Best of 2021

Courtesy of Sammiches and Psych Meds

2021 was almost a repeat of 2020, which explains the abundance of TV shows on this list...

New (to me) TV shows that I enjoyed in 2021 (in no particular order):

1. One Day at a Time

2. Being Erica

3. Workin' Moms

4. Cruel Summer: Such an interesting and well-done teen mystery thriller. I loved the 90s throwbacks and the Cold Case feel.

Courtesy of Deadline

5. Schmigadoon

6. Shtisel: I really hope they'll bring it back for a fourth season. There's still so much they could do with this series and I definitely miss the characters. 

7. Ted Lasso: My latest obsession!!!

8. Ordinary Joe: There's still more to go with this first season, but it's really creative and I love seeing what will happen next. 

Courtesy of TV Insider

9. Maid

10. Only Murders in the Building

11. Hacks: Really funny and well done. A Devil Wears Prada for the comedy circuit. I can see why Jean Smart got the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.

12. Little Voice: I'm sad that this only got one season. It's a great show created by Sara Bareilles. I love all the Broadway references, courtesy of Louie. It was nice to see one of the actors in the Dear Evan Hansen movie though.

Courtesy of Deadline

Shows I watched that didn't make it to the list (but I'll still watch anyway):

The Morning Show: It's such a train wreck, but has a fabulous cast. Just too much yelling, fighting, and really long conversations.

Kevin Can F--k Himself: I mainly watch this for Annie Murphy as Kevin is a real life Peter Griffin and I can see why he made her snap!

Courtesy of CNET

Ginny and Georgia

And Just Like That: It leans toward the cringey side, but that could change next year...

Saved by the Bell reboot: It's funny in regards to nostalgia from the original series (and some great meta stuff) but some aspects tend to be annoying.

Courtesy of Vox

Top 5 favorite movies from 2021:

1. In the Heights

2. Free Guy: So funny, creative, interesting, suspenseful, and entertaining. Highly recommended!

Courtesy of TechRadar

3. Tick Tick Boom

4. Cruella: Really well done. More Disney villain movies need to be done this way. Ursula needs to be next!

5. The Hating Game: Just watched this recently. Great adaptation of Sally Thorne's romcom novel. I actually like it better than the book!

Courtesy of Decider

Books:

See my top five picks at Chick Lit Central, as well! I read so many amazing books this year (go to my Goodreads page and see all the five-star books) and am sad to have to narrow it down at all. Links are to reviews (or Bookstagram posts)

1. The People We Keep by Allison Larkin (leaned more toward YA and New Adult, but was definitely one of the best books I read this year)

2. The Stranger in the Lifeboat by Mitch Albom

3. With Love from London by Sarah Jio (This was going to go on my list at CLC, but it publishes in 2022)

4. 100 Days of Sunlight by Abbie Emmons

5. Wish You Were Here by Jodi Picoult

6. The Heart Principle by Helen Hoang

7. The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi

8. Half Life by Jillian Cantor

9. The Chance to Fly by Ali Stroker and Stacy Davidowitz

10. The Last House on the Street by Diane Chamberlain

Musical treat this year:

Being able to watch Come From Away on Apple +. It was a really good musical and I can't listen to the songs without getting teary-eyed. 

Famous people I want to meet:

*Brett Goldstein. He plays Roy Kent on Ted Lasso and he's everything! Of course, I would be happy to meet anyone from this wonderful show.

Courtesy of TV Insider

The rest is mostly the same from last year, but bears repeating:

*Dan Levy because, like, obviously! ;) (I also wouldn't mind meeting the cast of Schitt's Creek though!)

*Michael Judson Berry: He's so funny with his Schitt's Creek impressions and videos and he seems like he's so down-to-earth and friendly too. 

*Randy Rainbow: When have I NOT wanted to meet Randy Rainbow?!? He's saved my sanity since 2016. 

Highlights from 2021:

*My family getting the Covid vaccine. We are all now fully vaccinated and my husband and I are boosted. Our oldest will be boosted soon.

*My sister got married and we got to attend her wedding in Chicago and finally meet my new brother-in-law in person. They are perfectly matched and I'm really happy for them both!

*Getting to see my best friend and her husband when we were in Chicago. (My family and I didn't have time to make plans with a lot of people, but we couldn't be in the same city and NOT meet up!)

*Getting to see "Will" again after five long years. He officiated my sister's wedding too.

*My younger son's Bar Mitzvah

*I got a new job!!! And it's in a field that actually interests me and is something I want to grow into even more: Book publicity!

* Having Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws. It was so nice to be back together in person again. I hope we can make things work for Passover, as long as omicron gets under control!

*My kids going back to school in person. It's been good for them, even if it means I get up at 5:45 am!

*Some mini-vacations: Staying at a cabin in the woods, going to Virginia Beach (and spending an entire day at the beach itself), staying at a cozy house for a little winter retreat. 

*I made a couple of new friends, which is a challenge in this day and age. Both live nearby and I've already connected with one in person a couple of times. I have lots in common with both of them, as well. 

*Getting to see my friend who moved to Florida a few years ago. She was in town for a week and we hung out a couple of times.

*The Chinese food car picnic my husband and I had for our anniversary. 

That's a wrap for 2021! Here's hoping there will be an end to this pandemic in 2022. 

Got this from a friend's Facebook post

Also got this from a friend's Facebook post

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A Festivus for the Rest of Us!

Today is Festivus, so I felt it was an appropriate time to air my grievances. Keep in mind that most of these are first world problems, but it's still enough to get my goat, so to speak. Feel free to share your grievances in the comments. (Keep in mind that I monitor them to avoid spam, so don't worry if it doesn't show up right away.)

*The Amazon situation that I hope to never experience again. Long story short, they would NOT make it easy for my son to access his account, and he would have lost his gift card balance as a result. Somehow my husband was able to get them to let him back in, but this was after I made 20 zillion calls.

*USPS delaying mail for a month and a half and then delivering a damaged item. It looks like they spilled coffee all over it.

*Covid coming back in full force and somehow this new strain is vaccine resistant. I really hope we can get it under control this time. I don't think my kids can deal with going virtual again. 

*Extracurriculars being cancelled but not athletics, even though the athletes are the ones taking off their masks during practice....

*Rent getting cancelled. My oldest and I were supposed to see it at a local professional theater. I hope they'll extend its run when things get better. 

*People driving really bad. Now that my oldest has his permit, I'm even more hyperaware of all the bad drivers he'll have to contend with. I've been cut off a couple of times and I'm glad I was the one behind the wheel during those instances. 

*The sun being too bright in the kitchen. My husband got something to help with this, but apparently we need a handyperson to install them. And since anyone my husband has called has either not called back or came to check things out and never gave a quote, who knows when this will happen? I currently put paper grocery bags on my kitchen table to block the sun from getting directly into my eyes. 

*The bus depot accusing me of lying. A few weeks ago, my younger son's bus was running late. I called the depot and they said that the driver had already been there and no one was waiting for it. We had been there since 7:00 and the bus had not been there or we would have seen it. It's hard to miss.

*Being forced to purchase a month of Peacock Premium to be able to watch Annie Live. At least we got Saved by the Bell out of that. Still, there are so many streaming services and all come at a price. If the show was on a network station, their website should be streaming it without requiring a cable account. If someone has cable, they don't need to stream the show from the website when they can watch it on their TV. 

*CVS not accepting conditioner as a beauty product for the free beauty product deal. It makes my hair silky and smooth, so I consider that to be a beauty product. 

*How annoying it is to schedule a booster vaccine for people. (And even just the regular vaccine for kids.) And it's even more annoying to find out that it's very hard to get a Covid test and that places are charging a large amount of money for one. Is that legal? Some places in our state are giving out free Covid test kits, but they are totally out of the way. 

*All the spam entries I had to clean out from a giveaway I did at my blog. I'm glad someone alerted me to this, but what a pain!

*Not getting certain books in advance even though I've been blogging for 10 years and some other people have already got these books, so I know they're available. 

*My older son's job situation: Why does he need to do THREE interviews for a pizza place when most places are lucky if someone wants to work for them right now and would hire them on the spot? When he had his "audition" meeting, they had him cleaning toilets. They also keep putting off his offer meeting. 

*The holiday eves are on Shabbat. It's hard to stay up until midnight to ring in the new year when that's the case. I also can't do my Rent post on Facebook, unless I change something around that day. 

*I got on the Philadelphia cream cheese website at noon the other day for a chance to get $20 toward another dessert item and the site was backed up and not working. There was another chance to do it, but of course it was on Shabbat. :P

*My hands are so dry all the time even though I use tons of Aquaphor and gloves every night. I go through so many bandages and look like Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors.

*Getting notifications of deals on certain websites, but they're only good for that same day. Why even bother? 

*Special K Vanilla Almond always being out of stock at my local CVS.

*Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent) not being included in the sexiest men issue of People magazine. GRRRRR....

Tedlassogifs Ted Lasso GIFfrom Tedlassogifs GIFs

Tell me your grievances! Don't be shy.

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