Oh tv, how do I love thee...?

There a only a few things I enjoy talking about more than myself...& tv is one of 'em! Tracey wanted to do a blog off on our favorite tv shows & I'm all about tv...(& Tracey), so here we go!

Where to begin? I think I'll just sort them by the night of the week I 'think' the shows are on. I hardly ever watch the show on the actual night it airs. Here's the thing - I hate commercials. Loathe 'em. Therefore, I do not watch them. Ever. People will go, "Oh did you see such & such commercial? It was so funny!" To which I reply, 'Nope, I don't watch commercials...' So every.single. show I watch goes on the DVR. Every one. I watch NOTHING, I repeat nothing live. Now-I WILL watch some shows the night they are on if I'm afraid there will be lotsa talk at work the next day about them. I mean - I can't be missing out on talk.... Psssssh.

But here's one even better... I've got it down to a science. To watch a show that starts at 9:00pm, but be finished with it by 10:00pm.... I can start watching 18 minutes after the hour (9:18...) & fast forward through all the commercials & I'm done by the start of the next hour. Scary, huh?! (Love me some dvr...)

Sunday:Amazing Race: It's just fun. Travelling around the country looking for clues. I would never, ever make it on this show. I'm too impatient, too nuts, too chicken! And if B-rad & I tried out for it. We would either be divorced...or dead...

Celebrity Apprentice: I also watch normal Apprentice but celebrity is on right now. This show can be awful, but boy do I love watching them throw each other under the bus when it's board room time. Classic.

Desperate Housewives: I've watched from the beginning so I feel like I can't stop. I hate Susan, love, love, love Lynette.

Brothers & Sisters: This one's starting to annoy me. It's not as good as it used to be & that sucks. I have to MAKE myself watch it. Usually I wait until the next weekend after it's been on. You may ask, "Why waste your time then?!" Please see above...

Monday:

Harry's Law: This a new law program with Kathy Bates. I love law stuff.

How I Met your mother: (Or HIMYM to you cool tv peeps). Hilarious show. LOVE Neil Patrick Harris (especially from his Doogie Howser days!). He really makes the show. And I'm coming to realize I'm not caring so much how Ted met their mother....

Mike & Molly: I just started this one & it's really cute & funny.

Two & a half Men: Uhm-I USED to watch? Don't know if I will be able to anymore?

Bethenny Ever After: I watched Bethenny on Real Housewives of New York (I'm getting to those...) & loved her! She then got her own show when she got married & now she's married with a baby. I love her quick wit & her inappropriateness!

Tuesday:The Good Wife: Love me some Juliana Marguiles so I watch this show. It also has Chris Noth who was Mr Big from SATC. (Sex & the City...)

Wednesday:Criminal Minds: Love this show but it scares the bejesus outta me. I can only watch it when A) it's not dark outside or B) B-rad's home.

Criminal Minds, Suspect Behavior: Eh-this one just started & it's ok. I don't really see much difference in it & the regular ole Criminal Minds.

Top Chef: Great show. I have no clue what they make but it amazes me how they can throw stuff together with time & ingredient restraints.

Law & Order SVU: It's strange I watch this one because I never watched the original Law & Order. But this one is different...it's got Mariska Hargitay! (Are you noticing a pattern here? Some shows I watch soley based on the actors/actresses.)

Modern Family: Hi-lar-ious!

The Middle: I just started this one last season but I love it. They're dysfunctional & they don't care! I don't really know what's wrong with Brick, though. Ya know how sometimes he repeats what he says? Anyone know what that's about?!

Bones: David Borneaz. 'Nuff said...

Mr. Sunshine: This is Matthew Perry who I loved from the Friends years. It was not so good at first, but it's growing on me. Allison Janney plays his boss & she's hilarious!

Survivor: I have watched every.single.season of Survivor. I love how they make little changes here & there to the game every season but it doesn't ruin it. Sometimes when they jack around with stuff it messes up the whole dynamic. I'm just waiting for the season they actually kill someone...

Thursday: Grey's: Hello!! Love.this.show. Love me some McDreamy! Patrick Dempsey is yum-mo! This is one I usually start watching at 9:18 so I can be in bed by 10:00. I don't really like the Callie/Arizona story. They're both chicks....I'm not really about all that...(Disclaimer - I believe that being gay is a choice & I would never condemn someone for who they love. But I don't need to be seein' 2 chicks lovin' on each other, ya know? And to be fair -I'm uncomfortable watching a man & woman lovin' on each other. I don't discriminate...)

Private Practice: loved the Charlotte getting raped story line. Now I realize that may sound strange if you don't watch the show.... but Charlotte is tough as nails & she got the crap beat outta her. I was sooo happy they didn't make her all weepy & whiny like Grey's did with Christina. Charlotte got even...I like that...

Big Bang Theory: This is THE funniest show on television. If you are not watching it, you are seriously demented. Thursdays. 8:00. CBS.

I have no clue what night: Real Housewives: Ok, I have tried them ALL over the years. The ones I still watch are: Orange County, New Jersey, Beverly Hills, Miami (it just started) & New York. Atlanta gals got too ghetto for my liking & the DC chicks were too black vs. white. I really not about that crap either....

Fairly Legal: New show on USA. It's about a chick that does mediation. (That's un-official law stuff, not mind voo-doo). Like I said, I love me some law stuff...therefore, I love un-official law stuff too....)

Sister Wives: A guy who has chosen to be married to 4 different women? He must have a screw loose...

Also deserving honorable mention are the shows that are on hiatus right now...(& these are just the ones I could think of...): The Closer (Incredible show. One of my favs. Sadly it is ending after this season. Mrs. Kevin Bacon stars in this one!), Psych (hilariously funny. Lotsa 80's references...), Burn Notice (I have no clue who the main guy is-but he is H-O-T.), Project Runway (like Top Chef in that I have no clue what they're talking about but they make incredible clothing out of practically nothing...or sometimes trash or groceries. Genius!).

I used to watch CSI, but there's just no time. Surprised?! I still allow B-rad 1 hour of dvr time a week to tape it. (Ok-he gets more than 1 hour a week, but not much more. He does his fair share of dvr'ing too people - don't let him fool you! But his stuff is boring motorcycle races. PLUS his stuff stock piles on the dvr because he has no time to watch it. My stuff is in & out again...)

This list doesn't even include the stuff I used to watch but dropped for a variety of reasons: Cake Boss, 19 Kids & counting, The Defenders, Cougar Town, Gossip Girl, 90210 (the new one-I stuck the old one out until Donna married David... sigh...), CSI: Miami, CSI:New York, Top Chef:Masters, Days of Our Lives, So You Think You Can Dance & Dancing with the Stars. (just to name the ones I can think of off the top of my head...)

Whew-I told ya I was a tv lover! It gets really bad when I'm busy & can't keep caught up on my shows! Eh - I've got no kids & a husband who is hardly ever home, what else am I gonna do with myself?! Drugs? Drink? Paperwork? Housework? Jewelry shows? Puh-leezzzz!

When B-rad is left un-supervised...

Oh my...you better strap yourselves in...this is gonna be a bumpy ride...

Yesterday was B-rad's brother, Brian's, birthday. His 40th birthday I might add... A last minute birthday dinner was planned by my in-laws but I had a previous committment so I was unable to attend the dinner. I had Brian's present wrapped & his card on the counter for B-rad to take with him. I also strategically placed the camera right on TOP of the package so he would perhaps figure out that I wanted him to take it & get some pics.

Uhmm, he did...so ultimately what you are about to witness is all my fault...(He told his mom, "Jaime had the camera on top of the present. Yea, I can take a hint". I wuvs him...)

Apparently turning 40 makes you look drunk... Ok-nice pic of the family sitting at dinner. Notice the birthday boy is on his phone.... but please - B-rad would've been on his phone if I had been there to take pics. Uhm-this is for me. I LOVE O'Charley's rolls. B-rad even texted me a picture of them. Sigh...

Ok-another good shot. Pic of the cake with the 'over the hill' stuff. I'm liking this so far...

UHM-looks like we're starting to go south here. Another pic of the fam...but look out for the photo bomb... And the birthday boy is still on his phone...

No birthday dinner is complete without a crotch shot....

Licking the cake decorations? Great licking action shot, B-rad...

Oh yea-that decoration covered in icing is go-od...

Brotherly love. Why is Brady bothering Cole? Eh-who knows? Because he can?! (Interesting fact...B-rad is 6 years younger than Brian. Cole is 6 years younger than Brady. All I can say from hearing the stories B-rad has told me is, 'Poor, poor Cole...')

That's my boy! Cole's always up for a laugh!

You may not be able to read it, but this card is from Cole & he wrote, "I love you dad." AWWWWWW! (Again - good job, B-rad...)

I'm super proud because B-rad got the ceremonial 'here's what we got you for your birthday' shot! We got him a U of L hat & t-shirt.

Apparently B-rad enjoyed a glass of Mountain Dew with his dinner?

Ok-we've lost him. Birthday pics are soooo over...

I'm sorry.... If I had to see it, you have to see it....

This one makes me spit out my Diet Sunkist.

There were a few pics of Brady on my camera so apparently B-rad decided to focus on him. Obviously Brady had had enough by this point....

I must say I am a little sad I couldn't be at dinner to harrass Brian about turning 40. I do love harrassing Brian. The card I picked was really funny too. It was a cake with a TON of candles all over it. It said some silly birthday message on the outside & when you opened it it said, 'Now put down your middle finger & blow out the candles!' Told ya I love to harrass Brian...

Tramp stamp

You may remember on my dearly departed Explorer I had my trademark. My sign to other commuters that it was Jaime Mac. My little flair of personality. My tramp stamp, if you will... Alas, it looked like crap - plus I couldn't take it off & put it on the new car, so I had to go with plan B. Get a new one! Woot! I found some stickers at Target but none of them were just right for my tramp stamp. Ya'll know this is big decision. You can't just jump into it lightly. What I did find was a website to look at more options. God bless the internet.

Then B-rad says, "Railing has a vinyl cutter. He could probably make you one." Score! I went web browsing & found just the right hibiscus for me. THEN I saw they could make them purple. Shut.up.

I contacted Railing (he's a friend for the motorcycle gang & a super smart guy...) & told him what I wanted. I emailed him the stolen, er - I mean-borrowed image off their website. Then it was all about color. "What kind of purple do you want?" Then he rattled off like 4 different shades of purple! Oh the purply choices! I said, "I like a mix of light & dark purple. Probably like a royal purple?" But I was worried that the purple would be too dark against the dark tinting of my back window & you may not be able to see it all that well. And that would just defeat the whole purpose!

So this smarty pants guy said, "Well, I can do the flower in purple, then cut another white one in the same shape & layer them?" You.go.boy.

We went to Railings last night for my sticker. The glass had to be cleaned. (Uhm, you didn't think I was gonna do that, did you? I gots people for that...)

Railings a perfectionist & me? -not so much. He was like, 'do you want it here or here or like this or this?' I said, "I want it in the bottom left corner between the edge of the liftgate & my windshield washer." "Go." CUTENESS!

It is a little larger than my other flower because of the white underneath. It looks a little large to me now, but I know I'll get used to it. Eh, go big or go home I always say...

All the vinyl stickery-ness inspired B-rad to sporadically pull the sticker off the back from the place we bought it from. He says, "They're not paying US to advertise for them..." Ok-I see the method...

We went out to eat with Railing & his fiance after the installation at Texas Roadhouse. I wanted to take a pic of me & B-rad. He put his arm around my shoulder & I said, "Don't put your arm on my shoulder. It makes me look all pulled in towards you. Put your arm around my waist." So this is what he did...

Then we settled down & did it the right way.

You may have noticed something different about me? No, it's not my lovely teeth my mother paid a butt load of money to put braces on. My glasses. I'm wearing my glasses & it's not A) After work & I'm home laying around the house in my pj's watching tv or B)Early in the morning & I've just woken up & I'm laying around the house in my pj's watching tv. I had a little accident last week. My right contact was bugging me & I rubbed it. A lot. Because it hurt, duh... Then it really really started hurting. After 4 days of trying off & on to wear my contacts, having it feel like someone was stabbing me with a very large knife & my eye throbbing like it was gonna pop outta my head, I went to the eye doctor. Sadly, all the contact rubbing scratched my cornea. No contacts for me for one week. One very long week. She also gave me some drops to prevent infection.

Let me tell you about my eyes. I am blind. I can't even read the big "e" at the doctors. I can see colors & distorted shapes (you know, if B-rad walked into a room-I could tell another human was in the room...but knowing it was him would be another story...)

You can imagine how easy it is for me to shave my legs in the shower...without being able to see. Oh yea, I've got strips of hair & no hair. The armpits were easy...they're close to my eyes...

Putting on makeup was fun too. I had to have my face 3" from the mirror & try to position my eyeliner pen to get the eyeliner in the right spot, but also to make sure it didn't hit the mirror. It was quite the scene.

Oh! One more pic from dinner. A couple set down in the booth across they aisle from us. This chick had the.longest.nails.eva! I just HAD to share it with you guys. So B-rad & I did covert ops. I said, "B-rad, look at me like I'm taking your pic, but I'm actually gonna zoom in on that chicks nails!" I didn't really get them in all their glory & Railing & B-rad wouldn't let me take another one. Pssssh! I implore you to make the pic bigger. Then look above the little thingie sticking outta the peanut bucket. She's holding a roll. Oh.my.word. I couldn't function with those claws!

The big reveal...

Attention loyal blog stalkers! I am coming to you live & in purple pursed heaven from....

MY.NEW.OFFICE!

Couldn't you just DIE?!?!?!?! Ok-here's how the day went down... B-rad had been working at the barn all week & never had a chance to get my new desk put together. Sooooo, he had to do it whilest 5 women tried to work around him putting up border. He did really well. He didn't even yell at anyone...

Tracey (my Premier Great-grandma) & my step-mom/buddy Rose came up for the grand occasion too!

There was much discussion & planning about how to do the border. Of course, I had no clue what was going on so I just stood back & took pictures. We all have our roles...

Rose & Brenda had this border thang down. They were gals with a plan!

Gerilee was feeling a bit useless so she wanted to 'act' like she was involved in the planning process. Notice the intensity of the ones who were actually planning in the background?

Once the plan was settled, they let Gerilee help...

I tell ya, I would've been lost without Rose. This gal is good with a tape measure. She helped keep everyone on task, too. Sometimes we (not me...) have a tendency to drift from the task at hand & that Rose is a slave driver. She kept them all on task. (I would've totally helped but I had no clue what tasks needed to be kept...) Love you, Rose!

Gerilee got the air bubbles & glue off the walls after Tracey & Rose put the border up.

Sparky decided it was all too much work for him. He laid outside the office window curled up in the landscaping & snoozed.

B-rad still hard at work on my gargantuan desk...

HEY! There I am! I told ya I helped. Well, helped may be stretching it. I stood there. And waited for Rose to instruct me. "Fold that over." "Take one step back." I was a good listener!

Once the border was finished & B-rad had the desk all in place, we started on the curtain. I had just wanted a sheer valance thingie. We found a really cute sheer black panel at Target with black dots. We thought we could make it like a scarf & drape it but it wasn't long enough. I have to hand it to Gerilee - her creativity gene really kicked in & she made serious lemondae outta this lemon... Voila! Isn't it cute? I like it because you can see the dots! Then we laid the black boa they gave me when I won the makeover over the top. It just kinda makes it fuller looking!

So the time has finally come...to show you the dreaded before pictures. Now-ya'll know I have no shame, but I'm not gonna lie... this is embarassing. It's sad, really that we let our office/game room get so far outta hand. But it is what it is. And without further adieu...

Before:AFTER!

Before:AFTER! (Oh yea, the Barbies made it to the big time!) The table is going to house my jewelry. I can sit my showcases there & get it outta my bedroom! I also have some circle mirrors to hang above the table. B-rad's gotta help me with that...Sonny had to figure out what the heck was going on in this room! He approved the desk, thank goodnes... (Also please notice the lamps & the shades...I am gonna blow.your.mind in a minute!)

Here's the makeover crew! Tracey, Gerilee, Brenda, Rose & Moi!

Now I'm gonna share some of my favoritest parts of the room:

Exhibit A - the inspiration! Brenda bought me this little post it dispenser a while back. When I was trying to decide what to do in the office (besides purple...duh, that was given...) I ran across this one day & I was like, "OH! I could do purses!"
Exhibit B - The purple feathers on the lamp. I came up with idea (which is truly shocking...). Rose & I went shopping Saturday night after everyone left to get a few odds & ends. We found this at Hobby Lobby for $2.99. They had the adhesion on the back so I just had to 'stick em'. Rose reluctantly trusted me to do this all by myself. And look at me, I did it! (The pen holder underneath was Rose's idea. She said my plain wood square pen holder was embarassing & she tossed it. We found this one at TJ Maxx for $2.99.)

Exhibit C - Magnetic board on the closet door. I had thought of putting it on the wall behind me but Rose suggested the door. It's just to my right as I'm sitting at the desk so I can turn very easily & see whatever I have there! Exhibit D - Twilight series books. 'Nuff said...

Exhibit E - My flying monkeys sign from Little Nashville. Again, what else do I have to say?!

Exhibit F - Rose made me this cute thing! The bag is purple & then she put all these little inspirational sayings on sticks (& wrapped the sticks in purple. Don't ya just love it?!) I can look at it & feel better about myself when I'm feeling blue...

Exhibit G - This cheetah printed PURPLE rug. $19.99 from Target!

Exhibit H - Brenda bought me this canvas in Washington D.C. The purse is purple & matches the room perfectly! B-rad is gonna hang it right behind my desk!

Exhibit I - the closet has been recruited for the cause. You may remember my big ole cabinet we painted around? Well...after much discussion, we decided it would be a travesty to put that back in the room because it was so large it would hide much of my purse border. Blasphemy! So Gerilee suggested getting shelves for the closet to store all my 'stuff'. Rose & I found these shelf thingies at Old Time Pottery. The drawers can pull out. We bought 3 to stack on each other. They were $24.99 with an additional 20% off. We got 'em for $19.99 each.

Ahhhh, it feels so good to have it done. Of course I still have to go through the crap in my dining room & B-rad's room to find everything a new home. B-rad has to finish my closet shelves so I have a place to put all my jewelry stuff & office supplies. You guys would be really proud of me because when we cleaned out that cabinet yesterday I had to make difficult decisions. 'Keep of throw away?' I said, 'throw away' on a lotta stuff. I will have to try to make the same decision on the stuff in the dining room.

I really appreciate all my jewelry peeps spending the day with me yesterday making this all come together. I walk past the door & just look in & think, "YAY ME!" Sometimes I just walk in & look around. I really love my office now!