BooksRule

Eye stuff creeps me out, but I think part of it is because I'm so conscious of my eyes (I wear glasses and have to put eye drops in both eyes twice a day). I had forgotten about the preview where one of them (Hen?) says something about seeing something move in the girl's eye when they are examining her. I thought yoga girl was going to turn out to be one of those pseudo-science-following people who put urine in her eyes (I've read about it. Yuck!) and that was why she couldn't see. I had figured that Buck was adopted, but now the whole idea of Maddie being his mother is intriguing. Another idea might be that he accidently caused the death of a younger sibling (and he was too young to remember the incident) and now Maddie's afraid that he'll remember it and it will traumatize him. I just hope that whatever the big secret is, that it doesn't end up making us say 'That was the big secret? Big whoop!' The smart house scene was good, but I thought there would be more to it--like it trapped him in his house and he couldn't get out (doors/windows locked, phone not working, etc.) but that might have been kind of a cliche nowadays.

I'm so excited! 'Nightwatch' is returning to New Orleans for the next season! (I wonder if it will be the same crews or new people?) This was announced in November and they are supposed to be filming 25 episodes through the first part of this year. I don't know when they'll be airing them, though. https://www.emsworld.com/news/1225260/nightwatch-returning-new-orleans

I hadn't considered that possibility, but it would be interesting. I was thinking that it might be someone who would be related close enough to have some legal say in the kid's (sorry, I forgot his name) health decisions and would want to halt any type of treatment due to religious (or non-science-based) beliefs.

I re-watched 'The Godfather' this past weekend, and turned on the CC a couple of times when I could catch what they were saying. I noticed that in all instances the CC wasn't exactly word-for-word but it was close. Sometimes I wonder if they are using a different (earlier) version of a script. There used to be a thread about closed-captioning in the old Television Without Pity's site forums that was very interesting to read. Some who posted do CC for a living and it was interesting to get a 'behind the scenes' point of view. I might have to go to archive.org to see that thread was archived by someone.

Tyler Florence's banana bread recipe is pretty good. I think the main difference from others is that he mashs up some of the banana and sets it aside. Then, he beats the rest of the banana with the sugar and butter. This really incorporates the banana flavor into the batter (you mix in the rest of the mashed banana near the end, so that you have some 'texture' to the bread). Maybe there are other recipes that do it this way, but most of mine just say to add the mashed-up bananas to the batter. I've also tried other recipes that add other fruits, such as blueberries or cranberries to the banana bread mixture. They are pretty good and keep it from being bland (I just googled ingredients to find recipes. I know the one with the cranberries was on the Ocean Spray site).

I was happy to find a thread for this show. I don't think I've seen every episode, and the ones that I've seen have been viewed out of order (if I'm home and see it listed I'll tune in if I can and watch an episode or two). I did look up the show on Wikipedia a while back to get the plotlines and characters straight. I've got the marathon on right now and just watched Monica fly off the roof. 🙂 I'm hoping that E! will continue to air the show so I can catch it from the beginning and watch start to finish (what little finish there was--I know they didn't wrap up plots when the show was canceled).

I'm starting the New Year off right by cleaning my house from top to bottom. I've made a little dent, but still have a long ways to go. Anyway, because I was busy with other stuff, I didn't really concentrate on cooking today. I had leftover ham for breakfast and only an apple for lunch. I do need to get my New Year's 'lucky' foods in today, so I just put a pot of black-eyed peas on to cook (with a little ham for seasoning). I usually cook some cabbage (just cook it in a skillet with a little water and bacon or ham), but since they days' getting away from me I might have to just make a green salad for my 'lucky money greens' today and cook cabbage tomorrow.

A few 'Li'l Smokies' sausages (baked in the oven) and a couple of crescent rolls with butter for breakfast, and a big bowl of chicken gumbo from Christmas for lunch (there is just enough left to put several servings in the freezer for later days). My New Year's Eve supper will be NY strip steak, a couple more crescent rolls, some type of veggie (maybe corn or a baked potato) with the last slice of sour cream pound cake and the remaining Klondyke Reese's PB ice cream bar as a dessert duo.

Other than a trip to Lowe's to buy a dryer (to be delivered next week, yay!), I didn't do much of anything today except lounge around and watch episodes of Rizzoli & Isles, starting with the first episode (with a chore here and there). It was nice, because I would let my DVR -- which automatically records as long as I don't change the channel -- get ahead of me while I did a few chores, so I could act the couch potato and watch while FF-ing through the commercials. I might do the same thing tomorrow!

I know it's too late now, but I noticed that the FXM channel (which shows a lot of old movies along with newer ones, albeit with commercials and I'm sure they are edited) had the 1951 version listed several times (but not the 1938 one). I know I saw the 1951 version last year, but I don't remember which channel was airing it.

I read both of those books multiple times over the years. It's interesting how the availability of google can be both a good thing and a bad thing. I looked up the family on the internet a couple of years ago just to see what had happened to everyone since the second book ended. I hated to hear of a family tragedy that happened a few years after the last book, but I also was kind of glad that I learned more about the family and how they were able to cope. Karen seemed to have led a quiet life but a contented one from what I read. Yes, RIP Karen.

I think the description on the on-screen TV guide said it was a 'heartwarming story', but I wouldn't have called it heartwarming.

Those of you who use closed captioning for your TCM watching, do you find it reliable or not? I don't usually keep CC on, but as I get older, I find myself switching it on more and more. I was watching 'The Holly and the Ivy' a couple of days ago, and the CC was not very good. A lot of the lines had 'inaudible' instead of the words, and although there was some mumbling and I could understand why this had to be done, in some instances I -- even with my bad hearing -- could understand every word they were saying and the CC still said 'inaudible' in some parts. They also got more words/phrases wrong than I would have thought. I know it happens, but some examples: 'our own Bridget' instead of 'our Aunt Bridget' and 'bound to be' instead of 'boundiful'. I don't know. It just seemed to me to be careless work. That aside, I really liked the movie. It's one I'd never seen before.

The family isn't getting together this Christmas, so I'm cooking for one. I had leftover cornbread muffins with butter for breakfast and leftover spaghetti for lunch. Dinner will be homemade chicken gumbo (as soon as the rice is ready) and hopefully-still-warm sour cream pound cake for dessert. Both foods that will make nice leftovers for the day after Christmas and beyond.

I baked a sour cream pound cake this afternoon. It came out of the pan very nicely and the top didn't fall off. That happened to one of the four I made last year, and I read that can happen if you beat the eggs too much as you add them. I only mixed the batter the minimum time and I think it made a difference. I haven't tasted it yet--after dinner.

Do you ever find yourself apologizing to your cat (or dog) when you accidently do something to them doesn't doesn't really hurt them, but probably embarrasses them? (I'm pretty sure cats and dogs can get embarrassed at times.) One of my cats loves to jump up on the desk when I'm sitting here at the computer. She jumps up on my legs and then on the desk (where she then settles down for a short nap with me having to put one arm around her so that she doesn't fall off the desk onto my legs). Anyway, I didn't realize that she was getting ready to jump up and turned to get up from the desk. I turned and moved my arm just as she jumped and basically backhanded her in the face and knocked her back down onto the floor. She ran, and I hollered an apology. (I admit I did laugh to myself once I realized that she was okay.) She came back and forgave me. It brought back a memory from years ago where I was getting out the bag of cat food and she came running across the kitchen floor (unseen by me) and reached me just as I opened the cabinet door to get out the cat dishes. Wham! She ran right into the open cabinet door just like one of the Stooges. (she was okay, though.) Cats!

I'm not able to do much baking this Christmas since I can't give out the results to co-workers and friends (and my family isn't getting together this year), but I am baking a couple of things for me, myself, and I. I just put a Lemon Supreme Pound Cake (the kind with the apricot nectar in it) in the oven and plan to bake a Sour Cream Pound Cake later this week (since I can't bear to have a Christmas go by without baking at least one. I think I baked four last year). That's a lot of cake for just me, but the lemon cake doesn't make a huge heavy 'pound cake-type' cake (despite it's name) and the heavier sour cream pound cake freezes very well, so I'll probably put most of that in the freezer for later days. I'm hoping that I can do some baking for others by Valentine's Day (or at least by Easter 😞 ).

I like leftover pizza as long as it's re-heated (and I'll eat leftover fried chicken as long as it's been out of the fridge long enough to 'take the chill off'). I don't usually care for cold leftovers. I heat the oven to 350 and put the pizza slices on a baking sheet. When I put the sheet in the oven I turn it off. Once I begin to smell the pizza, I know it's hot enough to take out and eat. (I don't have a working toaster oven right now, or I would re-heat pizza in it.) I do appreciate the occasional 'yay, leftovers!' when I inspect the contents of the fridge, because it's rare for me to cook enough food so that there are leftovers (except for holiday food and soup).

Happiness is opening the fridge to look for something to eat for a late breakfast and spying the box with the two slices of pizza leftover from last night's supper. They are now crisping up in the oven. It's the little things, ya'll! 🙂

I was watching an old episode the other day where Bart was trying to be good in order to impress Rev. Lovejoy's daughter, not realizing at first that's she as bad as he is. For some reason, this quote gave me the giggles and I'm still quoting it in my head days later: Lisa: 'She's a sweet, kind, Reverend's daughter, and you're the Devil's cabana boy.'

I thought I would revive this thread because it's Thanksgiving! Are anyone's holiday traditions changing this year because of Covid? For the last ten years or so, it's just been me and my sister at my dad's house. We've changed it up occasionally, having roast, baked chicken, dinner at a local casino, etc., but we usually have turkey breast, mashed potatoes, cranberry saucer, rolls, and pumpkin pie. This year, we decided not to get together (too risky for my dad, mainly), so I'm having Thanksgiving dinner by myself for probably the first time ever. I have a roast in the slow cooker (house smells good already) and will be having a very late lunch (early supper?) of pot roast, onion gravy over rice, crescent rolls and key lime pie for dessert. I should have enough so I can have pot roast sandwiches tomorrow for lunch and rice/gravy for dinner (with pie at each meal, including breakfast).

I thought the scene where Bob was so angry at the kids and had to say so but was still trying to be a kind and understanding father was great. It really showed how their family gets along (even when the kids do bad things --or so they thought at the time). Gene: 'She has kind eyes.' Louise: 'They're kind of eyes.'

I thought it was funny when Gene referred to the senior Ta'i Chi group in the park as a 'flash mob'.

I'm a Christopher Lee fan, but had never seen 'The Wicker Man' (1973). Maybe my subconscious realized that I wouldn't really care for it (although I found it interesting that Lee himself stated that this was his favorite of all of his films). I guess it's just not my kind of movie. The scenery was pretty, as was the village, and some of the folk music used was interesting, but I just couldn't get into it (although Lee was rocking the '70s hairdo, the yellow turtleneck and the plaid sportcoat!). I'm glad I finally got around to watching it, though, because I have friends who really liked it and had always urged me to see it. Maybe I'll let it 'sit' for a while and watch it again in a year or two (or more). Sometimes movies that I didn't care for on the first watch get better with a later re-watch. We'll see. And I definitely didn't agree with those who say that it is the greatest British horror film ever made (although everyone has their own opinion). Those of you who have seen the movie, what do you think?

Nope. Mississippi. Very warm and humid for most of the year.