I'm a wife, mother, daughter, friend, teacher, reader, cook, and TV watcher who was raised in Smalltown USA and now lives in the suburbs of a big city.
...your child makes a red beans and rice magnet at her day camp. :-)
...it is so hot and humid outside that you cave and buy your daughter a ridiculous water slide so she can at least enjoy the outdoors. (The girl LOVES to be outside.)
...you drive an hour to have the chargrilled oysters at Drago's. (I hate oysters, but Darryl loves them and claims these oysters have changed his life.)
...you feel compelled to watch the Miss Louisiana pageant (while also watching the Miss Georgia pageant, I might add).
...your daughter goes to breakfast with her daddy and tells him that she wants beignets. (And she did in fact get beignets. Along with this ridiculous chocolate milk. Sugar for breakfast, anyone?)
1. I was a terrible daughter and wife and didn't give a shout out to my husband or dad on Father's Day for being the amazing fathers they are. Well, they are amazing...even if I am saying so several days late. :-/
2. I'm thrilled to report that Amelia has made friends with two girls next door. When we lived in Georgia, our neighborhood wasn't really full of kids, but we were fortunate to have a girl Amelia's age who lived next door and they played together a good bit. The two girls next door have been over some this week and Amelia has had a blast playing with them.
3. I'm a bit frustrated with the weight loss thing. I gained back a little over a pound this past week, probably because I was BAD over the weekend. (Reese's Pieces, pound cake with ice cream, fried shrimp...) Ugh. I've been working out like a madwoman these past couple of weeks, so I'm hoping the scale will go the right way soon.
4. The other day I sat down to watch Oprah's Next Chapter. Before I knew it, I had watched four episodes. I like it. (Also? Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka are living in my dream house. I have saved the episode on my DVR so I can drool over it time and time again. And you never know...if I come into some wealth, I will play the episode for a contractor/architect and say, "Build THAT!")
5. I have nothing else. I'm finding this to be a week when I have things I want to do but no real motivation to do them. Alas.
I might not be Oprah, but does that mean I shouldn't share a few of my favorite things? (But since I'm not Oprah, I do not have the budget to send you a gift basket of all these items.)
These are just some little things that just make me happy.
1. Mrs. Meyer's Countertop Spray. Rarely do I get excited about a cleaning product (I like cleanliness but never cared much about the products themselves), but I absolutely love this spray. I especially love the Lemon Verbena scent for the kitchen and the lavender scent for the bathrooms. (By the way, am I the only person who wants to spell it L-A-V-E-N-D-A-R?)
2. Ritz Fresh Stacks. If you think this is a ridiculous marketing ploy, think again, my friends. Unless you are on a complete cracker binge, you are probably not going to blitz through a stack of Ritz. (In all honesty, I could eat a stack a Ritz and with some cheese on top. Or plain. And I have been known to consume my fair share of "squirt-on cheese" back in the day. Don't judge.) Anyway...if you are just eating a few here and there, you are guaranteed fresh crackers every. single. time. I hate a stale cracker.
3. Tervis Tumblers. I love a Tervis Tumbler. They are insulated, so they keep your drink hot or cold, and they don't sweat, so you don't have to worry about a coaster. It is my go-to "glass" and I drink out of it at home and take it with me on the road. (Since I've been trying to lose a little weight, I take one full of water with me when I get in the car.)
4. Anthropologie Coffee Mugs. I am not a big Anthropologie person as far as the clothes go (not my style at all), but I do like their some of their kitchen items, especially their coffee mugs. This one was given to me as a gift, and I lurve it.
5. Cast-iron skillet. I have had a cast-iron skillet for a while, but because of the porcelain surface of our stove back in Georgia, I never got to use it, so I packed it up when we thought we were moving a couple of years ago. :-) I found it when we really did move a month and a half ago, and I probably use it two or three times a week. I think it cooks more evenly, and maybe food just tastes a little better when it is prepared in it. (Maybe?)
If only I could now say, "You get a skillet! And you get a skillet! EVERYBODY IS GETTING A SKILLEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTT!"
(Darryl just sneezed a la the Will Ferrell sneeze below, and I just gave him "the look." SO LOUD.)
...is going on.
Here are just some bits of randomness:
--I enjoyed watching the Tonys last night. It is by far my favorite awards show, primarily because of the host (I've loved Neil Patrick Harris since Doogie, y'all) and the performances.
--LSU's baseball season is over. Alas.
--FSU is still going strong, so at least Darryl is happy.
--We went bowling this past weekend and Amelia beat both Darryl and me. Granted, she had bumpers, but still. We should be able to beat a four-year-old whose ball rolls at the speed of .555 miles an hour.
--We tried our first church yesterday. I won't mention which one it was, but let's just say it was NOT for us. The search continues.
--The Mad Men finale was kind of meh, in my opinion. (I'm not sure that anyone who reads this cares, but I just wanted to make my opinion known.)
--I have officially lost 5 pounds! Woot!
--I was going to walk this morning, but walked outside (at 6:30!) and the air felt like a hot, wet blanket (at 6:30!)...so I went to get donuts instead. (However, I did NOT get myself a donut. Such will power. I think that's why I'm borderline disgruntled this morning.)
I haven't posted much about TV in a while (probably because I don't watch nearly as much as I used to), but I have some thoughts on things. Warning: There are spoilers below, so if you are like me and leave shows sitting on your DVR for a sweet forever, you might not want to keep reading.
1. A couple of weeks ago, Darryl and I happened to catch some of Will Ferrell's hosting turn on SNL. When this commercial spoof came on, we LAUGHED because people, this is our life. (Sorry for the poor video quality -- it was the best I could find on YouTube.)
Darryl and I have flat-out ARGUED VERY LOUDLY about his sneezing. It is loud, boisterous, and makes me jump every time I hear it. When she says, "You sound like a lunatic"... and "why can't you sneeze like a normal person?"...well, I'll just say that maybe I've said those EXACT WORDS.
(I'm feeling ALL CAPS-ish today.)
2. I have yet another bone to pick with Grey's Anatomy. Yes, I broke up with Grey's for a while, but then I got sucked in by the rumor that a major character was going to die. Poor Lexie Grey. Anyway, I'm annoyed that creator and head honcho Shonda Rimes believes that tragedy equals good TV. Because it doesn't. At one point in the finale, Cristina lists all the things that have happened to her at Seattle Grace -- having a gun held to her head, being held hostage by a crazed shooter, having a friend get hit by a bus, etc. -- and says she can't wait to leave. Amen, sister.
3. I liked the Modern Family finale. I didn't see the twist at the end coming, so bravo to them!
4. This season's Dancing with the Stars was the best yet. There were about five really strong contenders, and the final three deserved to be in the final three. And really, our country should just be grateful to DWTS for introducing us to beauty of William Levy.
You are welcome.
5. I'm saving the best point for last. Y'all. Two words: Mad Men. I have been very iffy with the show this season. I read an article this week (can't remember where, or I would give it credit as a good English teacher should) that described this season as feeling like a collection of satisfying short stories. It has felt a little disjointed to me, with some thematic threads weaving through it and a couple of ongoing stories with a couple of the characters, but it just didn't seem to gel in my opinion.
HOWEVER, this past week's Mad Men reminded me of why I love the show. I know I sound cheesy, but it was sheer brilliance. Much has been written about the episode so it would be easy to Google, but there is a sequence that juxtaposes two very different but also profoundly similar situations (beautiful Joan prostituting herself -- literally-- to supposedly save the agency, and Don giving a presentation about Jaguar centered on the ability to "own" beauty) that delighted me while sending chills down my spine. (How low can you go, SCDP?) (Also, I love me some good juxtaposition. That is/was one of my favorite literary techniques to teach.) And the ending scene with Don and Peggy, when the protege says goodbye to her mentor? Perfection. PERFECTION.
