Thursday, September 27, 2007

The joys of fall...

Fall is my favorite season. For lots of reasons. I love the weather - warm days, cool nights. I love the colors - reds, oranges and browns. I love the holidays - Halloween, Thanksgiving. I love the foods - pumpkin bread, turkey. And I love that TV is back. New episodes of my favorite shows, new shows to either love or hate.

Here's what I've been watching this week.

Monday:
  • Chuck. Um. LOVE. First of all, I love me a nerd. What can I say? And a smart guy with a sense of humor? Gets me every time. And it seems like each week's mystery is solved in the week, which I require is most of my shows.
Tuesday:
  • Bones. David Boreanaz. Sigh. And like most of my favorite shows, anchored by a quirky ensemble cast. The mystery didn't really grab me, but it doesn't have to. I'm more interested in character development most of the time.
  • House. Some shows sort of start getting repetitive and boring when they do the same thing basically over and over, but it so works for House. I miss the ensemble (actually, not that much in this one episode), but I love the House.
Wednesday:
  • Private Practice. Meh. I'm actually not a rah-rah Grey's fan to start with. Add to that that I've never really like Addison's character in Seattle and, well, I'm not sure why I watched this. I flipped back and forth between this and the Bionic Woman, which started really boring so PP sucked me in. I think next week I'll try Bionic Woman again.
  • Life. I didn't think I would like this. I didn't even mean to watch it. I meant to go to bed. But then I watched a few minutes and that was all it took. It fits my TV-watching profile, but adds a little something new. I'm not usually into season (series?)-long mysteries. The whole Lost/Heroes/etc. thing overwhelms me. I want episodes that stand alone so if I miss a week, I can pick up the next week without watching the missed ep. Hmm. I think all of my favorite shows are just like that.
Tonight I'll probably be watching My Name is Earl, Grey's Anatomy and ER. Maybe. I don't know about Grey's or ER yet. I sleep better if I don't watch those types of shows right before bed anyway.

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Who's watching this stuff?

I've been seriously annoyed lately by several commercials. Why? It's only a commercial, right? Normally, I'm pretty media-savvy. I look at commercials from the perspective of the people paying for them and creating them and realize what they're trying to do. And I'm cool with what I see. Their goal is to increase product awareness, get people interested in buying their product and obviously to make more money. So they target certain audiences. Of course, this time that's what's got me so annoyed.

There are at least two commercials that I've seen lately in which a working mom comes home and proceeds to be the only one taking care of household duties. I know I"m a SAHM. Because of this, I generally cook and clean. It's cool. Tom and I have agreed on this and honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way. I have a little trouble letting him do things any way other than my way. But these images suggest that only a woman can prepare a meal or do the dishes or laundry or clean the bathroom or whatever. This commercial shows Mom coming home from work, then she puts food in front of her family while the man and kids wait impatiently. Um, hello? What freaking year is this? Why is the dad just sitting there? The best part? They show this commercial during the day, when the people watching it are generally at-home moms like me.

I need to just stop thinking.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Stuff floating in my head...

Someone very close to me is pregnant. Which kind of changes my plans. Tom and I had sort of decided to try to conceive baby numero quatro this month. But I don't want to steal this person's thunder, to be a little Friends Monica about it. We decided we didn't want Miss S and the potential fourth to be a full four years apart in school, like they would be if we waited until January, like I'd been planning. So now I'm kind of torn. I probably would advise myself not to worry about it and go ahead with what we'd already planned. I just don't know. We have to wait a while anyway, so I'm just going to see what happens.

And then there's that football team I like. Dude. What is up. I mean, come on. Although I have to say it's almost better than last year where I expected them to win all their games and they got demolished. It's almost easier to have low expectations.

Other than those two things, I guess the other stuff is pretty normal day-to-day stuff. You know, knitting some hats (all part of my winter plan - I hate taking Mr. T to school in the mornings with wet hair in the winter, but I hate my hair when I first wake up. So I've been knitting hats to cover it up. Then I can come home and shower and let my hair dry inside. Don't suggest a blow dryer. I don't own one and there's a very, VERY good reason for that. Frizzy hair + blow dryer = people running screaming from me in fright.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Quirky kids...quirky football season...

I sometimes wonder if I, being the quirky and appreciative of quirks person than I am, am a little too indulgent of my children's odd little habits. Like Mr. T likes things arranged a certain way on his bed. He always sits in the same spot on the sofa every morning. Just a bunch of little things that makes him a twinge obsessive. Miss G has her weird little things (like her Fran Drescher laugh that no one I know does, nor have we ever watched the Nanny in her lifetime, so I have no idea where she picked it up). I'm sure in time Miss S will pick up her own little quirks. And I'll encourage them. I like individuality.

Sometimes it seems Mr. T is a little too rigid in his habits and that laugh of Miss G's can really grate and I wonder if I indulge this too much because I like quirky types. Maybe I should be discouraging these things. It goes against everything I believe in, though. I guess really what I need to do is figure out how to encourage their unique qualities while helping them fit those into an often narrow-minded society (no offense, society).

Seriously, though, do not speak to me about Notre Dame. Unless it is to commiserate. In which case, dude. What's going on? ND and Michigan playing for their first win of the season? Yikes. College football is all shook up. My preseason picks to win it all haven't won a game yet. I really though Michigan had it this year. Returning some really quality players, fired up over their losses last season, but no. They had to go and lose my dollar I bet my brother. His preseason pick (Texas) is still in it, but not without some close calls. I'm kind of liking LSU for the national championship. I hate to say it after the way they beat up on ND last year, but they're looking just as strong this year. Some excellent games have been played though. Double and triple overtime? Awesome.

Monday, September 10, 2007

Another vacation photo...


IMGP2945
Originally uploaded by christyc730
The boardwalk. The highlight of any trip to the beach. At least if you're under 10. Actually, it's still one of my favorite parts. And sharing some of my favorite childhood memories with my kids is always something special to me.

Brazen bird...


IMGP2831
Originally uploaded by christyc730
The seagulls (which, despite being the mascot of the university I graduated from, annoy me to no end) were especially bold this weekend. Those are my kids sand toys right there. This guy was only about five feet from me.

We got back yesterday and we are all completely exhausted. But we couldn't have ordered better weather, right down to clouds on the day we left. That always makes me happy. There's nothing worse than leaving the perfect vacation during continuing perfect weather. Cloudy, drizzling rain sort of makes you think, "Oh, I wouldn't be missing anything anyway."

The kids loved the beach. Miss S especially. She loved the ocean. I would take her out up to her waist and she'd point out to the ocean and tell me "Go that way." Even getting wiped out more than once didn't make her any less adventurous. Miss G, on the other hand, got taken for a bit of a ride on the first day and wouldn't get back in until the last day. She joined her dad in the pool. He doesn't like to swim in water where he can't see what's swimming with him. Mr. T just dug in the sand, as expected. He would walk in the ocean, but only for a few minutes and then back out. He told Miss G that there are sharks in the water, so on top of her wipe-out, she was afraid of sharks, no matter how I tried to reason with her. They're both too smart for their own good sometimes.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Three days all to myself...

My mom has the girls and Mr. T has school, so I've been all alone during the day. What excitement did I get up to in that time? The real fun stuff like cleaning the carpets, sorting (read: eliminating) toys, running errands without unbuckling carseats. It's been very nice. And a little lonely. I kind of miss the chatter...all. day. long. Because neither one of my girls ever shuts up. Okay, really it's been nice and quiet. I watched the new View (it's okay, but since I'll probably never get to see it again - Diego rules the TV here - I don't really care). Fun stuff, huh?