The glorious BBC

I always thought that when we moved to Ireland I would really miss USA television. I can honestly say I do not. Being a girl that curled up on the couch Sunday night to watch anything BBC on Masterpiece Theatre, this is great. The BBC has 4 channels for adults as well as two for kids. Also, as many of you know, the BBC news is one of the most respected news programs in the world.
When my husband and I were first dating he told me about this horrible "TV tax" that they had to pay for every TV you owned in the house. To an American who has a genetic dislike for taxes, this was medieval. However after being here for a few months I think the tax is a very smart idea. All 6 channels of the BBC do not have commercials. The two channels for kids, CBeebies (younger kids) and CBBC (older kids) have no toy commercials and the shows are developed specifically for the age group. Now I am not for kids watching TV all the time, but it's nice to know I can turn it to Cbeebies channel and O will not see any violence, older content or commercials. Many of the shows come over from PBS or vice versa.
For me it's perfect. The BBC has the best period dramas around and some of the best documentaries. Right now I've started watching "Royal Upstairs Downstairs" Which is a 20 episode series about Queen Victoria's travels to her English subjects. There are two presenters, one takes a look at the upstairs where the Earls and Dukes would have entertained the Queen, while another looks at the downstairs aspect and does the history of the food and servants required to take care of the visit. I also just finished watching a period drama called "South Riding" based on the book by Winifred Holtby about a young girl's headmistress in the south of England in 1935. I hope it makes it over to PBS, cause it was very good, only 3 hours too.

These shows definitely make the evenings go by a little bit quicker in the country. The start of this week has been great. We got a package from my mom with goodies and clothes. We also had another visit from our friend C. She is seeing my brother-in-law. You would all love her. It's nice to have a another girl to talk to who knows and understands what's going on in the house. Last year she took a trip to Uganda, what we would call a mission trip. Right now they are trying to raise money to build a school. If you want to see, you can go to http://www.uisceinuganda.bbnow.org/. Her and her family have been on a few mission trips.

I hope all of you have a good week!

oíche mhaith



The new bag my mom made. It's my "winter" bag, but I think it works well for both winter and summer.

 



New bag (left) next to my first bag (right). They are perfect bags for mommies as well as totes for ladies on the go. My mom is very talented!



O being cheeky and posing in her new jammies!





O's new monkey from my mom!