The Power of Television

As you well know (if you are a regular reader of my blog), I love reality tv.  One of the shows that I watch on a regular basis is Bethenny Ever After.  Some of her products are a bit 'out there' (i.e. the cleanse...which I would never do), however, her new cocktail Skinnygirl Margarita, is delicious.  I looked online to see if it was sold here in my area of my state (Farm Country), and was excited to find that my local grocery stocked it.

The last time I went grocery shopping, I purchased a bottle.  I'm not a huge fan of tequila, so I was unsure if I would enjoy it.  I found it very light and refreshing, though.  I think that it's only 100 calories for a 4oz serving, which is large enough for this lightweight.  :)

Here I am being a dork with my Skinnygirl Margarita

I can imagine how refreshing this will be on a hot summer evening while I sit on my deck swing while reading a book. 

***Disclaimer:  Bethenny has no idea who I am and this is not a paid advertisement for Skinnygirl. 

By the way, have you entered my giveaway yet?  Click here for a chance to win my friend's book Chicken in the Car and the Car Won't Go, a Chicago travel guide for families of tweens and teens.  You have until next Tuesday to enter. 

Apparently, Whining Works....

Have I mentioned lately how much I love reality television?  NO?  Well, I do.  I especially love HGTV's House Hunters.  LOVE.  I recently found out, however, that it's FAKE!  I read it on someone else's blog and then had to research it myself.  I went to Google and typed in "is house hunters staged?" and found many links that talked about the show.  Evidently, they are real people looking for a real house, but they have already signed a contract on one of the houses that they look at.  I still watch, though.  I like to look for clues as to which one is already theirs.

Last night, I was watching House Hunters International and I found myself yelling at the woman on the tv.  See, this woman was American and she was married to a Norwegian.  He worked in Norway and she lived near her parents in Missouri.  They finally decided to move to Norway as a family (without her parents...as she said over and over and over again while crying...please, grow up!) and were looking for a house.  She wanted an "American house" in Norway.  ????  I think if I ever got to live in another country, I'd want to immerse myself in that culture, but what do I know?

So, they are looking and she keeps asking the poor real estate agent if the house has a garbage disposal, because evidently, she can't live without one.  (I wonder how I've made it all over these years without one?)  She whines the entire time and is even rubbing off on her poor children.  They show them sitting at a sidewalk cafe drinking yummy looking hot cocoa.  The husband asks the children in his sweet Norwegian accent how it tastes and the boy says, "Um, not as good as American hot cocoa!"  WHAT?  That's how we wins friends and influence people, kiddo.  Keep it up!  I'm sure you'll make a ton of friends in school over there in Norway.

So, their budget is $500,000 and each house they look at is climbing higher and higher over budget until finally they look at a piece of rocky land for a cool $100k and find out they can build a house that will suit the wife for an additional $500k.  She reminds her husband that if things don't go perfectly, it will be all his fault.  Poor man.

They show the house after it's built.  They spent $700k on that house!  And she had the audacity to say that it really wasn't as big as she would like, but after all, they are in Norway.  Ay yi yi.