needschocolate

I watch home renovation shows and almost everyt ime someone says they need a new kitchen because theirs has so little storage and counter space, I think "Gee, I wish my kitchen was that big." And yet, comparing my kitchen to my my friends', mine is one of the biggest. So, whenever I see a product on Shark Tank, I immediately think about how to store it - is it worth a place in my lack-of-storage-space house? The food cutters are definitely not worth a space and neither are the pool drink holders (and green lipstick will not be in my make-up bag). Two products solving problems that don't exist. In addition to the space they would take up, the drink holders didn't make sense to me - either you have to take your drink in and out of the foam part - increasing the chance of spillage - or you grab the whole thing and hoist it into the air - with the "tail sticking our a foot or more.

I was catching up on my TV shows and watched Top Chef right after watching PRAS. I could help but think about how Top Chef would be if they were produced by the PRAS people --- "Chefs, you have 2 hours to make an entire Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings. It should be traditional enough to be timeless, but also be innovative." Part of the way through the time, Tom C. would walk into the kitchen and inform them that they have to stop cooking and prepare a can of gourmet dog food, "the winner will get to make up recipes for more gourmet dog food." Then, after announcing the winner, the would get down to the final two, adn Padma would say, "We can't decide which of you should pack your knives, so we have brought out the losing dishes from each of the past challenges. You must take ingredients from at least 3 dishes and use them to create a new dish. Bonus points if you don't give us food poisoning." I am not sure I would agree that Wendy is that much better than the designers they have had the last few years - it seems to me that Wendy had a lot more time than the recent designers do. I think a lot of the recent ones would have came up with much better outfits than we saw if they would have had enough time to make them. It has become obvious to me that this show no longer cares about fashion or what looks good. They get very little time for designing and sewing - there is no time to attempt anything that they haven't done or seen before. The models don't even have a reason to try to sell an outfit (remember when Heidi used to say "Models, this is a competition for you too"?). Deciding which designers are "Safe" seems to be influenced mostly by what sort character mold they fit - she is the emotional one, she is the snarky one, he has a dry wit, etc....It is a wonder that Jay, with his bland-by-TV-standards-personality stayed as long as he did.

Sometimes closed captioning isn't that easy to get. We have had one of our TVs for 6 years now (I forget the brand, but it is one of the major ones) and we cannot figure out how to turn on the closed captioning. There is no button on the remote, I have read the instructions, and have played around with every menu on it. Online searches have been no help either. Our other TV is a "smart" TV. I figured out how to get the closed captioning, but I have to go through a series of menus to do it. There is no button on the remote. And when the closed captioning is on, the sound is off, so you can't just set it up for closed captioning without having to read the rest of the dialogue. It just isn't worth the effort. Our old TV, which the smart one replaced, went to closed captioning any time you pressed "mute." That was nice and easy. So, I am fine with shows opting to caption some people. However, it seems like they always caption the wrong people. I had no trouble with Daniel, but the french judge on Cupcake Wars had me yelling "Subtitles!" at the screen.

I was flipping channels the other day and a repeat of the second episode was on - Leslie is telling her carpenter about which container she got. She slaps the changing pad on top of a table and says that they need to plan the whole thing around it. It gave me a chuckle.

I didn't mean to imply that he should be able to act because he has a genius IQ, I meant he was smart enough to try to find a way out of his contract that wouldn't get him sued (unlike actors that just storm off the set or start ranting on twitter).

Well, change my name to Pollyanna, but this episode gave me hope that we might be getting away from the big secret that everyone knows and the infighting and arguing and might get back to clients and cases and relationships and touching moments and all the stuff that used to make this show so good - maybe even getting back to witty banter. They actually had something resembling a case this week. And, thanks to Donna, Louis seems to be coming around to the idea maybe things would be better if they worked together instead of making it "me vs. them" and trying to force people to "respect" him. The show is no where close to what it used to be, but it took a baby step in the right direction, and that gives me hope.

And sounds totally different. And acts totally different - and by "acts" I don't mean the way the character behaves, I means the actor's acting skills. He is just so wooden. He reminds me of a muppet - the mouth opens and closes but the lips don't really change shape and the face shows no emotion. He used to be such a good child actor - not only with his delivery, but his reaction shots and the slapstick stuff. The actor who plays Luke is supposed to have a genius IQ, I think he is trying to get out of his contract by giving poor performances. It is the only explanation I can come up with.

Well, at least this time the victim mentioned that she left her phone in the car. All the other weeks I find myself telling the Stalker Squad "call the victim and warn him/her!" Like last week - They realized it was the anchorman's new girlfriend, so the all leave, get in the car, and drive over the studio- they could have called him or the studio and warn him, but then he would have not come so close to dying. Apparently, proof of stalking is not enough of a crime, they have to catch them in the act of committing murder. .

My daughter was a big fan of the original series, when the kids were cute and little. She is coming to visit and she doesn't have cable, so I am recording the shows for her. What is the difference between the regular episode and the "enhanced" episode? Which is better to watch? Thanks in advance for any answers.

While the grass guy was making his pitch, I kept thinking I should invent a doggy litter box using gravel. --- We have a back yard with a large patch of grass and we have always had dogs. I want to be able to walk across the lawn in bare feet, without worrying about where I step, so I trained each dog (a total of 3) to do his business (liquid and solid) on the gravel by our shed, instead of going on the lawn. If you can teach a dog not to go on the carpet, you can teach him not to go on the lawn. Yeah, it is more effort - we had to take them all the way to shed when they were being housebroken instead of just opening the back door, you need to keep a close eye on the pup when he is on the grass as you would if he were on the carper, and it really helps if you put a temporary fence around the grass until they get the hang of things. But it is worth the additional work in the beginning to not be rinsing off your shoes/feet for the next 14 years. My daughter also trained her dog not to go on the lawn and when my sister-in-law's dog comes over, she goes in the gravel, but goes on the grass at her house. On most sinks, the stopper is attached to a lever, connected to the faucet pipe, so that it goes up and down when you pull a knob on the faucet. You can't just pull out the stopper and replace it with a new one. If you installed the faucet yourself, the directions usually give the option of not attaching it to the lever but installing it a different way so you can take out the stopper, but still have it go up and down. But, if you can install the faucet yourself, you can handle cleaning out the drain every once in a while. Also, not all stoppers are the same size. One of mine was corroded so I bought a new one and it didn't fit. I was surprised the the sharks were interested but no one asked how much work it would be to replace the existing one or if it is a one-size fits all. Maybe you should try saying "I think I am getting a cold sore" whenever someone wants to use your lip balm. Or jsut sneeze on it before you hand it to them. Many years ago, my husband and I drove one of his co-workers to the annual Christmas party, about a 90 minute drive. On the way, she asked if I brought lipstick with me. I pulled the tube out of my pocket and she grabbed it an put some on. It never occurred to me that she would use my lipstick. I barely knew the woman. She was at least 30 years older than me, so I figured maybe it was something "normal" for her generation - maybe lipstick was a scarce commodity during the war or something. Still, I went to the party with pale lips, as there was no way I was putting any on until I had thoroughly wiped it.

In addition to Elbow Room, Chip was also the carpenter on Curb Appeal (and/or Curb Appeal: the Block). From what I have seen of him on TV, he has a very easy going personality and pretty creative.

Newsguy doesn't even bother keeping the door closed when he knows the stalker is on the other side with a gun. When Stalkerlady pulled a gun on him then ran into the hallway to chase Newsgal, Newsguy got up, ran toward the door, and then opened it! He could have closed it, shoved a chair in front of it, and hid somewhere in his huge office, while he called the police. Instead, he opens the door wide and lets the stalker back in!

I liked Gaspard's but I am glad he didn't win - it was too similar to the "Ellen's Favorite" piece they showed them. He made it more usable, and the doors were cool, but it wasn't really innovative. I have pull out drawers on some of my kitchen cabinets. The red armoire was innovative, IMO, and she deserved the win. I wouldn't put it in my house - red is one of my least favorite colors and, until you look up close, the front was boring. Seeing as it was a wardrobe cabinet, it would have been more useful if she put a mirror (or two) on the door(s). I loved the side storage, but mirrors at angles wouldn't let you see yourself from head to toe (in one piece). I don't understand why the carpenter was the one showing off the armoire to the judges. It was her design, she is the contestant on this show, why didn't she walk over and open doors and pull socks out of storage?

I have been watching the first season (one of the station has been having marathons on Friday and they started with pilot - I have all of the first season and half of the second on my DVR) - I am up to episode 5 or 6. I noticed how much simpler the cases were in the beginning, everything moved a bit slower. Some of the things they point out are things that are obvious to CSI viewers now. I think, in an effort to keep viewers entertained, they make things more convoluted - sometimes too convoluted. They don't want people to figure out "who done it" before they reveal the killer. This creates situations like this episode, where there are so many logical scenarios that are wrong and by the time they get to the actual murderer it makes barely any sense. Plus, they leave out any hints that could help a viewer figure it out. Did we have any idea that the stepdad had anger issues? Heck, I couldn't remember who the guy was when they questioned him - he was such a non-entity in his other scene. And lovely grammar - I noticed that he said "badly" as in "I felt badly" (I don't remember the exact sentence). Even well-educated people make the mistake of saying "I felt bad."

I wasn't paying close attention, but I thought the water people said that their parents were best friends and that they grew up together. I would think that marrying someone you grew up with would be like marrying your sibling - he/she would be one of those people you wouldn't even consider falling in love with, because you wouldn't think of them "that way." Maybe they were apart for a number of years (he came to the US at 17) then fell in love? Or maybe I heard wrong. Anyway, I was more intrigued by their back story than by their water. A few thoughts on the pizza box people - I would pay 5 cents more for a pizza that came in the Green Box, but only if it was a good pizza. I base my pizza buying on taste, not what sort of box it comes in. In my neck of the woods, we are supposed to put our pizza boxes in the compost bin the garbage company picks up each week. I don't see how their box was any better for the environment (I don't know how much of a typical pizza box is made from recycled materials, so maybe that is the difference?). Barbara gets hung up on the silliest things sometimes - her reason for not going with the pizza box people was because the box didn't explain how to use it or what makes it special. I am pretty sure that when a pizza chain decides to use the Green Box, they will have their name, and anything else the want, printed on the box. As for the rest of the entrepreneurs, I seem to agree with everyone else - Tycoon guy was slimy (who would invest in real estate based on a picture on a website?), I would try the water if it wasn't 100 calories a bottle (tap water is my drink of choice), and the phone soap could be important in some locations or to some people, but if it were really necessary, wouldn't all of us be sick all of the time now?

And even if the blood pressure was entirely caused by his eating habits, cutting out salt and eating healthy probably wouldn't work fast enough to make him a viable live donor (I was just joking in my previous post).

You are right - we can't make the secret go away, no matter how tightly we close our eyes and wish. I may not like it, but I can handle the secret existing - However, I want them to go back to actual lawyer work with clients and trials. I am finding that the infighting and arguing is getting boring (same with the Good Wife)

I think the best resolution to JJ's PTSD-so-bad-that-PTSD-doesn't-begin-to-describe-it would have been for Hotch to say at the start of the episode, "I talk to JJ about her actions on our last case and she has decided to take some time off to deal with some things." then she doesn't appear for a few episodes and returns back to normal (or decides to quit - for all you JJ haters out there). I guess killing people is easier than cutting back on salt. "Honey, I love you, you mean the world to me, but you know I can't give up canned soup and beef jerkey. Daddy will find another way to get you a new liver." I could be wrong, but I thought the liver was one of the organs easier to match. Plus, you don't need someone to actually die to get a liver transpant (they can do partial transplants), they should have addressed why they couldn't go to another relative (I would think there are not a lot of people out there that would give up part of their liver for a stranger). They should have had her need a different organ - like heart or lungs.

We could all refer to it as "the secret that shall not be spoken of anymore" Or maybe we can call it the "secret Harvey isn't telling" just so we can shorten it to the SHIT. I sometimes think about what this show would have been like if they would have resolved the Mike is faking it storyline early in the series -for instance as soon as Harvey found out, he made Mike go to law school. Then they could spend their time handling cases instead of trying to protect their secret by telling everyone the secret and then arguing and threatening each other all the time.

Pairing up contestants without regards to whose team they are on - I knew Face Off wouldn't let me down and become like the other reality competition shows. I have never been a fan of very public proposals and I am really glad that the show (assuming Ben mentioned something to them earlier) did not tell us about the chance of a proposal the way most other shows would do ("oh, let's let the viewers know so they can root for him to win" - gag!). I think most women prefer an intimate, heart-felt proposal, but I think a lot of guys believe that the "grand gesture" sort of proposals are somehow more romantic because the size of the proposal is related to the size of their love. I am guessing that when Ben found out he was going to be on the show, he decided that he would propose on-air and his grand gesture, but any old talking head wouldn't do. The only talking heads that would draw enough attention would be if he was sent home or if he won - and proposing when you lost is really weird.

Well, I guess the competition is finally really starting, because they actually got rid of the two most annoying people (well, I should say, two of the three most annoying). Until now, when it came down to the final two, they kept the more annoying one. I imagine this conversation - A: We are going to my cousin's for dinner. B: The one that was on that cooking show? A: Yup B: Mmmm, I wonder what he's making... A: He is making squid ink pasta. He always makes squid ink pasta. B: For Thanksgiving?

Some channel started showing CSI from the beginning in the form of marathons every Friday - I now have the entire season on my DVR. I have only watched the first 4 or 5 episodes. I am surprised at how different the show was than I remembered. It seemed to move slower. They turn on the lights all the time, even though there also seem to be more daytime scenes. The complain about working doubles and there is more animosity among members of the team. Girssom sounds like he is teaching much of the time, even to Catherin, and they state things that would be considered obvious now. For instance, the suspect claims that the victim choked to death, he tried the Heimlich, but it didn't work. The CSIs then have this conversation (paraphrasing) - A: "I don't think he is telling the truth." B: "Hmm, well if they did the Heimlich ..." A: "...there would be bruising on his torso and possibly broken ribs" The next scene shows them talking to the examiner while looking at an x-ray showing no broken bones and the examiner comments that they were no bruising on the chest. Nowadays, the CSIs would already know there was no bruising - and would probably immediately tell the suspect "The autopsy showed no sign of the Heimlich being performed - no bruising, no broken bones. Maybe you should tell us what really happened." In another case, they found flecks of green in the victim's hair. Back then, they noted it, and it wasn't until the end that they realized that they found the boat that the victim was in - "the boat is green - same green as the pieces we found in her hair". Now, the lab would determine the paint on the chip was the type of paint used on boats and they would search through the marina's datatbase to see which boats matched the paint color. I like this show when it first came on and watched every week (I have skipped episodes and chunks of seasons over the years, but I watch regularly now). The show was definitely much simpler in the beginning, and I think that is part of the problem now. The viewers were more ignorant or innocent when it started - we were more easily entertained - they could get away with relatively simple plots. Now, it is more difficult no to make us go "Wow! That makes sense, but I never saw that coming." The need to be more and more clever and the cases need to be more complicated. The more complicated, the more likely we will find things that make no sense. And, at times, they work so hard at making it interesting, that it seems like they jump over relevant information (hence all the "how did she go from a tear in his jacket to he killed the guy with a shoehorn?" kind of questions now).

Yes, I meant Anthony Anderson. But you got me curious ... The longest running African American sitcom was the Jeffersons - 11 seasons

I can't imagine that the Bantam Bagels taste so wonderful that they are worth the effort - defrosting in the microwave, preheating the oven, browning in the oven, washing pans (in case the cream cheese seeps out, etc... Then if you heat it too much, the cheese probably melts and I am not sure that cream cheese would go back to the same consistency if it is melted. If I just want a few bites of bagel and cream cheese, I just slice a bagel in half, then cut it in half again (so a fourth of a bagel), toast it and spread on some cream cheese - A couple of minutes, a knife, a napkin and I am done (and, occasionally a wooden spoon, in case I have trouble getting it out of the toaster)..

Do we know for sure that they will always be divided into three teams on all challenges? They tend to do team challenges in the beginning anyway - I assume because there are so many people - but just because their are in three teams doesn't mean the can't divide them into pairs or have individual challenges. I could even see them pairing everyone up with someone from another team - it might make it difficult to mentor, but they seem to handle judging just fine when they had "al five of us worked on this one character - I did the eyes and the feet, he did the fingernails and the left ear, she did the cowl and the tight ear, etc...)