Monday, September 24, 2012

Fall is here

Other then the amazing colors of trees, the ability to wear cute jackets and scarves, and the return all of things pumpkin, my favorite thing about Fall in new TV. That is right- TV.

I tend to get super upset when shows I love get canceled. (NBC I'm still upset about Life and Prime Suspect, and if TBS hadn't saved Cougar Town I might have had to stop watch ABC all together.) But alas fall comes with the opportunity to start loving a new show that inevitability will be canceled, and no doubt another pilot involving a FNL alum that won't work out (i.e. Charlie's Angels, Off the Map, The Chicago Code). [side note if you are looking for new TV shows with a Friday Night Lights connection you can choose from the Mob Doctor or Nashville- my money is on Nashville] There might even be successes, last year I found the New Girl and Suburgatory on the comedy side and Once Upon a Time and Revenge on the drama side.

This year a couple of my favorites are coming to an end: The Office, 30 Rock, Fringe, these at least are all planned out, so I can prepare to say goodbye. I have a couple more I am worried about; Community and Parenthood were only renewed for shortened seasons (never a good sign)- come on NBC don't cancel everything I love.

That leads me to this, what new shows are you planning on watching?

The Mindy Project- Tuesdays on FOX
It premieres tomorrow night and has pretty awesome company, New Girl, Raising Hope, and another new hope of mine Ben and Kate. I have already seen the pilot, it is streaming on Hulu. I have always enjoyed Mindy Khaling on The Office and she appears to have some great looking co-stars. Plus I adore the idea (supported by twitter) that Mindy and Zooey are good friends and now both have shows on FOX.

Mob Doctor- Mondays on FOX
Premiered last week, I didn't enjoy the first episode very much, I feel like the corrupt Chicago scene has been pretty played out in TV and movies, I really tuned in the first time because it was after a favorite of mine, Bones, and it has Zach Gilford- better known as Matt Saracen from FNL. The star was on My Boys which I liked until I didn't, if you get what I mean.

Revolution- Mondays on NBC
Premiered last week, I watched the first episode mainly because I listen to a great fan podcast about Fringe and the guys who record that podcast are starting one about Revolution. I am willing to give it a couple more episode due to my love of J.J. Abrams. The show is about what happens after all of the power in the world is shut off (never to be turned on again) and like most J.J. shows it has a plucky female in the lead.

Nashville- Wednesdays on ABC
Doesn't premiere until Oct 10
Staring Connie Britton, which frankly is enough for me. Connie may be know to you as Mrs. Coach or Tami Taylor, and I would watch her act with a paper sack and love it.


You planning on watching anything else? What has you setting your DVR's this year?

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Bring out our inner Bob Ross

Today Emily and I finally took our date. We traveled to the local paint ceramics store and brought out our inner Bob Ross. Emily is such a treasure, and loves anything crafty. She frequently tells me she wants to be an Artist, which brings back so many memories of me being her age and wishing the exact same thing. On the way there I was asking her all about school, I have heard her deflect questions about this topic before and this time was no different, she quickly switched the topic and asked me what my favorite food was. When I asked her what hers were she replied quickly with Chocolate Bars. What an adorable answer. I think she had a great time, the place was a little busy she we ended up sharing a table with some others. Emily's shyness came out a bit, but you could see she was fascinated by everyone else's projects.


Friday, September 21, 2012

Salt Water Taffy

Last weekend I traveled home to help make taffy at the Nelson Pioneer Farm. Out of my 27 years of life I have probably only missed this event 7 times. The weather was gorgeous perhaps even a bit on the hot side after noon, and the crowd seemed pretty impressive for a weekend where all three major universities where playing football in Iowa. The media coverage was much more impressive than I ever recall- my dad got interviewed for the radio and newspaper. 

Over the course of the day I probably heard my dad say the same thing 20 to 30 times. I guess after almost 60 years of making taffy my dad has found his preferred method of describing the process. It is pretty much par for the course, people come by and wonder why we are doing that we are doing, or where the machine is. Without fail you find yourself answering the same questions over and over again. Also saying the same thing to new people. If I had a phrase of the day it would have been: "Grab a sample anything that is unwrapped, that way we don't have to wrap it." At one point Dad was talking on the radio explaining why he "pulls" the taffy and my brother and I looked at each and said in unison "breaks down the sugar molecules", only seconds later my father said the same thing. 

It is traditionally a family affair for us but making 6 batches of taffy in a row requires quite the effort. When I was younger my dad encouraged us to invite a friend, he will do anything for some cheap labor. But as we have all grown and moved away he has had to resort to asking others to drop in and help. You can almost always convince a helpful little kid to wrap taffy for a couple of hours with the promise of eating as much as they want. Greg had to spend most of the morning watching Charley explore the area, the only time we got to utilize him for labor was when we lucked out because Charley happened to be in timeout and had to sit still. 

Charley helped by playing in the water from the cooling pan!

First batch pre "pull" 

As I heard a trillion times "We have 3 generations here today"

The last batch was a little disastrous, Greg had to step in and pull it, Charley helped !

There is a lot of effort going into this one, we had to cut it super fast because it was hardening to quickly.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Picture Round Up










What I've been doing, while not doing this...

This is going to completely shock everyone. That is totally my intention. I'm writing a blog post! Which is my first post in months, and the last one was my first post in months. Clearly not a steller track record. But beggars can't be choosers, and if you are still reading this you are clearly my family. And you can't get rid of me! HA. Updates:
March- went to Vegas, was horribly disappointed that Celine was sick. This ruined the whole trip in my mind. Plus I don't know how to gamble and walking up and down streets tires me, which in turn makes me cranky, which in turns makes even my closest loved ones mildly hate me. So again not steller. I did have my Oceans Eleven moment at the Belligo fountain show, which almost made up for the rest of the trip. If I ever go back it will be only for Celine.

April- applied for a couple jobs (foreshaddowing)

May- Said goodbye to Grandma Fehling's house. There were so many memories, navagating the super steep stairs to the second floor, or playing with some truly retro barbies that she always keep in the front closet. It was bittersweet but it was great to see everyone and have a chance to take home some memories.

June- Finally interviewed for jobs I applied for in April. Got offered TWO!!! And accepted a new position as a supervisor in a different department at work.

July- Started new job, once again I moved sites so new I am back at the Giant Jordan Creek campus in West Des Moines.

August- Work, work, work and more work.

September- Took a day off of work to complete a tourist day in Des Moines with some friends, we took a tour of the Capitol Building, walked around the east village, and toured the Art Center.