Why Did I Like These? Top 8 Shows From My Childhood That Haven't Held Up

I was an even-tempered kid (most of the time), but you could be guaranteed a tantrum if you got in the way of my Little House obsession. I watched that show as religiously as Survivor fanatics watched the first couple of seasons. I was sure it was the Greatest Show Ever. Until a few years ago, I still remembered it with fondness...until I stumbled across an episode on cable. Yikes. What tripe! It's good for snark-fodder and nothing else. In fact, a stunning majority of the shows I watched in my grade school years are pretty cringe-worthy.

1.) Little House on the Prairie

2.) CHiPs (man, did I have a crush on Ponch!)

3.) Dukes of Hazzard (Bo is still kinda hot, though)

4.) Bionic Woman/The 6 Million Dollar Man (let's face it, they're the same show, they just changed the names on the scripts)

5.) Knight Rider

6.) Greatest American Hero

7.) Buck Rogers

8.) Facts of Life (you take the good, you take the bad...you misplace the good and you're left with this show)

You'll notice that Star Trek is not on this list. That's not because I think it held up well, it's because it doesn't fit the criteria for this list. To make this list, I had to have actually liked the show once upon a time. I always loathed that Star Trek drek, and I'll always hold a grudge against my mom for forcing me to watch it every Saturday while I folded the laundry. I enjoyed folding the laundry more than I enjoyed watching Star Trek, and I was just as lazy as a kid as I am now! That's sayin' something!

Visiting Sharkdog

My husband, my brother, and I went to visit Sharkdog in Oklahoma City last weekend. We had a lovely visit with the darling wee doggy. Oh, we also enjoyed spending time with his people, Rush and Alisha.

Some highlights of the trip

• Sharkdog's lady, Alisha, made us the very best goulash ever in the history of goulash. (Well, at least in my tastebuds' limited knowledge of the history of goulash.) And the humongous and tasty German cheesecake wasn't too shabby, either, Baby!
• Lunch at Ted's Escondido (best salsa and queso in the history of tastebuds) (not just my tastebuds--anyone's)
• Dinner at Chick-Fil-A (best fast food chicken ever in the history of chicken--they need a franchise in Boise, pronto!)
• Dessert at the Marble Slab in Brick Town (OKC has done itself proud in the cool place to hang out downtown department)
• Lunch at Johnnie's (maybe not the very best cheeseburger ever in the history of burgers, but definitely in the top 3)
• Delicious Red Velvet birthday cake courtesy of Alisha's mom (Happy Birthday, Alisha!)
• Dinner at Ted's Escondido (tasted so nice, we went there twice)

At this point, some of you may wonder if we really went to Oklahoma to visit Sharkdog, or if we used visiting Sharkdog as an excuse to eat yummy food. Fair question...I plead The Fifth.

More highlights of the trip

• Free airplane tickets
• Great conversation with Sharkdog's people
• Having someone else around to listen to Ty's way-over-my-head nerdy philosophizing (thanks for the break, Rush)
• Excellent wandering around time at the Full Circle Books in 50 Penn Place (a bookstore so cool I want to live in it)
• Worshiping God with something like 1200 other Christians
• Being present for a special introduction/presentation of Rush and Alisha's Vienna Mission Team
• Lingering over lunch with two lovely and charming ladies, Lydia and Sarah
• Fun surprising Sweet Baby James (aka Peach Fuzz) at church on Sunday morning (and meeting his beautiful wife)
• Fun surprising Sparky (aka Taylor) at church on Sunday (also the fun of calling a now-adult Taylor "Sparky")
• Fun surprising adorable Sharon and Little Bunny Foo Foo (I mean, Eric) at church on Sunday night
• Introducing my husband to Papa Baird and Yodie (the sponsors from my college semester in Vienna, parents of Sparky and Peach Fuzz)
• Just hanging around and talking about music with Sharkdog's dude, Rush, who has incontrovertably good taste in music (read: very similar to mine)
• Finding my Greek Bible on the floor of Sharkdog's peoples' car when I was pretty sure it was locked in an unoccupied church building

Some lowlights of the trip

• Steve getting sick a few hours after we arrived
• Steve giving me his crud a day later
• Cold, freakishly hard midwestern rainstorm and cars parked 12 miles from Bricktown (thanks for fetching them, boys)
• Not getting seats on the plane on the way home and driving a rental car from Vegas to Boise

As you can see, the many highlights of the trip far outweighed the lows. I hope next time we visit no one is suffering from an overabundance of snot.