So I love watching Netflix!  As a kid growing up with only 5 channels I lived for Saturday morning cartoons.  I hated that my bedtime was at 9:00 on weeknights and I missed some of the best late night shows of the week.  Now as an adult I have access to hundreds of tv series and movies that I can watch on Netflix anytime I want.   It’s amazing!

Now I want to clarify that I have only binge watched Netflix a handfull of times.  Stranger Things was one and it took me the whole weekend to watch it.  If my husband isn’t traveling I have to consider that he is not going to want to watch many of the shows I find amusing and entertaining.  To be fair I don’t want to watch many of his favorite shows either. So we end up watching Castle or Criminal Minds(The two shows we can consistently watch together)  But when I find myself alone for the evening or weekend I turn to Netflix for some entertaining distraction.

Some of these shows I have binge watched and others I am making my way through slowly. There is a big difference between binge watching a season or a series and just watching a movie or two.  It is a big committment to watch hours and hours of a series, especially if it has more than 5 seasons.  So you have to carefully plan out your Netflix watching.   You don’t want to spend time watching hours and hours of a show that never picks up or has a horrible ending that makes you regret the hours you wasted watching it.    So I am here to give you some guidance.

Here are my top 10 Netflix series to watch this summer:

10.  13 Reasons Why

OK.  The first season wrecked me.  And full disclosure I haven’t watched the second season-but I plan to at some point this summer.  I tried to binge watch the first season like I have other series with much enjoyment and success, but it was not meant to be.  I tried.  I was pretty obsessed and it was all I thought about for a few weeks last year.  But even though as I was watching it,  I was screaming at Clay to just listen to all the tapes and get it over with,  I was unable to watch the episodes.  Like Clay, I needed time to process what was happening in each tape/episode.    It was powerful and made me think about how one person can affect so much for another person, how we are all in our own heads and not paying attention to those people hurting all around us.  It deals with teen suicide and drug use so be cautious if that would be hard for you to watch.  I will be watching Season 2 soon and,  fingers crossed, it is as good as I am hoping it will be.

9.  Friends

I had to list this old standby because it is the classic show from my life.  It never fails to make me feel better.  I will binge watch this show on an odd weekend.  I will watch the episodes when Ross and Rachel finally got together.  I will look for all the episodes when they went back in time to when they were in high school or in an alternate reality.  I love watching when Pheobe had the babies and the end of the series when Monica and Chandler adopted theirs.  I love rewatching the episode with Monica and Ross’s routine and when Joey moves out and Chandler has that weird roomate.  This series just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when I want to connect with some old friends.

8.  The Magicians

This one was recently recommended to me by my daughter.  She described it as a show where Harry Potter goes to Hogwarts by way of Narnia and hangs out with the cast of Charmed.    It has all the feel good elements.  The main character is obsessed with a book series (hello!) and finds out that the place and people in his books are real.  There are a lot of interesting characters and some mystery as well as suspense.  Check it out if you are a fan of Harry Potter or Charmed.  But be warned it is a bit gory and violent.  It isn’t for the young.

7.  Scandal

I came to this one late in the game.  My sister was watching this for years.  But I was kinda over Grays Anatomy at the time it started and didn’t want another venture into Shondaland.  Actually I started watching it one weekend when I had absolutely nothing to do and was shocked that it was nothing like I thought it would be.  I thought it was all politics and sex scandals.  I did not realize they solved actual problems and solved mysteries in a way.  The more I watched the more I liked it.  I must admit that I am only on season 5 and it has stalled a bit.  I tried to watch enough to catch up so I could watch the series finale this spring but I did not get that accomplished.  I plan to push on through.  My sister said it gets better again.  And I am trusting her on that!

6.  Safe

I am a big Harlan Coban fan.  His mystery thriller books have kept me entertained for years.  When my mom told me about this series on netflix that was by him I had to check it out.  I am only halfway through but so far it is very good!  Twists and turns that keep me watching.  Michael C Hall is great as a Brit.  Love his accent.  There are plenty of wonderful actors and writing on this show.

5.  Travelers

This show I did binge watch.  The first season last year was amazing!  I got so hooked!  When it ended I was hopeful that there would be a second season and that it would not just end.  I really like Eric McCormack and the other fine actors in this series about a group of people traveling back in time directly into people who were about to die in random ways in order to save the future world.    This series is perfect.  It  has time travel, saving the human race, and many ethical questions to answer.  I can’t wait to watch season 2.

4.  Riverdale

If you grew up with Archie, Veronica, Betty and Jughead you will enjoy this series that takes a dark look at their world.  Even if you have never heard of Archie comics you may enjoy it.  It is a teen series so if you don’t enjoy those then pass this one up.  A grown up Cole Sprouse of Suite Life of Zach and Cody fame is especially dark and broody as Jughead.  Lots of teen drama.  Fun to watch if you are familiar with the characters from the comics.  Lots of cliffhangers at the end of episodes so good for a nice binge watch.

3.  Sherlock

So I don’t know if you know this about me, but I loved Encyclopedia Brown in the 3rd grade.  I moved on to the mysteries of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys next.  By middle school I had read all of the Agatha Christie books in the library.  I love a mystery!  This series is that and so much more.  Benedict Cumberbatch is superb as the famous detective!  His sidekick Dr Watson is played so well by Martin Freeman.  My favorite character though comes a bit later on so I won’t spoil it for you.  Each of the 4 seasons just has 3 episodes so it is perfect to binge watch on a weekend.  If you like a mystery, watch this!

2.  Stranger Things

I grew up in the 80s.  Many of my friends played Dungeons and Dragons.  This series had me with this angle alone, but it kept me hooked because of the plotline.  I was a little afraid that season 2 wouldn’t be as good as season 1,  but it delivered.  If you don’t like shows where a good lovable character dies for the greater good you may want to skip this.  It was reminiscent of when Doyle died on Angel for me.  But as a whole I loved it!  This group of kids are amazing.  I love every character!  The best writing ever!  And Winona Ryder is awesome!

1.Gilmore Girls

This is my favorite!  I have loved this show since it first aired in 2000.  I loved the relationship between Lorelai and Rory.  I loved the fast witty banter, the pop culture jokes, and the weird quirky characters that inhabit Stars Hollow.  I am totally Team Jess and Rory and Team Luke and Lorelai!!  I was thrilled when they announced they were releasing 4 new episodes-one for each season-spring, summer, fall and winter.  I love searching for the episodes where Jess and Rory fall in love, when Luke and Lorelai first kiss,  and, my favorite, when Lorelai sings “I Will Always Love You” Dolly Parton style to Rory (but really to Luke when he walks in midway).  There are so many things I love about this show I could write a whole post on it.  Maybe I will.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this post.  I also hope  you got a few ideas for a new series to watch on a rainy day this summer.  Of course there are a few shows that deserve honorable mention.  There are many shows I watch often like Criminal Minds, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, and The Office.  These almost made the cut.  But my top 10 stand as written.  And be on the lookout for my future post on the best shows on Amazon and Hulu!

 

In honor of Mother’s Day I decided to write about some of the wonderful things my mother and grandmothers taught me.  To celebrate I am writing my first recipe post as well.

My mom taught me to treat others nicely and to make a delicious White Texas sheet cake.   She also taught me how important it is to have good women friends and to set aside time with them as well as my family.

My grandma Berny taught me to make amazing hot German potato salad.  She showed me how to love and accept others, especially if they thought  or looked different than me,  and how to wrap a present using just three pieces of tape!

My grandma Babe taught me the Lord’s Prayer,  the joy of loving my family, and how to make many yummy recipes including this no roll pie crust I want to share with you.

I love this recipe because it is easy, fast and delicious!  I usually use it for my crumb top apple pie.  Grandma used it for that as well as her chocolate cream pie with a whipped cream top.  This crust is perfect for pies that have a crumb top or a whipped topping because you really can only use it for the bottom layer.  I have tried to roll it out and even tried to cut it to do a lattice top.  It doesn’t work.  But what it does work for is any pie that just needs a bottom crust: sweet pies and savory pies!

First gather all the ingredients.  You can just dump them right in the pie plate.  1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup oil, 2T milk, 2T sugar, and 1/2 tsp salt. (If you are doing a savory pie increase the salt to 1tsp and leave out the sugar).

Mix all ingredients together with a fork until combined.

Then press the dough down the middle and up the sides of the pie plate.

You can crimp the edges or press with a fork.

If you are making a pie that you bake the filling, like the apple pie, then just fill and bake according to the pie recipe.  I usually use this pie crust cover thingy to make sure the crust doesn’t burn.  Before I got this tool I just used foil folded over the crust.

If you are filling with a cold filling then prick the bottom with a fork all over.  Then bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.  Then cool and fill.  Enjoy!

Whenever I make one of my grandma’s recipes its like she is with me again, for just a little while.

 

I hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day!  My grandmas are both gone but I get to spend Sunday with my mom. If you are lucky enough to have your mom, grandmas or any other special women in you life,  I hope you enjoy  the time you get to spend with them.  I also hope you take some time to think about the many things your mom and grandmas have passed on to you that make you who you are and allow you to keep them close forever.  Love and blessings!

 

England

My husband and I love to travel.  When he was in the military we traveled all over, living in 7 different states while he was active duty.  Each place had its good points and its bad points.  But the one state we as a family can agree we would like to visit again is Alaska.  The beautiful snow covered mountains, the salmon filled rivers, the moose, fox and bear roaming nearby, and the best darn pizza in the whole wide world at Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzaria!  We can’t wait to go back and visit!!

Now that the kids are grown(and by the way our son is majoring in Tourism in college) we plan to travel more.  My husband’s second career as a medical lab manager has given him the opportunity to travel a lot in the last two years.  Business trips aren’t the same as traveling on vacation though.  Now that we have our daughters wedding and honeymoon all paid off we just have to decide where and when we will travel next.  In the last year we have traveled to England, New Orleans, and Chicago.  We hope to go to Alaska, Florida and somewhere in Europe in the next few years.  Seriously, the biggest argument my husband and I have is:  Should we go to Italy or Germany the next time we go to Europe?

I would like to share all of our travels with you on this page.  Past, present and future.  I will begin with one of our most recent trips–England.  My husband lived in England with his family for 4 years beginning when he was 4.  His dad was in the Air Force too and they were stationed at Feltwell.  He also did a high school exchange with a group of students in Germany; so he had traveled in Europe a bit during his life.  Although I dreamed about it and visited many different countries through the books I read, I had never actually been.  Finally at the age of 48, I got to go to Europe!  I was so excited.  England seemed like the easiest of all the European countries to visit because we speak the same language and the people as a whole seem very nice. There was another reason I wanted to visit England.    I recently had my dna analized by ancestry.com.  I thought I was about 25% English, 70% German and a little Swiss, French and who knows what thrown in.  It turns out I am 55% British.  So I was so excited to go to England and visit the country most of my family came from.

I have done a little geneology, but I have cousins on both sides who have done a lot more.  So I already knew that I had relatives from a few generations back who came from Lincolnshire England.  When we planned our trip to England we decided to be based in London and plan a couple of trips to the outlaying towns.  We planed to visit Lincoln in Lincolnshire and Bath and Stonehenge.  We didn’t plan any trips to the seaside villages because it was the middle of winter.  We thought it best to visit those places when we returned sometime in the summer.

The first day I explored the city of London.  There was a double decker bus that stopped right in front of our hotel and took us to the subway station.  From there we could go anywhere.

I saw the famous Eye, Westminster Cathedral,  Buckingham Palace and the view from across the Thames was grand.  I saw a lot of random buildings that I thought were pretty too.  But I don’t know what they are.

My trip into Lincoln was amazing.   I took the tube to Kings Cross station and from there I caught a train to Lincoln.  I walked around the city and took a bus to the Castle and Cathedral.

 

I had english tea and bangers and mash for lunch.  After lunch,  I took a walk down steep hill; it is aptly named.

 

 

I decided to take a bus tour when I visited Bath and Stonehenge.  My trip to Lincoln was wonderful but a little lonely.  Traveling with a group sounded a bit more fun and safe.  So I got on the bus in downtown London and off we went to Stonehenge.  For all you Outlander fans, I tried to get close enough to the stones to see if I could hear the buzzing,  but they only let me get this close.

In Bath we visited another cathedral.  We had lunch at a small little pub and I had Yorkshire pudding and some mulled wine.  We stayed until sunset and the Abbey was beautiful in the distance.

 

Our final stop was a little pub in Lacock where they filmed many of my favorite shows-Downton Abbey, Harry Potter and many others.  That was a real treat!

My final day in London I went to the Tower of London.  I also went to the British Museum and saw the Rosetta stone.  That was amazing!

 

 

 

 

My husband took this incredible picture around the corner from the museum just as the moon was rising.

Full moon over London.  It was a wonderful trip!  The city was so easy to get around and the people were all so nice and helpful.  There is so much history to explore!  I can’t wait to go back again one day!!

“Sing me a song of a lass that is gone.  Say, could that lass be I?  La la la la   La la la la ooohah to the sea,   to the Skye”

OK. So I don’t know the lyrics to the opening Outlander song.  I’m sorry!!  But who really does?  That doesn’t stop it from getting stuck in my head for days after I have watched an episode on Starz.  A little reminder of my obsession with Outlander.

I  admit that I have been obsessed with Outlander for over 23 years; ever since I read the first page of the first book while I was pregnant with my first child.  My husband had just been stationed in Arizona and we  moved hundreds of miles from our families.  I was sick during my pregnancy and didn’t work so I sat on the couch of our little apartment listening to the tv (the picture didn’t work) crocheting baby blanket after baby blanket.  My mother had given me the book to read right before an airplane ride and I got hooked.  I finished the nearly 900 pages of that first book and didn’t look back.  I immediately went to the library and checked out the next two books and by the time my daughter was born( we had a name picked out already or her name would probably be Claire)   Jamie and Claire were settled nicely in North Carolina.

Since then  I have read the books over and over many times.  My favorite is #4 Drums of Autumn.  That one came out within a year after my daughter was born.  It has been very difficult  waiting for each new book to come out.    It helps to know that Diana Gaboldon said she would continue to write their story until it is done.  I’m waiting for #9 now and since each book is around 900 pages, I tell myself that it really is worth the wait.  It also helps that we now have the Starz series to watch and see unfold.

Here are the #5 reasons I am obsessed with Outlander:

1. Jamie-   Sexy man who wears kilts and speaks in a Scottish brogue.  Enough said.

 

2. Claire-I identified with her very early on. The fact that the story was told from her point of view made it very easy to get to know her.   She was a young woman in the early years of her marriage and was dealing with pregnancies and issues surrounding traveling far from home and all she knew.  I was in the early years of my marriage and pregnant dealing with living in a new place far from everything I knew.  Claire is a strong, smart, and compassionate woman who deals with life’s struggles with a sense of humor and strength.  I wanted to be like her.

 

3. History- I love history! Especially when told through stories of people who lived during that time.  You start in Europe during WWII and go back to the mid 1700s in Scotland.  Then you have the parallel travel times so you get to learn about people who lived during the American Revolution and the 1960s.  With each tome logging in some 900 pages you get a lot of historical information which just adds to my enjoyment of the story.

 

4. Romance—Of course there is Jamie and Claire (swoon!) But also Brianna and Roger as well as Fergus and Marsali. Diana Gabaldon created a family saga here that was built on the love of Jamie and Claire.  She writes a love story so strong , so moving, so real that it takes my breathe away and makes me want to know  more about them.  I can’t wait to see where she takes them next.

 

5. Diana Gabaldon–She has said she will write their story until it is finished. I love that about her.  Normally you read a book and you loved it, maybe became obsessed with it.  If you are lucky the writer will write a sequal or turn it into a trilogy and you can read more about those characters you grew to love.  But in this case we get to read more and more and more and more about these magnificent characters we feel are almost a part of our lives.  We get to see how their lives play out.  That is the most incredible thing about this series!

So the last thing I want to say is I have only 1 regret about my Outlander obsession.  It’s not the many times I didn’t fold the laundry or clean the bathroom because I decided to spend some time in Scotland.  It’s not the hours I spent living in their world instead of my own.   My one regret is that I didn’t know Diana Gabaldon lived in Scotsdale Arizona until we had moved to northern California.  When I started reading her books and became obsessed with her first three offerings we lived a mere few miles from each other.  I could have been stalking her that whole time!   Oh well.  At least I have an autographed copy of that first book- the one that started my obsession.  In fact it was my daughter, the child I was pregnant with when I read the first book, who got it for me one Christmas.  Now that’s full circle.

 

Don’t underestimate me because I am quiet.  I know more than I say, think more than I speak, and observe more than you know.  –Michaela Chung

Solitude matters, and for some people, it’s the air they breathe.–Susan Cain