This week I’ve been anxiously waiting for our loan to fund. How many hoops must a homebuyer jump through? Uck. Also, I’m trying to soak up tv since once we move we’ll probably be without for at least 3-5 days. Hopefully less!

So this week I watched all of my regulars, and as previously blogged, I started up with Once Upon a Time. This show is seriously awesome guys. If you’re not watching it, start! I love fairytales and seeing them with a new spin is just awesome.

I’m not going to recap each episode of the shows I watched. But I will just give you a brief rundown of what’s frustrating me:

-How I Met Your Mother: OMGosh! Robin and Barney kiss! But what does this mean for Barney and Nora? And Robin and Kevin? And what about that guy she keeps running into that Ted teased us with, saying their story wasn’t over yet? I need more input!

-Desperate Housewives: Why are Lynette and Tom separated? It makes zero sense. They were the one couple who had the most chemistry. They better get back together before the series ends.

-Parenthood: How annoyed are you with Sarah? I’m so pissed at her. She finally gets the hunky teacher, and she’s pinning away for her deadbeat rehab flunky ex husband? REALLY?! Also Jasmine and the doctor make me sad. Poor Crosby’s face is pure heartbreak when she says it’s getting serious. Oh and Haddie’s reaction to her baby sister is pretty selfish, though I think I’d be annoyed if my parents had a baby when I was 17 too.

-Parks & Recreation: I want Leslie and Ben back together. Boo to their breakup. It sucks. The end.

That said this is what I watched this week:

-How I Met Your Mother: Drumroll please! Oh Victoria, she is so sweet. I am so glad that the writers didn’t have Ted and Victoria get back together. As much as I love her, we know she’s not the mother, so it’s time move on. The little bomb dropped at the end about how the friendship with Robin wasn’t working was pretty big. We know that in the first episode

-Ellen: The most adorable of actresses, Jennifer Garner, was a guest this week. I just love her!

-Parenthood: I feel so bad for Julia and their adoption woes. So sad. Haddie needs to end her relationship. He’s a great guy but it’s just way way too adult for her. According to previews, it looks like he feels the same way.

-Modern Family: Laugh out loud episode, especially with Cam and Mitchell. Did anyone else see that flip out scene of Mitchell coming? I know I didn’t! I love how much Jay loves that little dog, especially since he said he didn’t want it.

-The Middle: Poor poor awkward Sue Heck. Like Axl says, she’s such a dork optimist! Love it. But ugh, the Heck house makes my OCD skin crawl. I just want to come over there and clean it. Do people really live like that?!

-Happy Endings: Year of Penny! How much do you love Penny’s apartment? Isn’t it amahzing? Lol! Great episode, funny as per usual.

-Parks & Recreation: Oh John Ralfio. I love his appearances, he’s such a random, douchy bag of awesome. His and Tom’s company is going to tank so fast! I loved the bag of crazy that was the Tammy circle in Ron’s life.

-Community: Britta has gotten so gross! Wasn’t she the sex symbol of the show before? I loved her scenes with Chang though. Cracked up. I need more Abed in my life, let’s get an episode where it’s focused on him and his awkwardness shall we?

-Grey’s Anatomy: Seriously? Why must this show go back and forth with the stupid relationships. There are outside forces that can cause drama. It doesn’t always have to be will they or won’t they get back together. Stupid MerDer. Why do I keep watching this show? The first two seasons were SO.MUCH.BETTER. I miss Izzie and George!

-The Vampire Diaries: Stephan has another ex love besides Katherine? Ooooohhh. I’m entrigued. Does this mean the way has been cleared for Elena and Damon to finally be together? Make it happen people! Also, how cute was Tyler rescuing poor Caroline. I have really grown to love her character and I was glad she was saved by the hunky werewolf.

-The Secret Circle: Deranged psychos chasing down the witches? Eek! It was a pretty cool episode. I liked it better than last week’s. I don’t get why the group can’t use their powers at least slightly when they’re alone. Seems kind of lame, and dangerous! I wonder how long it will take Cassie to tell everyone that she found a book as well.

-Revenge: Started tuning into this show. Not sure how I feel about it yet. Right now it’s just something to watch on the ipad while I’m cooking dinner. I don’t think I like it that much. Anyone else catch it?

It was premiere week for Parenthood and Vampire Diaries and three highly anticipated sitcoms, Up All Night, The Secret Circle and Free Agents. I was so excited to have new shows to watch!

1. Parenthood- A lot more than a summer has passed for the Bravermans. It’s actually been 6 whole months since we left off with the fast talking family. Christina is hugely pregnant but still working hard to support the family, while poor Adam is lost without a job. Crosby is still obviously missing Jasmine, but he’s back to his womanizing ways. Luckily he is managing to still be a good daddy to the ever adorable Jabar. I was excited to see the hot teacher Sean make an appearance and I think we’ll be seeing more of him in Sarah’s life. I’m heartbroken for Haddie and her relationship, but I know that needs to end and fast. Alex is a hot mess, and he really shouldn’t be hanging out with a senior who is just harmlessly being that, a senior in high school. As great a guy as he is, he’s got way too many grown up problems and Haddie should focus on enjoying her youth. I feel terrible for Julia, and it must be so hard watching your sis in law swell with her third pregnancy while she’s desperately trying for a second. I have a feeling she’s going to offend the crap out of the latte girl when she asks if she can adopt her baby. But we’ll see, maybe it’ll be fate intervening.

2. Up All Night-I’ve been waiting all summer for this show. I love love love Christina Applegate and I love the whole premise of the show. It didn’t disappoint. The first scene, best quote, was “Quit saying there’s a baby in there. It’s like there’s a baby hiding in the closet with a knife or something.” Bahahahahaha, hilarious. Then the swearing scene. This is going to be a bleeping amazing show!!

3. The Secret Circle-All I will say is if you like Twilight, or Vampire Diaries, or any show with a supernatural vibe, you will LOVE The Secret Circle. Cassie is a recent orphan who moves in with her grandmother to a small town and discovers she’s a witch.

4. Tia & Tamara-Best quote of the episode, “You just don’t eat a pregnant lady’s cupcake.” Seriously, did Tamara have a death wish?! I can’t believe Tamara is so bad about learning how to incorporate Adam’s things into her condo. A lot of his stuff isn’t that bad actually. The clutter I don’t like, but he does have some great trinkets. She just needs to make him a man cave. It’s also really bad that she’s constantly calling the condo “her place”. It’s their place! They just really need to move to a new place that’s neutral. I also think it’s sort of silly that Tamara is seeing a therapist. I think she just needs to grow up a little. Tia seems a lot more mature and able to handle stress than her twin.

5. The Lying Game- The more I watch this show, the more I can’t stand Sutton. I guess maybe that was the writer’s goal? Sutton is mad because Emma is “screwing up her life one yearbook page at a time” when really she’s just making her a better, nicer, more caring person. It’s revealed at the end of this episode that the twins’ mother is actually still alive, and living in a nearby mental hospital. I’m ready for the next episode!

6. Free Agents-Mehhhh. I don’t know about this show. Pilots are sometimes weak so I will give it another shot, but so far I’m not that impressed. I like the cast so I had high hopes, but the storyline was so sad. A woman whose fiance died a year ago, and a man who’s going through a divorce. Sad sad sad. And we’re supposed to laugh at their misery?

7. Vampire Diaries-Elena has been searching for Stefan who is off killing people and doing Klaus’s bidding. He’s indebted to him for saving Damon’s life. Jeremy is seeing dead people everywhere he goes. Oh and he got way way hotter this year. There are an awful lot of hotties on this show. I think it’s the main reason I watch. I’m not a big fan of all the blood and guts, but I like the rest. I felt so bad for Elena and her heartbreak over knowing that Stefan is now a killer. But the phone call between them was one of those bittersweet and romantic moments that makes the show. I was so excited that Caroline and Tyler hooked up. Um, yum! But I can’t believe his mom shot Caroline with vervane. Craziness!

I loved the comic relief that Sydney provided when she stands off against Zeek. I was completely on his side. Whether or not Sydney wants to be a veggie, she still needs to follow the rules and can’t live off dessert alone. But it was too cute to watch her cross her arms and square off against the ever gruff Zeek.

The storyline for Crosby and Jasmine is so disappointing. What a downer! I can’t believe first, that Crosby slept with Max’s therapist, and second, that she quit because of it, though I don’t blame her. That would be so awful to run into Jasmine and have to face her, knowing you slept with her fiancé. The part where Adam screams at Crosby and telling Crosby he needs to face it that Max has Aspergers was powerful too. That poor family! They finally get things sorted out with their daughter and now this. Of course Max hears every word and wants to know what Aspergers is. I’m looking forward to next week’s episode and how they will explain things to Max.

Later Haddie “casually” runs into Alex while out with Amber and Max. Max comes home and spills the beans to his parents because he wants to play basketball again with Alex. You know Alex is the type of guy that has a lot of sport trophies. The guy as Max puts it, “is really really good at basketball. He’s a way better teacher than you dad.” I feel sorry for Adam because you can tell it hurts his feelings that his son rather learn sports from someone else.

Christina and Adam sit down with Haddie and have an adult discussion about her seeing Alex and agree that it is ok with some ground rules. I was proud of the Bravermans for having a real conversation and not doing that loud overtalk of each other that they always do. Haddie is thrilled and almost knocks her parents over with hugging them. Then later in the episode Christina, Adam, Max and Haddie head to the park and meet Alex. I love that instead of Adam struggling against Alex he decides to embrace his basketball skills and they all play a game. It was such a beautiful scene, and I could tell Alex was touched by the gesture.

Meanwhile there’s a different kind of homecoming going on with Drew and Amber. Their deadbeat druggie dad Seth is back. He meets Drew for lunch and Drew you can tell adores his dad. Amber gets in a fight with Drew about him seeing Seth and tells him about all of the horrible stuff that Seth did. My heart breaks for Amber because I can identify only too well with a deadbeat dad who wasn’t around much. Amber ends up taking Drew to see one of Seth’s shows. Seth sings a song about his children that of course seems to melt Amber’s heart. But after the show when they talk it is very strained and she ends up taking Drew home early. I liked that scene because it’s real. An absent dad can’t just sing a song and make it all better, it takes time.

I wonder if Seth will be a reoccurring character and if Zeek’s suspicions are true that Sarah does still have feelings for him. There wasn’t much happening with Julia this episode, they only had a brief cameo in this week’s episode. Crosby and Jasmine had a big story and one that I definitely didn’t like. Jasmine has become over the top controlling, changing everything about the wedding, and not allowing Crosby to make any decisions. Then they go to pre-marriage counseling as required by the church, and Crosby isn’t really getting a word in. You can see that Crosby is starting to get cold feet and I’m really sad to see it. At the same time, Jasmine could loosen up a little bit. Adam gives great advice to Crosby: “Marriage changes you. Deal with it.” He also points out that Jasmine grounds Crosby, and he is loosens her up, and that they are good for each other. Unfortunately Crosby seems to think that Jasmine grounds him to the point of stifling him. He gets in a fight with Jasmine and ends up sleeping on his house boat, surrounded by take out and beer bottles.

The previews for next week make me think there may not be a wedding. Damnit Crosby, it’s time to grow up!

Meanwhile, Adam’s boss is a total nut. It cracks me up that Adam’s boss gets him high with a sucker. But I love that even though he was high, he was still Super Dad and calmed his son down on his camping trip with Zeek.

Haddie does the right thing and apologizes to her parents for saying she chooses Alex over them. Cristina finally confesses to Adam that her mom ran away with her dad when she was only 16, and she’s afraid that Haddie will make the same mistake. She still hasn’t moved home yet and I’m worried she won’t go back.

The previews for next week have me intrigued. Aidan from Sex and the City is the druggie ex of Sarah! Now that is one yummy ex. I can’t wait to see what is in store.

Adam and Christina are struggling because they realize that Haddie’s boyfriend is a good guy. He’s  honest, he’s respectful and he’s mature. But that’s the problem. Haddie is 16, and they want her to be 16, not 16 going on 30. I remember being in a hurry to grow up, but it’s so true what Adam said. “She’s going to spend her whole life being grown up and having to make grown up decisions.” They just want her to enjoy being a teenager for as long as she can.

Still, it would break my heart to have to say no to my child when it comes to dating because I know what that feels like. I think they’re doing the right thing by not allowing her to date Alex, but they’re also pushing her towards lying and sneaking.

I’m curious to see how next week’s episode will go, and whether Camille will do the right thing and call Haddie’s parents. Will Camille take Haddie’s side and let her stay with them or will she back up her parents, as any rational grandparent should?

In the other storylines, I wasn’t that interested in Sarah’s storyline with her kid. He’s a slacker, and her dad shouldn’t have bailed him out, period. As for Crosby, go Cros for standing up to Jasmine and being a good parent. Kids shouldn’t be allowed to just quit when things are hard and I love that he encouraged Jabar to stick it out with the play. He is just too cute for words!

This week’s episode touched on a couple of things that I’ve noticed with today’s parenting techniques. Now I’m not a parent, so I know I really have no room to talk, but I do have some ideas about how I want to raise my kids. I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in recent years that I’ve nicknamed “phoofy” parenting. It’s all about the kids and being comfortable with who they are, and letting the kids basically have free rein. I’m all for kids being comfortable, but breaking out of that comfort bubble is ok too.

In the beginning of the episode, Julia stops by the YMCA to watch her daughter and husband in swim class. This is the phoofy parenting part. Joel says they’re just getting Sydney acclimated to the water, so even though she’s been in swim lessons for weeks, all she can do is blow bubbles in the water. I think Julia has ever right to be frustrated with this “technique”. She comes back to the pool the next week and tries to teach Sydney how to swim. She tells Sydney to swim to her, and Sydney gets scared and starts sinking, but she does kick to the surface and swims for the first time. Julia tells her how good she did but Sydney is freaking out because she wasn’t in her comfort zone. All the other moms look at Julia like she’s just tried to kill her child.

I think this is just RIDICULOUS. I mean, Julia did nothing wrong. Phoofy parenting on the rest of the group’s part in my opinion. I plan on raising my kids old fashioned style, and I think they could use a little more tough love than what I’ve seen out there in the world lately.

There was of course a lot more to the episode but that’s what resonated with me the most. I also hate this Raquel person who is getting way too familiar with Julia’s husband Joel. I want to bitch slap her! This show is just so great and real and exactly what we need in programming today. I hope everyone tunes in to watch!