Here’s What:

I’ve always liked Andy Cohen, even back when he was just the host of all the Real Housewives reunion shows. He’s got a great personality for his line of work, does an excellent job of staying (pretty) neutral between all the Housewives, asks interesting questions, tries to keep the amount of focus on each woman fair, great sense of humor…yadda yadda yadda.

So I was kind of excited when his new show was announced, Watch What Happens Live. It was fun, spunky, interesting, made me laugh. I didn’t watch it every night but regularly enough. I felt like for the most part he had interesting guests & brought some different aspects to the late night TV category. I enjoyed it.

What the hell happened?? The past few shows I’ve watched have gotten on my last nerve. It’s as though Andy (or whoever puts the show together) is trying to squeeze way too much into 30 minutes. I’ve also noticed an over abundance of awkward pauses, looks & comments coming from Andy as though maybe he doesn’t like one guest as much as the other or doesn’t really know how to respond, or even worse-doesn’t know why the person is on his show (ie: promoting a CD, book, show, etc). I also can’t stand how he seems to be flying high on a coke kite & practically screaming the entire show…over top of the audience, over top of the guests, over top of himself. When I think of WWHL I get a mental picture of Andy with a delirious look on his face, tongue slapping all over, spit flying everywhere. Most unbecoming. I’ve always held the opinion that the game ideas were unique & mostly entertaining but again, they’re not giving enough time to do them. For instance last night they did a food game & gave it 80 seconds. They only got through 2 plates because they blindfolded them. The idea is great & the Ramona crazy eyes blindfolds were hilarious…but maybe add more time & not have BOTH guests blindfolded? Probably would’ve gone a little faster.

What are your thoughts? Do you watch WWHL? If so, have you noticed these changes also? I’ll still watch the show but I can pretty much promise that it won’t be nearly as much…when I sit down to watch TV I want to relax, not feel like I’m hanging out with someone speed balling.

UPDATE: After writing this post I never watched WWHL again. I’m sure they’re not heart broken over it because hell it’s still on. Just felt like updating. 🙂

Love thy neighbor?

I have yet to put together any blog posts with actual details about our great chicken adventure, which I’ll definitely do because there is MUCH to tell(!), however I’ve found myself unable to quit thinking of the situation with our neighbors. First, a short background.

We’re not hermits or agoraphobics; we just tend to keep to ourselves. It’s a trait I developed in high school when I got tired of ridiculous bitches stabbing me in the back. We’ve also realized that it keeps the drama level set at low usually, which we need considering my husband’s family’s favorite past time is stirring the pot. We don’t have a lot of friends but the friends we do have we greatly value & know we can trust them. They’re good, lasting, solid friendships.

That being said, we’ve been friendly with the neighbors. I’ve always wanted to live somewhere that we could borrow sugar if needed (which we’ve done..and trash bags..), the kids got along well, & we had enough in common with the people to have a conversation. Luckily all of the above applies to this situation! A few weeks ago the woman even asked me if I’d be able to babysit for her for a couple hours on random days. Even though I knew it would be awkward at times I agreed; I figured a little extra money is nice & it’ll help her out. By the way, when I say a “little” extra money that’s totally what I mean..I’m giving her an amazinggg rate. I was right, there have been a couple awkward moments–hours figured differently (until I pulled my homemade time sheet out. Yep, I’m that cautious), money not being paid for awhile, money being “forgotten” about being owed..etc etc. All of these things are to be expected; they’re normal; no big deal really.

However..I’m noticing a “know it all” side coming out of both of them, literally about everything. Every time we say something about anything they “give” us the low down on it. The other major issue I’m having is the copy cat syndrome. We mentioned we were going to start a coop; they said they’d been thinking of starting one too! We bought 4 baby chicks (after doing lots of research & picking 2 breeds we really liked) & 3 grown Silkies. They ran to the tractor store the next day (no I’m not kidding) & bought 6 Rhode Island Reds, which is a standard run-of-the-mill breed. We found a fantastic deal on a chicken coop by looking on Craigslist; they whined about how they didn’t know what they were going to do, etc. (How about not try to one up your neighbors if you’re unable to buy a coop??)
We told them about our breeds when they asked, for instance we told them about how 2 of our chicks are Ameracaunas & will lay green & blue eggs. (Really?!? We should’ve got some of those!!…yah…too bad you ran out & bought the first thing you saw. *sad face*) The next day another neighbor came by to check out our coop. Thank God the neighbors were there because they were able to tell him allllll about OUR chickens. What a relief. Other copycat issues include (but are not limited to): using my idea for building a coop under the porch…exactly like I’d said. Suddenly naming her rooster the same name as mine (Mr. Roo, which I don’t believe is common. And apparently it’s the funniest shit ever because when she told me she just laughed and laughed and laughed. Seriously.). Telling us that hay caused lice & fleas but we went ahead & did it anyway because we think we’re a little smarter than them…come to find out they used hay too! Everywhere. But I guess their hay is lice-free. -_-
Tonight she told me the proper way to cook cube steak, which I’ve made several upon several times in my life. They’ve also been able to give us handy gardening tips that we already knew, match each experience of ours with one of theirs, and basically make sure we’re able to keep ourselves breathing.

I could go on and on and on, there is a plethora of examples. And yes, I’ve heard the saying “imitation is the highest form of flattery”. Well, no it’s really not for someone like myself who can’t frigging stand a copycat! And let me just say–the rooster name thing really pisses me off; I’m very attached to my Roo & there will only ever be 1 Mr. Roo! Period. I mean, it completely boggles my mind how people aren’t even embarrassed that they’re telling you to your face they’re blatantly copying you. Yoi better believe if I see an idea I want to copy I straight out ask if I can; as a matter of fact I just did a few days ago..a Scentsy sister had an adorable idea for getting her name out there so I asked if I could copycat. (She said yes! *big smile*)

Uugghh. I was just hoping that if I bitched about it a little then my mind would let go of it.

Hmm, maybe I should ask the neighbor what to do? She’d know. 😉