My Top 7 Current Must See TV Shows

I’m sure this is an auto-topic that WordPress sent out long ago that I never quite got around to writing about, but I’ll take a stab at it today. They suggested 5, but I’ve ended up with 7.

1. 

   Image via Wikipedia

   The Big Bang Theory–I love this show so much that I have it set to record on three–count ’em–3 different channels. I love the vocab challenge in each episode, and I equally love the daffiness of Penny. Leonard, Howard, Raj, and Bernadette round out the nerdfest in a most comedic manner. If you are one of the four people on the planet not tuned into this show yet, I suggest you get ongeekboard immediately.

2. The Middle–Welcome to dork central complete with boring mom and dad, wannabe macho boy, hopelessly dorky teen girl, and booknerd little boy. It’s dysfunction pallooza that always makes me laugh.
3. American Idol–Steven Tyler saved the day for American Idol. He’s funny and frank all at the same time. And when a killer contestant comes on, he closes his eyes, tilts his head, and we all know we are listening to great talent. Randy and JLo even it all out, and this show proves that there is still great talent to be mined from obscure America.
4. 1,000 Ways To Die–Actually, this is a show I record and really mean to watch, but it’s gotten too bloody for me. I love the show because it can show you how not to die, but I don’t want to have bad dreams after watching it.
5. The Biggest Loser–They lost the girl, Anna, which is great. I keep watching this show in the hopes that it will rub off on me one day and magically melt off my excess pounds. To date, this has not happened.

6. 

   Image via Wikipedia

   Rocket City Rednecks–I love this one in part because it is set in my neck of the woods, but also because they truly are local geeks showing how to build stuff. I just pray they don’t kill themselves in the process. I hope they are picked up for another season.

7. Parenthood–Gotta love anything with Craig Nelson in it. I also really like Peter Krause. He was one of the reasons I loved Dirty Sexy Money (as well as Donald Sutherland being on it), but I digress. This show embodies all the angst of ThirtySomething from the late 1980s.

I won’t even go into the depths we have sunk with Bayou Billionaires and My Redneck Vacation.  In addition, WWE remains DH’s domain.

So there you have it–my top 7 must see TV shows.

6 Christmas Must-Do’s

As we are so quickly closing in on the big day of Christmas, I’m finding a few things I simply must do before the big reveal which happens for us on Christmas Eve this year.

1. Finish up the last-minute shopping. I thought I was pretty much done, but I keep hearing whisperings of items that I still need to buy. Dang. I really didn’t want to venture into the abyss yet again.
2. Address Christmas cards–a task I always put off until the last minute. To be honest, I tend to wait and see who I get cards from and just send them to those people. Interestingly, the list gets shorter every year. I think that’s due to a combination of Facebook, rising postage costs, and lack of personal contact. In fact, I was wondering as I addressed my envelopes just how long it will be before I’m told I’ll have to print rather than use cursive because the workers can’t read it anymore.
3. Look at lights because time is fast running out to do so. I’ve tried two times to see the must-see lights in the area only to find out that I haven’t been able to find that particular street. I will find it this week!
4. Wrap presents. My daughter, the Christmas Queen, has been out of commission due to working and illness in her household. Consequently, I’ve had to *gasp* wrap my own presents! It’s actually been okay, though, and I’m going to put her to work tying fancy bows on the gifts since she has learned how to do that at her job. 😀
5. Watch lots of movies, enhanced significantly with the gift to DH that I had him open tonight. As a result, we got to watch Christmas Vacation again in the Blu-Ray version. My two favorite lines? “Merry Christmas! The sh*tt*r was full!” & “Worse? Worse?! Look around you Ellen! We’re at the threshold of h*ll!” Oh, and the movie came in a cool tin with a hat, pin, coasters, and a tiny moose cup.
6. Buy the ham. Done. It’s almost 20 pounds and ready to be baked.

Merry Christmas!

10 Helpful Tips in Aperture 3, Lesson 1: A Quick Tour of Aperture

Aperture 3: Organize, Perfect, and Showcase Your Photos by Dion Scoppettuolo is a book that’s been sitting in my house since last summer. I’m determined to work my way through it because I’ve been using Aperture 3 just flying by the seat of my pants, and trust me, it’s not pretty.

There are 13 Lessons and 2 Appendices, so I’m going to give a short recap of what I learn in each lesson. I will not cover everything, just some points that were important to me or particularly amazing.

That said, here’s Lesson 1’s list:

1. I can sort images by orientation (landscape or portrait) in each project by choosing Orientation from the pop-up menu at the top of the Browser.
2. It’s a 3 or 4 step process to really delete an image.
3. I can use the right bracket ] to rotate images 90 degrees clockwise.
4. I can drag a selection rectangle around 2 or more images and rotate them at the same time.
5. I can use the left bracket [ to rotate images 180 degrees counterclockwise.
6. Pressing the slash key / assigns a flag to all images in the project.
7. I can color-code images depending on the amount of work I think they need.
8. Auto-Correction White Balance is an awesome thing. You take the eyedropper and position it over a neutral gray spot, click, and like magic the colors correct themselves. I was slack-jawed awestruck at this magic wand effect.
9. I learned that when cropping an image, I can click “Show guides” and I can apply the rule of thirds easily while cropping.
10. On page 39 I got a tease on how to make sure a Watermark shows up on email. Now I need more instruction on how to use graphics software to make one.

Lesson 2 takes 150 minutes to complete, so when I finish, I’ll post about that one.

My Top 10 Favorite Things To Do for Christmas

Christmastime is here. We all have Christmas traditions, and here are my top 10 favorite things to do in no particular order.

1. Go see the Trees of Christmas with my daughter and whichever grandgirls can come along. These are ginormous real trees decorated by local folks. Every year the display is different and wonderful.
2. Look at Christmas lights at night because you never know when you will find the perfect Clark Griswold house.
3. And speaking of the Griswolds, I love to watch Christmas movies. Must sees are National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Christmas Story, Elf, Young Pioneers Christmas, White Christmas, and Miracle on 34th Street.
4. Sit in the house in the dark and look at the Christmas lights. It’s magical.
5. Watch it snow. Okay, so last year was one of the few times we’ve had a white Christmas in Alabama, but oh my, was it ever beautiful.
6. Sing Christmas carols and Christmas songs. In my car, I’m the next American Idol.
7. Have grandgirls over to spend the night. My perfect Christmas is for everyone to come to my house, spend the night, and wake up on Christmas morning and open presents. Since that is never going to happen, I make my version happen by having all the grandgirls over to spend the night early. I let them open a couple of presents early. They always get more than they can enjoy at once anyway. I LOVE IT.
8. Work jigsaw puzzles. Since I’m a teacher, I have time off, and being able to work puzzles is a wonderful, relaxing thing.
9. Travel. Sometimes, I actually get to go somewhere since I have time off.
10. Geocaching. With the time off, I get to do some caching. That makes me very happy.
11. More than 10, but the most important–thank God for the birth of Jesus.

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, and in case you didn’t hear, oh by golly have a holly, jolly Christmas, this year!

My Top 5 Favorite Christmas CDs

Tis the season, so here are my top 5 favorite Christmas CDs:

1. A Christmas Album by Amy Grant–I love every single song on this CD.

2. 

   Cover of Christmas Eve and Other Stories

   Christmas Eve and Other Stories by Trans-Siberian Orchestra–I love the hard-rock sound on this CD.

3. White Christmas by Bing Crosby–No Christmas is complete without Bing singing White Christmas.
4. Brad Paisley Christmas by Brad Paisley–Good country Christmas songs.
5. Christmas Offerings by Third Day–Probably my most favorite group ever.

12 More Days of Thanks

Thanksgiving is upon us, so in no particular order, here are 12 more thanks from me.

1.  Thanks for books.

2.  Thanks for grandgirls.

3.  Thanks for Thanksgiving.

4.  Thanks for Christmas lists.

5.  Thanks for time off.

6.  Thanks for a peaceful heart.

7.  Thanks for coupons.

8.  Thanks for anticipation.

9.  Thanks for helpers on big meal days.

10. Thanks for safe travels.

11. Thanks for little girls losing teeth and growing new ones.

12. Thanks for innovators.

Makin’ 9 Lists–Checkin’ ’em Twice

9 Christmas Lists

In the photo there are really 9 lists, but you can only see 8. These lists make me happier than you can imagine because I usually don’t get them until much later. Now, I can start looking for these treasures with a whole 31 day advance.

The most fun lists, of course, come from the grandgirls.

One wants pifum (perfume). Her momma says no. She also wants makeup. I say no. (She’s 7.) She also wants a whole bunch of DS games. She doesn’t have a DS. Hmmm. A doll house tub & toilet? Strange, but can be arranged. A pink doll. Done.

Next up, more DS games, Littlest Pet Shop stuff, and Zoobles. Zoobles? What’s that?

Another one wants a singing Rudolph. Hmm. They already have one in their house, but she seems to need one that is all her own. She also needs fake makeup. Done.

Baby grandgirl wants Strawberry Shortcake dolls. No problem. Horses–done, as long as she doesn’t mean real ones. 😀 Rapunzel Barbie. Easy. American Girl doll–since she’s 5, she’s probably not quite old enough for that one.

My oldest grandgirl has moved past the toy stage. She wants boring stuff like clothes, shoes, jewelry, CDs,  PJs, hats, scarves, and an iTunes gift card. Most are doable, but I really hate to see her vault past that little girl stage.

As for the adult children, they have requested items such as DVDs, sweatshirts, tools, clothes, CDs, jewelry, shoes, jeans, cash, grilling stuff, socks, and gift cards.  You know–interesting stuff.

That’s okay. I learned a long time ago to give people what they want rather than what I want them to have.

I’m thrilled to have the lists in hand complete with colors and sizes. Let the quest begin!

Oh, and big shout out to my daughter for suggesting this to be my blog topic for today. Thanks!

12 Days, 12 Thanks

First Thanksgiving/Image via Wikipedia

Twelve days of November have passed, so for this month in which we celebrate Thanksgiving, here are twelve thanks from me in no particular order.

1. Thanks for my husband.
2. Thanks for my family.
3. Thanks for a good house and home.
4. Thanks for electricity.
5. Thanks for a job for both DH and me.
6. Thanks for Alabama football.
7. Thanks for FREEDOM.
8. Thanks for perfect weather days.
9. Thanks for Fall color.
10. Thanks for coffee in the mornings.
11. Thanks for good health.
12. Thanks for the ability to take so many things for granted so much of the time.

5 Wacky Things I Still Eat

Reading BrainRants the other day got me to thinking about what wacky things I eat. Now you must understand that I don’t think most of these things are bizarre or freaky at all, but I will concede that you will probably think they are.

Popeye's Chicken Livers

Fried Chicken Livers–I like the ones I cook at home the best because I can cook them as long as I want. For me, perfect chicken livers are like rocks. Yum. The next best choice is Popeye’s, but it totally depends on who’s behind the counter as to whether or not I can get them close to cooked enough. They normally only cook them 3 minutes. What? Yuk! Who wants red chicken livers? Not me! If I can get them to go double the time to 6 minutes, that is okay, but perfect is triple the time at 9 minutes. I’ve only gotten them cooked that way once or twice there, but for me, that is the perfect cooking time for chicken livers.

Turnip Greens–with hot sauce of course. Not that red stuff, the vinegar variety. I can only eat them with cornbread, though. I can’t eat them without it.

Banana Sandwiches with Mayonnaise–I started eating these as a little girl. I rarely eat them now, but I still prefer them to banana and peanut butter sandwiches. However, I do like a banana split in half lengthwise with peanut butter smeared on the cut. Then, I put the halves back together, and that is like a sandwich with no bread.

Pork Rinds

Pork Rinds–in particular from Pop’s BBQ. Oh my. They are good.

Chicken Oysters–These are the lumps of meat on the back of the chicken. They are concentrated nuggets of flavor.

Milk and Cornbread–I know–this is #6. I rarely eat this anymore, either, but I still like it very much. My daddy would eat it with buttermilk, but that makes me scowl just thinking about it. I like mine with “sweet” milk–whole, not the low-fat variety. BTW, you eat milk and cornbread in a tall glass, not in a bowl in case you were wondering.

Check out this post:

http://brainrants.wordpress.com/2011/09/27/five-freaky-things-i-like-to-eat/