Oh...just a few favorite things!

Today over at Time Out For Mom, the Coffee Chat theme is "Favourite things. What are you loving these days?"

Well, for starters I am pretty excited about my recent seven pound weight loss. I have plateaued at the end of my second week, which I am NOT loving, but I'm trying to find creative ways to get the pounds falling off once again, because I really loved stepping on the scale and seeing the number move in a favorable direction. And I do NOT want to be caught at the same (or greater) number at the end of week three.

But that's not all!

BotB winner and a few favorite things

Well, that was interesting! In my first Battle of the Bands of February, I pitted not two but FOUR covers of Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" against one another. Aside from the rookie (well, I'm blaming it on being a rookie, anyway) mistake of throwing so many choices up - or maybe because of it - it's been the most controversial battle I've posted. I chose covers by Claw Hammer, Elwood, Dwight Yoakam and Toby Keith because I thought they all brought something worthwhile and something different from one another to the table. Even though Dwight and Toby are both country artists, their stylizing of this song couldn't be more different to my ears.

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign

Hello, first Coffee Chat of the new year! Today's chat theme is random, so I'm going to take this opportunity to grab my sleepytime tea (I know by the time you read this, it's going to be time for the strongest stuff imaginable, but trust me, I do best ending my night with a blog post a la Doogie Howser. Anybody remember him?) and talk about how excited I am that in less than twenty-four hours, I will be able to resume my weekly dates with Raylan Givens! Now, this is nothing new to anyone stopping by here who has been friends with me on Facebook for a while. But for those who don't? Let's just say that for some reason, I just can't resist posting "Time for my weekly date with Raylan Givens!" on my Facebook wall before every episode. I know that by now it's surely lost its humor, (Was it ever humorous?) but also by now it is a tradition with me, so I shall continue it. It would be bad luck not to, right?

Ahem.

Anyway, this post almost didn't happen because I'm freezing my ass off down here in Alabama, and all I want to do is crawl under my covers and put my cold toes under my warm dogs' furry bodies when they hop up to snuggle me. And yes, I said Alabama, as in the deep south where we don't usually have many nighttime lows that fall below freezing, but we're now halfway through a two-day stretch where our daytime highs have been in the teens with wind chills of 0 and below. If you're from the north, feel free to freeze-shame me if you must. I am way too cold to care! But the joke is on you, because in a few days I will be sitting in fifty-five sweltering (by comparison) degrees. So there.

But I digress. This post did happen because, as I said, I got a sign. That sign was me flipping through the channels and landing on Conan long enough for me to see him announce that Timothy Olyphant would be a guest on tonight's show. And since I love Raylan Givens, who is portrayed by Timothy Olyphant, I felt compelled to watch. And blog.

The musical guest on this same show is Panic! At The Disco. They're not a band I normally like, but I've been seeing them all over the place here lately, and after this Conan performance, I will have seen them twice tonight. It's a sign, right? It's almost like they're stalking me - like Josh Hartnett did about five years ago. For a while there, every time I turned my tv on Josh Hartnett showed up on it at some point. Whether it was the Emporio Armani commercial or one of his many movies, he was everywhere I turned. Now Panic! At The Disco is everywhere I turn, and their stalking me worked because their latest, "Miss Jackson," is really growing on me. And now? I am enthralled by lead signer Brendan Urie's facial expressions.

So...it's been fun chatting with you, and I leave you with today's music: Panic! At The Disco's "Miss Jackson" (and Brendan Urie's expressive visage.)

Let's chat. Who's stalking you? Which tv shows are you excited about for 2014? What music are you listening to this week?

Losing track of time

It happens so often here lately. As it turns out, what makes you lose track of time? was posted for Tuesday's Coffee Chat over at Time Out For Mom, so I actually gave this some thought.

First off, tv. I love stuff on HGTV like Property Brothers, Love It or List It, Property Virgins....and tons more. I love Project Runway. I try to never miss Parenthood, American Horror Story, Grimm, Criminal Minds, The Walking Dead, Justified, The Vampire Diaries, Beauty and the Beast, The Mentalist, and now The Following. I foresee having a lot less lost time once I have to cut cable out except for basic, and that will likely happen this summer when my divorce is final and I'm no longer only paying half the expenses here. I'll be okay during the summer, but heaven help me when fall rolls around and I no longer have access to Justified, TWD, and AHS!

Moving along....READING totally makes me lose track of the time. In fact, it is so easy to get lost in a good book that I don't even bring my books with me to work to read on my breaks. I'd probably never return to finish my shifts! And I have read quite a few lately that have me really excited! Thanks to Maryse's Book Blog I discovered The Devil's Metal, and I loved it so much I devoured it while confined to bed two weekends ago. And since it says it's Devils #1, I can NOT wait for the next books in the series. In the meantime, I am still reading (and loving) The Chosen Series by Denise Grover Swank. I am currently on Redemption, which I believe is the last book in the series. Sniff, sniff. But after I am finished with that one, I am definitely going to pick up Karina Halle's Experiment in Terror series.

I've been scoping her blog (I also lose track of time blogging, and reading blogs, natch!) and she has a page dedicated to her reading playlists....where she lists just some of the songs that inspire her during the creative process - and that brings me to the last - and probably biggest - of my lose-track-of-time culprits, music. It's even easier for me to get lost in sound than it is in tv or a movie even a good book. I LOVE to crank it up when I'm doing housework, working on my projects, driving, and EXERCISING - oh my, music really helps a workout go harder, faster, and better. Here's a little bit of what I've been listening to lately:

Volbeat - Heaven Nor Hell
The Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock
Chevelle - Hats Off to the Bull
The Killers - Runaways
30 Seconds to Mars - From Yesterday
White Zombie - Grindhouse (A Go-Go)

You can listen to it here if you like!

So what makes YOU lose track of time?

Stop by Time Out For Mom to link up!

I am seriously slacking, y'all.

And I know this. I am slowly but surely trying to pull myself back into bloggy mode. I do love it when I can make it happen....but when there's nothing to say, well....there's really no point.

Which brings me to today. I don't have much to say here, except that finally, after a little over two years, my son's braces are coming off. Yay! I have one son's Christmas present bought already. Yay! And my other son's will be ready next week. Yay!

But I think the thing I'm most excited about is that tonight is the night for new episodes of both Criminal Minds and American Horror Story. I love all the tv shows I'm currently watching, but AHS is my absolute favorite!

I do have a post planned (well, planned in my head) for publication at some point, but until then, I think I'll just gush over Jessica Lange a bit. In my opinion, she absolutely STEALS the show. I was going to post my favorite scene of the week, but can't find it ANYWHERE. It's the scene where Constance tells Billie Dean to just cut to the chase - very closely rivaled by the scene where Constance tells her boy toy he'll never be famous - but every week, there is a new Jessica Lange scene to rave about, and I can't wait to see what she'll do this week!

In the meantime, I'm over at The Music Mamas with another edition of "Whatever Happened To...." Wednesday. You know you want to go over to find out who was featured! (Hint: popular in the mid 80s, but NOT a hair band or cheesy pop.)

Image source: American Horror Story Official Website

3 days till Halloween!

So I know what my final three movie selections for the countdown to Halloween to be, but I'm drawing a blank today for the fourth. I think instead, I'll focus on horror/supernatural/fantasy on television. There is so much good stuff out there these days! I started watching Supernatural way back, but for some reason didn't watch it beyond two seasons even though it was a good show. I think I'd like to play catch-up one of these days.....

In the meantime, here are some recent and/or current shows that I have enjoyed this past year or am enjoying right now:

1. The Walking Dead
2. The Vampire Diaries
3. The Nine Lives of Chloe King
4. Death Valley
5. Teen Wolf
6. True Blood
7. Game of Thrones
8. Being Human
9. The Secret Circle
10. American Horror Story (more on this one later, as I really, REALLY want to discuss it with other fans!)
11. Once Upon A Time
12. Grimm

Not to mention, I've enjoyed The Munsters, The Addams Family, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, The Twilight Zone, Tales From the Crypt, Night Gallery, and  Dark Shadows!  (And probably many, many, many more that I can't think of right off the top of my head.)  And I am very much looking forward to Hell On Wheels.

What are some of your favorite horror/supernatural/fantasy-based television shows, past or present?

Image source: Wikipedia

What do you get when you mix late night + travel + storms + temp change + allergies + the Scream Awards?

Apparently you get a dream like the one I had last night.

I arrived at this event, or party, and it's already in full swing. I ask to be directed to my husband, and am taken to him. Turns out I am married to Eddard Stark (yay, Game of Thrones, for your Scream Awards win!), and he is already well on the way to getting busy with another woman! I almost said this is weird because Eddard Stark would never do such a thing! But then....well, there is Jon Snow, so yeah. For some reason this doesn't bother me too much, but I am still excited to see him and he is excited to see me, and immediately stops what he's doing to be by my side for at least some of the evening.

I don't know if this is the SAME dream and Ned Stark has wandered off, or if I woke up but didn't wake up fully, turned over, and started something completely new. But I'm still at a party, this time in what seems like a hotel room overlooking the pool area. I walk out to the walkway, where chicks are jumping into the pool from six or seven stories up (no guys, though; strange.), shouting "you know what a sticky means!" on the way down. Obviously it means they never re-surface from their "dive."

I wonder what I'd have come up with if I'd actually taken allergy meds?

Image source: IMDB

Patrick Wilson has eluded me yet again!

If you've been following along, then you might notice that I have developed quite an attachment to A Gifted Man, due in no small part to a teensy-weensy crush on Patrick Wilson. You might remember me blogging about how I've not been able, even once, to watch this show on tv yet, due mainly to scheduling conflicts.

So earlier tonight (last night) I was home and I made plans to actually sit on my sofa, turn the tv on at the designated time, and watch the show at its regularly scheduled time.

Well? That didn't happen. Apparently I mistook the time of broadcast as 9/8 CST instead of 8/7 CST. So I missed it AGAIN tonight. Sigh....why must Patrick Wilson (and CBS) do this to me? But then I thought No problem. I'll just watch it online like I've done since the show debuted. And I tried. I loaded the video at CBS's website, only to have it constantly freeze.

Not funny, Patrick Wilson.

Not funny, CBS.

This is like the EXACT OPPOSITE of Josh Hartnett stalking me.

I shall try again after work tonight to watch the show online. But just so you know, Patrick Wilson (and CBS): even though I am a very forgiving person and am totally willing to overlook you ignoring me, our relationship cannot continue like this!

Another Friday night has come and gone

Which means that I have missed yet another episode of A Gifted Man. CBS, you kill me. You really, really do!

First, CBS puts this show on Friday nights. I am definitely gone every other Friday night while it's on (the premiere and now episode 3). I was here last Friday, but not at the time the show was on. I no longer have a way to record it. And to top it all off, CBS's website is a HORRIBLE way to try to get caught up. When I watched the series premiere online, it was broken down into 1.5 and 2 minute segments. The player repeated some of them, and generally skipped around. So I'm honestly not even sure if I saw it all! Now I have no choice but to try to view the latest episodes online as well.

Doesn't CBS know how much I adore Patrick Wilson and need to be able to watch this series???

Image source: Google image search, which led to B-Side Blog. No copyright infringement intended.