Nessie

Franklin was playing with Misty! Anna-Kat had another Bryer horse...I thought at first it was Lady Phase, but Lady Phase did not have her fore-leg up like that, so I guess it was just the Arabian mare, but Misty is unmistakable. Sorry for nerding out like this, but I collected those horses obsessively for years when I was a kid, and I didn't realize they still made them. Misty was my favorite, and I still have her. After we moved to SE Virginia, I was thrilled to find out Chincoteague was only a couple of hours away. I even went to the pony round-up one year, but it was so crowded it wasn't any fun.

I loved Sheldon's huge bandage - it reminded me of when my oldest son was about 3, and he got a little cut on his head. He saw the blood and freaked out (I'm sure you all know how head wounds bleed, no matter how tiny). The only way I could calm him down was to wrap n ace bandage around his head. When his father got home from work, he took one look and freaked out himself. I was laughing so hard it took me ages to explain what had happened! I'm really enjoying this show. It's so refreshing to see a show that has children as lead's who aren't annoying brats.

I was almost sure I wasn't going to stick with this show after the cliche-ridden premiere, but I'm really glad I've stuck with it. It may not be realistic in a lot of ways, but I'm really enjoying it, and the cast is terrific. Mina is awesome. And just when I think she can't be any more awesome, she knocks out her would-be mugger, then takes him to the hospital...and sews up her own arm. I started watching this show for Emily VanCamp; I was pleasantly surprised to see Manish Dayal; but I've kind of developed a girl crush on Mina.

I don't think he was trying to do an accent. He just sounded like regular James Norton to me. Didn't he say they moved to England when he was a child, and he was educated in British schools and went to college in America? He also told the Russian mob guy that he understood Russian but didn't speak it, so all that combined, it would make sense he wouldn't have a Russian accent. The "accent" that bothered me was the Israeli politician. I work with people who are from different parts of Israel, and I've talked with many more. I don't know what that accent is supposed to be, but it didn't bear any resemblance to any Israeli accent I've heard. I liked this a whole lot more than I thought I would, and I think I'm in for the whole season.

Jill did look amazing. I loved her entrance lighting and music...I want that every time I enter a room. But she's been gone 3 months and she said she lost 115 lbs? Yeah, not possible without surgery - and I'm not talking gastric bypass. I know it's nitpicky, but for a show that seems to pride itself on realism in depicting substance abuse, that seemed irresponsible. This really confused me. Like you said, they've eaten at the bistro a lot while Jill was away. They had to have paid for it themselves. Ok, so maybe they order more when they think Jill is going to pick up the tab, but that doesn't mean a crappy cafeteria is their only other option. Just order less at the bistro...I assume that's what they've been doing while Jill's been gone, unless she left her credit card on file. Or were they just trying to guilt Jill into paying again?

It was Ralph Lauren that Rachel said she was having an affair with, not Calvin Klein. But yeah...agree with the rest. None of the gang were stellar employees, but Ross and Rachel were probably the worst.

Last Friday I was running late and practically rolled out of bed into the best hair day ever. Seriously, I just kind of finger combed it and fluffed it a bit and left it alone, and I got SO many compliments on it, it was unreal. My hair is long and thick and curly/wavy, depending on it's mood, so the fact that it decided to behave all on it's own was a miracle.

4 20 is stoner code for the consumption of pot and April 20th has become an unofficial pot holiday in America, according to my son - who was a little too proud to tell me that that he shares his birthday with that particular "holiday".

You're very welcome! I think most people don't realize the Tanakh and the Old Testament are basically the same (the first 5 books of the Bible, to oversimplify it), but the Old Testament had some "tweaks" during translations - at least, that's what I optimistically chose to believe. One of the things I love about my job is my access to religious authorities. They're pretty used to me going into their offices and asking things like "why don't the Jews believe Jesus was the Messiah?" or "is this passage seriously saying a man must marry his dead brothers wife?" or "Have you ever even tried a bacon cheeseburger?" The book it's based on takes place over a year (I think the title is "My Year of Living Biblically" or something similar), so it was limited to begin with. I have a very bad record with sitcoms. Most of the ones I like get cancelled, so you may very well be right about this one. Sorry about that to those of us who like it.

I liked it way more than I thought I would, especially considering I wasn't even going to watch it. I thought the wife was the weak link in the cast. Full disclosure, I feel I am in a unique position to appreciate this show. I am Christian, and work in a synagogue. I mentioned this show to our rabbi this morning, and he said the same, that the book was hysterical, but the guy who wrote it was Jewish. Maybe they figure more people will relate if the main character is Christian, I don't know. Regardless, the Old Testament is the same in both religions, and he is being advised by both a priest and a rabbi (and I love their friendship already, which reminds me a lot of our rabbi, who is very close friends with both a priest and an imam).

You are certainly not alone on the "meh on Lenny Cohen" part. I've never been much of an Uma fan, and Lenny's "why are we HERE?" just annoyed me last year. Not really looking forward to more of her this year, if that's what they have planned.

When I was in 3rd grade, we lived in San Francisco, and my teacher was of Chinese heritage. He brought a lot of his culture in the classroom and taught us about Chinese New Year, including the red envelopes, and I was fascinated. I am still fascinated by Asian culture, *mumble-mumble* years later. Fast forward to high school, and my family had moved to Spain (Navy brat). We lived on base, so I didn't have to learn Spanish, but I picked up enough to get by (barely). However, I understood much more than I could speak. I could even tell when someone wasn't from the Southern area I lived in, just from their accent. So Eddie's part really rang true to me. Evan is bothering me much more than Jessica, because I loved his little quirky self so much in the first two seasons, and they've made him such a colossal, smug brat these last two.

I am just catching up on this forum now. Hollywood and it's awards are really something aren't they? Johnny Flynn played Einstein in all but one episode, and Geoffrey Rush in only 5, and yet Geoffrey Rush gets the leading actor nominations, and Johnny Flynn one supporting actor? I thought Johnny Flynn (an actor I had never heard of before) did an excellent job, and as nice as it is for him to get any recognition, I think he deserved a leading actor nomination (at least one).

You're getting new ones? I'm jealous. I checked the website, and no sign of them here (SE Virginia), and the list goes until almost the end of February...:-(

This was driving me CRAZY! Every time I would talk back to the TV JAH-NEE! Then my son would say "mom, you know they can't hear you, right?" and I'd say "obviously, or they'd be getting it right by now..." I mean, it's not that hard... For some reason, a lot of American's don't seem to notice the difference (well...American's and my Scottish mother). They have the same problem with Giada De Laurentiis's name. Maybe I'm just more sensitive to it because I have a French name that was often mispronounced when I was growing up (although it's more common now).

I don't miss Mario at all, but I was never much of a fan of his. He always came off as kind of pretentious to me, and like he always wanted to hog all the attention. That said, a lot of his recipes looked amazing, and he was great at demonstrating them. I got a kick out of Michael talking about flying to LA to film Iron Chef this weekend. He's so goofy most of the time it's easy for me to forget that he's not only an Iron Chef, but the one with the best record (at least in America).

I know a number of women who have done this, because of their kids. A guy I know at work's ex-wife did it (took back his name after her last divorce), because they had a kid together, and the kid isn't even little - he's in college. Personally, I kept my ex's last name because of our kids. I'm not saying this is why Yolanda did it, since her kids are all out of school (I think...not sure how old Anwar is) and I'm sure the fact that Gigi and Bella are famous doesn't hurt, but it's why the women I know did it. Plus, she always seemed very friendly with Mohammad, and I'm sure she's not so much with David, so why keep his last name? I guess she could have gone back to her maiden name, but why, when people know the Hadid name? If Mohammad doesn't mind, why should we care?

Ugh...I hated the second half of this episode. I love living fish, a lot of them are beautiful, but dead fish just gross me out. Yuck. I don't even remember half these people from last week. And more evidence I wasn't paying much attention last week...I just noticed "Princess" Shatima is listed as being from "Hampton Roads, VA"? Huh? Lily is from Anaheim, CA, the twins are from Chicago, and Kevin is from Charlotte, NC, which are all actually cities, but Hampton Roads is a body of water and the surrounding region (the land part is also known as Tidewater), which consists of 7 counties and 9 cities (plus a bunch of towns) in SE Virginia and NE North Carolina...does she not actually know where she is from? Is she ashamed to admit it? Is she hiding from someone? Maybe witness protection? Does she know she's being so ridiculous that she wants there to be no chance of anyone tracking down her family? I mean, technically, I live in Hampton Roads, too, but I would never tell people that, because no one has any clue where it is. (jumping off soapbox)

I stand corrected. Thanks Drogo. Nor am I. Enough already. He really is desperate to be on TV, isn't he? Please no (although I wouldn't be surprised as this would be exactly what this show has devolved into).

Lefties run in my family. My father was a lefty, my oldest son is a lefty, and my nephew is a lefty. When the family all had dinner together, they all had to sit on the same side of the table so they weren't continually bumping elbows with everyone else. My mother isn't as bad as Bev, but she's close. She's very fussy about where we sit in restaurants, she considers a menu just a list of suggestions, and she keeps track of who gets their food when and will loudly comment on it. *Cringe* (She has not, however, taken food off another party's table. She may want what she wants, but she has way more manners than that.) She's really fussy about hotel rooms, too, and on one trip a couple of years ago, changed rooms 5 times before she was happy - and we were only staying overnight. So I found this episode hysterical, and a big part of that was because it was so familiar, but also I was glad that someone had it worse than me! LOL Also, I complained about being over Erica last week, but I think she was used in the right way this week.

Ok, I just don't know if I can watch the show this season. Every year, the "personalities" just get more ridiculous and over the top. Come on, people, at least pretend you're there to learn how to cook and not just be on tv. I was one of the few who didn't really mind Asaf on SYTYCD; I mean, he was eye candy and it wasn't his fault someone dropped out and he was brought on to fill the opening and the judges kept him around a lot longer than they should have; but dude - NO ONE is buying that you honestly think you can just toss a whole coconut in a pot with some other stuff and hey presto! You get coconut soup or whatever you said you were doing. Chick with the tiara? Reality check...a dime store tiara doesn't make you royalty, it just makes you look needier than the other losers there. Some of them seemed like normal people, but I'm sure that won't last long, or they will be booted soon. When it came time for both eliminations, you knew who was going home - on Tyler's team, it was obviously the woman because she was boring (and apparently couldn't figure out that if she made her pancakes smaller than dinner plates they might cook in time?), but on Anne's, her real words should have been "Corndog guy, you're going home because what's the point of us casting twins if we can't pit them against each other, and we haven't been able to do that since we're only 1 episode in." Wow...this show made me cranky... So 2nd reality show for them (at least) and 2nd for Asaf (that I'm aware of). I'm sure more contestants resumes will come to light as the week's go on, they usually do. Like I said, it seems none of the contestants are there to actually learn how to cook anymore. I've never seen Twinning but IMDB says there was only one season, which means they were on with Claire and Shawn from the last season of Project Runway. All these reality show contestants just get recycled from show to show to show, and apparently, we're not supposed to notice...

Nice of them to try and prejudice the audience against her even before the show starts.

OMG right? I was almost yelling at the tv for him to just leave or turn it off himself. How was it Kevin's problem? As for the sub thing, I have a friend who retired from working in the credit card service department for a major bank, then applied to be a sub to fill his time. All he needed was a Bachelor's degree and to pass a background check, like others have said. But then, we're really hurting for qualified teachers around here, unfortunately. As an aside, he has since retired from subbing because he got sick and tired of the kids' bad attitudes and lack of respect (which may have something to do with the lack of teachers). I do! I do!

I am so over Erica. Please let her go back to college and just stay there. I can't fault her taste in sleepwear, though. I totally had that Duran Duran t-shirt and loved it. I admit I was singing "Thank you for being a friend" right along with them.

I agree prevaricate is the wrong word, but I can see how the writers got there if they weren't paying attention. Using @StatisticalOutlier's word "waffling", a synonym is equivocate, and prevaricate is a synonym of equivocate. I also agree that vacillate (and vacillator) would have been a much better choice. Right. Sister Julienne even commented on Barbara's knitted hat not being part of the uniform. I was a navy brat and spent 3 years in the highlands of Scotland in the late 70's/early 80's. My school uniform included a knee-length skirt, and there were no exceptions for weather. I had some extremely cold walks to/from school. I was wondering why they didn't just move the clinic into Nonnatus House instead of down at the pub. It's certainly big enough and looks like it has enough rooms. But it seems it only has one bathroom (inside, anyway)? That certainly wouldn't do for a roomful of women in various stages of pregnancy, even before Sister Winifred broke the toilet.