force. Nepotism runs thick in police departments - I've learned that first hand.  I was second on the list because a Sgt. had offspring who needed a job.

Anywho, Blue Bloods a good show.  As is The Defenders.   I don't see it lasting into a second season but it's been good while it lasted. Jim Belluci as something other than a cookie cutter fat sports fan for a sitcom is a nice change of pace.  I like that the show is set in Vegas rather than New York or L.A.  There are so many that are set in those cities that any change is welcome.

So, like I said...equally as lazy today as I was yesterday.  Oh well.  Hmmm, maybe I should write a TV show. Behind the scenes at an archive! It would have all the quirkiness of history geeks and all the historically intrinsic items they squee over!!  Stay tuned.

Lazy Sunday

Sunday was the perfect lazy weekend day. Brent made his legendary pancakes for breakfast before we headed over to Safeway for our first coupon outing together. It's Frozen Food Month at Safeway. We picked up $75 worth of great stuff for $24.50. It was great! Our freezer is a little fuller and Brent has a new found appreciation for my couponing skills!

After bringing home our loot, I played on the computer while Brent painted the last of the shelves for still on-going closet project. (It's almost done!). The afternoon brought the movie marathon. First up was Despicable Me. That was followed by Knight & Day. Last movie of the night was The Social Network, a great movie about the founding of Facebook. It will make anyone think twice about being the brainchild of a billion dollar company! It certainly shows why you can't make a million "friends" without making a few enemies...very greedy enemies!

I loved the movie.  Not because I love Facebook but because it was well written, well shot, and had great music.  I just did a little digging... believe it or not, the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, THE Aaron Sorkin who is responsible for my beloved The West Wing and Sports Night.  It definitely felt a lot like watching The West Wing - fast, smart, and witty dialog.  More digging, I found a great article that explains the differences between how Facebook was really founded and the Hollywood version here.  Good read, if you're curious.

Anywho, it was great, lazy day - just what I needed after my very busy work week.

Workweek eve

My haul for the week was $132.86 worth of stuff for only $38.80!!  That includes 9 boxes of cereal, 12 yogurts, two OJ's, six deodorants, some peanut butter, pasta, pasta sauce, toilet paper, potato chips, hair spray, shaving cream, shampoo, three boxes of fabric softener, and a 100 saline packets of saline nasal rinse for the Neti Pot.  It was a great day of couponing!  And considering I didn't shop last week, only $38 spent in February is great!!

My no latte streak continues - 45 days strong!!  It kind of feels like the time I gave up drinking soda.  I'm surprised at how little I miss what I supposedly couldn't live without.  It's mostly water and juices for me these days.

The great weather this weekend allowed me to make headway on my long list of To Do's for the year.  I started making headway in the garage - throwing away the obvious trash, breaking down boxes, and filling my car trunk with stuff to donate!  My clean car trunk... cleaned my car inside and out before starting in on the garage!  It was greatly needed and that alone leaves me to consider the whole three day weekend a productive one!!

I also managed to take down the last of my outdoor Christmas decorations and sweep my entryway.  I vacuumed out my dryer vent and cleaned up nearby grassy areas of Brinkley and other doggie land mines. I also managed to change up some of my bank accounts to work in my favor and order photos for my upcoming scrapbooking weekend with Heidi!

And if that's not enough, I got to spend a great Sunday evening with my family.  We celebrated Valentine's Day with yummy treats made by mom and Becky's birthday!  And we finally decided on a date and location for our mini-vacation.  Mom, Becky, and I will be flying off to San Francisco for a long weekend in May!

And now it's time for a shower and some easy reading!

Bad Moon Rising

Life often reminds me of an episode of The West Wing.  In the episode Bad Moon Rising, President Bartlett lets the White House counsel and his staff in on his secret - that he has MS and may have purposefully misled the American public by not revealing his illness during his campaign for presidency.  Each staff member reacts differently, but they are all aware of the consequences of his revelation.  A bad moon is rising... the American public will have to be let in on the secret and the President and his staff will have a David v Goliath battle in order to survive the Congressional investigation into their actions and execute any possible run for re-election.  The staff is in a hazed shock and wondering what the future will hold.  From where they're standing, it doesn't look good.

Earlier this week, the Chief of Police in Fort Fun announced he was retiring.  It was a surprise to most everyone.  He's always talked as though he would be around for another five years or more.  To most, the suddenness of the decision translated into he's quitting or abandoning ship.  He was a good Chief and it will take a lot to fill his shoes.  And it ultimately means that changes are coming.  They may not happen today or tomorrow but they are coming.  There is weird feeling of gloominess in the air - the sense of a bad moon rising.

I see the bad moon arising.

I see trouble on the way.

I see earthquakes and lightnin'.

I see bad times today.

Don't go around tonight,

Well, it's bound to take your life,

There's a bad moon on the rise.

I hear hurricanes a blowing.

I know the end is coming soon.

I fear rivers over flowing.

I hear the voice of rage and ruin.

Don't go around tonight,

Well, it's bound to take your life,

There's a bad moon on the rise.

All right!

Hope you got your things together.

Hope you are quite prepared to die.

Looks like we're in for nasty weather.

One eye is taken for an eye.

Don't go around tonight,

Well, it's bound to take your life,
There's a bad moon on the rise.

Redwall

I ended up on the Barnes and Noble website today.  I no longer remember what I was searching for because I was distracted by (happens frequently) a Brian Jacques novel, his 21st in the Redwall series.  Then I realized it was under "We Remember Brian Jacques."  I Googled, and sure enough he passed just a few days ago on February 5th.  Not many people will know who he his, but I do.

My sixth grade class had to read Redwall, his first book of the series.  I remember being skeptical.  I remember procrastinating.  I didn't want to read about mice and rats and castles and abbeys.  In sixth grade, I liked stories about people... like a boy and his dog trying to catch monkeys in the Ozark mountains, or a boy stranded in the wilderness after an airplane crash, or a group of friends who formed their own babysitters club, or a boy who took on race relations in a town simply by running.   I liked stories about people.  Still do, maybe that's why I like studying History.

       

Redwall was unexpected gem.  Redwall blew me away.  I remember getting sucked into the book and staying up late reading by my bedside lamp.  And I always remembered the title and I always remembered the name of the author.  It was a great book; it was the one that proved to me that I should never judge a book by its cover.

With 21 books in the series, it's safe to say I wasn't the only one touched by Brain Jacques' cast of brave mice and villainous rats.  Thanks for opening my imagination, Mr. Jacques.  May you rest in peace.

Smokey Joe's Cafe

I got to check something off my life-long I Want to Try That list yesterday.  Brent and I went to a dinner theatre with his parents yesterday afternoon in celebration of Brent's birthday.  Seems like an odd birthday present for a 30 year old man but he suggested it.  He's always been a stage geek of sorts, being the light and sound guy in high school and then later building huge lighting structures for a theatre in Atlanta one summer.  But in this case, I think it was the show, that made him interested.

Smokey Joe's Cafe was playing at the newly moved Carousel Dinner Theatre.  The show was a musical review of 50s and 60s rock 'n roll classics.  The cast of 8 also were the waiters and waitresses - not sure if that's typical for dinner theatre but we felt bad for them because they were really singing and dancing their tails off.  They must have been so tired!

The show was great!  I loved the music and the entire cast was so talented.  They could sing, they could dance...and they were great servers!  The food was pretty tasty too - roasted chicken, rice, and snap green peas.  I loved the show and I'm already trying to figure out when to go to the other dinner theatre in the area!

Will you be my Valentine?

I love old things.  Vintage Valentine's are the best!  I'm out of juice for witty or pithy comments on my Friday night so I'll just let these entertain you...

This is NPR

Ten hours in a patrol car each work day means easy boredom when it comes to programs on the radio.  Most radio stations play the same songs over and over again.  Bored with this, I decided to give NPR a try.  Brent and I have listened to it on different occasions, usually on a Saturday morning when Car Talk and Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is on.

The first night I switched the car radio to NPR, I was pleasantly surprised.  It was a show called World Cafe and it was featuring the bluesman Charles Musselwhite.  His interview was scattered with some of his music.  As soon as the harmonica sounds came ripping out of the speakers, I was instantly transported back to Pappy's Smokehouse in St. Louis!

I texted Brent to have him turn on NPR.  We just don't hear music like that on radio stations in Fort Fun.  I started tuning into World Cafe each night.  And now the station is my primary station.  Some of the news talk and news updates are not all that interesting, but the variety of shows, stories, and music makes up for the repetitiveness of the news updates.

And with that little ramble, I'm off to Safeway to pick up some almost free Triscuits and Mission tortillas!

Changin' a latte!

I'm going to toot my own horn today... I made it through all of January without making one coffee shop stop.  No money spent on lattes!!  I am proud of this.  And I think it has a direct relationship to how much energy I have through the day.  By watching what I eat and not drinking fat-laden calories, I've lost 8.5 lbs so far this month!  

So, no, I don't miss my lattes.  Good riddance.  I'll stick to brew coffee and fat free creamer to get my caffeine fix.  At least until I can start weaning myself off of that too.  Baby steps.

Jujitsu is still fun.  Tonight I learned more striking defense and throwing maneuvers.  The coaches make everything look so smooth and easy but I'm far from that.  Trying to wrap my arm around a guy, lift, and throw him over me onto his side is quite the workout.  It will many weeks or months before I can do that smoothly.  And it's just one of many throws!! Yikes!  

My tumbles have improved though!  Once the initial dizziness wears off after the first 5 or 6 tumbles, they are kind of fun!  I do tumbling to standing and break fall tumbles.  Stiff arm tumbling and aerials come later!  

All of my bones are jostled and my muscles are already sore.  I'm going to take some advil and head off to bed to watch The Good Wife.