Daytime t.v.

I apologize in advance if I offend you. I never really knew what was on daytime television. Like most of you, I have either been working for a living during the day and didn't choose to spend any of my days off in front of the tube. Or - at a later season in life when I was working from home I couldn't have the t.v. on because I was on the phone all the time and needed to maintain a 'professional environment.'

My friend Charlsie came to visit yesterday and she was telling me how last week she realized that it was summer (just like I did) but more than anything she realized that during the summer people are at the pool, eating lunches under umbrellas and slaving away in the sun with a cocktail in hand. When you are working 50+ hours a week you just sort of forget that there is a whole world of mama's and kiddos that pile in suburbans and head to country clubs and they play all summer long...all day, everyday. It's really quite beneficial that you forget that this happens. I would hate to really know what kinds of bliss people are experiencing in the summer while I was sitting in an uncomfortable fake leather chair in an office with the only window across the hall and the AC cranked so high that I can't even sit in one position long enough to attempt to daydream about a cocktail and a pool with a lifeguard. Welcome to Corporate America during the summer time! Occasionally my old company would bring in some buckets of ice cream and a few toppings on a Friday afternoon just to help us take in the summer months. This was certainly a nice attempt. A for effort.....or is it "E" for effort?

The same is true for day time television. I didn't even know it existed until now. I thought it ended when Perry Mason went off the air, back when my mama served me a fried bologna sandwich and spaghetti-o's for lunch. I remember being home with my mama when she was raising four kids and I would see shows like Days of Our lives and Three's Company on in the living room while mama ironed and played house. But surely the really white haired man on Days of our Lives couldn't still be running the airwaves of daytime tv! In these first 4 weeks of motherhood - I have found that I have been wrong. He is still there a long with many of the same characters and story lines from the 80's. Now instead of absolute trash on tv though there are a few daytime shows seeking to make me better.....like The Doctors (10am). And then there is Tyra - as in Tyra Banks the supermodel. I have been missing her advise on anything from fashion to family boundaries all these years! Tragic! At 2pm you have Miss Martha Stewart followed by the witty Rachael Ray. Now, I really do like Rachael. I have never actually made one of her meals she models but I do like that she is joyful and positive and a breath of fresh air for day time tv. Even though I can tell you the daily line up I would still tell you that I don't actually watch this stuff. I just like to have it on while the babe and I hang out in the condo - waiting for his immunities to build and my energy to come back (hopefully as he starts to sleep longer). But last Thursday I was writing some thank you notes and all of a sudden our beautiful tv made a funny sound and turned off. Ever since then there have been three constantly blinking lights. I am very proud to say - I did some troubleshooting of my own and found the problem. Now we are waiting for a lamp to come in the mail that supposedly will fix the tv. At first, I thought nothing of the little tv crash. I don't watch it anyway. But after about 7 minutes of absolute silence I was going nuts! I realized then and there that I am addicted to the noise of the tv. Maybe I feel like I am having adult conversation or something or that I have "friends" over during the long baby-filled days. I sound like a lunatic saying that I am actually 'friends' with my tv but try staying home in the heat of summer, alone, with a person that can only communicate through crying and see if you, too, start begging someone on the screen to just listen to you....or better yet, watch the baby so you can go potty! Ha! (Side note: I LOVE my time with the babe! I love that I get to sit at home and watch him grow ever so slowly with very few interruptions. I think I am the luckiest girl in the world to enjoy days like these at home with a little one around.)

Anyway, The lamp should come tomorrow and I am thrilled. Never again will I think any horrid thoughts of people who sit and watch daytime television all day and then buy things off QVC or off of the horrendous ads that run throughout the day. It sure has been an interesting 5 days with Brad and I having to find other things to occupy the time that we swore we weren't watching tv. We've walked the neighborhood 8 times over. We have looked at every house on the market in the Metro-Atlanta area just to dream. We have vacuumed 4 times now and everything has been put exactly in it's place. I am sitting here writing to you just to help me forget that I am missing Whoopi's voice as she rants and raves on the View. Never did I think I would say that! I can see how families without televisions are forced to interact on a much more intimate level. I have been forced to turn on my soothing music for the baby to hear some white noise. I have finished thank you notes that were long over due and Brad and I have enjoyed some great conversation this week (though he may have been wishing he could actually see the US OPEN rather than have me pretend narrate it from a blank tv screen....I'm so entertaining!)

Bottom line: If it weren't for the eerie quietness during the day I would truly be okay if the lamp for the tv never showed up in my mailbox. Soon enough the bambino will start having conversations with me and there will be no need for the expensive little part anyway.