frazzled & frumpy

I watch TV, this much is true. But, years ago, I gave up soap operas. Since then, I haven't even been tempted. Then, a couple weeks ago, I was folding laundry and looking for something interesting to watch. I stopped on a rerun of Desperate Housewives. What a mistake!! After one hour, I was hooked . I watched pretty much every day for three weeks. I tried to rationalize it. It has better acting and better stories than daytime soap operas. Besides, I liked it because I had so much in common with these women. Really? Sure. Here's the comparison: Susan - is a writer and has one daughter. I want to be a writer and, hey, I have one daughter. She's also in love with a man who doesn't know she exists. I am in love with a man and have kids who pretend to not know I exist. Gabby - Shops almost everyday for clothes, make-up and shoes. I shop almost everyday (for cereal, bread and milk) and I own clothes, make-up and shoes. Lynette - has a sweet husband and more kids

We had a wedding reception on Saturday. When I told my little boys about it, I mentioned that there would be a chocolate fountain. WHAT? You've never seen three little boys so excited. I guess I can understand. Imagine when you were a kid, wouldn't a fountain of pure chocolate have been an absolute dream? I know it would've for me. I love chocolate, always have. But, when I was growing up, treats were just that-a treat. We didn't have candy very often, and when we did it was the little penny-candy kind. (Yes, I am old enough to remember buying penny candy.) We made most of our sweets. We actually had a great tradition. Every Sunday evening, we would make something. Brownies, cakes, cookies, always from scratch. I learned alot of what I know about cooking from those Sunday nights. So, even though my kids get treats alot more than I did, a chocolate fountain was still pretty thrilling. When the kids arrived at the reception, the first thing out of their mouths was, "

Stewart, that is. If you've ever seen my house, this isn't a big surprise. I normally don't compare myself to her. I mean, the woman gets by on 4 hours of sleep a night. Have you seen the news reports lately about how you can lose weight if you get 8 hours? So, technically, Martha should weigh about 400 pounds. No, she's so far out of my league I can only watch from the sidelines. But, there's one thing that really bugs me and I'm wondering how you do it. (Not that. Put you dirty minds away. I know how to do that . Hello, 7 kids.) Nope, I'm talking about folding sheets, specifically the fitted kind. I saw this thing on the Today show where Martha was organizing closets. She had all her sheets folded like they just came out of the package. It looked like this..... I tried. Really. I held it by the corners and took it slow. Yeah, didn't work. It still came out looking like this..... I even tried to iron it. Oprah likes her sheets ironed. Of course she d

I don't wonder why Cinderella had a good time at the ball. Oh, sure, she had a new dress and shoes, two things to put a smile on any woman's face. And, yes, she got to spend the evening in the arms of Prince Charming (who I think would've looked like Brad Pitt. Not the old-Brad, from the beginning of Benjamin Buttons, the young, teenage Brad who rode the motorcycle. Mmm.). Those are definitely good reasons to enjoy yourself. But, the real reason she smiled all night was because she knew she'd finished her housework. You remember- her mean old step-mother told her she could go dancing only if she finished her chores. That girl worked her hiney off cleaning that house. So, after the disappointment of thinking she couldn't go, when good-ole Fairy Godmother came to grant her wish, you know in the back of her mind, she was thinking, "Thank goodness I finished cleaning!" Otherwise, while she was riding in her pumpkin-carriage she would've been worrying abou