TV Update

So, I've got to take some time to catch up. I've been really busy with countless projects. My project-a-week thing (oh, right, I realized that I have to finish a project every week for the rest of the year to be able to get them all done) is going really well--I've been working on it like that for about a month and a half already. I've mostly just finished really easy projects--sewing up slipper socks and things that that are already done except for weaving in ends and things. It gives me a chance to work on huge projects (like my mother-in-law's hat/scarf set which is taking way longer than I thought because it's so intricate, but beautiful) but still finish things up.

While I've been knitting for about 40 hours or more a week, I've also had a chance to watch a ton of TV shows and things. I've watched a bunch of movies (that I can't remember right now) and a million TV shows. I finished season 3 of CSI and recently started ER season 2 (from Netflix) on Hulu, I'm watching The A-Team and I'm on season 3 of that. I watched season 1 and started 2 of Doogie Howser, MD--which is way more about sex than I remembered as a little kid. But it's really cute. I started watching One Tree Hill, which I had never heard of before, but am really enjoying. I have also started watching Conan O'Brien, but I think I'm about over that. It's funny and all, but I am just not really into it. I could be watching more episodes of The A-team. And, of course, I'm keeping up with Lie to Me (which has started over from the beginning, for some reason), The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and patiently waiting for Lost, Friday Night Lights, and whatever else my office chooses to watch next season. When does the Office Season 5 become available on DVD? I totally want to add it to Michael's Netflix queue (which I control, too. I didn't mean to do that, it just happened, you know? Oopsie).

That is so much television. I feel kind of lame for watching so much TV, but what else can I do while I'm knitting? If I do have more knitting/craft groups, that will really cut back on my television consumption. You know, it's kind of funny how I totally don't feel like it's TV when I'm watching it on my computer--like it doesn't count. Sometimes, I can get Michael to read to me (which I totally adore) but his voice gets tired within one chapter and then I'm left to myself, and there is no way I can read and knit at the same time. But I'm having a great time with all of the knitting and the movies and the TV, so it really isn't that bad.

Curtains...

I've been working on curtains, right? Well, I just realized that it is going to take me months of work to finish them, and I don't have that kind of time. I also need new curtains for our bedroom because, for some reason, the curtains in there now don't cover the entire windows. I really want to make beautiful curtains for the bedroom, but with everything else I have to do (work, make Christmas gifts, etc), making curtains that will take at least seven months is a daunting task. We'll see, I guess.

But right now, all projects are taking a hiatus while we are moving. We are pretty much done now--just a few odds and ends and a touch of cleaning to do at our other apartment, and everything is at the new place. In boxes. Piled up everywhere. Staring me down even when I'm miles away at work.

While we've been moving, sleeping on the floor, packing, and almost unpacking, I've fallen behind in every show I watch with my coworkers. And I haven't watched anything just for me. And I don't really miss it, except for the knitting part. I do miss that. And I love to watch something while I knit. So, soon it will be back to the TV and all of the fun that can be had there! And, someday, I will finish two curtain panels and they will be beautiful and they will hang in my living room for the world to enjoy.

Update on TV:

So, as I've been working on a million projects, I have been watching a ton of TV. I've caught up on all of the TV shows (at least through the middle of March, so I'm not more than two weeks behind on any show--what an accomplishment) and I've watched The Pretender through season 2. And I learned there are at least four seasons. I'll have to look it up and see how many there really are. The last few episodes of season 2 were much better than the really formulaic beginnings of the show. It's intense and (I don't remember if this is really true or if I just want it to be true so desperately that I don't remember the real truth) I can't always predict exactly what will happen. I mean, the guys who just never die are finally dead and you can't pretend that maybe they didn't really die anymore. I'm actually excited to start season 3, which is much different from how I felt going into season 2. Don't tell Michael, but I was a little bored by how repetitive the storyline was and how Jarod said the same thing every time--"when I was young, I was taken from my family, blah, blah, blah, and now I'm still searching for them"--I mean, I still enjoyed it, but it just wasn't the same as some shows that are like a book you just cannot put down. This was more like a text book you trudge through because you're going to have a test on it. Except there was no test, just so much knitting to get done that it didn't really matter what I watched.

Sometime last week or the week before, I finished watching CSI season 1 and I just started season 2. It's awesome when I see episodes that I remember watching on TV years ago. It's crazy to think that the show started almost 9 years ago.

I am really enjoying Lie to Me and Michael is enjoying it, too. He only watched the first episode and then clips of others, but I really love when he'll take a second and watch it with me. Too bad no one at work watches the show.

Along with all of the TV shows, I've also been watching my fair share of movies. After the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes escapade, I've since watched some really good movies, the names of which I have long since forgotten. Sorry. But I do remember that I watched Someone Like You and Picture Perfect, both of which I absolutely adore. I love movies that I can watch over and over again. Thinking about watching movies makes me want to run home and watch more movies right now!

TV

While I'm working on everyone's Christmas gifts, I am seeing that I am also getting a ton of TV watched. I'm currently watching a ton of shows that are on TV now (current season, even, though I still watch them online) and I'm in the middle of season 1 of The Pretender (I used to think Jarod was the hottest guy alive--but that was when I was like 16, so I am sure I am forgiven, and I don't remember thinking how grotesquely formulaic the shows format is or how Jarod totally tortures the bad guys in a way that would get him arrested in a normal world) and season 1 of CSI (I'm shocked at how far graphics have come since the year 2000 and it makes me realize how I can't wait until all TV is digital). I'm totally enjoying all of the shows I'm watching, and I'm also soon to start ER Season 1. I haven't decided yet if, when I start that, I will have to put CSI on hold, but I'm thinking that one TV series from Netflix at a time is my limit. That will be okay, because I'm only halfway through the first season, and I will be able to pick it up again when season 4000 of ER is over.

The TV shows I'm pretty closely following are so numerous, it's almost impossible to list them all. I watch The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report, COPS, Lost, Friday Night Lights, 24, and Lie to Me. I am not caught up on any except Lost and 24. Watching these shows keeps me up-to-speed with a lot of my coworkers and falling behind would be doom! But I have to admit that I prefer to watch one show (or two shows) at a time from beginning to end. I hate the moment where I catch up and then have to wait from week to week for the next installment. I hated catching up with Lost and 24, even though now we have long conversations about the shows the morning after they air (or afternoon, if someone didn't catch it the previous evening--I watch them before work in the morning, actually--and has to watch it while at work). That is a great benefit of keeping up--I get so much more out of the program because everyone else remembers so much more than I do.

I have big plans this weekend to catch up on Friday Night Lights. It's going to be great. There are three of us who are about the same amount behind in the show and we're all going to catch up this weekend. It will be really fun to talk about it with someone else.

It seems so strange to talk about all of the TV I watch. I mean, it doesn't feel like I watch very much TV at all. I work with a ton of TV watchers, though, so TV is just part of our culture. It also may be that I always watch it while I'm knitting and sitting at my computer so it doesn't feel like watching anything--it's just on to be something else while I'm just sitting there.

Yesterday, while I was watching all of my court shows and then Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and then some episodes of The Pretender, I got two gifts about 90% done. It is so exciting to me to get more and more done. I've started a surprise project and I'm really excited to see how it goes. I hope it totally rocks. It involves turning a heel, so I know I'll be so good at it!

Massive Amounts of Projects Underway as We Speak!

**Spoiler alert--if you are expecting a Christmas gift from me and don't want to know what it is, please skip this part**

So, with all of the frustration of the Lover's Knot Afghan, which I have again dismantled, I have been working on Christmas projects. I can't believe how much I've gotten done! My sister's bag is done. My other sister's bag would be done, but the felting process went awry and now I don't know what to do to fix it because it looks awful. So disappointing! But I have also finished Amos's scarf and hat. I improvised both patterns myself. And they look great! But then, I started working on these slipper socks for Chelsea's family, and I've finished James's so far. They aren't turning out how I imagined, but they are going to be just fine, I think. I can't believe how fast I'm finishing them. I've gotten James's totally done. His are brown and grey--I held a strand of each together the whole way through. Now, I'm working on Yayo's--his are grey and blue. The top will just be grey and the sole I'm making with blue and grey held together for a little extra cushion. I'm hoping to get those done this week. Then just three more pair and I'm done with that group of Christmas gifts. I can't believe what I have done already! It's really fascinating to me how much I can get done if I just do it.

**End of Christmas spoiler**

I've gotten a season and a half of Friday Night Lights watched in the last week and a half while I've been working on all of these projects. And movies and court shows and so many other things. It's awesome. I am loving Friday Night Lights. It's a great show--really intense. It seems a bit unrealistic for high school kids, but it's just so good! I don't remember parents being okay with the fact that sophomores are out drinking and having sex all the time or that juniors show up drunk or with hangovers to everything. Even in a small town. But it's just so good, I can't complain. I think I'll watch an episode right now…