What We’re Enjoying These Days: Comfort TV, Crafts, Books & Simple Joys

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:00:06

Hey, there. Welcome to getting to Good Enough. I'm Shannon Wilkinson.

Janine Adams: 00:00:10

And I'm Janine Adams. We're here for practical and fun conversations about living with more ease and way less stress.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:00:17

Yep. We're all about embracing progress over perfection. So grab a tasty beverage and let's get started. Hey, Janine.

Janine Adams: 00:00:26

Hey, Shannon. How you doing?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:00:28

I'm doing pretty well. How are you?

Janine Adams: 00:00:31

I'm doing well, too. I have all use of all my limbs, so I suspect I'm doing better than you.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:00:38

Well, I'm having much better use of my healing limb. Good. Look at this. Like, I couldn't raise it almost up to shoulder height without assistance.

Janine Adams: 00:00:52

That's excellent.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:00:53

Yeah.

I did see my physical therapist yesterday, and I was feeling kind of down, and then she reminded me I am out quite a ways from the first surgery, which was at the end of September. But I did just have another surgery two weeks ago, so trying to cut myself some slack. Yeah.

Janine Adams: 00:01:18

Yeah. Well, I'm glad. Well, you look good. You look like you feel good, so that's nice.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:01:22

Yeah. Well, no daytime narcotics anymore, so that helps.

Janine Adams: 00:01:28

Today's episode will go so easy.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:01:30

I still am, you know, really digging as I've shared Great British Bake off, my friends on the Great British Bake off, and. And I feel really compelled to visit them on a regular basis.

Janine Adams: 00:01:44

Well, you got me visiting them. I mean, not very far into it, but I am enjoying. They're. All of them are just very nice people.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:01:51

Yeah. Yeah. You know what's really funny is I'm listening to a book, a novel that is about an American woman that goes to England.

It's called welcome to Murder Week, I think. But she was just talking in the book about the Great British Baking show and how Americans don't get how it's such a different kind of competition.

Like, they support each other and the bakers help each other, and, like, obviously it's a competition, but. Yeah, it's just so nice.

Janine Adams: 00:02:30

Yeah.

I thought you were gonna say that you were reading a novel where somebody, an American, goes and competes on the Great British Baking show, which would be perfect for you.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:02:41

Right. Well, there is, in real life, not in a novel, the Great American Baking show, where Americans go to England to compete.

Janine Adams: 00:02:54

They go to the tent.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:02:56

They go to the tent. And Paul and Prue.

Janine Adams: 00:02:59

Oh, that's fun.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:03:01

I did see that are the judges.

Janine Adams: 00:03:02

And, yeah, I saw that was a selection, but I didn't realize it was. They were in England. That makes it more interesting to me.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:03:09

Yeah, it is more interesting.

Janine Adams: 00:03:11

And there's a book, a novel that I read a few years back. Sonali Dev is the author. She does those books based on Jane Austen books.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:03:20

Do you know what I'm talking about?

Janine Adams: 00:03:21

Right. And she had one where one of the main characters was competing in a show like that. Did you ever read that one?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:03:31

It must be a different one, because I don't think it was by her.

Janine Adams: 00:03:34

Oh, probably I'm mixed up in my head. That's highly likely.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:03:38

Yeah. I'll think about what that was, but that I listened to. I read with my ears, as you say, and it was a very delightful listen.

Janine Adams: 00:03:53

Oh, that's a different book because you turned me onto that book, which I really enjoyed. So I'm curious, are you watching anything besides the Great Bricks British Baking Show?

Because our intention today is just to talk about the stuff that we're into these days. Right, right.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:04:09

Yeah. And as I'm trying to branch out, I'm limited, but so I'm still sort of TV and book focused.

And on the Great British Baking show theme, there's a junior version, which is adorable. One of the contestants on the first season of Great British Bake off that's available on Netflix.

I think it's season five on there, but it's the first one that's available. And there's one of the contestants is Liam Charles.

Janine Adams: 00:04:49

Oh, yeah. That's the season I'm watching, so. I know.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:04:52

Yeah. I thought that was. He's, I think 18, maybe, or I.

Janine Adams: 00:04:57

Want to say 19.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:04:57

Yeah, 19. So he's one of the judges for the juniors.

Janine Adams: 00:05:03

Oh, that's delightful.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:04

Yeah, it's really delightful.

Janine Adams: 00:05:07

Oh, wow.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:07

It's sort of like, you know, reading a book series where, like, you get to revisit some of your favorite characters.

Janine Adams: 00:05:15

You're right. That's excellent.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:19

And I feel like this is such a stereotypical thing as an American to really enjoy British accents, but children with British accents.

Janine Adams: 00:05:30

Delightful.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:32

Yeah.

Janine Adams: 00:05:32

Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:33

So cute. And I've also learned some really good British swears that I didn't know were swears.

Janine Adams: 00:05:40

Did you learn them from the children?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:43

No, the children don't.

Janine Adams: 00:05:44

Okay.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:45

But from the adults. Pants. Do you know pants as a sort of a mild swear? Mm.

Janine Adams: 00:05:51

Mm. No.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:52

But it's. It's akin to saying, I think, crap.

Janine Adams: 00:05:55

Oh. Huh. Interesting.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:05:57

Like. Like there are characters who go, ugh, pants. It's like, what is that? I had to Google it.

Janine Adams: 00:06:05

Yeah. Oh, that's funny.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:06:06

And then someone said, ugh, such a bag of pants. What does that even mean? And I guess it's because pants British, English. Pants are underpants, like underwear. Oh, I see.

And what we call pants or trousers.

Janine Adams: 00:06:22

It's so funny because this came up in a book I'm listening to with my ear. Reading with my ears. I'm reading. It's the woman in Sweet Eleven. Sorry, the Ruth Ware novel.

That's the ten Years later sequel to sort of to the woman in cabin 10 from. Which was a great deal back then.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:06:43

Anyway, I remember that.

Janine Adams: 00:06:44

Yeah. The main character is English and she's married to an American. And she makes this comment about how she can't believe Americans call trousers pants.

And she just can't get used to hearing her kids say that. And I thought, oh, that's an odd thing. And I didn't understand it, but I didn't bother to Google it. And you've informed me.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:02

Oh, well, happy to help.

Janine Adams: 00:07:05

Yes.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:06

Yeah. And now you can say pants is a swear.

Janine Adams: 00:07:08

Yeah. Who knew? Yeah, it's a.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:11

And no one will know. No one will understand. They'll just look at you quizzically.

Janine Adams: 00:07:15

Yeah. And then maybe it loses its impact in that case.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:18

Yeah, I guess so. But.

But I have ventured into other television, and if you're into sort of thriller, suspense, mystery kind of stuff, there's some great series that I really have loved. We're in the middle of Down Cemetery Road, which is on Apple tv.

Janine Adams: 00:07:47

I saw the promo for it. I want to say it. Emma Thompson. Right. It's good.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:54

Emma Thompson.

Janine Adams: 00:07:55

Oh, good.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:07:56

It's so good. Well, so it's based on a Mick Heron book, who also wrote the book series that Slow Horses is based on.

Janine Adams: 00:08:07

Right.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:08:08

So. And it's. I think it's produced by the same people who produce the series, Slow Horses, which is also such fantastic television.

But Down Cemetery Road is really good. I'm really enjoying it. I also watched, like, the Netflix phenomenon, the Beast in Me.

Janine Adams: 00:08:38

Oh, yeah, we're slowly watching that right now.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:08:41

That's intense.

Janine Adams: 00:08:45

Yeah. Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:08:47

So that's one where you need what we fondly refer to as a palate cleanser afterwards, before. If you watch it at night, before you go to bed.

Janine Adams: 00:08:57

Right. So good.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:09:00

So good. And got some gore and some psychotic behavior. That's pretty tough to watch. Yeah.

Janine Adams: 00:09:10

I want to finish it because I want to know how it ends, and I also want it to be over with. But Barry is not a binger. And it's competing with the Beatles Anthology, the new docu series on Disney that we only do one episode a night of that.

But we don't seem to have more than one episode of Anything in us these days, we get start so early or I don't know why, but so yeah, that one's good. The beast in me and the performances are just so good. The actors are awesome. Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:09:47

Yeah, it's really good. And I just sort of wish Claire Danes got to play like a normal, healthy person at some point, but she's so good at playing.

Janine Adams: 00:09:59

Maybe this is her choice as an actress. She doesn't want to be in. Be Kristen Bell in whatever that Netflix series is. Right.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:10:08

Which is also delightful, by the way. Speaking of, nobody wants this.

Janine Adams: 00:10:13

The least memorable series name ever. I can never remember what the name of that thing is. Yeah, yeah, I don't love that show for some reason.

I watched the first season all at once, but I don't know.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:10:25

Yeah, I really enjoyed it.

There's a episode in the second season where they go to an event that the male lead is performing a ceremony as the rabbi and they meet this other woman and her husband. And it turns out that that's Adam Brody. Is that his name?

Janine Adams: 00:10:55

I think that's his name. Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:10:56

His wife in real life is this wife. And the man who plays her husband is like married to someone else. And then, you know, and it's this whole sort of incestuous thing.

And there's this really funny clip that is sort of an outtake where it's like, hey, Kristen, who's that? Oh, that's my boyfriend's wife. And you know.

Janine Adams: 00:11:30

Who's that?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:11:30

Oh, that's my husband's sister. And who's that? And that's my sister's wife. And it goes around and around.

Janine Adams: 00:11:38

Yeah, yeah, I think I saw that on Instagram or somewhere. But yeah, that's funny. I know. I always love that story stuff. The Netflix show that I enjoyed a lot recently was the one with Ted Danson.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:11:53

Oh, yeah.

Janine Adams: 00:11:54

The man on the inside. And this season is set in a university rather than a nursing home, but. Or retirement home.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:12:01

I haven't watched the second season.

Janine Adams: 00:12:03

It's delightful. And Mary Steenbergen is in it and so that's lovely.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:12:08

Oh, nice.

Janine Adams: 00:12:08

Yeah. So to me, it's the. That's feel good tv. I enjoy that.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:12:11

Yeah, yeah. I've been sort of saving that as a palate cleanser when we run out of our current palate cleansers, which are lady parts.

Do you know the show Lady Parts? It's about an all women Muslim punk band in England.

Janine Adams: 00:12:36

Well, those are not words that usually go together.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:12:39

No. And they're. And the band is called Lady Parts.

Janine Adams: 00:12:42

Oh, okay. So you recommend it?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:12:44

I do. I really enjoy it. You know, I think it might be on Peacock, but it's really good. They. The.

There's a band, an existing band, but they don't really have a lead guitar. And they end up recruiting this woman who's in the process of getting her PhD in some science field to play lead guitar for them.

And she has very, very severe stage fright and does not want to do it. So it's sort of her working through that and it. I really. I enjoy it a lot.

Janine Adams: 00:13:27

Oh, that's great. Oh, I peacock off to Look. Look for that. That's excellent.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:13:33

Yeah. And I'll just warn you, the songs are super catchy. And so I find myself walking around humming Bushier with a good beard.

Janine Adams: 00:13:46

Excellent.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:13:47

Which is, you know, a phrase that would never occur to me otherwise.

Janine Adams: 00:13:52

Yeah, that's funny. Yeah. Yeah.

This Palate cleanser show, so there's one, like half hour shows where you just need to get whatever you just watched out of your head are great. We went through the whole, I don't know, seven seasons of New Girl. You know, those network shows that have 22 episodes, and that was great.

And now we're watching Happy Endings. You know, Happy Endings came out about around the same time. Both of them have Damon Wayans Jr. Who is the greatest. Yeah. So that's been enjoyable.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:14:27

Yeah. For some reason, we're on a. Like a school teacher kick with our palate cleansers. Except for lady parts. Cabot elementary.

Janine Adams: 00:14:39

Yeah. AP Bio.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:14:41

AP Bio.

Janine Adams: 00:14:42

Love that show.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:14:43

Yeah. English teacher.

Janine Adams: 00:14:46

To me, that's second season.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:14:49

The English teacher I thought was so fun.

Janine Adams: 00:14:53

Oh, good. Oh, I'm glad to know that because I always felt like it paled in comparison to AP Bio, so I never really gave it a good chance.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:15:01

Oh, I thought it was better than AP Bio.

Janine Adams: 00:15:04

Maybe. I just like the guy, the star of AP Bio so much. And it could be also those quirky kids.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:15:11

I. Heather was my favorite.

Janine Adams: 00:15:13

Heather was my favorite. I want to see her in other things. I haven't looked her up. Maybe she is in other things.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:15:19

Yeah. But. Yeah, So a lot of. A lot of TV watching has been happening around here and reading mostly with my ears. I. I've been surprised.

I've have kind of kept up with my. The amount of reading I've been doing, even though I wasn't really able to read. I normally read on my Kindle.

So there's another thing I love is Libby. And I really couldn't read with my eyes for, I don't know, eight Weeks or so. Like, I just couldn't really concentrate and.

Janine Adams: 00:15:58

But you're able to concentrate when you were listening to the book?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:16:02

Well, because I would listen while I was doing other things, so that always helps.

Janine Adams: 00:16:10

Yeah. I have realized that I'm not using my Kindle at all. Also, love Libby. Love my Kindle.

And my ideal was always to down find a book that was available both audio and Kindle format on Libby, the public library app. And now I. I don't think I've opened my Kindle in ages because I now listen. What? Read with my ears while I brush my teeth and while I go to sleep.

So I used to read and with my eyes when, after I turn out the light, but now I just have it. I listen with my ears.

I set the timer for nine minutes, and then in the morning when I'm emptying the dishwasher and listening again, I go back eight minutes.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:16:54

Because you fell asleep really fast. I was like, impressed with nine minutes, but that you set up for nine minutes and then go back eight minutes.

Janine Adams: 00:17:05

Yeah, I'm a good sleeper. Wow. Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:17:08

So send some of that juju my way.

Janine Adams: 00:17:10

Yeah. You know, remember, I come by it naturally with the narcoleptic mom. So that's. So that result is.

Now I don't even have to worry about whether or not it's available on Kindle. I just do the. The audio format and it's worked out very nicely.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:17:26

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, that's really great.

Janine Adams: 00:17:29

Yeah. Yeah. Libby is. Libby's terrific. Um, when I watch tv, I usually like to do something else.

know, I've knitted for since: 2005

And now it's really cold here and I'm cold. So I'm knitting.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:17:55

Yeah. Oh, knitting things to keep me warm.

Janine Adams: 00:17:58

And I keep finding. I keep. I have found two, at least maybe three almost finished single fingerless gloves in my stash. Yeah. So that was a nice surprise.

I just finished it and then wore it. But. But I've made some more. And I'm bound and determined not to buy yarn. So I. When I moved, I really pared down my yarn stash.

And because I have about two thirds the space to store than I did at my house, and. And I use the app ravelry. It's a web app to find patterns that work with my yarn. The yarn that I have. Right. That's the one. And it is the greatest.

It has so many uses, but for me right now, that's the one. So I can search on, you know, finger, fingering weight yarn, fingerless gloves and see the patterns and then I see a pattern. Then it gives you.

Shows you what other people. What other yarn people have used for. Or I can search in the yarn I have and see what people have made with it. So it's been really great.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:19:04

Yeah.

Janine Adams: 00:19:05

That's been keeping me busy with trying to make warm things. Trying to stay warm.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:19:14

Yeah. Well, you know, it's nice to have, like cozy stuff on you while you're.

Janine Adams: 00:19:20

That's right. I made a hat yesterday. Two days ago, a hat that. That is perfect.

It doesn't look very good, but it's perfect under my hood of my heaviest coat, which without a hat isn't sufficient. So that was a big win. Although I got my haircut yesterday and it was snowing, so I put my hat on and it totally wrecked my hair.

So it's really bad hat for hat hair, but who cares?

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:19:51

Well, your hair looks great today.

Janine Adams: 00:19:53

Well, thank you. I washed it after I wore the hat today. Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:20:00

Anyway.

Well, I'm enjoying the things that I'm doing right now and I'm loving learning some new things from you, but I'm also looking forward to being able to branch out and do some other things in the future.

Janine Adams: 00:20:14

Go out, leave the house and do some things.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:20:17

Leave the house, do some of my crafty things. I would love to get back to making some spoons, for instance.

Janine Adams: 00:20:25

Oh, yeah, I'm waiting for my spoon for you.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:20:27

Carving. Yeah. Well, you can blame my shoulder for you not having a spoon. You and everyone else. I promised a spoon, too. That never got one.

I have a freezer full of wood.

Janine Adams: 00:20:42

Words I've never said.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:20:44

Yeah. Words I never expected to say.

Janine Adams: 00:20:48

Yeah.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:20:50

But we, we would love to hear from you, our listeners and watchers. What have you been doing for fun? What are you into? What's entertaining you these days?

-GT GE. That's: 4843

You can also head over to our website, gettingtogoodenough.com and sign up for emails from us. And you'll get email with each new episode. Until next time, this is Shannon Wilkinson in Portland, Oregon, and Janine Adams in St. Louis, Missouri.

And we hope that Good Enough is getting easier for you. Thanks for joining us on Getting to Good Enough. We hope you heard something that makes your life just a little bit easier.

If you did, leave us a review or share this with someone who's looking for their own version of Good Enough.

Janine Adams: 00:21:57

Thanks for listening. See you soon.

Shannon Wilkinson: 00:22:08

I do sort of feel compelled to say that I do think more than watch tv.

Janine Adams: 00:22:12

I don't believe you.