BACHELOR picks from a romance writer

bachelor logo

I love this show.  Some seasons have been cringe-worthy, others have obviously been more producer-driven than others.  Some have been truly romantic, chaotic and emotional (in a good way and in a bad way).

Sometimes it is like watching a train wreck, if you’ll forgive the cliche.

Here are my picks for the top six contenders.  This is based on camera time, editing, limo exit number, sexual attraction, body language and gut feelings.

I have rarely been wrong.  Just sayin’.

I don’t read “spoilers” online until after the first episode and my picks have been written down and verified by  Banjo Man.

This is serious stuff.  My Romance Writer Pride is at stake.

Here we go, in alphabetical order:

bachelor becca

Becca

I picked Becca because she seemed fairly sane and she wore a short dress that had the Bachelor’s eyes bugging out of his head.  The “special romantic music” played during her introduction to the Farmer, which is a clue she’ll go far.  I also picked her because she looks like the Farmer and his family.  There’s a resemblance, which could be a subliminal reason for our Bachelor to pursue her.

bachelor britt

Britt

Britt was profiled at the beginning of the show.   She is a waitress in L.A. who likes to give hugs to strangers.  At first I thought this meant she was secretly a hooker, but later on I realized she is basically a sweet young woman.  She was the first one out of the limo and gave the Bachelor a very, very long hug.  He had that “Game Over” look on his face afterwards.  She also had the background “special romantic music”, received the First Impression Rose and even managed a little make-out session with the Farmer on the first night.  I don’t think she’ll win, mainly because I suspect she’s a little too sensitive and emotional for this show.   It all might be too much for her, with or without the hugs.

Jade

Jade

While I don’t think that a woman who runs her own cosmetics business in L.A. is going to cheerfully skip off to the farm in Iowa, the Farmer was mightily impressed when he met her.  She was the last one out of the limo (an important fact, people!), was given a big entrance and even had the Special Romantic Music playing in the background.  The Farmer was bedazzled.
I can tell you that I have heard rumors that she was once featured in Playboy, with all of her lady bits on display.
Will that be a turn on or a turn off for our Farmer?
I don’t think she’s Farm Wife material, but our Bachelor will keep her around for a long time, simply because he likes looking at her.  And who wouldn’t?

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn

Kaitlyn is the saucy little gal who, upon exiting the limo to meet Farmer Chris, quipped, “You can plow the f*** out of my field anytime!”
Yep.  She really said that.  Plus she told an off-color joke about seals and penguins at the cocktail party.
I assumed she was a goner, until Farmer Chris said he liked her sauciness.  Which means the Farmer has a weakness for girls who are a little down and dirty.
You go, Farmer!
I picked her because she got a lot of camera time, had plenty of funny things to say to the other women and taught the Farmer a few dance moves.  She seems pretty confident and lively, which will make her a Producer Pick for many weeks to come.
I doubt the Farmer’s mother and three older sisters will see her appeal, but I don’t think she is going home anytime soon.  She has “Fantasy Suite” written all over her.

Kelsey

Kelsey

Kelsey is from Austin, TX and seems totally normal, which gives her a big leg up on this show (for my vote, not in reality tv where “crazy” gets all the attention).  She’s a recent widow, which makes me want to pack her bags and send her back to Texas.  This insane tv show is no place to heal from losing a husband.
Call me crazy, but she’d be better off walking her dog along the lakefront and meeting Son #2 (Story Man) on South Congress while they are standing in line for pizza from Home Slice.  She is so definitely his type.
I picked her because she was profiled at the beginning of the show, is a high school counselor and seems mature.  And the Farmer breathed a heartfelt, “Wow!” when he first saw her.
I don’t see her winning, because Austin and Iowa are worlds apart.  But I hope she stays on the show for a while, has some fun traveling and sightseeing along the way, makes some new girlfriends and returns to Austin feeling good after the tv experience.
I think she’ll make Top Six for sure.  And then she’ll be sent home, because Farmer Chris won’t want to lead her on if he’s not feelin’ it.

Whitney

Whitney

I picked Whitney for a lot of reasons.  She was profiled in the beginning of the show.  She’s a fertility nurse and she wants babies of her own.  Okay.  We want babies on the farm!!!  When she had her first one-on-one time with Farmer Chris, she went out of her way to explain the things they had in common (smart girl).  She was certainly open to the farm lifestyle and was smart enough to tell him that.  She got some decent camera time and was second out of the limo, which is not a bad number at all.
She’s from Chicago, so the Midwest is home (unlike many of the Los Angeles candidates).  I didn’t get any Crazy Vibes from her.  The editing was positive.  And the Farmer liked talking to her, despite his being overwhelmed by twenty nine other women.
I think she’ll go far, if she can survive the bitchy crazy drama sure to bubble up in the house.
The one thing that stops me from declaring her Top Three is her voice:  it’s very high and nasal, which I hope isn’t a problem for the Farmer.  I tended to wince when she was talking but I hope she stays on the show long enough for me to grow accustomed to it.  If she turns out to be smart, sweet and kind her voice won’t matter, right?

Okay, that’s it.

I will go back to writing the stuff I get paid for.  🙂  New deadline:  March 1st.  After that?  SXSW in Austin.  Music + Food + Family = A Great Vacation.

Tonight THE BACHELOR is on at the same time the College Football Championship Game is televised.  Banjo Man won’t be watching THE BACHELOR with me tonight.  I might record the show and watch the football game with him instead.

Go Buckeyes!

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stitching in the new year

I love New Year’s Day.  The parade.  The football.  The food.  The warm house and the sweatpants and the color television and the coziness of knowing I don’t have to go anywhere…

Which means I have all day to sew!!!!!

I dragged all of my sewing stuff into the living room/kitchen/dining room area of the house and made a big, lovely mess.

I can’t show you what I’m working on, because it’s a gift for the new baby girl arriving in April.  I will be a Great Aunt again and that’s pretty exciting.

First thing in the morning, with a fresh mug of coffee in hand, I pulled fabric from here.

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(If you think this is a lot of fabric for one woman to own, then I’m glad you can’t see the shelves in the closet or the plastic bins in the basement.)

Hmmmm…..these are possibilities.  I needed twelve different fabrics.  They had to go together but they had to be different.  I ended up using three of these in the quilt.

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I can show you these because they are ready to be marked on the diagonal, sewn, and cut apart into half-square triangles.

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But because the new baby’s grandparents read this blog, I can’t show you how it turned out.  But the top is finished now (after that lovely, long New Year’s  Day when I was so excited about making a quilt I woke up at 4:45 AM!) and it is basted and ready to be quilted.  And that might happen after I finish typing up this post!

We had strong winds and a bit of snow today, but the weekend will be clear so I’m off to northern Massachusetts in the morning for the annual Writers Weekend in Wilmington.  We laugh and eat and talk about books and writing.  We confess our diet sins and indulge in dark chocolate.  We will brainstorm plots for each other and drink wine.

See you on Monday!

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dear santa

2014-12-25 009For some reason these napkins reminded me of my four year old grandson.

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the best of gifts, the worst of gifts

There are many differences between men and women.

There are many differences between fathers and mothers.

There are many differences between Banjo Man and me.

For instance, for Christmas I gave Sarge a crock pot.2014-12-25 014He was very pleased.  I also gave him lentils and soup mixes.

He likes lentil soup and he wants to learn how to make it, so this was a good thing.

Banjo Man gave him a toilet seat.

A used toilet seat.

With a bullet hole in it.

2014-12-25 017Look how happy he is!

The toilet seat is from the out house where our faraway cabin-in-the-mountains is.  The cabin is there, the out house no longer stands.

Sarge has big plans to fix up the cabin next summer.  Plans that include building a new out house.

Banjo Man was happy to support the project.

(Son #1 pronounced this to be the worst Christmas present in the world, but he doesn’t like crock pots either.)

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a little more marco

marco poster

Banjo Man and I were deep into this series one evening after Christmas.  We had a bowl of blue corn chips and a bag of peppermint bark.  Life was good on the giant couch.

Marco had been riding past the city walls to discover what a beautiful Chinese princess was up to.  After she digs through rocks at the base of the only tree in a hundred miles and hangs a scarf on a branch, she rides like hell back to the Kublai Khan’s city.

And Marco can’t resist sneaking over to that tree and digging up what the princess left.

And then….

…a cobra springs at him!!!

Banjo Man yelped.  I screamed and put my hands over my face.  You know, to protect my eyes from the cobra (I blame my reaction on high def television screens).

I smashed my glasses into my face and gave myself a bloody nose and a bruise under my left eye.

Damn that cobra.  Damn high def.

Banjo Man said he felt sorry for me, but he couldn’t stop laughing.

Banjo Man and I really liked this series.  I’ve read the reviews, which pretty much panned it, but hey, everyone has an opinion.

I started reading the book that inspired the series, but discovered that I need a map in order to follow the story of Marco, his father and his uncle’s travels.  Kublai Khan is a great character and I want to know more about that part of history.  It was all new to me.

Story Man collects maps, so I’ll be borrowing one soon.

mongolempire_map

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they call him prince farming

chrisbachelor

Chris Soules, the farmer looking for love in all the wrong places.

 

You can make fun of me all you want, but I’m telling you…tonight is a big night.

THE BACHELOR, season 19,  starts tonight.  Chris Soules, the farmer from Iowa, is going to meet 30 mostly crazy women who may or may not think that becoming a farm wife is a good idea.

Banjo Man and I are celebrating with beef tenderloin and cauliflower mashed up to look like whipped potatoes.

In other words, a Big Night on the Big Couch.

I will have a notebook, because I like to write stuff down and analyze it and then pick the top four women based on camera time, limo exits and sexual attraction.

Very scientific.

Banjo Man likes to opine on the mental health of each contender.  Plus he often has a thought or two about their looks.

And their dresses.

And their make up.

And how stupidly the Bachelor is behaving.

Having been raised on a farm, Banjo Man will also most likely have an opinion on the women’s suitability to cook for haying crews, can tomatoes and nurse orphaned calves.

It should be an interesting couple of hours.

BACK ROW: JADE, REEGAN, BO, TARA, TANDRA, NICOLE, WHITNEY, ASHLEY I., JORDAN;  MIDDLE ROW: MACKENZIE, BECCA, MICHELLE, KIMBERLY, KARA, NIKKI, ASHLEY S., BRITT, AMBER;  FRONT ROW: TRINA, KAITLYN, KELSEY, SAMANTHA, JILLIAN, MEGAN, CHRIS SOULES, CARLY, TRACY,

Banjo Man loves this show, mostly because he loves to give opinions on just about anything, and if he can do it from the comfort of the Big Couch, all the better.

I love this show, too.  Even more than “Downton Abbey”.  Even more than “Survivor”.

Maybe–gasp–even more than “Marco Polo”.

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finding marco polo

Happy New Year, my friends!

Marco_Polo_3088723k

And Happy New Year to you, too, Marco.

I am so behind on blog posts.  I still have September pictures to share, so that gives you some idea how much time I have not spent on the computer these past months.

But first, let me tell you about Marco Polo…

When Sarge (son #3) was here for the holidays, he and Banjo Man and I went to the movies.  Twice.  Going to the movies with Sarge is a great experience for me, because I love to get to the theater early.  Banjo Man doesn’t know what the word “early” means, which has resulted in major movie-going angst for the past forty-five years.

Sarge expects to arrive in the movie theatre at least forty-five minutes before the show starts.

He wants to pick out his seats.  In the back.  All the way in the back.

He wants to make sure there is no one going to get too close.  He wants to survey the crowd and watch for trouble.

This is what soldiers who have been to war several times do.

 When I am anywhere with Sarge, I feel quite safe.   Son #1 (Song Man) and Son#2 (Story Man) have both expressed the same feeling.  It’s like hanging out with Jack Bauer on an episode of 24.

For instance, as darkness descended on the movie theater and the opening credits for “Unbroken” began on the screen, a thirty-ish couple arrived and made their way up the center aisle to sit in the back row, past us (we were in the middle), past six empty seats, to the corner.  The man was talking the entire time.  He had one of those deep voices that carry, and he obviously had a lot to say to the woman he was with.

In other words, he wouldn’t shut up.

Banjo Man leaned forward to look past me and Sarge to see who was talking.  A few minutes later, as the talking continued and the movie began, I leaned forward to see who was talking.  I guess I hoped the guy would see people looking at him and be quiet.

Sarge growled, “I got this, Mom.”

Oops.

Sarge scooted down the row of seats and said something to the man.  I couldn’t hear what he said, but I thought I caught a subdued, “Sorry” from the man.

There wasn’t another peep from the corner for two hours.

How cool is that?

Anyway, back to Marco Polo.

Because we arrived at the movies so early, we watched several commercials from Netflix advertising their new mini-series, “Marco Polo”.

It looked really, really good.

So good that when we arrived back home, we watched Episode 1.

It was good, really good.

Sarge headed back home, a three and a half hour drive from us, late  Saturday night.

Banjo Man and I now had an empty house and some quiet nights to fill when college football wasn’t on tv.  We ended up watching all TEN episodes of Marco Polo.  One night we watched it for three hours.

So…..if you are stuck in your house surrounded by snow, you want to watch Marco Polo.

Really.

Check it out on Netflix here.

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i love this thing

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Now Designs Drop Soap Dispenser

It holds dish detergent and sits prettily on the counter by the sink.

My arthritic fingers love it, too.

$12.00.  Three colors.

Amazon will say the blue one is temporarily out of stock, but I’ve ordered two of them and they arrive within a week.

Check it out HERE.

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the sprouts stalk

Harley Chick and Hot Rod Russ came for dinner Sunday night.  We played a little music after dinner and we ate a lot of Black Bean Pineapple Stew, but the hit of the evening was the Brussel Sprouts Stalk.

How can I describe what this is?

Like a Yule Log with warts.

 

YULE LOG.

YULE LOG.

 

YULE LOG CAKE.

YULE LOG CAKE.

Banjo Man, who loves grocery store produce departments like I love quilt stores, brought home this rustic beauty Sunday morning.

2014-12-21 013It’s a “do it yourself” vegetable.

 After roasting the stalk for 45 minutes (basted with olive oil and sprinkled with kosher salt, rotated every 15 minutes at 350 degrees) I set it in the middle of the table and gave everyone their own sharp knife.

Cave Men Meet Vegetarians.

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little stories, little decorations

The NAVY ornament, proudly hung by my father each year.

The NAVY ornament, proudly hung by my father each year.

I put the tree up early this year, on the first of December.  I did it by myself, while remembering the chaotic days of children hanging ornaments and eating cookies and cheerfully arguing about who picked what branch for their ornament and who ate the most cookies and how many more days until Santa?????

When I finished I found my camera and took some pictures for the grown children who won’t be home this year.  I thought I’d share some of them with you.

From the year of making my own ornaments.

From the year of making my own ornaments.

Also from that year.

Also from that year.

From Son #2 to his father, purchased on a fifth grade field trip.

From Son #2 to his father, purchased on a fifth grade field trip.

From the December my mother, daughter and I celebrated my 50th birthday in London.

From the December my mother, daughter and I celebrated my 50th birthday in London.

Rest in peace, Miss Lillie.

Rest in peace, Miss Lillie.

One of our treasured White House ornaments (thank you, George).

One of our treasured White House ornaments (thank you, George).

A peach from Retired Mountain Lady!

A peach from Retired Mountain Lady!

A momento of a New Orleans trip.

A momento of a New Orleans trip.

A treasure from Hope.

A treasure from Hope.

To commemorate an Idaho fishing trip.

To commemorate an Idaho fishing trip.

The antique raspberry that belonged to my father and grandparents.

The antique raspberry that belonged to my father and grandparents.

Celebrating my "Boots and Booties" series with Harlequin.

Celebrating my “Boots and Booties” series with Harlequin.

Music!

Music!

More music!

More music!

I miss my Uncle Mac.

I miss my Uncle Mac.

Made by my grandmother.

Made by my grandmother.

 I’d never thought of taking pictures of ornaments before, but it’s nice to see them.  Maybe years from now someone in the family will wonder why on earth Grandma owned three Scottish soldier ornaments and several pairs of faded felt ice skates made with paper clips.

Merry Christmas, everyone.

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