Since I cut Netflix, HBO, and going to the video store out of my budget 100%, I have relied on my DVR to bring me what entertainment I do have in my life. The writers’ strike only made it harder to rely on television for my viewing pleasure. I splurged more often at the movie theater, read more books, and started taking advantage of the new release DVDs at my library.

Still, network television came back in a blaze of glory after the strike – alas all too briefly. Most shows have already gone on summer hiatus and we’re left with reruns and a handful of reality TV programs.

Enter the cable networks to save the situation. USA Network’s new original series In Plain Sight premiers Sunday, June 1 and from the commercials I have seen so far, it looks like it is going to be pretty great. It stars Mary McCormack (who I actually remember mostly from more housewifely types roles in Howard Stern’s “Private Parts” and David Spade’s “Dickie Roberts: Child Star.) McCormack plays a law enforcement type who works with the Witness Protection Program in Santa Fe. She has to be almost as secretive with her fiends and family about her job as the people enrolled in the program have to be. It makes for a good deal of intrigue and miscommunication.

The cast of characters looks colorful, to say the least. There is an alcoholic mom, a deadbeat sister, a boyfriend who wants to ramp up the relationship, and an odd assortment of coworkers. I think I’m most eager to have a look at Frederick Weller’s character Marshall Mann. “He knows a little bit about everything,” is how he is described – and I like people who can jump in on just about any topic. Most of the friends I surround myself with are like that. There is rarely a lull in conversation. Plus, Weller was in the Broadway Revival of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” and worked alongside my favorite actor Liev Schreiber (who won a TONY for his performance in the play).

Anyway, June 1 on USA. I’ll be watching.

I am generally a fan of Champagne by Yves St. Laurent, but my former mother-in-law just gave me a massive bag of beauty supplies, including products by Shiseido and Lancôme, as well as various perfumes by Elizabeth Arden.

One of the Arden perfumes was Green Tea and I am completely in love with it as a summer scent. It is perfect for ht heat here in Florida. It’s fresh, green, and crisp, with a citrus feel and that floral, delish smell of green tea.

I know it has been out since 1999, but I am just now discovering it. I’m still going back to the Champagne and the Yvresse at the end of the day, but I have decided that green Tea is the sent of summer 2008 for me.

Inside my head I am 18. Seriously, I can close my eyes and take a deep breath and I honestly feel like a teenage. However, I am not 18 anymore and sometimes it really shows.

I am in the process of getting my face back in top shape. I let the skin on my face go lately and I’ve been buckling down and setting things straight. I think it is working. A man I know told me today that when he saw me on Sunday I looked “gorgeous” and he hardly recognized me.

My sister, though, very gently pointed out the small crease between my eyes. She pointed out the line on her own forehead while she was at it, so I was not offended. We both had an honest talk about how soon is too soon to look into one of those mini facelifts, or maybe one of the less evasive string lifts I have been hearing about.

I will be the first to admit, though, that I know next to nothing about most plastic surgery procedures. I took the little Beauty For Life Quiz tonight and it was a great starting point for me. I followed that up with a lot of reading and list-making. The biggest source of info for me was the list of general prices for most procedures. I just really had no idea going into all of this what I would have to have saved. Plus, I found a chart on the site that showed that things like eyelid surgery and facelifts were more often for people in their 40s. So, perhaps I am jumping the gun.

This bread is fast and easy. It works well as a quick gift or as an addition to a goodie basket. For me, it is something to satifies a huge craving for sugar and carbs, so I don’t make it all that often for myself. Nonetheless, I’m making some tomorrow and since I pulled out the recipe, I thought I would share it with you. Bread

Bread
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 eggs
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/8 cup oil
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoon poppy seeds
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1 1/2 almond flavoring

Mix all ingredients well. Grease five small loaf pans. Fill approximately half full. Bake at 350º for 40 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. While bread is baking, prepare glaze.

Glaze
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon butter flavoring
1/2 teaspoon almond flavoring

Mix in saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves.

Remove bread from oven. While in pans, poke holes in top of each loaf. Brush with glaze. Cool on rack.

TIP: Replace oil with same amount of applesauce to cut down on fat.

I like my bed. I have a fabulous pillow top mattress and it nestles me into a solid sleep every night. It’s a twin, though, which is necessary to conserve space while I am living with family. I’ve been missing my luxurious King bed lately. It is in my storage unit, all zipped into its dust proof cloth cover. Also in storage are my astonishingly high thread count sheets and my heavy, handmade quilt set. It’s ivory with meticulous, embroidered roses. I spent years finding just the right bedding. I have all the shams and an amazing Battenberg lace bed skirt I found that looks great with the quilt set.

I’m using jersey sheets on the twin. They are not doing the trick. Since I’m stuck with the twin mattress for some time to come, I figured I’d improve my little nest with some silk bedding and some new pillows. I cannot think of a better way to perk up the comfy factor.

Your bed should be your comfort, your sanctuary, your place of absolute comfort and rest. Spend the money on a good mattress and comfortable bedding. Keep your sheets clean and change out your pillows often. This is where you come to replenish your energy and revive your mind. Make it count.

I love books. It seems like no matter how much I try to weed out my collection and give books away, I end up with even books in the end. I have books that I will never be able to part with, and unfortunately there are hundreds of those in my collection. Is wish I could say that the books I see as must-haves only numbered in the tens. So far, I just cannot seem to part with them.

I have, however, been able to get rid of my textbooks. They cost so much in the first place that it was easy to justify selling them online in order to make a good bit of that money back. In fact, I just got a notice that one of my books on Communication Disorders sold. I had forgotten that it was still listed and it reminds me that I need to re-list some of the textbooks I took off my sell list so I could pack to move last summer.

Give me a house with an entire room just lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves and I would be a happy camper. When I walk into someone else’s home and don’t see books, I wonder about how they can live without having books around to read whenever they want. I know there are those who actually don’t read if they can help it. I cannot seem to put myself in their shoes. My mother read. My father read. They passed along to me an example of voracious reading and I carried it with me throughout my life.

My own daughter cannot yet read. She does love books, though, and I hope that she will ser the value of reading in her life the same way I do.

I understand that when child is injured, the parents are devastated. However, children are injured playing common sports like baseball every day. Can you imagine what sort of financial situation our nation would be in if every single parent of every single injured child sued the pants off of absolutely every company they could find reason to associate with their child’s injury?

Things would be a real mess.

Take, for example the case Steven Domalewski and his parents. Steven was pitching in a Little League game when a ball slammed into his chest and stopped his heart. He pulled through and now has brain damage and is disabled.

Understandably, there are a lot of medical costs involved in caring for Steven. However, I do not agree with his parent’s approach to the situation. They blame the maker of the metal baseball bat that was used to hit the ball. They say the bats are unsafe for youth games and are suing the bat manufacturer, Little League Baseball, and the sporting goods chain that sold the bat.

Can you see what’s wrong with this picture? These are people who need to blame, to find someone to take full responsibility for an accident that occurred during a baseball game. If this case is successful, I can only see that it would open the door for asinine cases all over the nation, making people feel even more free to find others to blame for things that go wrong in life.

We are a nation of lawsuits. Truck accident lawyers are as common as accountants. Money is a driving force that leads people to find a solution in the highest payout.

When I was young, my mother wanted me to wear a chunky medical bracelet so that if something happened to me people would know I was allergic to Penicillin and that I have asthma. I hated that bracelet. There was absolutely no way to make it look cute or trendy. It was such a downer for me that I just plain stopped wearing it. I have not worn one since.

Now that I am a mom, I have been thinking back on that medical bracelet. I still have my allergies and my daughter has allergies of her own. Now I totally get why my mom wanted me to wear the bracelet. Thankfully, things have moved a long way in the area of medical jewelry. You can buy delicate gold chains with the medical alert symbol on it and room on the back for your info. You can also get watches that serve the purpose.

Hopefully, my daughter will feel more at peace with the bracelet I am buying for her.

Over the years my tastes have changed when it comes to how I like a room lit. I either like very low light or I want the room lit up like the sun. I loathe shadows when I am trying to work on the computer or read a book or do little handy jobs, like installing a curtain rod or a new toilet seat. I want to be able to see what I am doing. I only really like the low light when I am sitting quietly with a cup of tea talking to my daughter or a friend.

I’m not a fan of overhead lighting, either. I hate fixtures that put a naked bulb in my line of vision. It makes me anxious and jumpy. So, I prefer the ceiling fans not have light fixtures on them. Therefore, I need to make sure the rest of the indoor lighting in the house is pretty well planned. I have my lamps situation so that I can fully light any room in the house.

I have no idea when I got so picky about how a room is lit. Maybe I am just getting old and my eyesight is more light dependant than it used to be.

I was over at my friend Michelle’s house again today helping her with more sorting. She has year’s worth of boxed stuff that needs gone through. A lot of it she has thrown away or donated. There are bills and papers to file. I went through a stack of local restaurant coupons today and tossed out anything that was expired.

One of the hardest things for her to get rid of is years and year’s worth of floppy disks. Most of them do not have information and files on them she needs anymore, but it is hardwired into her mind that she can reuse the disks in the future.

I told her to walk into her bedroom and look at her computer. Is there even a slot for a floppy disk? Look at your own computer right now? Does yours have a slot? Mine doesn’t. Most people either burn cd’s or use USB flash drives, with the trend moving more and more to the flash drives daily.

Yeah, we tossed all those disks.