Homemade Delight!

After hours of experimenting and of course taste testing, “Megan’s Easter baskets” are done. I’m hearing they are a homemade delight! In the end, chocolate covered caramels, peanut butter cups and milk chocolate and white chocolate hearts, roses and eggs made the cut!



Instead of traditional baskets, I used Chinese takeout boxes with an Easter theme. I wrapped the candy in little bags and stored the smaller candy in plastic eggs!!


Easter morning these boxes were waiting for everyone in my family!



Now, I’ll have to figure out something fun to make for the 4th of July!

Happy Easter ☺

A DVR World

9-5 jobs, dinner all together with the family before 7:00 and watching our favorite television shows at the hour they are scheduled to air … these are all American traditions fading away into history.

In the year 2009 work days have no set times: some of us are at our desk by 6am, others don’t get to head home until midnight. In this electronic age we are reachable 24 hours a day and no one wants to say no or I’m off the clock in this economic downturn. Because of this mentality, our family values and appointment television days are changing (quickly).

It’s rare to hear about a family who runs on the same schedule and can all be seated around the kitchen table before 7:00 to enjoy a home cooked meal and share the stories of the day. Everything around us is changing. We are all adjusting except those who rule our televisions. I think it’s time for networks and the media to start living up to their end of the bargain.

I’m a television producer looking for a job. My time off really opened my eyes to a business that is in desperate need of a makeover (and boy do I have some ideas, if only someone gave me a chance and a job!). The days of news from 5-6:30pm are wasted on empty rooms. (Contact me if you’d like to hear my plan to maximize dollars and viewers with a revamped 7:00pm hour.)

Despite the need to "shake up" our outdated television lineups, producers and networks need to understand the power of the DVR World. Appointment television is a theory of the past. When is the last time you made sure you were in front of the television right at 8:00pm Tuesday nights to see the very first second of American Idol live? In an informal Megan poll, 95% of my friends and family admit they haven’t been in their front row seat on time in at least 4 seasons. That is because we aren't home and done with dinner by 8:00 and we can experience our favorite shows in their entirety at any time thanks to the invention of the DVR: or so we thought.

This season of American Idol is by far the worst when it comes to producers correctly timing out the shows. I don’t think the powers that be at Idol have hit their mark since we got out of the audition rounds. Thanks to a lack of discipline we’ve all missed a standing ovation from Simon for Adam Lambert’s outrageous rendition of “Mad World.” We’ve had to call friends or search online to see if the judges used their save on Michael Sarver. And, I can't remember the last time I heard Carrie Underwood sing the goodbye song and saw the video montage to the latest Idol contestant who got the boot. I could go on for hours with examples of what we’ve missed because producers aren’t producing to the new DVR world that we live in.

In my years producing live newscasts I know going over your time slot is a big N-O. You cut off the beginning of the next show if you are a local station cutting into network programming. If you are the network, you push back local programming so it can’t start on time. This is a ratings game. A 11 or 10pm news going on late means you likely have a huge percentage of viewers jumping ship to catch the top stories on a station that managed to hit the correct start time. Network shows like Idol going 8-10 minutes over has loyal fans in an uproar googling a performance that is being dubbed the best of the season because our DVRs stopped tapping; others tweeting or calling friends to see who got kicked off … you get my drift.

As you can tell by the reports on-air, in print and on the web, television shows are being cancelled, newsrooms are closing as major budget cuts across the board are handed down. Something has got to change or television viewers will continue to slowly get up from their seats and walk away. Until producers and television executives turn their appointment television and 8-11 primetime switches off and take a good look at the new schedule of an American family and this DVR world, the slow demise of television won't stop anytime soon and the Internet will start to really rule the way we get our entertainment.

It’s a shame because there is so much potential for a bigger and better television world. I think it might be time for some new thinkers to get a chance to revitalize a dying American tradition.



** A side note, I don’t think DVR is perfect it has a lot kinks to work out such as: allowing us to tape more than 2 shows at a time. If we are taping 2 shows, allow us to watch a third live!! And, wouldn’t it be great if our DVR machines could recognize a show is going long and keep taping (just some Megan thoughts!). **

A Sticky Treat!

In my quest to make the perfect Easter baskets, I decided to take on my dad and grandma’s favorite candy: peanut brittle. Talk about a sticky treat. After combing the ingredients it is a race against time. Boil it all up to 300 degrees then immediately pour the mixture out and start spreading. This stuff starts to harden immediately so using two forks I pulled and spread the mixture as fast as I could in order to get an even layer of peanut brittle!


After about a half hour it all cooled down and was ready to break apart!!


So far my baskets will include: homemade peanut butter cups, chocolate covered caramels, white and milk chocolate hearts!

Delicious! ☺

Week 9 Idol Predictions

All I have to say is WOW. I think last night may be one of the worst Idol weeks out of all of the seasons (of course in my opinion). Top Downloads seemed to be too broad a theme for these Idol contestants to flip through and pick out good song choices.

Here's my breakdown...

THE GOOD: Our old standbys once again pull together some great performances.

Adam shined as he played up his stage presence and ability to take an oldie but goody, "Play That Funky Music," and turn it into a song we could be bopping to on the radio today.

KRIS!!! He is my absolute favorite right now!! I agree with the judges he is really in a zone. Kris reminds me a lot of Carrie Underwood and Kelly Clarkson when it comes to his ability to adapt to each genre and really make every song sound like it was written for him. ("Kris sang Ain't No Sunshine When She's Gone").

Danny, Danny. He brought some heart to the stage with "What Hurts the Most." The Rascal Flatts hit is a perfect cover for Danny to add to a first CD! My only concern is i'm getting a bit tired of Danny, he needs to spice it up a bit!

Allison. I didn't think her outfit was that bad! It fit the song, she played the part. I thought her take on No Doubt's "Don't Speak" really showed what her album would be, she's a rocker!!

THE BAD:
Lil' Rounds has an amazing voice. She can hit high notes with ease but someone really needs to work on her song choice. I think Simon said it perfectly, she looked and sounded "old" as she took on Celine Dion's "Surrender." If one of these weeks she decides to pick a young/current song i think she'll shoot to the top, but until then she's getting lost in the mix.

Scott. What a piano player but his voice isn't doing anything for me. I totally disagree with the judges, I didn't think this was his best week. I'll admit I don't know much about singing but from a fan who buys CDs, It sounded like Scott was off key and I was bored, I actually stopped listening.

Matt. Oh Matt, what a messy performance. I think he felt a whole lot pressure after last week's bottom three and I think he missed the mark. I totally agree with the judges, bad song choice (The Fray's "You Found Me"), bring back the R&B. I hope he has another week to shine.

THE UGLY:
I think Idol needs a double elimination tonight for Anoop and Megan. I don't even know what to say.

Anoop reminded me of my sorority days when we would do skits and songs. We'd just get up on stage and have fun but look goofy!

Megan, Megan, Megan. I want to like her, I really do. I think her voice has such potential but she can't seem to match her unique sound with songs that will allow her to shine. I wish the judges could give her a song and see how she does. But, last night I cringed watching her struggle through "Turn Your Lights Down Low."

Week 9 Idol Predictions...

Who is safe: Adam, Danny, Kris, Lil'

Who is is jeopardy: Anoop, Megan, Allison, Scott, Matt

Bottom 3: Anoop, Megan, Matt (I think this final spot could actually go to Matt or Scott, but after last week's results, I'm going to have to pick Matt).

Who gets the boot?: Anoop (although I really think it is a toss up between him and Megan)

**I think if Matt gets the lowest vote total their judges will use the save!**

Results (could be a spoiler if you haven't watched the episode):


Ok, so I was 2/3 in my predictions for the bottom 3! Megan went home instead of Anoop but I did say I was torn! haha :)