Odds and Ends

We’re taking a sick day around here.  Sassy pants has a nasty cough and we’re home bound.  For such a laid back day it’s taken me all day to get this post up.  Some days are like that.  Anyway I just have a few bits and pieces to share today.  

First up, I love the relatively new show Parenthood.  Admittedly I was probably first attracted to it because it stars one of my favorite Gilmore Girls, Lauren Graham, but now I’m a bona-fide fan.  It’s the perfect mix of  serious, sweet, charming, and funny.   However we only saw bits and pieces of season 1, so I’m mostly talking about the current season which is season 2.  Would I love this show if I weren’t a parent myself?  I’m not sure, but I think everyone can relate to this family in one way or another.  The show features the Braverman family, with parents Zeek and Camille, their 4 adult children Adam, Sarah, Crosby and Julia and their respective families.  I was a bit skeptical when I saw that Dax Shepherd plays one of the main characters (aka I-got-my-start-as-Ashton-Kutcher’s-side-kick-on-Punk’d) but ol’ Daxy hold’s his own with some serious acting veterans…so good job Dax.  Also, they have really good music on this show–new and old tunes alike.  There have been plenty of times I’ve googled the set list from an episode and I’ve happily been introduced to  few new bands.  A big plus.  And like I said, they’re not afraid to go old school on the music as well.  In fact, I think what really cemented the show as a favorite was at the end of the Thanksgiving episode when the 4 adult Braverman children clean up the big T-day dinner while busting a move to O.P.P. by Naughty by Nature.  How awesome is that?  You can watch the entire 2nd season on Hulu…including the Thanksgiving episode here.  

Second, we had no shortage of left overs from Christmas dinner, including a lot of left over honey baked ham.  We froze the ham, including the ham-bone and last night we defrosted some ham and had this delicious White Bean Soup with Ham.  (Can I say ham one more time?)  I love soup, but I tend to make the same ones over and over.  This was a new soup for our family and something we all enjoyed.  I’m thinking this will be a new Christmas leftover favorite.  (Also picture are my new salt and pepper salt shakers the hubs got me for Christmas.  They’re little, teeny logs… I love them.)  

  

And last, twine.  Bakers twine to be exact.  It’s one of those items that comes in super handy for just about everything and I know many a blogger/etsy-er goes ga-ga for this simple, yet versatile twine.  I’ve been wanting to purchase some so I turned my attention to etsy where on average it seems like you’ll pay about $.05 a yard or more.  Then I found some twine on Amazon and you can get an entire 2 lb. cone, of 4-ply twine (that’s 3,360 yards ya’ll) for $17.40-$19.40.  That’s about $.006 a yard.  Perhaps this is old news, and maybe I’m out of the loop–but that sounds like a good deal right?  Anyone else have a twine supplier for cheaper?