Saturday, January 23, 2010

A Letter to NBC

Dear NBC,

Before we break up with your network all together, just a couple of things.

It is totally not us, the viewing public, who are the problem here. It is your lack of better judgement and your inability to run a network that is a problem.

I have to ask: Did you really think it was a good idea to put Leno on five nights a week? Seriously? At an hour you would be up against decent dramas... Even I could see that this was going to be a train wreck... Cost effective train wreck, but train wreck none the less.

But your mistake with Leno actually began with the Leno/Letterman fiasco. You promise Letterman the Tonight Show after Johnny Carson retires and then takes the rug out from underneath him by giving it to Leno. What did you think Letterman was going to do? Stay where he was?

Leno is not funny. He was never funny. Honestly, I avoided his show like the plague in college when I was pulling all nighters, because the one time I did have it on and was listening to it, I fell asleep. I would watch Letterman and switch on to Conan, who I thought was leagues funnier then Leno.

So imagine if you will how excited I was to hear Conan was going to take over the Tonight Show in 2009. 2009 came and I heard the bad news. Leno gets a five night a week show that airs before the news, causing the news ratings to go down, making Conan's lead in to be weaker.

Seven months goes by, and Conan's ratings are slowly improving (just as Jay's did when he first started) and Jay's experiment is failing. So you decide to put Conan on at 12:05 am and give Leno the 11:35 p.m. spot. See even I can tell you that this will damage the ratings of the Tonight Show. The Tonight Show is an institution. It was started by men who were good at what they do and it was turned into unwatchable garbage by Leno. Conan brought integrity back to the interview desk. He also brought comedy back to the Tonight Show.

Another point I would like to make. It is not technically the Tonight Show at 12:05. This would make it the Morning Show. Conan was right with everything he said about the show in his letter. He was more class act than you will ever be about the situation.

I will follow Conan where ever he ends up, because he is talented. I will stop watching your network because you fail to see talent and keep it.

Also, can't you tell that a show is becoming unwatchable. Heroes has become predictable and boring, causing people to jump of the Heroes bandwagon in droves. Even my husband, a die hard Heroes fan is done. I think it is time to put it out of its misery.

But you do have some watchable content with The Office and possibly Chuck. But I think I will just catch those on reruns on basic cable that you don't own. I in no way want to give you any ratings. Although I am afraid I just jinxed those shows, because people like them and you may need to cancel them to put Jay Leno on there too.

So in closing, you have made unbelievable group of mistakes. Mistakes that are causing people to jump the sinking ship that is NBC. People like me. Soon advertisers are going to jump ship. Then you will be the husk of what was once a great network.

Good luck to you.

Mrs. Nacho

Welcome V & A!!!

This post is a little late, but I was waiting to post this until both girls were home!

Our friends, the Packards, had two beautiful little girls back on December 11th, 2009. They were about 8 weeks premature, and they had been in the hospital for a month, coming home last week.

Introducing....



Veronica and Amanda Packard! (Photo courtesy of the parents!)

Congratulations to the Packard Family!

Friday, January 22, 2010

Soup Swap 2010

Fellow blogger (and good friend) Bloggerelli and her new hubby The Prof are hosting their soup swap this weekend. The basic idea behind the soup swap is very much the same as a cookie swap. You freeze 6 quarts of a homemade soup. You dress them up pretty and then you present them for the group to see. Then you try and "sell" your soup. You say whether or not it is vegetarian, lactose free, gluten free or anything else that would appeal to the crowd. Then you pick numbers and you pick a soup on your number and you run through the numbers until all the soups are gone.

You say you want to host a swap. Excellent.... Get ideas here . In this tough economy, it is a great way to get variety in your meals instead of always going for the pasta or the chicken.

The Mr. and I each make a soup. This means we come home with 12 soups! We put some in the freezer and eat some right away!

This year's offerings... A Wild Maine Blueberry soup from me and a Chicken Tortilla soup from the Mr.

Friday, January 15, 2010

Stress buildup... Time to focus on the positive!

So since well before the wedding. I have been dealing with tons of stress from outside sources (some wedding, some not). There has been tons going on, and having to deal with my Nana's rapid mental downturn (due to advancing Alzheimer's) on top of all the stress has made me a grumpy Nacho Blogger.


Not only that, but added stress over the weekend sent me into a panic attack. Not healthy. So I decided something....


I needed to get the stress off my chest. So I talked to some friends. A strong group of ladies who make me stronger for just knowing them. They helped me focus on the positives, and now when I am stressed out, I focus on those positives.


There are the recent positives in our lives that I am reminded of:


1) We are married! On a beautiful day, I married my best friend, and the best part of my day is getting home and seeing the Mr., sharing parts of our day over dinner, doing chores together or just relaxing on the couch or playing video games. Life is good. Plus, we began our marriage exploring Italy. Soooo much fun!

2) We reunited family~ Our wedding reunited two sides of Mr.'s family and we spent New Years day getting to know our extended family, many of whom hadn't seen my hubby in well over a decade.


We have so many wonderful cousins and second cousins! We are really thankful for the reconnection.


3) Nine days into the New Year, Mr's Cousin finally popped and we welcomed Camden Ryan to the world. We met the new little one on Sunday and he was quite the cutie. Congrats to the new family!





4) We will be welcoming a new niece or nephew in June. Sis in law is due with number 2! We are over the moon and can't wait to meet the little one, which I still think is a boy.

"If you only spend 5 minutes with each one...."

This weekend we get something that I have been longing for since the Mr and I started dating....

A three day weekend all to our self!
So what does a newly-wed couple do with this influx of time??


Begin with our organization resolution!

This past week I have purchased a new craft desk, with more storage for my craft stuff. This is what it can look like put together:



I am excited, because you didn't have to have that combination of storage blocks too. There should be ample room to work when I am finished assembling.

Also, the office has been our dump room for AGES.... it is about time we clean it out and organise it!

So in addition to actually starting our thank you cards, taking down the rest of the holiday stuff, and getting the guest list prepared for my Totally 80's Birthday Party.... we are going to get some (if not all) of that room organized!

Also: we have a kick ass party tonight. The idea is to re gift a horrible gift that you received for Christmas and they do a Yankee swap. So you may end up with a gift better suited for you or you end up with a cheesy gift.

And a game.... we have a game night at our house Sunday. We continue taking on the dragon's peeved mate and a bunch of undead kobold priests.

All in all, a weekend made of win! Now just to get there!

Thursday, January 7, 2010

My Hobbies Part 2: Gaming

Ok... I will admit it. I am not only a newlywed, but a geek newlywed. I like the original Star Wars, can quote Monty Python at random, and know that a natural twenty is a score on a 20 sided die.

So for those who don't know, what is gaming?

Role playing games (better known as RPG's) don't involve the kind of role playing one may think of. They often times begin with a pencil and paper, several different sided dice, good friends and a story idea.

Unless you still live with your mom, your parents basement is just used for storage, and most gamers play at the kitchen table or in the basement of your house in a finished basement.


We are not all overweight, and we are not all employed by a fast food restaurant ether. We game with teachers, bankers, doctors, and computer techs.

*Ahem* Now that the misconceptions are all out of the way...

The idea of Role playing is to tell a story with the players as the main characters. The Player Characters (or PC's) are sent on a quest or mission of some sort, and the Game Master (or GM) is the narrator, and also plays all of the non player characters (or NPC's). Players use dice to determine if they are able to fight, convince, intimidate, and many other things. In some games, they use several dice, usually referenced as D and the amount of sides on the dice. (D8 for an eight sided.) Every game session picks up where the last one left off until the campaign (the overall quest) is over.

It is fun and a great way to get out any stress or tension. I gotta tell ya, it is fun to get out of work and have a character that can bash the ever loving crap out of a orc with her +3 longsword.

Why do I explain this to you? Well, here and there you may read a bit about trips to game days, game night or even a game idea or two.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

My Hobbies Part 1: Scrapbooking...

Ok, so I love to scrapbook. One of the main reasons is that the story and the pictures are preserved for future generations.

Another reason is that should I get a disease like Alzheimer's (now that I know it runs in the family.), I am able to look through and read the stories and see the pictures. Watching my grandmother deteriorate due to this horrible disease, I wish I was able to do that for her before she started to get bad! It is too late for that now.

So, not only is it a fun hobby it also has its uses too!

There are so many fun things to get and so many great techniques to use, and one of my goals this year is to try many of them.

As I mentioned in the resolutions post, I am going to try and scrap the photos we have from:


Italy

The Wedding (and all wedding related events)

Our 2008 Disney trip

The many conventions that we have gone to

And I have so much more to do, I could do it full time and wouldn't finish for the year.

I found this hobby thanks to my creative and talented mother. She gave me some stuff to start when I was home sick after a bout of Colitis. I was hooked. The only problem with the hobby is that it is addicting and expensive.

Recently I got myself hooked on Scrapbook.com's awesome website and wish list. I picked up stuff for my scrapbooks and the Baby Book I am working on for my soon to be Nephew or Niece.

Another favorite shopping spot, Eyelet Outlet is filled with cute eyelets and brads for specialty pages.(I got cute little oven mitt ones for my baking pages.)

And one other plug that I have is for the company Stampin' Up. They sell adorable stamps, useful for cards and packages on top of scrapbooking pages. My mom became a demonstrator for them a couple of years ago. Their stamps are cute and have tons of personality. I used them for our welcome bag folders and the favors at our wedding, and I am using them for our thank you cards. I am also using their stamps to fulfil another awesome resolution I have to make more cards.

This a hobby that can help to tell a fun and fabulous story. The story of you, a loved one, or a special time. It is also relaxing and fun!

Friday, January 1, 2010

HAPPY 2010!!!!

From the Mr. and I, we wish you a very happy and healthy 2010!!!

This year I am looking forward to many things... My resolutions:

1) Spend more time at home- we need to spend more time relaxing at home. Mr. wants to work on his art, and I want to spend more time working on my scrapbooking.

2) Scrapbook my italy photos, wedding photos, disney photos, and gencon photos. - Then if there is time work on other pages as well.

3) Start making my cards for Birthdays, get wells, and congratulations.

4) Lose 30 lbs, and prepare my body for potential pregnancy. This would also keep me healthier than I have been recently.

5) Cook More and Utilize my cookbook collection.

6) Become more organized!


Enjoy your long weekend!!!
Hopefully we are able to achieve that!