The Heartbreak of TV These Days

I was impatient to see all the excitement on Downton so we veered away from PBS to finish up the season.  After using my movie pass on Amazon to stream the last three episodes of Downton,  I now feel as if a part of myself is missing and the part that remains is rather hopeless about the prospects for a happy ending.  I won’t give away any spoiler details but I will say....oh, my gosh.  

I also feel as if I should write a letter to Julian Fellows.  If I did, this is what it would say:

Dear Mr. Fellows:

Julian, (you don’t mind if I call you Julian do you?) I had to take a moment and write this letter to you so I could simply ask....how could you do this to me?  First, you break my heart over sweet Sybil, then you lull me into believing all is right in the Downton world.  Episode 8 ends with smiles all around and a feeling of hope and possibility, then....WHAM, you shatter my heart all over again with Episode 9.

What can you possibly have in store for the residents of Downton is Season 4?  More importantly, how can you possibly make up for all the heartache of Season 3?

Please, please, please, I beg of you, please do not break my heart again in Season 4.

Like many others, I will be waiting with baited breath for Season 4.  In the meantime, I will be catching up on all my recorded episodes of Revenge and start watching it weekly.  

What else am I watching you ask.  Here is my tv schedule:

Sunday - Downton Abbey/Revenge

Monday - Bones

Tuesday - NCIS, NCIS LA

Wednesday - Criminal Minds

Thursday - Grey’s Anatomy, Elementary (on occasion)

Friday - CSI NY, Blue Bloods

Saturday - Nothing scheduled.

Other than Sunday nights, there is nothing on this schedule that I must watch.  I Tivo Revenge, Bones, Grey’s and Blue Bloods so if I miss it, it isn’t the end of the world.

I also watch a lot of cooking shows.  I think Chopped is my favorite.  I like to see what people come up with based on the mystery ingredients.  I also like Nigella but can never seem to get my butt out of bed to watch it or when I do, it is always an episode I have seen before.  I find I like the shows on the Cooking Channel better than those on Food Network.  Like other networks, there are too many reality tv shows on the Food Network these day for my taste.  

It is my opinion that reality tv is killing today’s society.  Other than Chopped, I don’t watch any reality tv.  It all irritates me so much.  I can never understand how people can fuss about the state of the world (the way people treat others, everyone’s selfish attitude, the fact that no one is really trying to make a difference, teenage pregnancies, ignorance, etc.) but yet, most people in the U.S. watch some sort of reality tv shows. These shows highlight teenage pregnancy, ignorance, promiscuity, just to name a few issues.  I can tell you that for myself, I have no desire to watch the Bachelor or Bachelorette and watch one person have sex with 10 - 15 different people to see which one is the “right” one.  It grosses me out so much when I see one of them make out with one person and then later in the day, make out with someone else.  

Or when tv shows glorify teenage pregnancies.  Come on people.  Being a teenage mom is hard and is not something we should encourage.  We need to encourage our teenagers to finish school and go make something of themselves and I don’t mean make themselves into poor, (usually) single mothers who will have to struggle for the rest of their lives to make a good life for themselves and their children. We should encourage our teenagers to graduate high school, go to college (if that is what they need for their dream), get a job, and get into a place where they are grown ups before thinking about babies.  I wish I could tell them from someone who knows how hard it is but I am afraid it is one of those times where the glory that comes from shows like these outweighs the voice of “reality”.

Wow, I apologize for my rant on reality tv.  Obviously though, it is pretty clear that I don’t watch a lot of tv.  When I want to watch something these days (that is not listed above), it is usually Battlestar Galactica reruns (because you can never watch them too many times).  I also have started watching London Hospital.  It is pretty gory and kind of gross but also very interesting.  It is like a 1900's version of ER in London without so much of the sex.     

This posting is one of those examples of how scary my brain can be since this post originally started out about Downton Abbey and took an interesting little trip to the end.  Strange how my brain works.

10 Books on Your To-Read List

10 Books on Your To-Read List

• Topsy-Turvy Inside Out Knit Toys: Magical Two-in-One Reversible Projects by Susan B. Anderson
• Everyday Heroes: 50 Americans Changing the World One Nonprofit at a Time by Katrina Fried
• 1001 Children’s Books You Must Read Before You Grow Up by Julia Eccleshare
• Riding with the Queen by Jennie Shortridge
• Away: A Novel by Amy Bloom
• The Lace Reader: A Novel by Brunonia Barry
• My Only Story by Monica Wood
• The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook: Recipes for The Best Pan In Your Kitchen by Sharon KRamis and Julie Kramis Hearne
• Unravelled by Robyn Harding
• Home: A Novel by Marilynne Robinson

Feel Good Friday

This makes me sneeze but it also makes me smile because it is a sign that spring is here.

Azaleas

On Valentine's Day and Being Alive

We interrupt our normally scheduled post to bring you a special announcement:

Since leaving elementary school, I haven’t been a big fan of Valentine’s Day.  When you are a kid, there is just something so fun about decorating a shoebox with pink, red and white construction paper hearts and then reading the cheesy, commercial Valentine’s your school mates leave for you.  

However, the charm of Valentine’s Day quickly wears off once you start middle school, then high school and adulthood, especially as a single parent.   My attitude from around the time of my second marriage to a few years ago was “Valentine’s Day…bah humbug!!!”

However, my attitude changed drastically in 2007.  Not because I fell in love or met the most romantic man in the world, not because of flowers or cupid, or anything like that.  My attitude changed because…well, I lived. 

For some back story, please see my post Why I Love Valentine’s Day here.   A short version of the story is that I was in a horrible car accident involving a blizzard, a snow plow and my little Honda Accord.  I was initially listed as a fatality because they were expecting me to die.  I didn’t.  

After that horrible day, I vowed to live life to the fullest at all times and never take any of it for granted.  Have I always done this?  Well, no because I am human.  Am I constantly working toward this goal?  Absolutely.   

My reminder to you.....Love your family right now so they will always know how much they mean to you.  And, live your life NOW.  Don’t wait for someday to come because we can lose all of our “somedays” in the blink of an eye.

Spoiled Dogs

Pandora a.k.a Panda, our yellow Lab-Sharpei dog, is super sweet but not very bright.  She got scared the other night when we ran a quick errand and she did this.  

Yes.  She ate the couch.  Needless to say a new couch is on the list of upcoming purchases. 

This weekend, The weekend before last, we built a fence.  (Last weekend I slept all weekend with a cold.)  The fenced yard is for the dogs to run around in off of leashes.  Since we moved here in August, we have had to put the dogs leashes on (and with Pandora it can be a challenge).  The dogs seemed to really enjoy it and we really enjoy being able to open the door and just let them out.  

New Fence

Mom's handmade gate

Very blurry shot of the skirting Princess Ivi put up

Pics of the dog enjoying her new play-yard.