Give me a Break!

I don't love tv. There are a few shows that I try to catch: Martha, Barefoot Contessa, Lost, Project Runway, Everyday Italian, and Sex and the City- the edited version. (Sometimes "Little People, Big World" because of all their cool midget stuff). Now that I've listed them, that actually seems like a lot, but I only get to watch them once in a while + they're seasonal.

However... in the winter, it seems all of us housewives spend a lot more time at home and the tv is our friend, right? Unfortunately that also turns into a lot of tv/entertainment talk when we get together as well. For example...

...sitting at ballet. Grace has ballet once a week, for one hour. Everyone there is very chatty except for me, most of the time. I'm not a chatterbox unless there's something really worth talking about. I could care less about American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, Brittney Spears, organic food etc.. except this last week. I actually had to bite my tongue because the conversation took a deadly turn.

OPRAH! Just the name makes me dry heave. Am I the only 30 something stay-at-home mom who doesn't appreciate the self congratulatory vomit she spews? I want to say I can't stand her show, but it's not just her show... it's her. She's shamefully indulgent. I think this is my number one complaint. Anyway, from what I could gather at ballet, her favorite cupcake is made here in Nashville and she sends for these things quite often. They go for something like 50 dollars for 6 of them. I'm sure this overpriced bakery's cupcake sales surged after her program aired because of all of these truly desperate housewives who sent for them, sporting pashminas, very unflattering hairdoes and who, coincidentally are now Barack Obama supporters. Give me a Break!!! She now takes over my least favorite tv show on my least favorite list, just because it was so in my face this week. Sorry Rachel Ray, you're now number 2.

Did I join the conversation? Hardly. I think I may have mentioned when shown the actual cupcake in the Oprah magazine (dry heave) that I didn't think they looked that great. I'm sure Martha has a much better recipe that takes about 1 hour and five dollars worth of ingredients. I didn't say that part out loud though.

Amy Sedaris has some great pointers for overcoming boring/irritating conversation.

"If you see someone boring someone else, just be grateful it's not you. If you see someone hogging the conversation, create an opening and try to include someone else... My line is, 'Yes, paella is very traditional to the Spaniards!' or 'Wasn't that British territory?' and if you see a shy person, ask them some questions like, 'Why are you shy? Tell everyone, we're all listening.'."

She also recommends having a cheeseball on hand. I guess boring/irritating conversation doesn't happen if everyone has a mouthful of cheese. Maybe I'll send one to Oprah.