With a Side of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

My grandparents with me on my wedding day

When I was a little girl, my mom and I lived with my grandma and grandpa for a while. This was a wonderful thing that allowed me to get quite close to my grandparents.

I have memories of grandpa at the table, reading the paper. He liked to joke with us about getting knuckle sandwiches. He liked watching the Chicago Cubs and Take Me Out to the Ballgame was a song I learned pretty early on in life.

Grandma ran an in-home daycare. When I wasn't at school, my days were spent playing outside. All of us "big kids" played outside while the babies napped. I was one of the older big kids and admittedly was pretty bossy. We played a lot of school and I was the teacher.

But at night, after dinner, after school work, I would spend most nights in the living room, watching tv. Sometimes we watched sports - when grandpa had control - but mostly, I remember grandma being in charge of what we watched. We would watch tv and many a nights, we'd enjoy a bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

And this is where I first watched Murder, She Wrote.

I'm positive most of the show went over my head. But I knew that Jessica was a really smart person. And she had been a teacher before being a writer and so I instantly liked her.

Honestly, I think I liked being "big" enough to sit with grandma, watch the show, and enjoy a nice bowl of ice cream. It made me feel like a grown up, which is a pretty wonderful feeling when you're a young child.

Grandma holding my middle child

When my oldest was very little, we lived on a pretty tight budget. We lived simply - before the time of cell phones that did a million things, when digital cameras were only owned by a select few, and we didn't pay for cable.

I was still in college, and so I did a lot of studying between being a mom. One day I was flipping through the tv trying to find something to watch. It was daytime and so the pickings were pretty slim. Somehow I stumbled on reruns of MSW. Instantly, I remembered watching tv with grandma and the memories were so wonderful, I just decided to watch it and I became hooked.

I tried to catch it most days - but eventually we lost the channel that aired it.

A few years later, cable became a thing and I was delighted to see that it was still being played on a regular basis and I was pleased.

Fast forward some more time, and when I learned that Netflix had all the seasons of MSW? I was thrilled! MSW whenever I wanted to? I could sit and have my own marathon of the show and not wait for the one weekend or so that Hallmark channel used to run it's marathon.

Every few years, I try to re-watch every episode of MSW.

I love Jessica. I love MSW. I love the show.

I've joked for a while now that I was going to start my own MSW blog. But why just joke about it? Why not actually just do it?

So here we are.

I give this idea a thumb's up!

JBF is my BFF. Because she kind of is! I love Jessica. She's a smart, intelligent woman. She has many talents. But mostly, it's a lovely show that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

Yes, I know Jessica is a fictional character.
Yes, I know it's all pretend.

But Angela Lansbury does such a good job of bringing her to life. {spoiler alert: I'm in love with Angela Lansbury too! If I could have her over for tea, I think I might die of excitement. Another intelligent, talented, strong woman ... I think it's why she does such a great job of being Jessica).

Anyway, all of this to say, I really love Muder, She Wrote.