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Another great review for Where There's Smoke! Where There’s Smoke Review

We got the TAKS results back yesterday and my kids did NOT do well in math. Over half of them failed. I'm so discouraged. We were working on Math like three hours a day. Only one failed the writing, though, and he's SPED and ESL.

It's been awhile since I blogged about TV, mostly because I spent last week watching the first season of Veronica Mars. WOW, what an addictive show. Seasons 2 and 3 are next on the queue. I loved the overarching mystery of Lily Kane, I loved VM's attitude and friendship with Wallace, I loved her belief her mom would come back, I loved her relationship with her dad, but I was absolutely intrigued by Logan Echolls. What a terrific character. I kind of see him and Alex Karev from Grey's having similar lives (though Alex wasn't wealthy, I don't think.) Very compelling stuff.

So I've only seen the last two episodes of Supernatural once. I'm not sure what I thought would happen, but every time they talk about a big battle, and then it's one demon against our boys...just different than I envisioned. I can't believe what happened to Dean, and while I was pleased Sam was able to fend off Lilith's attack, I keep thinking about the episode in Season One where he was locked in the closet and forced his way out with his mind to save Dean. And why didn't they ever pursue the story about Mary knowing the demon and her friends dying (which is actually being addressed in the Rising Son comics.)

I guess Men in Trees is done. Really, once Marin and Jack got together and the agent and Plow Guy moved to New York, what else was there to tell (though I loved Patrick working for the agent and making the office do things the friendly way). Still, will miss that gang.

NCIS has been saying for weeks one of their main characters would die and that happened last night during the two hour finale. That didn't shock or bother me as much as the very very end, which was similar to The Unit season finale last year. I wonder what will happen next year.

Grey's Anatomy is getting good again. Their season finale is tomorrow night.

Lost is good, but not as compelling as it used to be for me. Maybe when I don't have as much competition for my attention I can enjoy the season finale.

What TV shows have you been watching? Which season finales surprised you most?

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Okay, first, Hillary. Cindi cancelled her dr appt to come get the boy right after our faculty meeting (which the VP did fast because a LOT of our teachers were going to see Hillary.) So Cindi got to see post-deadline, mid-BIAW house...bad, bad, bad. They raced off to pick up her mom then to St. Mary's, where there were already several HUNDRED people waiting to see Hillary. So despite the RSVPs they all sent in, they couldn't get into the gym. They stood outside (thank goodness for Texas weather) for THREE HOURS. The organizers put speakers outside so they could hear everything, then Hillary came out for about 5 minutes and addressed them, then left. The boy was Very Disappointed, but Cindi and Lucinda had fun. They said it was a lot of good energy.

Now, the rodeo. Linda and I met at Jim's, ate dinner, then she drove (God bless her.) We found a parking place for $8, which I happily paid so I didn't have to drive, and walked forEVER to get to the arena. For some reason, they fenced off our parking lot from the main entrance, so we had to walk all the way around back. The good thing was, once we entered, all we had to do was go upstairs and we found our seat. We got to our seats just about the time the second bareback bronc was going, and that was the first event. I imagine we looked kind of silly scribbling notes, but that's okay. There weren't many people in our section till later - apparently they were there for the band, Staind. We didn't stay for that, which is good because I still got home at 10! But it was fun cheering for the cowboys and seeing all the people who work on a rodeo behind the scenes. And I have a new cowboy boyfriend, Ryan Mapston. He's a saddle bronc rider, and when they showed him getting ready on the Jumbotron...mmm.







Lost was less confusing last night, but verrrrry interesting. And next week looks AWESOME.

Supernatural was good. How heartbreaking to see Sammy turning into John. I mean, at least John had the boys to soften him some - not that they did much. And again, next week looks AWESOME!

Okay, off to BIAW...falling behind!

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First, LOST (SPOILERS!!!!):



SPOILERS!!!!!

Man, was that a confusing opening! Was the off-island stuff flashbacks or flashforwards? I can't believe what they found, whole, and that they showed it on the news! I thought it was going to be the place where Charlie died. I kinda liked Miles in all his snarkiness. But I couldn't explain that episode for anything.

Supernatural ROCKED, so hard. MAN, that was a great episode. How funny was Sam? Adorable! And GOOD for Dean, in the end, but really, his dad DID care if he lived or died, right? John died in his place and went to hell.

I switched country radio stations yesterday because in 4 days I only heard one song I liked. Well, I had 3 by the time I got to school! And when I took the boy to a friend's play, I enjoyed all the songs I heard on the way home. The only thing is that the first radio station has a list of songs played for the whole day and the new radio station only has them listed for an hour. Still, surprising how much better the music.

I was surprised to find out this was Carrie Underwood (the song starts about a minute into the video):



Kris had sent me this song before, but I heard it yesterday AM and almost drove off the road. If you go to YouTube, you'll see the real video and it's a hoot. The ds and I watched the Austin City Limits with Brad Paisley and thought he looks like Milo Ventamiglia.



Then there was a Mark Wills song that I found the video for but embedding was disabled. And I thought this song was fun.



Okay, got to get to work before I go to work ;)

Grey's is seriously making me mad. George and Izzy? George and IZZY?

Izzy was always my favorite character. I loved her compassion, her sass, her background (have we ever heard anymore about her kid? NO.) I loved that she loved Denny. I cringed when she cut his LVAD wire. I cried when she mourned.

This season she's turned into a complete bitch. She can't even try to be nice to Callie, and I guess now we know why. So what does this show us? Men and women can't be friends? George is a bigger man-whore than Alex? And you know Izzy isn't going to be able to keep a secret (though why did Addison immediately jump to the conclusion Izzy was talking about adultery?) This is not going to be good, and I don't think I can watch.

I think part of it is that, while it was time for her to move on from Denny, I loved Denny and don't think George is fit to follow his footsteps. He's been a butthead lately, too. Maybe they deserve each other, and Callie can have Alex-now-with-a-soul.

Then LOST. We finally know what happened to Locke to put him in that wheelchair. (My dh wonders if that was Locke falling past the window when Hurley was meeting with his accountant in that one episode.) But what is the deal with the box???? (The dh also thinks Locke's dad is the real Sawyer, the one our Sawyer is looking for.) And would Jack really have left his friends behind on the island? That seems completely against his character.

I'm listening to A Breath of Snow and Ashes by Diana Gabaldon, the latest (last?) Jamie and Clair book. I have the book, but would get a hernia reading it, so I checked the CDs out of the library.

58 hours.

I drive an hour a day, but only have 48 days of school left!

Anyway, this week, I was listening and it took TWO DAYS to listen to ONE SCENE, and it was with Roger and Brianna (yawn)! And now Clair is going on and on about hemorrhoids. Honestly.

My friend Elizabeth recommended this series to me years ago, when I was living at my old house (I've been here almost 8 years, so...) I remember sitting on the back porch. I finished OUTLANDER, head over heels for Jamie, and made the dh drive me to the bookstore then and there for DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. It was not my favorite. My heart was broken for the 20 years they lost. I LOVED VOYAGER, but all the rest since then have been forgettable.

However, it's surprising to me how I remember the characters so well. Not just the main ones, but the peripheral ones, including Jenny, who will likely not be in anymore books since she's back in Scotland.

What about you - are you an OUTLANDER fan?