Day 16 - Movie night, Christmas Lights and more...

Whew - cutting this day close to my posting cut-off time. Still got two hours left of the day so I'd better get typing!

Ok.. where to start. I'm a bit frazzled because I just returned from volunteering at Movie Night at Carter's school, so I'm unwinding by writing....

Today was a didn't-get-too-much-accomplished day. Again, I had to catch up on my Tivo'd stuff because alas, The New Receiver is ready to be rolled out tomorrow. Well, I did manage to get some stuff done, like the usual straightening up and a couple loads of laundry - but nothing else! Oh, actually, I tackled the ever-growing pile of magazines that I hardly get the chance to flip through, and put them out in the recylcling for next week. So, sometime between 8:30a-12:30p they will be here to install it tomorrow. Tom is pretty excited. Me, not so much. Now I have to learn a new system for recording my shows. And a new remote controller. I'm more from the school of not fixing something if it ain't broken - and my Tivo is not broken!! Grrr... but I've already vented about that in an earlier post, so I won't drag you down with me. Anyway, I caught up on some Oprah's - the Osmond's were on - that was a pretty cool show! I also saw one this week, a 2-part with a woman that hoarded "stuff" for the past 10 years. I could not believe the stuff they took out of her home. 75 TONS of garbage first of all, then filled a 10,000 SF warehouse with all the things she hoarded that were new with tags etc. Just when you think YOU have problems..... heh. Still have to watch Grey's Anatomy tonight, and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Then it's a clean slate for tomorrow's transition.

Christmas light installers came a day early and they were done in under 2 hours! I couldn't believe it - last year it took 5 hours or something ridiculous like that. Today there was a crew of 4 and they were fast. Can't wait to plug them in next week. Tom will probably work on getting the other lights up in the bushes and trees etc. this weekend. Ugg, that means the pressure is on me to start moving my decorations out of the attic. Aye yi yi! We just threw out our pumpkins from Halloween - I'm feeling the crunch! I can not believe Thanksgiving is less than a week away! I'm looking forward to it though. This year, we're going to Mary Jane & John's for dinner. Carter has already been thinking about what movie he's going to watch in their basement home theatre room - it rocks! Wonder if they have Finding Nemo? I may have to bring ours, but I wouldn't be surprised if they already have it. They have quite a collection of movies!

So as I mentioned, tonight was movie night at school. The showing was The Polar Express. This is one of Carter's favorite movies (and book that we read alot), so I knew it would keep his attention most of the time. I was very proud of his behavior tonight. He stayed in his spot the whole time and kept his hands to himself. A challenge of his for sure - and he met it! I'm going to give him a pack of football cards tomorrow for doing such a nice job making good choices tonight. Tom bought one of those 15 pack of 6-card packs so we reward him with one or two when he does something commendable. He hasn't figured out we have them stashed, we just spring them on him when the right time comes. He is really into them - as he is with the NFL in general. He even has a book with pages to slide the cards into. I love that he gets such a huge smile when we give him a pack of cards (there's 6 cards in a pack), because he gets so excited to open them up and see who's in there!

So I need to go swallow a bottle of Tylenol for this Movie Night headache I suddenly have (nah, it wasn't THAT bad, but I do need some!) and say goodbye to my Tivo. Hopefully tomorrow when I'm not so tired I will write something a bit more interesting. Maybe some photos? Until then.....

Day 9 - Tivo's replacement and our anniversary dinner

Well well well.... the new receiver and dish (see yesterday's posting) did not get installed today. Nothing more irritating than getting a time scheduled and being told "they'll be there some time between noon-5 pm" - and then they show up at 4:40. Yep, still got 20 minutes don't they. So after he and Tom roam the property and figure out where this new dish will go, they discover that the receiver is not the right one that Tom ordered. And later find out it's not an easy receiver to locate company-wide. Tom even comfirmed 2 days ago that the right receiver would be on the truck with the installer. Shmucks.

I won't bore you with the details, but in the end, DirecTV customer service people need a technology background first of all, and secondly we ended up having to go purchase The Receiver at Circuit City and get credit from DirecTV because this specific receiver is hard to come by. Nonetheless, it was so irritating to be stuck at home, on a day that Tom has off (work honors Veteran's Day with today off instead of Monday) and wait until the last possible minutes of the approx. time they said they'd be here - only to have NOTHING INSTALLED at the end of the day - and I deleted all my TiVo'd programs in a hurry for this!

Well, misery loves company I always say, so at least I wasn't alone in my annoyance. Tom was pretty peeved about it too - especially since he was really looking forward to a new electronic device in the house. Sort of like an early Christmas present. Boys.....

On a lighter note - we finally went out for dinner to celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary(10/25/97). With work, and school, and kids, and life.... it wasn't easy to get into the restaurant we wanted to go to, at just the right time. So tonight it was our night - we went to The Melting Pot. We had not been there since we went with my folks and Aunt & Uncle in from Boston a couple years ago. It was a nice long lingering dinner, fondue style. We nearly needed to be rolled out of there by the time dinner was finished. But boy, was it good! You should try it out if there's a location near you. Save room for dessert!

Day 8 - Saying g'bye to TiVo

Today I have not done too much, because I have been attached to my Tivo. Tom signed us up to get the latest dish which has over 100 HD channels (this causes Tom to pant), and so I'm being forced to play "catch up" on all my recorded shows. Don't even ask how many I have on there that I have not had the chance to watch! But this new change happening tomorrow has forced me to decide which episodes of my recordings are really important. I've deleted 80% of them instead of watching. That should tell me something.

Tivo has made being a couch potato even more pathetic than what being one already makes you. If you don't know what Tivo is, or what DVR is I will explain. It's a device hooked up to your tv, sort of like a vcr or dvd player would be, but it has a computer in it that can be accessed by your remote control. Tivo allows you to record any show you want with the press of one button. You can even set it up to record a "Season Pass" of a show - which is just what it sounds like - an entire season of one program so that you never have to remember when it's on. It automatically records it for you! Tivo also allows us to never be burdened with waiting through a commercial - you can fast forward right through them - or through the boring parts of your shows. This is particularly handy for stuff like American Idol & Dancing With The Stars results shows. I can watch an entire episode in 15 minutes!

So tonight, I will fast forward through the ones I wanted to see that I have not been able to find the time for. Tomorrow will be a new day with a new dish. Men are so easy to please....

I'm going to hang my head in shame and list all the stuff I Tivo'd... keep in mind that at any given time, I am usually 6-10 shows BEHIND (I cap out at recording up to 10 episodes of a show, then they start to delete themselves....).

I have no time to watch these live during their regularly scheduled time slot, so what am I thinking that I might be able to find another time to catch up on a certain recording? I don't know, just don't want to be left out of the loop!

Sad, huh.... ok, in no random order...

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Oprah
Dr. Phil
Days of our Lives
American Idol
Survivor
Grey's Anatomy
Dancing With The Stars
Happy Feet
Cars
The Office
Inside the NFL
Pushing Daisies
The Bachelor
Misc. Food Network Challenges

It's kind of exciting having The List on Tivo be so small now that I've emptied out my recordings. I can't remember the last time I could hear my echo! Well, no worries - tomorrow the new dish will be installed and I will reprogram all of my shows to record. Only this time, I'm going to start out with being only 1 day behind! I wonder how long that will last......