Netflix and my obsession with television

Posted in Television & Movies, Thoughts & Stories by

Are you a Netflix customer? I didn’t realize that I was supposed to be so angry about all these new changes but I think I’m catching on. At present, I’m a little spoiled with all my tv viewing options – last year Mumbles signed us up for a 6 month free trial of all the movie channels and when I got super sick in January he took such pity on me that he decided not to opt out of it so I could watch all the sappy love movies I wanted to at all hours of the day despite the fact that it was very likely I’d already seen them 5 times or more (Charlie St. Cloud, Something New, Enchanted, and the list goes on…) That coupled with my brilliant idea to get Mumbles a Netflix subscription for his birthday last year (I’m a big fan of gifts that ultimately benefit me) so he could watch Entourage season by season and also because it became quite clear that Blockbuster was never gonna make it and I wanted to keep the ol’ movie-in date night alive.

So now here we are and Netflix is making all sorts of crazy changes so that it doesn’t seem like the steal it was before…yet — and it might just be me — it also doesn’t seem like a rip off. When I think about how much we’re paying for all the movie channels plus the streaming and mail-in DVD, well, that’s when I get a little remorseful. I like to think that we’d stream more often but until they really bulk up on the selection I can’t see that happening. I think the only real reason I’m clinging to Netflix is that I’d like to be able to request all the seasons of Veronica Mars if I wanted to, but I just found out BFOTB has every last one of ’em so that solves that insecurity. With how full my DVR is each week, we really do have plenty of options for which way we’re going to kill time watching tv. And now that I think about it even more, I feel really guilty/successful because when Mumbles and I met he wasn’t all too into television….now he is hooked! [insert evil laugh here].

Stay tuned for what I’m watching this week and let me know what your thoughts are on the whole Netflix debacle. Staying a subscriber? Jumping ship? Don’t really care about that extra $8 a month?

Spiders. Gross.

Posted in Thoughts & Stories by

Wouldn’t exactly call spiders my biggest fear but I do really despise them. Weird thing is though, as much as they freak me out, they’re also sort of fascinating.  Maybe it’s because my brother had a rose hair tarantula while we were growing up and (aside from the housekeeper who accidentally knocked over Theresa the Tarantula’s little home one day forcing said housekeeper to scream and barricade the door until someone from the family got home), Theresa was quite gentle and non-threatening.  In fact, my dad used to go so far as to call her “beautiful” and he sure did get a kick out of taking her for “walks” in the backyard.  My dad’s a funny guy. 

For as much as I hate spiders and the alarm and anxiety they cause when I encounter them, you think I’d be all about killing them.  Unfortunately, I just can’t muster up the courage to kill bugs – part crunch factor and part “what if it jumps at me or survives my act of attempted murder and comes after me in full force?” This is especially troubling when Mumbles is out of town and I must resort to finding a can of bug spray/hair spray/anything that will kill it so I don’t physically have to squish it or get within close range.  I’ll never forget living in the sorority house and lying in bed seeing little things dangling from the ceiling (about a dozen baby spiders – gross) and then a few days later sitting at my desk and out of the corner of my eye spotting a furry legged dark spider on the wall.  Just about died of shock, I did.  And what could I do but run downstairs in hysterics begging anyone to come kill it for me, only to be forever traumatized by not finding aforementioned monster when returning to my room?  Sleep with one eye open is right.  Geez.

Here’s another thing about spiders: I’m pretty sure they have a worldwide web (ha! see what I did right there?!) that lets all of them know who their fearful prey are, who they can most easily taunt and torture with their creepy crawly i-have-too-many-legs wily ways.

I’m only saying all this because I discovered a bite on my abdomen which means [I shudder to even think!] there’s probably a spider in my bed. GROSS. Mumbles gets home tonight and you can bet we’ll be fogging our place when we go out of town this weekend.  Eww. 

Here’s another one of AT&T’s great commercials – just picture me playing the part of the demure red head and imagine my dad taking that bad boy of a spider for a walk instead of smashing it into smithereens. 

In My Toolbox

Posted in Inspiration by

Soon I’ll be blogging about the new nest Mumbles and I have been working on. It’s been really fun and also a long process and there’s still a lot to do but I have loved very second of creating our own comfortable space to relax, work, welcome friends, entertain, lounge, cook, bake, park, shower, and sleep. But before we even get into all that goodness, I wanted to share a cute little lovely my Mamacita got me as a gift for Christmas which has really come in handy during this whole process and for my own crafting and diy projects. Here it is, my own pretty toolkit from Two’s Company!

Seriously, is this not the most darling and thoughtful gift for a new lady homeowner/crafter/person who thinks it’s important that tools do the job and look good doing it? It puts the fun in functional.

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What’s for dinner: Stuffed Artichokes

Posted in Food by

Okay, not quite dinner, I know (although I could eat these stuffed artichokes until I’m downright stuffed myself). I found this lovely little recipe and video how-to on Daily Candy about a year ago and have been making it for quiet nights in and dinner parties to rave reviews every time.

The recipe instructs that you cut off the top of the artichoke and the stem so that it can sit flat.

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I use kitchen scissors to snip off all the pointy leaf tips then open up the artichoke so it looks like a pretty ranunculus flower.

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Then, create a simple little mixture of Parmesan, oregano, bread crumbs (I usually just crumble up crackers or wheat thins – whatever I have on hand), and garlic salt to taste.

Spoon the dry mixture into each little leaf so that later there’s a tasty nugget on each of the leaves when you pull it off. Add some garlic to the center and then place the artichokes in a pot or deep pan with a half inch of water in the bottom. Drizzle a little olive oil over the artichokes, turn the stove to medium heat and steam them for about 40 minutes.

When they are done the leaves will be easy to pull off and it’ll smell crazy delicious. Be careful, though, because it stays hot and steamy for a while.

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Never eaten an artichoke like this? Pull an individual leaf and hold it with your fingers by the tip. Put the bottom in your mouth and slide it through your teeth to get the meat of the artichoke and cheesy goodness. If you’re entertaining, don’t forget to leave out a plate or bowl for guests to discard their scraped-off leaves (kinda like the already-sucked-out-shells of edamame).  On the other hand, if you’re at home in front of the couch, just chuck ’em back onto the plate when you go back for the next one! 

Enjoy!