It Must Be Nice To Lie Around and Eat Bon Bons All Day

Life has gone from fast-paced to uneventful, as I await the coming birth of my children. There are few hints that it is the weekend, other than the change in television programming. Watching the amount of television I do, my brain is turning to mush. I grew up with parents who limited the amount of television I could watch and most often what I could watch. At the time, I really was grateful my mother shared my interests in television programming. My father was so boring. He used television as a medium for education vs. entertainment. He may have been the only staunch viewer of PBS, watching "This Old House," "Nova," and other educational programming. On the other hand, my mother and I watched television purely for entertainment. We would watch The Jeffersons, Alice, One Day At a Time, and the one that REALLY grated under my father’s skin the most was "Green Acres." (Gotta love Zsa Zsa). He made fun of us watching situation comedies, calling them "funky doo doo." (That’s a very scientific term he came up with from all that brain power he was accumulating from PBS). I think it means crapola, but I am just guessing here.

Now, I seem to understand what he means. The more television I watch, the less I have to use my brain. I am starting to think it has atrophied. I can’t remember much anymore. I can’t remember where I put something. I can’t remember conversations. I forget to bring back my mother’s bowls from a dish she would prepare me (A huge NO NO equivalent to borrowing and losing her favorite piece of jewelry) days and days on end. I have misplaced things I have misplaced. I think my brain has atrophied. Have I mentioned I forget what I have said already? Sometimes, I forget the dogs and kitty need fed. Oops. Hope this is just temporary forgetfulness or the kids could be in trouble.

I planned to use this time much more productively. I would write letters to people. I would study new therapeutic techniques and more on diagnoses. I would read about parenting quadruplets. Heck, I would even write that book I have always wanted to write. When do I have the time? I am too busy watching Judge Joe Brown, Oprah, Starting Over, The View, Tony Danza, and on the educational side HGTV and the Style Network programming. In between the important television watching, I take naps. I have been so bored that I have taken up imaginary shopping. What’s this? Well you go to a store online and you start ordering stuff that you want, adding things to your cart as you go. Then you contemplate the choices and choose other things instead. Once you have "acquired" everything that you want, you then exit the site without actually purchasing. It’s still there the next time you visit the site for another round of contemplation. Tell me my life’s not interesting.

The most brain power I have used in weeks is doing a few scrapbooking pages to get ready for when I won’t have time to scrapbook (my favorite hobby) and in writing these posts. But, then this isn’t exactly what I would compare to preparing a thesis. I like to challenge myself by doing cryptoquotes but that is all of 15 minutes of my 24 hour long day.

It just occurred to me today that this isn’t any picnic. One day fades into the next with the monotony of my present existence. My only goal, albeit a very important goal, is to be a good incubator and grow these babies. I kind of feel like a bird, a big bird, sitting on its eggs waiting for them to hatch. When my husband comes home after his 12 hour day at work and has to start cooking and cleaning up after me, he complains of being tired. Poor baby. I have to remind him that I am working hard too, though sometimes I don’t think he believes me. I could defend my position on this point very easily. He doesn’t have to lie around all day and endure endless kicking, back pain, round ligament pain from a uterus growing 4 x that of a normal pregnancy, swollen feet, difficulty breathing, a squeaky mouse voice, or boredom and isolation. It must be nice to sit back and eat bon-bons and watch tv all day. No, it really stinks. I would much rather be at work, socializing with my colleagues, helping my clients, even dealing with politics and some power hungry individuals than being on this little vacation.

If you come up with any ideas on how I can pass the time more enjoyably, please let me know. I am open to suggestions. Maybe you have some ideas that I have neglected to think about.