Finding a New TV Show
Mike & I have similar taste in TV (except he likes animated shows more than I do). Our favorite shows to watch together have been :
- The West Wing & Newsroom – funny, smart, heart-warming!
- Arrested Development & Flight of the Conchords – funny, quirky!
- Ugly Betty – so funny and heartwarming!
- The Office, 30 Rock, & Parks & Rec (they feel like a bundle, same era!)
- Psych & Monk & Columbo – funny mysteries! There should be more.
Shows we’ve liked but not loved:
- Orange is the New Black
- Gilmore Girls
- How I Met Your Mother (until the last season, ugh)
- Big Love (until the last season)
- Big Bang Theory
- Downton Abbey & Sherlock (not really related except they are British and so long too long)
So I’d say we prefer heavy on the comedy, light on the drama. Super cliche romance lines drive us crazy (We had to stop watching New Girl because of it) and over the top drama makes us shout at our TV.
Watching an episode of whatever show we’re obsessing about together before bed since forever has been one of our favorite ways to hang out. I love getting mad at characters together, rolling our eyes at plot lines together, and discussing the shows together. It becomes our thing and we look forward to it.
We just finished Newsroom (well the free stuff on Prime), and are having the hardest time finding a new show! Finding a new show is a time-consuming process, amiright? You have to give up multiple nights to just see if you like something!
Miscarriages
Pregnancy & Infant Loss Remembrance Day was yesterday. It made me think about my own losses. Unlike two years ago when MISCARRIAGE felt like the biggest theme in my life, like this burning heat of heartache constantly with me, it hardly registers these days. It feels a part of my life, but not painfully so.
Mike and I joke a lot that Theo’s feisty nature is the only way he could survive my crazy uterus (hey, if you can’t make fun of yourself…) When Theo was born, I told someone it felt like the two previous losses were somehow part of him. It’s kind of weird, but it felt like closure, in a way.
Not that closure means it never has power over him. It does hurt when someone is newly pregnant and doesn’t assume they are at risk for losing it. Not that it hurts, but it just stings. I want that innocence. Mike and I talk about adding another child someday, but the possibility of more loss hangs over our head and our discussions.
Money & Budgeting
I told Mike I feel like we’ve gone on a spending bender. It’s called moving but, um look at this spending each month over the past year:
The thing about spending a lot of money is I sort of grow accustomed to it. Buying things becomes a habit. We’ve been spending weekends heading to Homegoods or IKEA or the thrift store or Target to refurnish our home. It starts to become the norm.
If I think of something I need, I buy it online without thinking twice. Once spending becomes the norm, it’s hard to cut back without feeling deprived.
Same with eating. I feel like I’m in an indulgent rut with both areas of my life and I need to go on a spending diet. (Not an eating diet because it would just make me obsess over food. Diets and me don’t mix.) But I think if I start getting used to exercising self-control, it’ll become easier, right?
I don’t want spending without pause to become the norm. Not because I think it’s a moral problem, but because I like the freedom of needing less money.
So, instead of running out and buying all the things I “need” right now (stud earrings, a belt, boots, snow boots, gloves, coat, a hat), I’m going to try to hold off a month. Not because a month will make a huge difference in our budget, but because it delays this instant gratification rut I’m in of want it-buy it-get it.
It seems like something new is always going to pop up as something I want/need, you know? And the more I spend, the more I want to spend. Cutting myself off!
I’m a fan of the new show Life in Pieces. There’s only four episodes so far, so low time commitment. It’s funny, sometimes hilariously so.
Oooh, I’ll look for it on Hulu! (The only problem is, what if it’s awesome and then I have to wait for more episodes!? Ha.)
We just started watching Parenthood. It’s quite good!
we looooooved parenthood! Until last season when it was eyerolly amounts of drama. But it was great until then!
If you like The Office/Parks and Rec/30 Rock, you’ll probably also like Brooklyn 99. Similar type humor and was created by one of the creators of Parks and Rec.
I did think of you yesterday, and I’m glad that you feel like you had some closure. It does seem like his personality must have something to do with it all, huh? I’m surprised and happy to hear you guys still think about having another ha ha (not being of the losses but because of the challenge Theo was for awhile there haha).
Oh, he was totally a challenge and still is! His only saving grace is that he’s a great napper. I think every family/couple has one adjustment that is hard – from 0 to 1 kid or 1 to 2 or 2 to 3. Ours was 1 to 2, so I’m just assume the next one would be easier? We already screwed up our life, might as well give up? ;)
Playing House (USA network, 2 seasons in)
Is it on Netflix? I just looked for it on Amazon – looks fun! :)
Hello lady! During maternity leave, I became obsessed with Supernatural and Bones, both of which started in 2005. Both are really funny and have mysteries to solve over an episode or several-episode arc (the arc is bigger in S than B).
We moved in June, the day before the babies were born. I feel like we spend money like it’s our job these days — the obvious stuff (all the diapers, OMG), but with the twins, I haven’t been really been able to wrap my mind around the extra furniture and furnishings we may need (or how relatively little we do need despite going from what was an obviously CRAMMED 1100 to about 2850sf).
Finally, I’ve been eating Nutella straight from the jar a lot lately. Oops.
I think it’s okay to throw the carefully considered life out the window once in a while – I agree that planning purchases and food makes more sense day to day, but I think sometimes life just doesn’t want to be as organized and categorized and planned as we like it. (Nothing like fertility issues to remind us of that.)
x
Oooh, I’ve watched Bones a few times and enjoyed it! Maybe that’s a possibility. (We are both total wimps, too, so we have to take that into account.) (And I do mean TOTAL. I can’t watch anything remotely scary before bed. And by remotely, I mean anything with death. Ha.)
Moving + your first kid who happens to be TWO KIDS = a total recipe for spending a lot. Especially if you’re more than doubling your space! You doubled your family!
I think I’m past the part where spending a lot is good…and have veered into applying ice cream cake and Amazon Prime purchases to my feelings. (Which I have a lot of having moved 600 miles away from my friends and family!) Mmm sugar + retail therapy…
PS: Eating nutella out of the jar is part of having a newborn.
A funny show in the vein of parks and rec and the office is schitt’s creek. I highly recommend it. Besides that, my husband and I enjoy watching Girls, Once and Again, Downton Abbey and many others on your list!
Schitt’s Creek? Ha! What a name. I’ll have to see if I can find that online!
I love your thoughts on delaying instant gratification. We recently moved countries, so spending has been huge with us too. It will taper off as we set up our house.
If you have not seen it yet, give M*A*S*H a try. It is on netflix. One of my all times favorite shows Funny and sarcastic, with a heart.
There’s an app (I think it’s called Money) For Apple that it helps you to realize where or how you’re spending money with. They create different graphics to show you. I think it’s good, I like using it.