Friday's Fave Five

Hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell, this is the weekly meme where we reflect on the week that is past and look for five highlights.

So, this week has been and continues to be characterized by some complicated and difficult budget work for my job. In fact, the need to trim $700K from a 5-year budget is, at the moment, blocking out all other needs. I think I've removed any and all extraneous line items, but we are still projecting $700K over the allowed amount.

Sigh.

I've tried to hint to the powers-that-be, but I ain't gettin' anywhere.

ANYhooooo......

Here we are with this week's fave five:

1. The combination of my bread machine and Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Bread Mix. Bless you, Bob, wherever and whoever you are. Using the gluten free cycle on my bread machine, this bread is as close to the "real" thing as you can imagine. And if you are a celiac, you know how important that is!

2. Our new flatscreen TV (32"). Tim has ventured down to the family room on his own more than once since we bought it, without my trying to lure him. Score!

3. Warmer temperatures. After last week's below-zero blast, this week was a positive heat wave when temps climbed to.... wait for it..... 39 degrees.

4. The ability to concentrate -- my middle-aged, menopause-addled brain has been cooking on all four burners this week. Wow!

5. Carpoolqueen's blog post about Mistaken Identity. Very short, but laugh-out-loud funny. (Yes, I know I included it in an earlier blog post this week, but maybe you didn't see that one!)

Have a great weekend!

- Catherine

Togetherness and TV

Our house has numerous TVs -- one in the living room, two(!) in the family room, one in the bedroom of our youngest (#7 in the birth order). If I had my druthers, there would be no TV in the living room, but I can't get that notion past committee, so the largest TV (of course) is in the living room. The drafty, cold living room.

I much prefer sitting in our snug family room with the gas fire, especially when the weather is below zero, as it was last week.

But the TV in the family room was a relic from when I lived alone and it was too small for my husband to see when we sat together on the couch. Truthfully, it WAS annoying to watch a movie or a football game, even to me with my 20/15 vision. So, Tim would opt to watch TV upstairs in the drafty living room and I would be downstairs, preferring a warm fire to a larger TV screen.

In other words, we had a TV separation.

And I started to hate that. The few times that I could lure him to the family room were a real treat for me. #7 would be playing his video games, lying on the floor in front of the room's second TV and his dad and I could snuggle up on the couch to watch a TV show or movie. Family togetherness in the family room. That's what it's all about, right?

I realized that if we were going to get together in our TV watching, we'd have to have a TV that Tim could actually see well enough to enjoy. I started watching the sales and, low and behold, the flatscreen TV prices have started coming down. Couple that with the pre-Christmas sales and there were some good deals to be had this past Saturday.

I dragged both Tim and #7 out the door Saturday morning, promising #7 a lunch at Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Two stores later, we were the proud owners of a 32" flatscreen TV. By that afternoon we were watching a movie. Together. In the family room. What a concept.

I love the TV, I must say -- I can't get over how clear and bright the picture is, even with an old movie (I made them watch White Christmas with me before they moved on to Public Enemy).

Last night's TV viewing selection was the NFL football game. No drafty living room this time! A warm fire, a great picture, and a snuggle on the couch with my man. Now that's living.