So Much TV, So Little Time

I don't watch a lot of TV. It's not that I don't think there are many interesting shows available, it's just that I don't have time. I get home around 6:30 or 7:00 most weekday evenings, and from then until 9:00 and beyond I am pretty consumed with Lucy. Occasionally we turn on the TV to wind down for bed, but that means we're watching Sprout or some equally appropriate preschool television. By the time I get her to bed, I can watch about 20 minutes of Real Housewives or something comparatively mind-numbing, and I'm ready for bed myself. Weekends aren't much better.

While I had plenty of channels upstairs, my lack of TV-watching was made easier by the fact that the "big" cable box and DVR were downstairs. So I couldn't even record shows and watch them later, or be tempted to find something good on our premium channel splurge, HBO.

Notice I'm saying "was" and "were"?

Back in February, Husband switched up some of our cable TV and I finally got the "full" cable box upstairs. It was like a whole new world! I had all the channels. No DVR, but I could watch On Demand. It was like Christmas, even though I still didn't have much time to watch anything.

THEN for Valentine's Day, Husband got me Google TV. I had never heard of such a thing and had no idea what it was for. My dear Husband has a penchant for buying me things that I'd never buy for myself, never would dream I'd want, but somehow just knows I will love. This was no exception.

I know I won't explain this well, but Google TV is a system that runs through the TV, and allows on-screen access to a number of online functions, like Amazon, YouTube, HBO GO, and a myriad of others I haven't even tried yet. So what's the big deal? I can access all of these on my laptop. Ah yes, but it's not the same as watching on my TV! Since I got Google TV, I have watched a number of movies either through Amazon Prime or HBO GO, as well as several TV series (especially on HBO) that I had been wanting to watch. I still don't have a lot of time to watch things, but now when I do have time, it's a lot easier and more accessible. When Lucy is napping, I can watch a movie and fold clothes. When I'm home a little early on Fridays, I can watch a few episodes of a show in the span of about an hour. And of course, Lucy has benefited by getting to see some new cartoon movies (and I avoid watching the same DVDs over and over again). It's nice!

So now that my TV-watching is more streamlined, what are some shows that are worth the time?

Christmas, Here We Come

We had a great Thanksgiving, but now that it's over it seems that we all have permission to step right into Christmas, and rightfully so since it's a month away. So I've had shopping and baking and decorating on my mind - I think the snow we got on Thanksgiving helped.

I felt motivated to get a jump on some holiday gift-making, so I attempted to go to JoAnn's Fabrics later Friday morning; my only foray into "Black Friday." Big mistake. I went in and immediately grabbed a number for the fabric counter. They were on number 25. My slip said 02, which translated to 102. Only 77 more people to go before I could get my fabric! Back home I went. I went back today and actually got the same sale price for one of my cuts, and I had a 40% coupon for the other. The extra 10% off I would have gotten on Friday was not worth the hours I would have spent in line.

I decided not to haul out the Christmas decorations until next weekend, so actually the remainder of this long weekend was quite leisurely. We saw a couple of movies; "The Mist" in the theater with Husband (some interesting concepts, but not really that great), and "Are We Done Yet?" as a family movie at home with Brandon. We also had a nice surprise this weekend. My cousin Kristi had a 3-hour layover in Minneapolis on her trip back to Iowa from the D.C. area, so we picked her up at the airport and we all had dinner together. It was so great to see her, especially since we won't be seeing her for Christmas this year.

Aside from that, we caught up on housework and laundry, and I am currently catching up on some of my saved episodes of "Heroes" on the DVR. Tonight, maybe baking some banana bread and getting started on a craft project. Tomorrow, back to business as usual!

Look out, Webster's Dictionary...

I am working from home this afternoon, and the TV is on for background noise...near the end of the show "A Baby Story" I caught this:

"After the birth of our third baby, life has changed...dramastically."

I guess that would be a combination of "dramatically" and "fantastically?" I kind of like it.

Blast From the Past

Anyone watch the show "World Series of Pop Culture" on VH1? (I know some of you do). Tonight I recorded the first episode of the season on DVR, and am currently watching it. On one of the teams, I found a familiar face. MY BOYFRIEND WHEN I WAS 18 (freshman year of college). He looks a little different, but the name and the sense of humor match up. Too funny!

For those of you who knew him, go here, and under Check It Out, click "Meet the Teams on VSpot" and click on "Fat Guys in Little Coats" for a video clip. (Sorry there's not a more direct link). Some of you will get a real kick out of this, including you, Mom and Dad.

Little Brother Makes a Good Point

If all of you out there in blog-reader land are not watching Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel, you are missing something pretty special. Check it out, Sunday nights. And for those of you who are wondering, it's not a bunch of treehugging political grandstanding (though if it was that wouldn't necessarily be wrong). It's beautiful video captured from unique perspectives, of animals and places most of us will never see, and some that has never been shown on film before. Learn to love the earth all over.

There Are No Words

TV Tunes

Tonight is TV night for Husband and I. It's pretty much the only night we sit down and watch together, because we typically like entirely different shows. But Wednesdays we usually watch Lost, and before/after Lost, I tolerate his incessant channel-flipping. I do this because it's just nice to sit in the same room and enjoy each other's company, instead of being on different floors of our abode.

So the one show we can cling to happens to be on hiatus until February, which I find completely stupid. We'll probably lose interest in Lost by then (OK, probably not, because we have to know if they escape from "the others.") Who ever heard of a fall finale? Good grief. Now what to watch?

Tonight we stumbled across a show called Bones. Husband had seen in before, but this was my first time. It was pretty good, and they showed 2 episodes in a row, so we could spend a couple of mindless - but together - hours. Anyway, toward the end of one of the episodes I heard a familiar voice singing in the background. A voice I was introduced to by my friend Jacquie, a voice we have listened to several times at a tiny place called the 400 Bar here in Minneapolis. A voice I have sang with in the car on roadtrips. I was delighted to hear Tim Easton singing Next to You. It's a very sweet song, and he's a great singer/songwriter. Check him out!