A day of Oprah

Last week, my husband was out of town. I actually enjoy this time for one silly reason: I love to fall asleep with the television on. This might seem to be a fairly inane and silly "treat" when left to my own devices, but it is one that has become a delicious and decadent pleasure. When I am by myself, I actually love to put on my pyjamas (yes, P.J.s not a night gown but the standard button up the front, flannel and long-sleeved version!) and cuddle in bed and watch anything that is no longer than thirty minutes, without anything deep or world shattering in the plot line, sans political over or under tones, and boisterously silly and totally meaningless. In other words, I watch network television - which during a normal day is banned from the household.

The only problem with this divine practice is that I often wake in the middle of the night to find late night programming. Some of it is a repeat of earlier broadcasts - i.e., the Tonight Show, the Ten O'Clock News, etc. However, this past week, I consistently awoke to the sounds of Oprah. This is an afternoon show that I rarely see as I am always out of the house during that air time. On the first night, I found myself aroused by the sounds of a gentleman who described the reorganization of a chosen family. He went into great detail of how they became "unplugged" and "plugged into" each other. Their home was cleaned, revamped, and re-created in the image of a unified family. Dinners were planned, meetings canceled, game nights established, and the list went on and on and on..... And from that point on I was wide awake and trying to mentally make a game plan for the re-organization of my life! Because Oprah was aired at 1:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. and I normally arise at 4:30 a.m., I had little sleep that night. It took a great deal of effort to mentally rearrange 58 years of total havoc!

The following evening, so ready for bed, and actually tired from the lack of sleep from the previous evening, I again tuned into to my sit-com comma inducing television and as predicted, fell asleep within the first thirty seconds of the first show. Again, at 1:30 a.m. I awoke to "Here's Oprah!" .... and the crowd going wild! That evening, I learned how to do a fashion make over and how to make my wardrobe be the most that it could be for my age decade. I got the list of "what I needed, to have the perfect wardrobe for any occasion". At the end of the hour, I was already planning on the "gutting" of my closet and finding what I did and did not have. A shopping day was also planned.

By day three, totally exhausted by lack of sleep, I again dove into bed and became immediately comatose. Again, Oprah brought me a new book and the realization that I needed to work on my Love Life -- and keep my husband interested! I fretfully awaited the morning light so that I could call him in Guatamala and ask him if I was fulfilling his expectations of me as a wife. After much confusion on his part (I had awakened him -- just imagine, he slept until 6:00 a.m.!), he told me all was well and went back to sleep.

What an exhausting week I had. Between daily "to do lists" gleened from my late night adventures, I was mentally and physically wasted by the time my husband returned from his five day business trip. I was so glad to have him back so that I would not turn on the television and could sleep the entire night.

Who says that late night television can't be exciting! I am praying for a re-scheduling of the line up before my next "bachelorette" week!