TV Time

Like any newlywed couple still enjoying the child-less life, Mark and I like to watch TV together. Watching TV together is our way of spending time together during the week when I finish work in the evenings and he's done with schoolwork, and on our less busy weekends.  I decided I'd share some of our favorite shows we've enjoyed. It's amazing (and simultaneously pathetic) how attached I get to some of the characters. Especially when TV shows create crazy plot lines and suddenly get rid of characters. I don't know if I can rank these in a top favorites list. We've really enjoyed all of these...but Bones would probably be our first.

1) Bones

In case you've been living under a rock, or just aren't much into the TV scene, Bones is a Drama Series about a forensic anthropologist (Temperance "Bones") solve murders with handsome FBI agent (Seeley Booth). Although their relationship improves and blossoms over time, there's always a clashing between Bones' logical cynical reasoning experience, fighting against the instincts and views of Booth. With how slow this season has been, I'm fearing this show may be cancelled soon after 7 seasons. I won't spoil why in case you are thinking of picking up the show or didn't see the dramatic end of the 6th season.

Out of 5 stars, we'd give it a 4.5 (They took out one of our favorite characters. I'm still bitter.)

2) Burn Notice 

Burn Notice is a comedy/action tv series about a spy, Michael Weston, who gets "burned" by the FBI. They drop him in Miami with no money, no job, and no friends aside from his ex-girlfriend who also used to be a spy, another friend who is informing the FBI on his whereabouts, and his mother with whom he has a rocky relationship with. (For my sisters, the female spy is actually the girl from "Wild Horses Can't Be Broken") As the episodes and seasons progress, he finds more out about why he was burned and who was responsible. Along with some romance and a few unpaid "jobs" helping others in trouble. A lot of times the "threats" people come to him to help with, scaring off or killing the oppressor is the answer. But what I like about the show is he uses people against each other rather than just killing them himself. Ex: In one episode he made a huge money launderer/drug dealer think his #2 guy was stealing his money. They end up shooting each other and Michael's hands still technically remain "clean". (Okay folks, this isn't something your 8 year old should watch, but at least it's not like watching James Bond killing left and right.) 

We have been watching episodes on Netflix and only have about 10 left. We will be sad to say goodbye when it ends.

Out of 5 stars: 4.5

 3) Numb3rs

"Numbers" is another FBI, crime solving series. An FBI agent uses the help of his math genius brother to help solve crimes. For those who notice a familiar face on the cover, the guy on the right is David Krumholtz who played "Bernard" in The Santa Clause 1&2. It was a little hard to overcome the memory of a goofy looking elf and see him now as a math genius. But you really get hooked on the show. Charlie (DK) is a young genius math professor at CalSci (fictitious university) who works closely with his quirky associate professor Dr. Larry Fleinhardt. Dr. Fleinhardt is definitely a hard core physicist and cosmologst and although quirky, you grow attached to his sentimental feelings about life's experiences and human behavior. Like any good drama series, it focuses not only on the teamwork of Charlie and his brother Don, but also interpersonal drama with their widowed father, other FBI team agents, and Charlie's graduate student who transforms into a cute "nerdy" love story. I'll leave it at that.

Out of 5 stars: 4

4) Toddlers and Tiaras

 We made reference to this show a little over a year ago. If you can't tell from the picture, this show is all about kids whose parents put them in pageants. These kids range from 2-10 years old. You see the extreme, to "somewhat" level headed (if there can be such a thing with this stuff), and parents who think they're normal but go bazerk when their child doesn't win first place or the supreme title. I don't think anyone who reads this blog puts their children in pageants so hopefully no on one will take offense at how completely stupid I think this idea is. "Oh my child learns so much self esteem from pageants". Okay, sure they learn how to stare down adults. But it also teaches them that winning is everything and you have to be pretty and skinny and show off your skin to get anywhere in life. There was one episode with this family where the mom was pretty level headed, and the kids were too (for the most part). But when award time came and little sister got the supreme title and she didn't get anything (until later when she was crowned overall supreme), she freaked out, ran around throwing a fit, demanding to go back on stage. 

Out of 5 stars: 3.5. It's ridiculously entertaining, but the overall idea is pretty horrific.

 5) Hoarders

Hoarders is another TLC show we've found (only thanks to Netflix, we started this out of desperation and still watch an episode from time to time). Each episode follows 2 different "hoarders" in their various extreme cases. Seriously, it's amazing how much a person can have in their house. In more extreme cases, they have maybe 1 chair still usable for sitting. On one episode one woman would tie herself into a walker/chair at night so she wouldn't fall out as she slept. It's such a strange disorder that I don't think anyone can fully understand. These people struggle to throw away hideous collectibles, expired food, and trash. Often by the time the hoarding specialist and clean up crew get to come through, the bottom "layer" of their house is often covered in animal feces because of all the rotting food. Now, we're not mean people who watch this show to laugh and talk about how crazy these people are (though we sometimes make such comments). It's really just hard to believe how so many people let their houses be destroyed and unlivable. In some cases, health inspectors or city codes determine the house is unfit for humans (which is usually where this show comes in). It has also ruined my view of Wall-E and Ariel: hoarders...maybe 101 Dalmations if you consider dogs a hoarding issue.  

Out of 5 stars: 3.5 

6) Out of the Wild-Venezuela

Follows the journey of 9 men and women who are dropped off in the middle of nowhere in Venezuela. Only having 3 days of survival training, and limited help, they have to cross through 70 miles of jungle, savanna, and more jungle to reach their ultimate goal. The catch is they each have a GPS which they can use to call for help when they want to quit. This is a pretty short series with only 8 episodes. Plenty of drama as everyone is almost always tired, hungry and miserable. With no prize at the end, I'm not sure why anyone would do it. I would probably quit on day 1 as I enjoy a night or two of camping but not endless strenuous hiking, relying on termites and unripe berries for food half of the time. 

Out of 5 stars: 3 

What are some of your favorite shows? 

Sledding!

Go figure, there was no snow to be found at Christmas time this year. But in the last 2 months, Winter finally decided to arrive. My parents live up in the benches of the mountains. The side of their house has a hill that we have used in years past to do some basic sledding. Last year, my dad and Mark got this idea to build a "ramp" and then dig down the first slope for a sledding track. We had a blast and looked forward to doing it again this year.
Over the recent 3 day weekend, we got our "warm up" as my dad and I dug, shoveled and packed snow for my nieces and nephew. Then we got another chance this past weekend after my parents received nearly a new foot of snow. With the help of my husband, sister, and brother in law, we built up a pretty sweet and steep ramp. We dug the track all the way down to the tree area, though on even the best runs, we were a few feet shy away from the end.

 This is taken about halfway down the "track". 

 The ramp....at least a good 4 feet. We had to build fake snow steps to climb up. 

This is my nephew Spencer on one of his turns going down. He and his older sister made us laugh by all the silly things they'd say on the way down. Spencer's most preferred was to yell "avalancher!" I never knew there was such thing as an avalanch-er. He's such a funny kid. This run he made it pretty much to the end.

Who says snow has to be miserable?

A Lil' Bit O Southern Fixin's

The recipe that started it all: Louisiana Style Skillet Fried Chicken. I saw it on the Rachael Ray show and had to try it. Since my husband served his mission in South Carolina, I have wanted to make him fried chicken since day one of our marriage. But frying has never been my specialty, and afraid of starting a grease fire, I avoided it. But this recipe was too good to pass up. Of course it had some intimidating ingredients such as cayenne pepper and hot sauce (neither of which I even owned until now). Plus, I am tired of all those famous blog ladies who make these "to die for" recipes when in the end, I could have died without ever trying them and never felt deprived. Good old Rachael definitely delivers.  

The overall process of making it was pretty simple. Season the chicken and let it stand overnight. Bring back to room temperature, dip in some liquid, toss in flour, and fry away. 

The Lineup

 Fun tip: If you don't have a thermometer, or are like me and fear measuring in the wrong place, set the stove to med/high. After a few minutes, use the top of a wooden spoon and stick the tip into the pan. If it bubbles around it, the oil is ready for frying. Magic I know!

 As you can see, I cleared my stove area just in case a fire started! A little paranoid perhaps....

 I also made the suggested creole ranch style potato salad. Probably would have been better had I used fresh seasonings rather than dried. Definitely learned my lesson. My chicken was topped with bread and butter pickles and some honey. Mark ate his with hot sauce, honey and ranch. I'm looking forward to leftovers tonight!

For anyone who'd like to try it here is the link with even a video to go along with it.

Louisiana Style Skillet Fried Chicken

Story Time

I'd like to call the following story "If you Give a Wife a TV" (most likely the sequel to "If You Give A Wife a Kohl's Card". Ahem...here we go:

If you give a wife a TV for Christmas, she'll quickly find her favorite shows such as Rachael Ray, Good Morning America, and Ellen DeGeneres. . 

She'll then bribe her husband with a tasty Rachael Ray recipe but only if he buys her the ceramic cookware it was made with on the show. He will take her to Kohls where she'll find the wanted cookware, but not for the right price and be offended by the cashier who gets annoyed at her hesitancy to purchase $47 stoneware.

Annoyed by the cashier, the wife will probably go home and search for the item online. She'll find it for cheaper with free shipping and return it out of a matter of principle. 

When she goes back to return the overpriced stoneware rung up by a testy cashier, she'll browse the store and end up spending another $25 on a pillow and a cooling rack--in the end realizing it would have been cheaper to stick with the original purchase. 

(this will be much nicer than using plates all the time to let cookies cool)

Once she has these new gadgets and additions, she will then sit down in front of the TV to look for more recipes--and also inform her husband of a few new gadgets she'd like from the Rachael Ray show for her upcoming birthday.

THE END