Guilty Pleasures

I will be the first to admit I am a total American Idol junkie.

The first time I watched I lived at home with my mother. It was the first season ( 8 years ago). She came home from wherever she was and came into my room and told me to turn on this show called American Idol and that her boss's son was on it. I was really into the show I was already watching but reluctantly turned it on. We watched for about 20 minutes before we saw a quick glimpse of this 'dude's' head. That was it. Back then the first few episodes didn't focus as much on the individual contestants. I decided this was a stupid show and that it was the first and last time I was watching it. But the following week, I turned it on again and found it just a little more interesting. As the weeks passed, I had some communications via email with my mother and this 'dude's stepfather (moms' boss) telling us what was up on the next episode and to vote and spread the word of the show. Next thing you know, AI is the talk of the country and everyone is tuning in. 'Dude' aka Justin Guarini was the first season's runner up.

I have been hooked ever since. It's one of my guilty pleasures. A pleasure that has completely dorkified me. I will not watch it with other people. I tried that once with the first season's finale in a room filled with my family. My brother in law (who is generally more on the quiet reserved side) would NOT SHUT UP the entire show. I could not hear. I was not happy. Hence my vow to watch AI alone.

I find it fascinating to watch how every single year, they allllll start out the first few weeks with awful song choices. WHY? Dude , you are on American Idol trying to make a start of your career and you are seriously singing Easy like Sunday Morning?! Hello? Don't get me wrong , it's a good song to listen to in the confines of your home and sing to with a hairbrush, but AI?

But their progress during the season is exemplary and I get so proud of my little AI hopefuls. Thankfully, there is TIVO now so if I am in the presence of others, I find it unneccessary to get irritated, I simply don't pay attention to the show and can go home to watch it in peace.

And now I must go prepare myself for tonight's results show! Will it be Danny and Adam? I'm about to go find out.................................

Judging a book by it's cover...

Last week at work, I mentioned that I needed to get a new book to read. A friend of mine took a book out of her drawer and said that she had this book forever and thought it looked boring and had no intention of reading it and offered it to me.

I read that book in about 3 days. It was mesmerizing and probably one of the best books I have read to date.

I pride myself in being not 'judging books by their covers'. Everyone always gets a second chance, and with me usually a third ,fourth of fifth until I know it's time to draw the line. But I truly beleive that actions and words are not always stated as intended. I know this because I have been there on both ends and I don't like to be judged. I beleive that everyone has their issues and that there is good in everyone ( and I believe that in people that I probably shouldn' t as well).

My friends know me as someone to come to. Everyone needs someone come to. Whether you are right, wrong, in trouble or having a bad day. Everyone needs to express themselves and no one is perfect. I do this because I have been judged so many times in my life and it's not a good feeling. I do this because I believe that maybe if I do it , someone else will pay it forward.

My intentions are always good... always.. and I truly believe that anyone who has been judged feels the same. At least I hope so....

You miss out alot when you judge. I wouldn't have the friends that I have if I would have judged them as I could have on day one. And I thank God that I did not because everyone deserves that chance.

Happy Mother's Day!

I am not a mother ( although I have been called one a few times ). I do have two nephews and a niece. I couldn't imagine loving someone more that I love them. But I know that it doesn't compare to the love a mother has for a child.

I see my sisters with their kids and I see the look in their eyes when they do something funny or sweet. It's a look that's indescribable. We've all seen it. It's a look that could never be matched by anything else.

While I am not a mother, I have been blessed to have the best mother in the world. While, we can get on each others nerves at times, I would be lost without her. She's my guide, my friend and my angel. She knows how much I love her. So while I don't know the feeling of loving a child of my own, I am fortunate to know the feeling of being a child that loves her mother just as much back.

I wish everyone a Happy's Mother's Day. In my opinion , every day is Mother's Day!

Embarrasing Moments- Part 2

As promised Lynn.

Several years ago, my boyfriend at the time, we will call him Bob, because that's his name, and I went to Hershey Park for the 4th of July. We stayed at the Hershey Hotel , which was beautiful , and spent the weekend there.

Saturday afternoon, we went to Hershey's Garden. It was full of vibrant flowers and trees and had an incredible Butterfly house that my mother would adore. After walking around the garden we went to the gift shop. We parted ways and were looking around. I stopped at one of those revolving racks that you spin around. It contained postcards. I picked up a few and proceeded on my quest for items I had absolutely no use for.

A few minutes later, I feel something snag on my jacket ( it was July but it was damp and I am always cold). I turned my head just a little and saw the revolving rack I was just at a few minutes before. I stopped dead in my tracks. I could feel it moving so I reached back and grabbed it with my hand. The moving stopped. I am standing there, completely still with my hand on the 'rack' knowing that if I made the slightest move that thing was going down.

Bob comes over looks at me and says ' WHAT ARE YOU DOING'? I laughed, and said "Help it's going to fall over if I move- unsnag me." He looks , laughs, shakes his head and says ' Erica look behind you and let go'. I turn around and I am not holding onto the rack, I am holding onto a small child( one who never said a word). He must have thought I was his mother and came up and tugged on my jacket and I just grabbed ( obviously unaware of what the hell I was doing.)

His mother comes up at that point and looks at me ( we are pretty much pissing ourselves and my face was a ridiculous shade of red). I simply say "I'm so sorry I thought he was a rack" , dropped my stuff and out the door we went.

Can you say Jackass?

Embarrassing Moments

We've all had them. Me- I've had enough to run a year long marathon on America's Funniest Home Videos-but here is one of my favorites...

It was the summer of 1993 ( I think). A few friends and I decided to go to Pizza Hut for lunch. Now this was back in the day when Pizza Hut had a kick ass buffet and restaurant, not just delivery.

We ate, talked, had a great time. We get the bill, I put my money on the table and I told my friends I would be right back, I had to pee. Now, if I were to design a restaurant, my choice of placement for a restroom would NOT be smack dab in the front of the restuarant.. obviously I did not design this particualr restaurant (which was just one big room with tables and the bufet in the middle). So I go to the front of restaurant and enter the bathroom. Sink is immediately on my left and toilet is about 6 feet from the sink.

Being as it is 1993, I am dressed in my gnarly mid shirt and shorts. I put my 'just in case I slip and hit the seat' toilet paper on the seat, pull down my shorts and squat. As I begin to do my business, I notice that I neglected to lock the door to this single bathroom. I instantly squeeze and halt all further bodily releases. I inch my way ( carefully so that my shorts, which are at my knees don't hit the floor) towards the door. Now mind you, everything from mid stomach to knees is without cover. I get close enough to the door to reach over to lock it. Just as my fingers touch the knob the door opens -WIDE! I look up to a happy little couple needing to use the bathroom. I shriek (quite loudly). These two poor innocent full bladdered people ( who hopefully already ate) see me squatting over by the door, nowhere near the toilet with my pants down! They looked at me like I was INSANE! Then I look past them...... there we have a restuarant full of people looking up to see what the shreiking it about and I'm there at the door with my pants down....

I slammed the door shut ( again making as much noise as one can possibly make while going to the bathroom) and just stayed in there for about 10 minutes wondering how to make my exit. Finally I decided that I can not stay in Pizza Hut forever , opened the bathroom door and ran out the front door. Then I proceed to knock on the window to let me friends that I was out there and was NOT coming back in.... Humiliating....

Pizza Hut 'restuarants' around here are now closed. GEE I wonder why.........................

Ravioli Night is heaven!

I am fortunate to come from a close family. My mother's side is 100% Italian (insert greasy, hairy jokes here). We try to get together often. With there being so many of us, it's not always easy to do. But there is one day a year that we are always together. Ravioli night.

Ravioli night is on Fat Tuesday each and every single year. It's the one day of the year that we all look forward to. My grandmother and all her 'cooking assistants' spend two days preparing the feast.

We eat Homemade Raviolis (which are to die for). We eat too much, we drink too much wine and we talk too loudly.

Every year I silently look around and observe each and every one there. Every year I am amazed. Amazed by how many of us there are, amazed that one house can be filled with so much love and laughter. Amazed to hear what may have happened in someone's life that I haven't yet heard. Amazed to see how much the kids have grown. Amazed that I may not have seen someone for months and we bond like we were together yesterday.

But the one I watch the most is my grandmother. She sits and watches and takes it all in. She has created this day, these lives and this joy. Every day, I am amazed by her. And I know that my grandfather is looking down on us from heaven and is amazed too.

To most, a crowded house full of loud talking, wine drinking Italians would be enough to make someone want to jump out of a window. To me, it's heaven.

OCD

I think most people have a touch of OCD. Me, I have several 'touches ' of it, so I am told. However, what really justifies it as being OCD? My biggest OCD issue is brushing my teeth. I do it often. My teeth aren't perfectly white nor are they even perfectly straight and pretty. They are just teeth. You see all these people walking around with these pearly white perfect teeth and when you ask them how they got that way, they claim not to do anything and that they are just like that. These people suck!

I brush my teeth several times a day. Why? Because I do. We all have had moments of talking to someone close up who is breathing all over you and you feel like you are going to pass out from their breath. Mind you these people have no business being THAT close to you to begin with. However, I don't want to be one of those people. When you smoke, you stink. I know this. Therefore, to me , brushing my teeth helps to lessen the blow. I do not want to be the girl that everyone calls Ass Breath...therefore I brush often. I prefer to call it Dental Hygiene, not OCD.

What do your OCD issues consist of?