I'll Be Fiiiine and Dandy...

I really enjoyed the Christmas Garth Brooks/Trisha Yearwood special. I didn't intend to watch it, but it came on and it was live, and they were taking requests! I sang "Hard Candy Christmas" with Trisha at a pretty good volume. I hope the neighbors enjoyed it. Garth and Trisha sang "Shallow," which was hilarious, because... not Christmas. But we all need a little bonus awesome these days, so I was into it.

This NCAA football championship selection thing is a gigantic load of bullcrap. Just saying. The Aggies were stellar this season and they should be incredibly proud. I didn't really care if we got in or not, but I know the team wanted it. Next year!

I received all the USPS packages I was worried about, so yay for that. Did some in-person gifting this weekend. (Socially distant and masked, of course.) It is crazy to friends I haven't seen in person in months. Just got my curbside grocery pickup put away, and now settling in on the back porch, where it is 70 degrees and sunny. GORGEOUS. Thanks, global warming!

Happy holidays!

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USPS Delivery Woes

Lauren's birthday gift cards from her grandmother were never delivered by the US Postal Service in November. I ordered a gift and gift card online at Williams Sonoma way back on December 2, and while the items were delivered via UPS, the gift card (via USPS) has never arrived. A Macy's order I placed a few weeks ago has been delayed three times, and it is still not here. AND... a Christmas item being sent from Grandma from the retailer was coming via UPS, but UPS did that thing where they drop it off with USPS for local delivery and now it's looking like it may never show up either.

I know there is a lot of shipping going on for the holidays, and there are life-saving vaccines for the big boys to deliver to the masses and all, but holy cow, USPS can't even manage to provide accurate tracking for half my missing stuff. I blame the incompetent Postmaster General. Is it January 20 yet?

The new season of Song Exploder is out on Netflix. Watch! (Wait, there is a podcast with six gajillion- OK, 199- episodes? Whaaaat?! Coolio.)

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Sweet Tea and Oysters Contraband

An armadillo is digging up our backyard at night. I know that's one of the most Texas things you've ever heard. He is hunting for grubs, my husband tells me. We live in suburbia, but along a greenbelt and the grubs in the woods should be the same as or better than the ones in the yard. Why cross the fence? Stick with your forest-y, free-range grubs, not our domesticated, fenced-in ones! Gah.

 

Speaking of Texas-y commentary, here is a lunchtime exchange between the hubby and me yesterday-

 

Me (after taking a sip of my 50% sweet tea): ACK. This is not my half-and-half tea. It must be your sweet tea. Either that, or their sweet tea is VERY... 

Jeff (taking a drink of his full-up sweet tea): ACK. No, this is definitely the sweet tea.

 

A little mention for Evangeline Cafe, in case some of you Austinites haven't thought about them in a while. Call them up and order takeout. There were two people there on Friday night and only us picking up an order! Last time I was there, it was rockin' live music, super-crowded as usual. Such a weird thing to see it empty. My favorite thing there is the Oysters Contraband.

 

We watched the episode of The Crown last week where they covered the palace break-in by Michael Fagan in 1982. (I don't remember this event at all, but who knows what the heck I was busy doing in 1982.) They spent the entire HOUR on this guy and his life situation and background story, and how he and the Queen spoke for ten minutes about politics and the monarchy and "what the people want," before security came in and retrieved him from her bedroom. So so weird. This show has consistently been about the royal family. Most of this episode was about this random guy. AND... it turns out The Atlantic wrote an article about fictional elements of The Crown, and mentioning there that the conversation was not about that subject matter at all. So a whole episode devoted to this Fagan chap and a completely false chat. It is historical fiction, so I don't have a problem with it being inaccurate, just why waste a whole hour on it? 

 

We did complete the season. It feels like this season had a lot of political "messaging" to it. (Or maybe it's just PTSD from the past four years of politics here.) Hope the next season is better.

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Today in Pictures

I know you all need this for your homes:

 

In other random news, THIS is continuing:

WHOOP!

We're finally watching The Crown. Wow, this season is depressing. They really went there with Prince Andrew in that one scene, right?

 

And we finished Long Way Down, completing the three series... um... series. My general thoughts during that show are how lovely people are most everywhere and how beautiful all the scenery is. It does seem that during all three trips, they most enjoyed tackling seriously daunting obstacles like crossing muddy rivers and stuff, which I find perplexing and would have avoided at all costs. Maybe it's a "guy thing?" I would drive a couple of days out of my way to avoid using a winch. Loved the show though!

Brand new Letterkenny season 9 will be released on Hulu on December 26!

 

Wheeeee!!

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Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Watching The Queen's Gambit now. Evidently I'm not alone in thinking at first that it didn't look interesting, because... chess. You don't have to like chess at all to like the show! It takes place mostly in the 60's, and has a supercool vibe. It's a great story. When we watch it, it also reminds me that we haven't watched the latest season of The Crown yet. (SHOCKING.)

Started watching Long Way Down, too. So far, we're still in Europe, so we haven't met any bad "roads" or gangs with guns yet. In the backwoods portions of the series, they are slowed by various terrain obstacles, and in places like Europe and the US, they are slowed by Ewan McGregor fans. Ha.

 

Crystal may take a job in Odessa. Then I'll know one person in Odessa. 

 

Lauren has been recommending some places for us to retire. So far, Jeff and I have only talked about College Station specifically, but we're open to other places, especially somewhere cooler. Her suggestions- Colorado and Columbia, Missouri. Those might be a little too cold/snowy for us, I think, but good choices! We've got over a decade to decide. Tick tock.

I'm ready for Thanksgiving. All the regular dinner dishes will be prepared and we'll decorate for Christmas. Will zoom with the in-laws on Thursday and my fam on Friday. For most of the past 30 years, it's been just a phone call, so this year is actually more Thanksgiving togetherness than ever! Happy Thanksgiving!

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No Banging in 2020

A German news outlet on Facebook posted a story about a possible cancellation of New Year's Eve fireworks. The translated version asked, "Can you do without banging this year?" Ahahaa.

We finished watching Long Way Up, the docuseries with Ewan McGregor and his best buddy Charley motorcycling from Argentina to LA. Now we're watching Long Way Around, their first motorcycle trip from London eastward to New York City. (Loving the series! There is also a second season, Long Way Down from Scotland to South Africa.) At one point in Long Way Around, they are drinking fermented camel milk, and Ewan says it tastes like homemade yogurt... that's been carbonated. Ack! And LOL.

Did I mention I finished playing The Witness? Yes! Great game, but I have to say I found the ending to be most unsatisfying. I did have an expectation of one particular thing happening at the end, that didn't happen at all, so maybe it was just disappointing to me, but I'd love to find out what others thought.

The Travis County weekly public health update is on right now and Mayor Adler is constantly on mute. So funny. Oh, and we're back to Stage 4 restrictions, not that it means anything different for our household, since we have remained pretty locked down since March. 

 

How some people have made a pandemic into a political and/or religious issue is beyond my understanding. (That is the nicest way I could phrase that, I think!) Crazy times.

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Just the Feet

There is a television commercial running for some newscast that is supposedly unbiased and nonpartisan, just straight news. I'd love that, but I'll believe it when I see it. Just sayin'. Lauren and I were watching the ad for the show, and...

 

Lauren: Did they say, "No puns?"

Me: No pundits.

Lauren: Ah.
Me: No puns? I wouldn't watch that. 

Lauren: All puns.
Me: All puns. No pundits.

 

YES. My kind of news.

Another amusing LoLo chat was during a true crime show. This is one of those conversations that you definitely shouldn't share with anyone outside the room, but it had us rolling for hours, so here it is. They were presenting a story of a grisly murder, and the investigator said, "We came around the corner, and I looked out onto the patio, and I saw just his feet."

 

Me: Where was the rest of his body?!
Lauren: Just the feet.

 

We both collapsed into laughing fits. Just when we had gotten it under control, they said he "had to have a closed casket."

Lauren: Well, of course.

Me: A little casket the size of a shoe box.

Lauren: A literal shoe box.

I don't know if you had to be there, but it has me laughing all over again right now. We're terrible.

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Friday Five on Tuesday

I keep thinking of additional binge-worthy shows I forgot to mention in my original quarantine TV list. We really enjoyed a series on Netflix called 3%. It's a Brazilian show about a future dystopian society. Very good!

 

Now we're watching Money Heist (also on Netflix), from Spain. I've watched so much foreign language drama at this point, that I'm almost used to the mouths not matching the voices.

Haircut time again. Thank goodness for husbands who do a really good job at it. Luckily, my hair isn't too complicated. I've been cutting his hair with clippers, a new skill I've learned this year. While my clipping abilities aren't perfect, his hair looks pretty good, I have to say! (He can't wait to get back to Sport Clips.)

I've been plagued with earworms during the pandemic. GAH. It's one thing when BTS is swimming around in your head, but right now... it's the Funk and Associates ad jingle. 

 

Just. The. Chorus.

Now it's in your head, too. You're welcome, Austinites.

Let's see what's up with Friday Five these days!

1. How have you been sleeping lately? Crappy.
   
2. What kinds of linens and stuff do you have on your bed today? I've moved to winter bedding, so: L L Bean flannel sheets, sateen cotton pillow cases because we like them cool, winter fuzzy blanket and a quilt.
   
3. What’s the latest you’ve gotten out of bed these last few months? 11:30 am
   
4. Have you had any pleasant or unpleasant dreams lately? Pleasant enough.
   
5. What helps you relax these days? Playing The Witness.
   

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Um, YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Finally the votes are (well, mostly) in. It happened to work out the way I wanted it to, but could easily have gone the other way, as somehow the country has become incredibly evenly split. I'm so looking forward to not waking every morning in a cold sweat, waiting to see what insanity happened overnight. I'm hoping Biden can bring people together, instead of the dividing that's been going on. 

 

And Harris! Wow! Congrats to her on all her firsts and her success. One giant leap for womankind.

While watching CNN's coverage, it's been like 'Where's Waldo?' trying to locate Anderson Cooper. They've got him in front of a backdrop of the White House at night. I keep hearing his voice, but cannot find the super-white guy in the dark blue suit.

We knew the mail-in counting would take a while, but I definitely didn't think it would be so close that it would be Saturday before we could make a decision. I think the delay did give us all a chance to cool down, so hopefully there won't be as much drama as there may have been if things were wrapped up Tuesday night.  (Knock on wood.) Maybe it should always take this long. Ha!

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Blogger Spacing... Oh! And Voting Day!

I missed one of my absolute FAVE television series in yesterday's recs. You've got to watch Little Voice on Apple TV+! Do not miss this gem. It's music and drama and comedy. The characters and relationships are complicated and richly developed. The soundtrack is amazing, too. Love genius songwriter Sara Bareilles' songs. J J Abrams is a co-executive producer with Sara and a couple of others. Watch and enjoy.

 

In my return to Blogger, I had issues yesterday with spacing in my post. It looked fine in the editor, then kept posting with no paragraph spacing. Gah. I've customized the html on my template (yes, sometimes this creates issues you have to acknowledge and fix), but I don't think that had anything to do with it. I can report that the fix was simple for my case. I switched from "Paragraph" mode in the Blogger editor to "Normal." It's a dropdown along the top nav bar. Just worth a try if anyone else is having trouble. (Or had trouble a year ago when this may have started. Ha!)

Happy Voting Day! Keep calm and drink wine. And if it doesn't go your way, as a wise friend said, Remember, what happens in your house is more important than what happens in the White House.

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'Rona

Hellooooooooo!

Well, it's come to this, has it? Global pandemic brings old-style blogging back in style- journaling with no product or service to pimp, or featured topic, or even a recognizable stream of thought.

Yes! That's my niche.

I see my last post was about Big Brother last year. We watched again this year. Cody TOTALLY deserved the win, and shockingly, the jury agreed. Whaaaaat?! We always disagree with the final vote. This time it was a satisfying ending at our house, after a whole summer invested in it. Whoop! (There wasn't an Aggie this season. That's weird. It's become a tradition, no?)

Whoa. Just noticing that Blogger now has "suggested labels" while you're editing. Oooooh, so fancy. So far, no matching label suggestions for this post. No surprise there. Keep 'em guessing, I always say!

Anyhoo... Political ads.

Only two more days of those to endure. I voted early, as most have, so I'm over it. So draining. Are we counting yet?

My favorite political ads are for state representative Erin Zweiner. Her name sounds like "Erin's wiener" so my inner 12-year-old giggles out loud every single time.

"Erin Zwiener has a radical agenda."

"Erin Zwiener supports Antifa rioters."

And the best yet... "Erin Zwiener STANDS UP for veterans." Oh man, you gotta love it. Jeff doesn't appreciate my amusement, but I just cannot let it go.

Stands. Up.

Come on.

Some REALLY good TV recs:

Ted Lasso (Apple+)
Schitt's Creek (Netflix)
British Bake Off (Netflix)
Servant (Apple+)
Catastrophe (Amazon)
Somebody Feed Phil (Netflix)
Letterkenny (Hulu)
Ugly Delicious (Netflix)

I'll leave it at that for today. Vote tomorrow if you haven't! Wear a mask whenever you're out and about.

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