Thoughts on Staying Home Sick

When you stay at home sick, it's different then when you're a stay-at-home mom or you're staying out on vacation. You're pretty much restricted to plopping yourself down on the couch and watching TV, doing limited housework and cooking and drinking lots of fluids. When you're staying at home for other reasons, you get to go out and do things or at least get some housework done. Not to say that my time at home over the last week wasn't productive; I did get 2 scarves and 3 coasters started and finished during my time at home for various gifts. However - I would have been more productive had I been healthy or at work. Either one.

I was a good girl and did the obligatory home sick watching of "The Price is Right". I have to say that Drew Carey doesn't do a terrible job and the audience has even started to make Drew Carey T-Shirts. He's not Bob Barker, that's for sure - but I think he'll be able to help the show maintain its staying power. I was nervous about him because he's pretty mainstream in other areas, but he's not doing a terrible job. He's able to get excitable and jump up and down with the contestants whereas in the later years Barker couldn't because he was, well, old. That all said, I will say that he's not quite comfortable in the role yet. There's still a bit of nervousness there that I think (and since I don't know Drew, I can only presume) may come from the very large Barker shoes he had to fill. Who knows. Either way... I was excited to see Plinko played.

The other thing I noticed about TV is the deep absence of sitcom reruns. At 2:00 PM yesterday while I was waiting for my doctor's appointment, I went flipping through the standard UHF channels (Cable TV they're known as The CW, Channel "38", and Fox). Talk shows! Nothing but Talk Shows! What happened to the days when I would be able to find Cosby Show reruns on those channels! I landed on a show where the host was the guy Steve from "Jerry Springer" fame. The topic of the show was "My mom traded me away" or something, and I saw the following conversation take place:

Steve: Did you trade your daughter for a bird?
Bad Mom: No.
Steve: Did you bring your 16-year-old daughter to this 43-year-old guy's house?
Bad Mom: Yes.
Steve: Did he give you a bird in return?
Bad Mom: Yes.
Steve. So you traded your daughter for a bird. Lady, you are the *expletive deleted* dumbest woman I've ever seen in my life.

Then, if that wasn't enough, when asking the at-home audience if they have something that might get them on the Steve Wilkos show instead of saying "Do you have a mom who's slept with your boyfriend?" or something like that, there was one simple line: "Do you have a story that will make Steve angry?". That was it. All this guy did was yell at the idiots who were on his show. And the previews for the next show - you guessed it! Steve yelling at the guests on the next show.

As if daytime TV wasn't bad enough. I think that we need more Disney Afternoon and sitcom reruns after the 12:00 PM news. Much better television for those who are sick and stuck on the couch. As if the boredom of not being able to do anything isn't torture enough, now there's terrible TV on top of it all.

Sheesh. I was glad to come in for a half day today, and look forward to working full-time again tomorrow.