STUFF and THINGS (is BACK) 9/8

Welcome to all link-up bloggers, old and new!

+Who watched the Bachelor in Paradise finale? Thoughts? I have many.

+Also, I'm pretty thrilled that Nick is the new Bachelor. He has personality (unlike Ben) and he can't blame naivety for his dumb decisions (like Jojo).

Also, I'll get a life as soon as the opportunity arises.

+Who is all caught up on Once Upon a Time? I just finished season 5 on Netflix. Ugh. I cried a few times. My love for Hook: it's never-ending. New episodes start September 25th!

+I love my new vacuum. Truthfully it looks a bit alien-like and I didn't want to get it for that very reason. But there's form and functionality to the design and it WORKS.

+Also...it's FALL. Which means we're Pumpkin Swapping!

Just putting it out there...look for the sign-up at the end of the month!

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Stuff and Things 3/13

+Do you ever get sick of your phone?  Sometimes the very last thing I want to do is pull my phone out to answer a text message (which is why I often don't), look something up, or jot something in a Note before I forget.  Maybe this is just laziness.  Sometimes I really just don't like the thing.

+Tiffany's sent my necklace back.  With a giant knot in the chain.  That was annoying and it was 30 minutes of my life I'll never get back.  However, I did get an email from them, a few days after this post, saying that they would fix it for free.  So the email I sent saying I was disappointed in their craftsmanship worked wonders.  If this lasts 6 more months without breaking again, I'll consider doing business there again.  Maybe.

+Speaking of customer service, we went back to Colton's Steakhouse this past weekend.  After our horrible experience in August, we weren't planning on returning.  However, we had a gift card to use.  I'm pleased to say that the service was 150% better.  This might be due to the fact that we were sitting in the bar and the waitress, while busy, wasn't dealing with large parties.  Anyway, in our attempt to use up all $50 on the gift card, I had 2 margaritas.  One mango, one strawberry.  Both were like glorified Kool-Aid with tequila, but hey, they were *free*.  Actually, one was literally free because they forgot to charge us for it and we didn't realize it at first.

The Southwest Salad wasn't anything to write home about.  The flavors were there, topped with a tasty spicy ranch, but the presentation wasn't.  Also, 2 giant margaritas will fill you up.  I could only eat half the salad and I brought the rest home.

+Once Upon a Time is back!  I think my favorite thing about this show is Belle's wardrobe.  I would wear all of this.  Also, her hair.  I'd wear that too.

+Scout ate the brand-new cupholder from my brand-new car. 

I was in the store for 10 minutes.  

Lastly…
+Scott is currently in Colorado doing some house-hunting.  If you could send some good thoughts and prayers our way, it'd be appreciated.  We're not set to leave here until the first week of June, but we're buying and these things take time.  Best of luck to us, right?

Lemon-Lime Meringue Pie

Did you sign up for the Sweetheart Swap yet?  Sign-ups are open until Monday!

We're on snow day #2 here…
Some of us might be going a little stir-crazy.

Oh well.  Here's a story about t.v. and dessert. Story of my life, right?

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On Christmas Day, we watched one episode of American Horror Story: Asylum and 6 episodes of Once Upon a Time.

In September-ish, we watched the first season of American Horror Story and I'd not so patiently been waiting for season 2 to come onto Netflix.  It took forever.  Eventually I forgot about it and we moved onto Once Upon a Time.  Then, we finished season 2 of Once Upon a Time and were left hanging: season 3 is on now and most certainly not on Netflix. We weren't going to pay for Hulu Plus (nonsense), and ABC.com only had the last 5 of 11 episodes.

While at my parents' house, my brother's girlfriend was kind enough to show me that Comcast OnDemand had the last 6 episodes for free.  6 is greater than 5, right?

So Scott and I watched the 6 most recent episodes on Christmas night, staying up until midnight to finish them.  I'm still not sure what happened in the first 5, but it was easy enough to piece together.
Now I'm all caught up just in time for a mid-season break.  See you in March, Hook.  I'll miss you.

As for Asylum, I pouted through the entire episode.  After a month of mystical fairy tales, that show is kind of boring.

Good news though!  Downton is back!  Scott is almost as excited as I am.  (Not really.)

This pie has nothing to do with anything, except that I made it on Christmas Day.  It was very good.

Lemon-Lime Meringue Pie

1/2 cup fresh lemon and lime juice (2 lemons, 1 lime)

1 t. vanilla

1 T. cornstarch

1 T. cornmeal (This would be good.  We didn't have any.)

1 1/2 cups sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

5 T. butter, melted

1/4 t. salt

2 T. milk (I used evaporated milk. You can use cream or whatever you have on hand.)

1 unbaked pie crust

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, vanilla, cornstarch, cornmeal, sugar, eggs, butter, salt, and 2 T. cream.

Once it is all very well combined, pour into the unbaked pie shell.  

I cover the edges with a pie crust shield (to prevent over-browning) for the entire baking time.

Bake at 375* for 40 minutes.  You can check with a toothpick in the center, but it will most likely continue bubbling once you take it out, so it may not be set up yet.  

After you remove it from the oven, set it aside and work on the topping…

Meringue:

4 egg whites

4 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Attach the whisk to your electric mixer.  Whisk until soft peaks form.  Add the sugar, and whisk until stiff peaks form and the meringue is shiny-looking (scientific, I know…should've taken some pictures).  Add the vanilla and whisk to combine.  Top the baked pie immediately and broil until lightly browned.  (The whisking process should take no longer than 10 minutes.)

T.V. Friday

…Because we watch a lot of t.v. And because I like reading articles about my favorite t.v. shows, I'm linking some for your reading enjoyment.

But first.  Our Christmas card.

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

I had to pay a ridiculous amount of money for this thing (to be delivered to me a week before Christmas) because Wal-Mart-freaking-dot-com couldn't get their act together.

I don't even LIKE this card that much, but it cost me $43 for 20.  Whatever, Shutterfly.

 I'm realizing now that I completely forgot to book a private photo session on a beach somewhere for my little family at some point in the last 3 months.

*sarcasm*

Anyway.  T.V. Friday.

*SPOILERS AHEAD*

Let's start with The Walking Dead (Forbes article here).

The last few episodes have been putting me to sleep.  This past week, I was screaming at the t.v. Something along the lines of, "Get him, Michonne!".  

I was really happy the way that episode wrapped up.  I saw the Herschel thing coming just because someone had to die.  For real, no one had died since, like, September.  I thought that the Governor (oh, I'm sorry: Brian) seeing Meghan in her bitten state would bring him to his knees in tears and he'd realize the error of all his ways.  Apparently not.  

I also loved the way the little girl shot that chick point-blank.  Daryl and Tyrese should be grateful for the Children's Brigade that was so diligently trained by dear Carol.

As for Judith, I think the kids took her and left the carrier because it was too bulky to manage.  Was that a bloodstain on the inside? I couldn't tell…

This episode was the mid-season finale.  Hopefully the group can find a safe haven by February.

Homeland (Forbes article here.)

I kept asking Scott questions about IEDs and vehicles and whatnot.  He kept answering them.  

Carrie is such a wacko, but I really enjoy her.  Quinn is a jerk, but I enjoy him too.

Saul will never stop taking risks, apparently.

The end of the episode left us all (Scout included), shocked.

Only 2 more this year!

Masters of Sex 

I was surprised at how I got pulled into the storyline here.  I despised Lizzy Caplan on True Blood, so I had no intention of watching a show with her as the headliner…and really now, they've been advertising this show in previews for OVER a year.  A little overkill, in my opinion.

Since the story takes place in the 1950s, it's a little like Mad Men, if Mad Men were not on cable.  We've got a sweet Betty Draper (Libby Masters), a cold-hearted Don Draper who drinks not quite so much (Dr. Masters), and a Joan who looks like she's been at the gym every day for 6 years (Virginia Johnson).  There's 2 children (Viginia's kids…Henry and Tess?), a crazy ex (also Virginia's), and a lovesick good-looking doctor named Ethan (lovesick for Virginia, obviously).

It's a good thing I've gotten over my dislike of Lizzy Caplan.

Seriously, though, we love it and watch it at 10pm every Sunday night, which means I'm always very tired at 5:15am Monday morning when the alarm goes off.

(A review of last week's episode.)

Once Upon a Time

I know new episodes are on Sunday nights and I KNOW I'm 2 years too late to be hopping on this bandwagon.  I'm still on Season 2, so you won't find any spoilers here.  In fact, if you could refrain from posting your own spoilers, I'd appreciate that.  I've busted through almost 48 episodes in the last few weeks.  (I know you wonder how this is possible…our "us" time is usually spent on the couch, eating dinner, talking about whatever, with whatever t.v. show we're obsessed with playing in the background.)

I love this show, and I'm hopelessly addicted to it.  If it was a book, I'd never put it down.

(I'm not googling any articles because I don't know want to know the current state of affairs in Storybrooke.)