Obsessions

I have come to realize that I have a new found obsession with being obsessed with things. It makes me very happy doing/watching the things that I am "obsessed" with. Some, more normal than others. I'm adding some pictures for your viewing pleasure. So here goes..

The number one thing I am obsessed with are television programs. I seriously cannot stop watching shows like Real Housewives, Jerseylicious, Regis and Kelly, Rachael Ray and the Price is Right. My DVR is filled every day with all of my favorites, and I will watch them all in a row. When Raym and I didn't live together, it was so hard deciding on what to watch because we only had the one TV in his basement where we would hang out every night. Usually, he would be a Prince and let me watch whatever, but eventually, all of the Jerseylicious Housewives got to him. The answer was NO. So naturally, I was thrilled to move into a house where we have 5 TVs for the three of us. At first, I was hesitant to pay for this DVR business (I didn't have it at my parents' house). Thirty bucks a month still seems outrageous to me, but as of recent, I love the DVR feature. Anyway, last night, the Giants game was on and I was tickled pink that I could watch my shows upstairs in bed, hopped up on my pain killers from my surgery. I'm recovering fairly well, thanks for asking. 

I remember when Jerseylicious first came out earlier this year, I had zero intention of watching it. I have heard people talking about it here and there but I didn't want to get sucked in. A little over a month ago, just before I moved, I watched an episode. IMMEDIATELY I was hooked. It's as if knew these gals all my life and within a week, I was pretty much caught up and all in the know. I think this became Ray's LEAST favorite show of mine. 

Another long-time obsession is The Real Housewives. I initially started watching the Orange County one, and it still remains my favorite. Then naturally as the seasons went on, New York and NJ were soon to follow. Again, not until recently, I started watching the Atlanta Housewives. They are some crazy bitches! NeNe is my girl. She is totally that stereotypical wylin' Southern Black woman and I LOVE her for that. At first I was almost offended by her, because generally I do not like people who speak their mind THAT much and she came off a little mean, but after giving the show a chance, she grew on me. Now that girl Phaedra, she's a dummy. Not by intelligence, but by her common sense. Some of the things she says are so off the wall. For example, on last night's episode, she didn't know that women deliver babies in the birthing suite that they're checked into.

On to more normal shows, like Reg n Kel. The chemistry between those two is so funny. He talks nonsense most of the time and she just laughs at him, followed by a personal funny story. That girl has so many stories. I recently requested tickets and my request was processed, so hopefully within the next several weeks I will be able to go to a taping! And I'm crossing my fingers I get a day where I don't have work early. 

Aside from my obsessions with rotting my brain with television, I absolutely adore decorating this house. Like I've said before, every other day I purchase something for the house. Today, I bought a really cute rustic looking rolling pin and last night, a Pumpkin Spice diffuser, yummo! I have so many kitchen utensils but all are put to good use. My favorite is the garlic grater. Rachael Ray inspired me to get one because she uses garlic in almost every recipe, just as I do. It's so much easier and efficient than a garlic press because I feel that with a press, a lot of the garlic gets wasted and you have to reload several times. My next dish is going to be Stroganoff with Swedish Meatballs. (Bought at IKEA, HEY!)

VOM.COM

Which to choose?

Several weeks ago I purchased a sample size of "Toffee Crunch" paint for my room. You can imagine what it's supposed to look like. I used the sample and started on the wall behind my bed, as an accent wall. It seemed like a nice color and went out and bought a quart sized can to finish the wall. After I was done, I was HORRIFIED. It looked like I smeared diarrhea all over. It doesn't match anything in my room. I ran back to the Home Depot and got color swatches. I think I'm going to go with a cream color, to offset the brown in my room. Who knew cream comes in so many different shades? Decisions, decisions.

On kind of an off topic obsession, I have always felt strongly about censorship on television and radio, especially regarding children. Growing up, I was never really punished for many things but I wasn't allowed to say bad words. Not the usual that you may probably think, but in my household, "shut up, you're stupid and I hate you" were big no-no's. I remember when I was in the fourth grade, I was watching Hey Arnold. It was the episode where Helga was invited to a girly sleep over and the girls were doing makeovers. Helga left and said something along the lines of "What a bunch of crap". I was appalled. To me, crap was a bad word, especially when I was 9 years old. Fast forward to today, I was driving with my nephew listening to 101.9 RXP which was playing "Monkey Wrench" by the Foo Fighters; awesome song. They blatantly say the word "shit" and it wasn't bleeped out! Seriously, what is the world coming to? I'm not trying to be a tight ass about this, but come on. For instance, when I'm out with my brother and nephew at a restaurant and there are people curing around us, I have no problem asking them to stop. I don't want to subject my kids to that kind of behavior because they're going to grow up to be THE people who are cursing in front of kids and think it's okay. And that's all I have to say about that. One.

Post-Op Blues

So I'm about 24 hours into recovery. Yesterday I had surgery and I got a septoplasty and an endoscopy of my sinuses. I was not really worried about the surgery at all. Raymond dropped me off at Robert Wood Johnson University Medical in Rahway, checked in, got in my robe, got blood taken, IV put in, watched some Saved By The Bell and Reg n Kel, then they wheeled me off to the "on deck" waiting area for surgery. As they strapped me on to the operating table, I was joking with the anesthesiologist and having a good time. The doctor said he was pumping in the medicine to make me sleepy and the last thing I remember was exclaiming how bad it tasted; which was weird because it was injected through the IV. And then, black out city.
I woke up to the sound of someone saying that I was in the recovery room. I couldn't move or open my eyes, but my mind was racing. I felt like I was in a terrible horror movie, where I was under anesthesia but my brain wasn't asleep and I heard and felt everything but I couldn't scream. Every breath I took felt like I was inhaling gasoline and it was burning my insides. They threw an oxygen mask on me but before I could even talk yet I started crying. I couldn't control myself because it hurt so badly, but my body still didn't function. I lay there so still, but blubbering, listening to everything around me, it was surreal. I knew I had to just wait it out and let the medicine wear off. So that's what I did for what felt like hours. When I finally got my mouth open I told them how much pain I was in and they gave me morphine, which didn't even seem to help. Finally my eyes opened and I lost it. My mouth was so dry I couldn't even speak anymore. I kept guzzling down ice chips and hittin' that morphine. I had complications during surgery where I swallowed a lot of blood and that caused me to feel sick and not "wake up" as fast as I should have. I had to stay in recovery almost 2 hours longer than I was supposed to. Finally I was taken back to my room where I had to eat and drink. Eating that turkey sangwich was unbearable. Every time I swallowed, I was choking because there was no saliva in my mouth. My mom came early because she was worried that I was in there so much later than I had to be. I finally got dressed, checked out and went home. 
I sat on my couch the rest of the day/night with a 12 ply gauze strip rolled up under my nose strapped from ear to ear with an ice pack on my face. YAY! I have been gushing blood from my nose ever since. The doctor said it's normal. My garbage can looks like I slaughtered an animal. My directions for sleeping were to sit up. BRUTAL. I would wake up every ten minutes to sip water because my mouth felt like sandpaper. Then, since I'm not a mouth-breather, I would stop breathing and wake myself up. Then every hour I had to pee from drinking 73 glasses of water. And, of course, changing my nose period pad in between. Eventually I gave up and had to lay down. It was heaven, the minute my head hit the pillow I was out. Then in the wee hours of the morning I woke up with blood pooled in my mouth and back of my throat, so laying down wasn't such a hot idea; they warned me! So actual sleep was not part of my agenda last night. 
All the medicine I have to take is so wacky too. I can't take one without eating, I can't take the other until 2 hours after I take an antacid, the next one I have to take only when the planets are aligned, it's ridiculous! Sheesh, can't a girl get a break?? Now I have to clean the house for Thanksgiving Jr. tonight, it's a tradition we have with our friends where a week before actual Thanksgiving, we go have a feast at Boston Market. I'm very excited for tonight. I love being with my friends and when we all get together, it's like old times. I hope I'm not a boob tonight and go to bed at like eight. 
Anyway, hopefully I won't asphyxiate on my own lack of breathing. I smell, I need to take a shower. One.

Hot Mama!

Pre-Op Blues

Hellew. Ugh I am feeling a bit under the weather. I haven't written in a while. Let me recap my weekend.

On Friday, I had my brother, Nicky, and my nephew, Alex, slept over. I picked them up and we came back here, watched some TV, Ray played video games with them and we just hung out. It was such a nice feeling seeing them both so happy to be with me. They miss me so much and I miss them too!

I bought these AMAZING curtains for my bedroom. They are those light eliminating ones. I purchased them at Walmart for a set of two for $14 in dark brown. The weird thing is that they're almost sheer but they seriously block out SO much light. When I sleep, it needs to be completely quiet and dark. Sometimes I would rather run away and sleep in a cave if it meant darkness and quiet. In the morning, it is not pitch black in my room, but a perfect amount of light where if I do open my eyes, I can go right back to bed. I am really proud of them and I definitely found a great purchase!

Saturday was such a gorgeous day! Like, unreal. It was the first time I cleaned up the leaves from the yard. I borrowed my mom's leaf blower and went to town. It felt so nice to be outside, and it didn't feel like work at all. When the weather is nice, I get into such a great mood. Everything just seems right. I'm one of those people that gets effected by the weather. When it's nice outside, I am beaming, but when it's nasty, like yesterday, I turn into wet mop. That's why I enjoy my daily walks not only for exercise, but to feel good on the inside. Sunday I worked and then went to The Tavern and watched the end of the Jets game (WAHOO) and then most of the Giants game. Raymond likes the G-Men and was getting upset when I was cheering for Dez Bryant on the Cowboys who's on my Fantasy team and has been KILLING it week after week for me. 

I've been sitting with a hot wash cloth on my cheek because the pressure is so built up in my sinuses. It feels like someone is tightening a screw under my eye. If it gets any tighter, I feel like my eyeball is about to pop out. My teeth are numb too. I'm getting a septoplasty tomorrow morning. I have been getting pretty bad sinus infections for the past one and a half years. One just popped up yesterday and this is my second one in a month! The surgery, as far as I know, consists of breaking my septum and straightening it out, so each sinus gets equal air intake. Then going into my right cheek, through the nose, where my infected sinuses are, with a camera and some kinds of tool to clean out all of the nasty tissue that is causing the problems. They said it's only a 45 minute procedure and I will be leaving that day. I have to be at the hospital at 6:30am and hopefully leaving that afternoon. I'm not too nervous, because two years ago I had my tonsils taken out and surgery/recovery went really well. I really like my nose the way it is, I think it's a very cute nose, and I'm a little worried that I'm going to come out looking like Michael Jackson lol. I have off two weeks of work because I work with kids and have to bend up and down a lot, and that's a no-no when a kid can smack me in the face and then my nose explodes in a blood gush Carrie style. What a lonely girl I sure will be being home by myself EVERYDAY for the next two weeks! I apologize now for any inappropriate blogs fueled by my altered state of mind from the pain killers I will be taking. 

I have to make sure I clean up well today because we're having company on Friday night and we all know how neurotic I am about keeping a clean house. Overall, the house is pretty clean though. I'm gonna make some lunch and start my day. I will definitely post about how my surgery went and my experience; hopefully it will help someone else! One.

Pimpin Ain't Easy

Hello. This first thought isn't what's going to be the point of this blog, but I just have to write it down. So I'm watching Rach and dang, the yummy meals she comes up with look so appetizing! She's making White Minestrone with Fennel and Sausage. HELLO? How awesome does that soup sound? (Sans the beans though, bleh!) I really like her because she uses "idiot proof" ingredients that are usually found in your fridge/pantry. She introduced me to things like rosemary and spinach, which I put both in like everything I cook. Although I do love my girl Ina Garten, her recipes are a little too hoity toity for my not-so-advanced cooking style. Maybe one day I'll muster enough courage and go Julia Child on my kitchen's ass and make her beloved "Boeuf Bourguignon". I just love saying that. 

Now on to my point. The biggest lesson I am learning (note, not learned, YET) since living in my new house is to pick your battles. Good golly, that is something I cannot get a grasp on quite yet. It is making me so frustrated not only at other people, but myself. The smallest things have been making me so irate and I blow up and it's just plain not nice! Sorry Raym! I guess not having to follow my parents' rules anymore; not that I had any strict rules, but you know what I mean, I have realized that I want things my way or the highway, baby. I like to keep a clean house. I designated almost every item to have its own spot somewhere. When such items are moved or something is cluttered, that totally throws off the feng shui of the room and I go apeshit. It's very unsettling after I freak out, then I feel guilty, but it's hard for me to swallow my pride and apologize. At least I'm being honest. Define irony, though. My bedroom at my parents' house was a MESS. Not dirty with food or grime lol but I had a lovely carpet of clothes and crap just everywhere. I guess since I never really had my friends over in my room, that's why my room was pretty unkempt. Now that I have guests over the house, I care about what they think of it, and when the aesthetics are off, I get embarrassed.

Since I've started walking, it gives me a lot of the cliche "me time". I usually have my iPhone going and I don't really think deeply about many things, but when I come back home and plop on the couch, something inside me feels different. I feel like all the weight of my frustration has been lifted, without me even thinking about it. It's truly amazing what a little fresh air and exercise can do for the soul. 

It's really not worth it to argue over why socks were left under the table or why the bedskirt isn't folded over the right way. I'm trying to let things go. But if I keep cleaning up myself, nothing gets accomplished. My world is a giant Catch-22. Someone needs to play the world's smallest violin for the loneliest girl in the world. 

::holds head in hands and lets out a pathetic sigh::

One thing I love is taking pictures of my food. I had a very simple breakfast today but I think food photographs so nicely! I would love to be a photog for Food Network Magazine and just capture the essence of deliciousness that comes off a picture. One day in April I was at Borders and I literally stopped in my tracks and grabbed the Food Network Magazine because of now amazing the cover was. I immediately got a subscription and I flip through the pages ever so gingerly as if I was a 10 year old looking through a Playboy for the first time.

I guess now my homework is to work on picking my nose, er, battles. Then don't let things get to me. And keep on snapping pics of my food. That just makes me smile. And if someone would just PICK UP THEIR DANG SOCKS, I would soon turn into the happiest girl in the world :)

ONE.

 Breffis- 2 slices of turkey bacon, gala apples,
 jack cheese and OJ. Yumm-o!

On my walk, the corner of Henry and Coles. What gorgeous leaves!

The issue that changed my life. 

Blog Cherry

Hey friends, this is my first ever blog. Let me get something out of the way, I'm not really a lonely girl, it's more of this alter-ego that I have when I am home alone. Inspired by "Lonelygirl15" a few years back, who pretended to be this quirky girl but turned out to be a hoax. I feel like a stay at home housewife whose husband is off at work and the kids are at school. Out of my 6 day work week, usually 2-3 days I have a later shift, leaving me to my new house to take care of.
Just a quick synopsis of how my day starts (on my days where I don't go to work until 3pm): Wake up around 8am and watch Saved By the Bell until 9. Watch Regis and Kelly for the first 20 minutes, which is my favorite part because they just babble about nonsense. Then start cooking breakfast which usually is turkey bacon, egg and cheese on multigrain flatbread with a side of apples and a glass of OJ. Then I sit and digest, watch Reg n Kel into Rachael Ray, then get ready for my walk (this is a new thing I added into my oh so busy schedule). I go a little over 2 miles around my new neighborhood, come home to watch The Price is Right at 11. Of course in between all of this I check my Facebook every chance I get; yup, I'm obsessed, who cares? Then at about this time, 12pm, I kind of bum around, watch Beverly Hills 90210 while making up/looking up new recipes to cook. That is also something I absolutely love about having my own house, I can cook and experiment any time I want. So far some of my dishes include Rosemary Chicken and Spinach Sammies, Lazy Lasagna, Rosemary-Honey Glaze over Pork Chops and Potatoes Au Gratin. Raymond has had some very delish dishes too! Anyway, after all of that I take a shower and get ready for work.
Raymond, Dan and I have been living in our new house for the last week and a half. This is my first time leaving my parents' house EVER. This is such an exciting experience because I'm finally growing up. Decorating this house has been so much fun; probably the best thing coming out of me leaving my nest. Every other day I go out to stores and pick up a few things here and there. My last purchase was this really neat serving bowl, but I dinged it today UGH! We have been very fortunate to have many furniture pieces donated by our parents, relatives and friends. Meaning we didn't have to shell out big bucks to buy couches and stuff like that. Also meaning I have more money to spend on decorative stuff that the boys don't really care for; like this bundle of sticks that sits atop our TV lol.
Our house is on a quiet tree lined street in Scotch Plains, how lovely. Definitely not a mansion but very comfortable for the three of us. This past week has been very exciting and busy. I hope to keep up with my blog and express to the world how happy I am to be living in an awesome house with my awesome friends :)

Dan, me and Ray outside of our house!

The Living Room. Notice my stick bundle lol

The Dining Room

Our duck phone (sorry for sideways pic)

One view of our Kitchen.

The Kitchen.

Our Bathroom.

My Boudior.

Our work-in-progress family room.

The back yard.