3 TV seasons ago, vampires were all the rage. We had the Twilight movies, Vampire Diaries (which I LOVE and watch religiously), True Blood, The Gates, and a bunch of other vampire-related shows and movies emerging at the same time. Even regular TV shows had episodes that had vampires and werewolves as a theme. I'm guessing the huge success of the Twilight books was what sparked the trend, but I can't be sure. Something has sparked a new trend. Well, maybe it can't be called a trend if it's just 2 shows, but it seems weird that they both premiered the same week. Is there some sort of TV studio espionage going on here? What is this trend? Fairy tales in modern times, of course. And, naturally, I have starting watching both of these shows, because I need something to record so I can watch it while I sit on the couch all day with the baby! Here's my take on each show:
Once Upon a Time: A young boy shows up at a woman's apartment, claiming to be the son she gave up for adoption as a teenager. He insists that the town he lives in is under an evil curse, and that all the residents of the town of Storybrook are fairy tale characters who don't know who they are, and that his adoptive mother is the evil queen (who cast the curse on the people). His school teacher has provided him with a book of fairy tales that he feels is the history of the town and its curse. And the only person that can break the curse is his biological mother, who also happens to be the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, who sent her into our world to save her from the curse. It goes back and forth between our day and our world and fairy tale land, so you get to see the characters in both places and find out what really happened.
I haven't talked Tim into watching it with me yet, so I don't know for sure, but it seems to be aimed at girls. There's a lot of romance and feelings. There are also trolls and sword fights, so maybe guys would like it. I am enjoying it. I don't think about it all week, or count down to the next episode, but I am glad when it's sitting on my DVR, waiting for me to watch it. It's fluffy and fun.
Grimm: A detective in a big city (I can't remember which one right now, but I think it's Portland or Seattle, maybe) suddenly begins to see horrific creatures peeking through the faces of what seem like normal people. At the same time, his aunt comes into town, towing a trailer packed with mysterious weapons and books. She informs him that he is a "Grimm" whose job it is to hunt down the evil creatures from the fairy tales and kill them. It turns out that the Grimm's fairy tales are really accounts of real stories and creatures. For example, the Big Bad Wolf is really a race of men that turn into wolves, stalk girls wearing red coats and jackets, fatten them up, and eat them. (Kind of like werewolves, but not just at the full moon.) The detective finds himself working a kidnapping case that involves one of these Big Bad Wolves. As he works cases he finds that these evil fairy tale creatures are often involved, and he is the only one that can see their true form.
This one is a lot more...gritty? Is that the word I want to use? Aimed at guys? Gory? Violent? In some ways, though, it's more silly. It's tricky to make a show that includes horrific creatures that are convincingly scary. The three bears, for example, made me giggle a little, instead of instilling fear into me. I think it would be scarier to have the evil creatures stay in human form but act like the creatures they are. (This is why serial killers and sociopaths scare me more than anything else.) The idea is fantastic, but I'm not sure about those creatures. There is potential for some great episodes, and I'm hoping that, like most shows that are getting their start, this one improves with time. I think it will. And Tim watches it with me, which I think is a plus.
So there you have it. Two shows based on fairy tales that are completely different from each other. Let me know what you think about them.
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Tender mercies
I know that the majority of my posts are a little on the grumpy, ranty side. I wanted to change things up a little. There are times in our lives that seem overwhelming, exhausting, and discouraging. In the last 4 weeks, in dealing with the challenges of a newborn and two other little boys that are dying for attention, I've felt overwhelmed, exhausted, and discouraged a time or two. And on those days when I have felt like I just can't take another minute, someone has come along and dropped a blessing in my lap.
Here are a few examples of what I mean (and, as I think of it, a lot of it centers around food...):
The first day I was on my own, with Tim at work, my mom back in Orem, and the Relief Society meals done, I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. The adrenalin from childbirth had worn off, I was dealing with toddler meltdowns, and the walls were starting to close in on me. Out of the blue, my friend called and offered to bring me lunch. That bacon cheeseburger was great, but even better was a visit from a friend, who cheered me up and reminded me that I wasn't alone.
It can feel very isolating when you first have a newborn. You spend a lot of your day sitting in a chair, feeding the baby, and it is difficult to leave the house or even walk outside. It can really warp your sense of community. I was feeling super lonely one day, and the baby had spent a good deal of his awake time crying. Tim got me outside into the sunshine, which was a blessing on its own, and then, while I was sitting on the lawn, my friends saw me from down the street and came over and chatted with me for a nice long time. They didn't know it, but I had spent that entire day feeling friendless and abandoned (for no good reason). Just chatting with me did a world of good.
2 weeks after the Relief Society had finished bringing in meals to help me, I was, once again, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of coming up with a meal for my family to eat. The baby was fussing a lot, and I was discouraged at the thought of having to deal with an extra fussy baby. I was spending an awful lot of time sitting on the couch, holding the baby and looking at my filthy floors, thinking there was just no way they would ever be clean again (I know, I'm such a downer!). I spent a good part of that morning crying, until my mom called and said to gather up the kids, because we were going out to eat, and she was paying. So we met for lunch and had a lovely time outside my den. Then she followed me home, swept my floors, tidied up, and held the baby so I could take a walk on my own around the block. That same day a woman from church called and said she was bringing me dinner, because she remembered what it was like in those days with little kids and a baby. So, on a day where I thought I just couldn't make it to bedtime, two wonderful women stepped in and dropped unexpected blessings into my lap, turning a very bad day into a great one.
My first two babies spit up a lot. A LOT. Like, so much that I never had a clean shirt on, my couch was saturated in sour milk, I went through 5 burp cloths a day, and I was always worried about whether they'd kept down enough food to sustain them. So last week, when the baby violently barfed up two meals in a row, my first reaction was, "Not again. Now I've got to go to the doctor AGAIN to convince him AGAIN that my child has reflux problems and deal with gallons of spit up every day. AGAIN." I was mega bummed. The mess that spitting up created made me decide to stay home from the church Halloween party, which was a huge disappointment to me. After the trunk or treat was girls' night, which Tim insisted I attend. The minute my friends asked how I was I burst into tears, and suddenly 4 wonderful friends were hugging me, offering me condolences, listening to my whining, and putting pumpkin cake into my hand. I just needed a meltdown, and those ladies let me have my meltdown with them, and then they cheered me up and gave me treats to make it all better.
So, what's the point of all this? Well, it's the first of November. This month we celebrate Thanksgiving. I thought I'd kick it off by recognizing the blessings in my life. I feel like, through various wonderful individuals, I have been blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord. Every day hasn't been difficult, or lonely, or overwhelming. But on the days I have struggled and prayed to just make it to the end, these wonderful women have showed up when I needed them most and made a difficult time bearable, and for that I am grateful.
Here are a few examples of what I mean (and, as I think of it, a lot of it centers around food...):
The first day I was on my own, with Tim at work, my mom back in Orem, and the Relief Society meals done, I was feeling overwhelmed and exhausted. The adrenalin from childbirth had worn off, I was dealing with toddler meltdowns, and the walls were starting to close in on me. Out of the blue, my friend called and offered to bring me lunch. That bacon cheeseburger was great, but even better was a visit from a friend, who cheered me up and reminded me that I wasn't alone.
It can feel very isolating when you first have a newborn. You spend a lot of your day sitting in a chair, feeding the baby, and it is difficult to leave the house or even walk outside. It can really warp your sense of community. I was feeling super lonely one day, and the baby had spent a good deal of his awake time crying. Tim got me outside into the sunshine, which was a blessing on its own, and then, while I was sitting on the lawn, my friends saw me from down the street and came over and chatted with me for a nice long time. They didn't know it, but I had spent that entire day feeling friendless and abandoned (for no good reason). Just chatting with me did a world of good.
2 weeks after the Relief Society had finished bringing in meals to help me, I was, once again, feeling overwhelmed at the thought of coming up with a meal for my family to eat. The baby was fussing a lot, and I was discouraged at the thought of having to deal with an extra fussy baby. I was spending an awful lot of time sitting on the couch, holding the baby and looking at my filthy floors, thinking there was just no way they would ever be clean again (I know, I'm such a downer!). I spent a good part of that morning crying, until my mom called and said to gather up the kids, because we were going out to eat, and she was paying. So we met for lunch and had a lovely time outside my den. Then she followed me home, swept my floors, tidied up, and held the baby so I could take a walk on my own around the block. That same day a woman from church called and said she was bringing me dinner, because she remembered what it was like in those days with little kids and a baby. So, on a day where I thought I just couldn't make it to bedtime, two wonderful women stepped in and dropped unexpected blessings into my lap, turning a very bad day into a great one.
My first two babies spit up a lot. A LOT. Like, so much that I never had a clean shirt on, my couch was saturated in sour milk, I went through 5 burp cloths a day, and I was always worried about whether they'd kept down enough food to sustain them. So last week, when the baby violently barfed up two meals in a row, my first reaction was, "Not again. Now I've got to go to the doctor AGAIN to convince him AGAIN that my child has reflux problems and deal with gallons of spit up every day. AGAIN." I was mega bummed. The mess that spitting up created made me decide to stay home from the church Halloween party, which was a huge disappointment to me. After the trunk or treat was girls' night, which Tim insisted I attend. The minute my friends asked how I was I burst into tears, and suddenly 4 wonderful friends were hugging me, offering me condolences, listening to my whining, and putting pumpkin cake into my hand. I just needed a meltdown, and those ladies let me have my meltdown with them, and then they cheered me up and gave me treats to make it all better.
So, what's the point of all this? Well, it's the first of November. This month we celebrate Thanksgiving. I thought I'd kick it off by recognizing the blessings in my life. I feel like, through various wonderful individuals, I have been blessed by the tender mercies of the Lord. Every day hasn't been difficult, or lonely, or overwhelming. But on the days I have struggled and prayed to just make it to the end, these wonderful women have showed up when I needed them most and made a difficult time bearable, and for that I am grateful.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Actual Retail Price...
As a kid, I was very limited on the type and amount of TV I was allowed to watch. One of the few shows that was parent-approved was The Price is Right, which I devoured daily every summer. At 9am, I would drink in Plinko, the Dice Game, fabulous prize packages, a NEW CAR!, and, best of all, Bob Barker and Barker's Beauties. I dreamed of being a Barker Beauty. I guessed at all the prices, even though I had no clue how much anything cost, never having bought things like multi-vitamins or denture paste before. I LOVED it. In college, my roommates and I would dream about going to Southern California, wearing matching T-shirts and ending up winning the showcase showdown at the end. At that point, I couldn't watch all the time, and, as life went on, I watched less and less until I stopped watching altogether. I was sad when Drew Carey replaced Bob Barker, but since I wasn't really watching anymore, it didn't ruin my life. Every once in a while I'd turn on the TV at 9 and my TV would be on the Price is Right, so I'd watch for a few minutes. Drew Carey seemed like an okay fit. He was funny, engaging, and seemed to love what he was doing.
Fast forward to this morning. I spend a LOT of time on the couch these days. I feed a newborn every 2 hours all day and night. This morning, having dragged myself out of bed for the last time until tonight, I settled into my butt groove on my couch and turned on the boob tube (get it?), and thought I'd catch up on an old favorite. As I tuned into The Price is Right, my first reaction was, "Whoa! Drew Carey has really thinned out!" Then, "What's with Drew Carey's hair?" Then, after watching for a few minutes, "That is one sad man." Drew Carey seems to have lost more than weight. He seems to have lost the love. No smiling, minimal chit-chat with the contestants, and a total lack of enthusiasm for anything he was doing. It was horrible! And the guy who won the showcase showdown at the end got within 26 bucks on his guess, and won both showcases, which NEVER happens, and still no joy. It was painful to watch contestants who were screaming and jumping up and down next to a host who seemed...gray. Bland. Disconnected. What has happened? It's time for a reboot!
So, after I've gotten past the feedings every other minute stage, who wants to drive down to Southern California with me, get on the show, and wear T-shirts saying, "At least pretend you like your job, Drew Carey."? Who's with me?
Fast forward to this morning. I spend a LOT of time on the couch these days. I feed a newborn every 2 hours all day and night. This morning, having dragged myself out of bed for the last time until tonight, I settled into my butt groove on my couch and turned on the boob tube (get it?), and thought I'd catch up on an old favorite. As I tuned into The Price is Right, my first reaction was, "Whoa! Drew Carey has really thinned out!" Then, "What's with Drew Carey's hair?" Then, after watching for a few minutes, "That is one sad man." Drew Carey seems to have lost more than weight. He seems to have lost the love. No smiling, minimal chit-chat with the contestants, and a total lack of enthusiasm for anything he was doing. It was horrible! And the guy who won the showcase showdown at the end got within 26 bucks on his guess, and won both showcases, which NEVER happens, and still no joy. It was painful to watch contestants who were screaming and jumping up and down next to a host who seemed...gray. Bland. Disconnected. What has happened? It's time for a reboot!
So, after I've gotten past the feedings every other minute stage, who wants to drive down to Southern California with me, get on the show, and wear T-shirts saying, "At least pretend you like your job, Drew Carey."? Who's with me?
Thursday, October 6, 2011
A quick note
I made it! After stressing out and annoying everyone I know with my negative predictions of having the baby weeks early in my car, my beautiful baby boy came after a calm induction in a hospital bed with the doctor, nurses, my husband and my mom all present. So thanks for bearing with all my doom and gloom! Here's a peek at the little guy:
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Scattered thoughts
I am in the final stretch of pregnancy, and I have a confession to make. Feeling huge and uncomfortable and tired all the time makes me super grumpy. So in order to not be a completely horrible mother, I am going to do a tiny bit of ranting and then play the glad game.
1. Clearly my new child will not be named Bronco. BYU did NOT beat Utah. In fact, they didn't even really show up at the game. They seemed to have been replaced by a pee wee team. The good news is that they found their way back to the field against CFU. They may even show up tomorrow against Utah State (fingers crossed). But I'm still not naming my kid after one of them, even Bronco Mendenhall, who I think is an awesome coach. It's just not the season to do it.
2. You can spend a boatload of money on super fast internet, Netflix streaming (don't get me started on Netflix, though), a fancy modem, and a computer that works really well, but if your wireless router is a piece of crap, you have just flushed all the money you spent down the toilet. And, after sitting through reload after reload while trying to stream Netflix and not having working internet on my computer half the time, I am ready to spend whatever it takes to get things working.
3. On that same note, I'm pretty sure all the technology in our house is plotting against me. It's like everything electrical has decided to make it impossible for me to just be a bum for the last few days before this baby pops out. All the Wii remotes' batteries died at the same time, which seemed so unlikely that I blamed it on the Wii going on the fritz and spent 2 days not streaming from it. The DVR remote has decided to give me a 10 second delay after pushing buttons. This test of patience is not fair to someone that just wants to find out who got the boot from ANTM before going to bed. The Blu-ray player decided that the delay was hilarious and took a full minute to get to the Toy Story 3 menu after selecting the English option while my 3-year-old kept yelling, "WHERE IS TOY STORY???" The laptop seems to be doing fine, but the website for the elementary school that lists their phone number won't load, no matter how many ways I try to type it in. I just need to be able to call the school when the baby comes so Jacob knows who's picking him up from school. At least my new phone is working, knock on wood.
Now for the glad game:
1. 4 days until my induction. So far so good. There is the chance that I will make it to the hospital, get painkillers (yay!), and have a much calmer experience having this baby. I am thrilled.
2. This weekend is General Conference. I love Conference weekend for so many reasons: 1. the chance to sit and listen to the Prophet and other fantastic church leaders, 2. the chance to stay in my PJs all weekend, 3. a weekend off from church callings, which for me means a Sunday where I'm not hashing through the hymns painfully while the Relief Society tries very hard to smile politely and figure out what the real melody should be, 4. This time, it means guilt-free couch lounging all weekend before bringing home a baby. And really, it's nice to be spiritually fed without having to wear a dress. There's nothing bad about conference weekend.
3. Psych is coming back on soon. Hooray for Shawn and Gus!
4. There's a new episode of Vampire Diaries tonight. How can anything be too rough when you have that to look forward to? Thursday nights really are the best. Fingers crossed that technology won't mess this one up!
Okay. I'm feeling a lot calmer and less prone to cussing now. Thanks for bearing with me while I get it all out.
1. Clearly my new child will not be named Bronco. BYU did NOT beat Utah. In fact, they didn't even really show up at the game. They seemed to have been replaced by a pee wee team. The good news is that they found their way back to the field against CFU. They may even show up tomorrow against Utah State (fingers crossed). But I'm still not naming my kid after one of them, even Bronco Mendenhall, who I think is an awesome coach. It's just not the season to do it.
2. You can spend a boatload of money on super fast internet, Netflix streaming (don't get me started on Netflix, though), a fancy modem, and a computer that works really well, but if your wireless router is a piece of crap, you have just flushed all the money you spent down the toilet. And, after sitting through reload after reload while trying to stream Netflix and not having working internet on my computer half the time, I am ready to spend whatever it takes to get things working.
3. On that same note, I'm pretty sure all the technology in our house is plotting against me. It's like everything electrical has decided to make it impossible for me to just be a bum for the last few days before this baby pops out. All the Wii remotes' batteries died at the same time, which seemed so unlikely that I blamed it on the Wii going on the fritz and spent 2 days not streaming from it. The DVR remote has decided to give me a 10 second delay after pushing buttons. This test of patience is not fair to someone that just wants to find out who got the boot from ANTM before going to bed. The Blu-ray player decided that the delay was hilarious and took a full minute to get to the Toy Story 3 menu after selecting the English option while my 3-year-old kept yelling, "WHERE IS TOY STORY???" The laptop seems to be doing fine, but the website for the elementary school that lists their phone number won't load, no matter how many ways I try to type it in. I just need to be able to call the school when the baby comes so Jacob knows who's picking him up from school. At least my new phone is working, knock on wood.
Now for the glad game:
1. 4 days until my induction. So far so good. There is the chance that I will make it to the hospital, get painkillers (yay!), and have a much calmer experience having this baby. I am thrilled.
2. This weekend is General Conference. I love Conference weekend for so many reasons: 1. the chance to sit and listen to the Prophet and other fantastic church leaders, 2. the chance to stay in my PJs all weekend, 3. a weekend off from church callings, which for me means a Sunday where I'm not hashing through the hymns painfully while the Relief Society tries very hard to smile politely and figure out what the real melody should be, 4. This time, it means guilt-free couch lounging all weekend before bringing home a baby. And really, it's nice to be spiritually fed without having to wear a dress. There's nothing bad about conference weekend.
3. Psych is coming back on soon. Hooray for Shawn and Gus!
4. There's a new episode of Vampire Diaries tonight. How can anything be too rough when you have that to look forward to? Thursday nights really are the best. Fingers crossed that technology won't mess this one up!
Okay. I'm feeling a lot calmer and less prone to cussing now. Thanks for bearing with me while I get it all out.
Monday, September 12, 2011
How to pass the time
I am reaching the point where I'm counting down to the day this baby comes out. And when you start counting down, things slow WAY down. It's the worst kind of torture. And it's hard to count down to something that could happen tomorrow or in 3 weeks. It was in this frame of mind that I clicked on my wish list on Amazon and rashly ordered the first 2 seasons of Vampire Diaries on DVD. It wasn't really that rash. I had just read an article about how just about everything on my instant streaming queue was going to disappear in February. Also, I was getting excited about the season premiere that's happening Thursday. The point is, now I have 2 seasons of excellent vampire fun to watch to pass the slow days until I have this baby. It's one of the many ways I am trying to pass the time until the blessed event. Here are some other things I'm doing to make the days seem shorter:
--watching a whole lot of food network and thinking about how awesome it would be if I made dishes like that for my family, then making mac'n'cheese.
--planning baby announcements and thinking about the places I need to go to get supplies.
--reading all those books on my shelves I've wondered about.
--building stuff with Legos, and then having my toddler tell me that is NOT a good spaceship.
--getting on facebook 500 times a day to see what thoughts are passing through everyone's heads.
--playing Angry Birds Rio on my cell phone.
--doing crossword puzzles on my cell phone.
--counting down to the next BYU football game (please beat Utah this week. For me. I will name my child Bronco.)
Things I'm NOT doing to pass the time:
--laundry
--mopping
--cooking (mac'n'cheese, remember?)
--making my bed
--vacuuming
--the dishes
--clipping all those coupons that are sitting, untouched, in my growing pile of Sunday newspapers
Yeah, I'm sitting in a pig sty on my couch, deepening that butt groove while I wait for this baby to come out. Don't get me wrong. I still get down on the floor and play with my toddler and read books to him and all those other motherly things. We just don't get far from that couch. So, how do you pass the time when you're tired and huge?
--watching a whole lot of food network and thinking about how awesome it would be if I made dishes like that for my family, then making mac'n'cheese.
--planning baby announcements and thinking about the places I need to go to get supplies.
--reading all those books on my shelves I've wondered about.
--building stuff with Legos, and then having my toddler tell me that is NOT a good spaceship.
--getting on facebook 500 times a day to see what thoughts are passing through everyone's heads.
--playing Angry Birds Rio on my cell phone.
--doing crossword puzzles on my cell phone.
--counting down to the next BYU football game (please beat Utah this week. For me. I will name my child Bronco.)
Things I'm NOT doing to pass the time:
--laundry
--mopping
--cooking (mac'n'cheese, remember?)
--making my bed
--vacuuming
--the dishes
--clipping all those coupons that are sitting, untouched, in my growing pile of Sunday newspapers
Yeah, I'm sitting in a pig sty on my couch, deepening that butt groove while I wait for this baby to come out. Don't get me wrong. I still get down on the floor and play with my toddler and read books to him and all those other motherly things. We just don't get far from that couch. So, how do you pass the time when you're tired and huge?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Eating my words
Target has pulled through for me again. Why, oh why can't they build one closer to my house? It would have saved me hours of searching at other, far inferior stores. Well, maybe not hours, but half an hour at Walmart is the same as 4 hours at a good store. I gathered my energy and headed straight to Target this morning. And they had options! They had newborn sized sleepers, newborn sized outfits, a newborn sized little snuggie thing that looks like it will actually keep the baby warm, and a bunch of other accessories for BOYS. Yes, baby boys. Someone remembered that, even if boys don't wear cute things like bows and sparkles, they still need to be clothed. So a huge shout-out to Target. Now I have another reason for it to be my happy place. (They have also retained their maternity department, unlike Shopko and Walmart.)
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