This past week was Spring Break, here in the land of Start School Halfway Through The Summer And Then Finish When Everyone Else Still Has A Month To Go, and that of course meant that the kids went off to visit their dad while Otto and I spent the week in Bacchanalian revelry and various states of undress.
That’s a total lie, of course. The closest we got to a bacchanal was a little wine-and-cheese gathering we had for some colleagues, wherein I tried my hand at a baked Brie thing with candied walnuts and we all ended up face-down in the cheese plate. (Also: When the kids called the next night and asked about it, we told them we ate slices of Muenster and whined about them for hours on end.)
The “various states of undress” part is true, though, if you count “putting on our pajamas and sitting on the couch to watch hours of television,” because sometimes I would, you know, take my socks off during that. Wooooo!
It was last week that we discovered our DVR had a nervous breakdown. Poor thing. I probably should’ve given it some of that Brie.
For the past… ummm… bunch of months, Otto and I have been working our way through the complete set of West Wing DVDs, on account of I was raised in a cave by wolves and I had never once seen the show before. Upon learning this, Otto decided we needed to either immediately divorce or watch the entire series, so we watched 154 hours of episodes, accordingly.
It was really good. I wonder why I never watched it the first time? Oh, right—no cable in the wolf cave. ANYWAY, we have watched nothing else for the duration of our DVD-fest, which meant that our DVR was loaded up with all of the shows we typically watch when not conquering seven seasons of a defunct series.
First we went through all of the episodes of House we’d missed. [I particularly enjoyed the one where they were trying to diagnose the blogger who was constantly reaching for her laptop to ask her commenters for their advice. That’s TOTALLY realistic. I mean, the last time I had to decide between a pig heart valve and a plastic one, I totally disregarded my significant other and polled my readers. FROM MY HOSPITAL BED. Way to nail the reality of a blogger’s life, writing team! If only you could’ve also made her ugly, and her boyfriend fat, and given her a couple of kids to ignore, you would’ve nailed it!] And then we tried to watch The Office.
At that point, we discovered that we had a problem. Our DVR can record two things at once. Normally we record both The Office and Gray’s Anatomy (which has totally jumped the shark, but I just cannot quit it for some reason), which are on at the same time, and all is well. BUT at some point someone (not naming any names) (it rhymes with blotto, though) decided it would be HIGHLY ENTERTAINING to record every new episode of CSI that comes on. You know, EVERY CSI. The original CSI! CSI: Miami! CSI: New York! And of course, CSI: Boise. (Just making sure you’re still paying attention.)
One of those (I forget which one, now) is on on Thursday nights… the same time as The Office and Gray’s Anatomy. So we ended up missing weeks and weeks of The Office. [Insert anguished cries of “WHY, GOD, WHY??” here.]
Except, it turns out that actually our DVR DID record The Office… it just claimed that it was CSI. Because we went to watch whichever CSI it was and found a bunch of half-hour-long segments that were actually The Office. Confusing, particularly when sockless. But whatever. It all worked out. Hey, did you know that Jim and Pam had a baby? They did! (Okay, I admit it. I still live in a cave.)
Other crazy things we did this week while child-free:
* Ate a lot of spicy food. Sometimes we ate it ON THE COUCH.
* Slept in until 7:00 on a regular basis. Like rebels.
* Spent a day in Atlanta stocking up on food and particle board.
* Went to a new bank to open new accounts as part of our new commitment to financial planning (motto for 2010: Bite Us, Recession), and I tried to make a joke and instead completely insulted the nice banker we were working with. So that was… par for the course.
* Had the dog clipped in preparation for Spring. She’s half the dog she used to be!
* Engaged in a cleaning/decluttering jag that I’m pretty sure warmed the cockles of Otto’s organized little heart. (I am JUST THAT MOTIVATED, by the way. It has absolutely nothing at all to do with our next challenge at Five Full Plates, nope.)
* Changed the clocks. Um, changed most of the clocks. Dammit.
* Talked about all of the things we meant to get done over Spring Break which we neglected to actually accomplish.
* Talked about taking an actual vacation next year over Spring Break, just like we talked about it last year and the year before. It’s fun to talk about, I guess.
Boy, the kids sure missed out. To make it up to them, I’m taking Chickadee for some dental surgery this afternoon. Because really, why should Otto and I get to have all the fun?
Mmm, baked brie. What else were you saying?
That IS my kind of vacation! We had college spring break this week but wait another 3 weeks for public school break. I wish they could get it all together some day so EVERYONE leaves town the same week! Would be a blessing!
Oh, pretty Mir, you are sincerely shoe obsessed. Even your DVR is full of shoes. (paragraph 6). You crack me up, even when you are not trying to crack me up.
The blogger on House was hysterical and disturbing all at once. Loralee and I had quite the laugh on Twitter as she was watching it.
Oooh! Spicy food (on the couch)! Decluttering! Sleeping until 7:00!
This sounds like heaven to me. Utter. Bliss.
You wild woman. SOCKLESS, no less.
I LOVE HOUSE!! And my husband watched that episode with me, as I cringed, because he thinks I am obsessed with my blog, which is so totally not true (ahem).
It’s ok Mir, I just learned about Jim and Pam’s baby last week, too.
Hmmmm sitting on the couch in my PJ’s watching whats recorded on the DVR is my dream vacation. Forget going anywhere!
Heh. LOVE West Wing, so very much. I watched it on occasion back in the day, and then watched them all on DVD more recently. And now I want to watch it again, with brie :P
LOVE LOVE LOVE West Wing. Refused to watch it the first season because I thought it would be stupid, then my brother loved it, got me hooked, and the rest is history. I’ve seen all the seasons when originally aired, plus watched them twice on DVD. Well, I made it through season 4 the 2nd time, ran out of time after surgery :).
Sitting on the couch in my PJ’s and watching any kind of TV sounds like heaven to me. We just finished spring break here also, only our kids didn’t go anywhere, and we got nothing done either.
You had me at Brie.
Yeah, Grey’s Anatomy has jumped the shark, (I think the season finale of Season 4 would have been a good stopping point) But, there is way too much man candy on that show to stop watching.
Lately we’ve watched a ridiculous amount of Lost. My husband had never watched it, but he watched one of the more recent episodes with me, and got hooked. And so of course now he has to watch all the other seasons to have any clue what is going on. (our kids have been watching too, and they are also hooked, especially the 7 year old. Heh.)
Aw, poor Chickie. Afterwards she can relax on the couch and it will be like she was there for the real thing!
I’m wondering why I never get to do anything on Spring Break. That’s no fair.
I discoverd Hulu when my dvr took a vacation without notifying me. I figured out DVR was gone after I had missed three episodes of Desparate Housewives AND three of Gray’s, trashy tv I know. I’m now in LOVE with Hulu, but have broken up with DVR. DVR & I still remain friends, but if it takes off on me like that again, we’re done for good!
Talking about vacations is a great way to save all the money you don’t actually spend to take a vacation! = )
Woo, sounds even wilder than us!
Okay, raise your hand if you watched that House episode and imagined Mir laughing when the blogger says that if she skips telling her readers ANY one thing it would be “dishonest.”
Jim and Pam had a baby? Ireally need to get back on track.
I didn’t hear anything after Brie…
Spooky. That was our experience with spring break as well, save for the fact that my kids went to visit my folks.
I have never seen West Wing, but I watch House like a rabid fan! lol! The blogger episode recently spurred some conversations online in the blogging community. It was almost sad to see her let her readers choose what was best instead of rely on her own decision.
Wild and crazy huh? I might not be able to top that…lol
Wow. Sometimes we eat…AT THE TABLE! And it’s nice to see you have a nice spring break routine…especially the talking about an actual vacation part. Nothing more fun than dreaming…unless it’s making the dreams a reality. :)
The West Wing? Best. Show. EVER! Fabulous writing, amazing cast. Pair it with your baked brie? It’s a party.
Must have brie recipe! Please? I’m a total foodie and I make a new recipe once a week. I would puffy pink heart you more than I already do if you posted it or e-mailed it to me.
Love the West Wing. Did not watch it until I was pregnant with twins, exhausted, and spending lots of time in a supine position. (Got hooked on CSI reruns too until they solved one too many murders with MacGyver-esque methods (oh look, a needle, some duct tape, a pen cap and a flint rock…it was the sister and she did it for the money!) I digress…
Anyway, I have Netflix and West Wing was all I ordered from them. Now I have the box set so I put my membership on hold to see if I will miss Netflix. Who needs a DVR?