Most Hated Kids' Shows

Grabbing a button AND a great idea from Mary Lauren at My 3 Little Birds!!

As I have been a parent (and apparently a pretty lazy parent!) for almost 16 years, I have been subjected to many, many hours of truly nauseating children's (for the sake of brevity, we will limit this to pre-school age shows) programming. Listen, I'm not defending my choices, but I've been pregnant NINE times, so that counts for about 27 months of horrendous morning sickness and debilitating exhaustion all while watching young children. Hello! TV was my only friend!

Over those years, there have been a few shows which I have truly loved: Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Arthur, Wallace & Gromit,  and Raffi. However, there are a LOT of shows which qualify as "mediocre at best" and "jaw-droppingly awful". But the Mother of all truly horrendous childrens' shows has GOT to be... BOOBAH.
Go ahead, watch the intro.
Remember, this is just the INTRO to the show.
There is 30 whole minutes of that crapola AFTER that......
Are you back? Are you blind? Do you want to be?
If you were a child, would you be insulted that someone thought you were stupid enough to be entertained by that? As a former child and mother of current children, I am beyond offended. Shocked, sickened, discouraged, angry.... all those emotions come to mind when I am forced to look at this.

Fortunately for me, my children took one look at this show and ran crying and screaming from the TV. Now, if only I could get them to do that when this dude comes on the air.

An Award!!

Much thanks to to CCC at "It was the best of times, and the worst of times.." for giving me The Versatile Blogger Award!

The rules of the award are as follows:
1.Link back to the person/s that gave you the award.
2.Award other bloggers the award-- 15 recently discovered bloggers.
3.Contact the bloggers that you have awarded to let them know that they have won.
4.Tell 7 things about yourself.


About Me:

1. Potatoes are my FAVORITE food. In any form. I cannot think of a potato dish that I do not like.
2. I am horribly shy. In some situations, that is. Most people who know me would refuse to believe that, but it's very true.
3. When I was 11, I was 100% POSITIVE that I wanted to become a cloistered Carmelite nun. My husband hates that story. ;-)
4. My husband and I went to our Senior Prom together, married at 20 (OK, I was 2 weeks away from 21), and he graduated college 1 month AFTER we were married (he made it through college in 3.2 years!).
5. I have a deep-seated fear of clowns. I don't think it's irrational; I mean, John Wayne Gacy... HELLO????
6. Sunday is my favorite day of the week.
7. I live in daily dread of having to, one day, get a "real" job. Let's just say I have a problem with authority.

Now for my 15 (in no particular order, so no hurt feelings, PLEASE!) favorite blogs:

1. 18UnderOneRoof! This mom posts daily (sometimes more than daily) about her daily life as a mother to 16 kids. She is real, funny, real funny, and NORMAL. 'Nuff said!
2. House Unseen. Life Unscripted. This is a hilarious and awesome blog written by an equally hilarious and awesome lady. She and her husband bought a house over the internet (sight unseen), moved their 4 kids across the country, and began renovating it. She might be my Pioneer Hero!
3. life of another mama is a another wonderful and REAL blog written by a mom with 6 kids. You should also check out her blog: In the Kitchen with Another Mama. She is talented and giving in so many ways!
4. MamaJulep is someone who makes me scream and cry with laughter! It's like she told me, not too long ago: if she and I ever hung out together in real life, we would probably get in trouble. A lot of trouble.
5. You want simplicity, beauty, and organization? Forget Martha, and check out Sarah at Clover Lane. I think I want her to come and redecorate my house. And, my book shelves!
6. My baby sis!!!! She's over at Live Better and she ROCKS in the kitchen! 
7. Anne, over at Imprisoned in My Bones makes me want to be a better Catholic every day. God Bless her!
8. Last, but never least, is my dear, sweet husband's blog, KylePDempseyOnlineInformationDotCom, because he makes me laugh every day and he knows that I don't really find his webshows annoying!

OK, nine blogs is all I have time to post right now because I have Easter baskets to fill, get blessed, Easter clothes to iron, and suitcases to pack!!


Happy Easter!!!

It's Official!

Totally. There is not one shred of sanity left in me (as if the blog's title didn't already clue you in). AND, I have now infected my darling husband with a big ol' case of the crazies. OK, here we go. Deep breath...

We are going to Disney World!!!!*


*I know all you snitches out there thought I was announcing another pregnancy, didn't you?


Yes, that's right! As in:
"MK, you've just birthed an amazing amount of gorgeous children and then they told you the last one shredded your uterus! Where are you going?!?"
"Well, Bob, I'm going to Disney World!"

Well, that's actually pretty close to the truth. A mere 5 hours after our last precious dumpling made her violent way into the world and the reality of the life-threatening danger that another pregnancy would be for me & baby, I looked at my husband and said, "I want to go to Disney. Not today, but before all the older kids leave the nest." He said "OK", because as all you married mommies out there know, once your husband has watched you birth his baby, he feels like maybe he should give in on a few things. Score! Wait, honey, if you're reading this, I don't mean a word of it. It's all about keeping the readers entertained.


"But, wait", you say, "That was almost 17 months ago! What the heck?!" I know! I thought the same thing, too! To be perfectly honest, I thought that, maybe, my sweet ba-boo was using all the "Disney Money" for food gas electric other things and he had no intention of making good on his "OK". What a little fool I can be! My husband's company finally gave out sizable bonuses *those jackholes have been making their employees jump through ridiculous hoops for years* and after cursing out the Federal government for taking almost half paying off some debts and putting away some money, my gorgeous husband set a generous budget for a trip to Disney which we have already exceeded.

Before you get all "well, ain't she fancy and hoity-toity, what with her trips to see gigantic mice?", please understand that we are losers simple folk. We got married so young and poor, that we honeymooned I schmidt you, not! in Appalachia. Yes, we drove 10 hours to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN and STILL did not have enough spending money to go to Dollywood. For the first 9 years of our marriage, any vacation we took happened to be at rented summer homes; we had never flown on an airplane together. Four kids together, but zero airplane rides. Then, my husband's employer was going to send him to a conference in New York City and would pay for my plane ticket, too. Well, hee-haw! We somehow scrounged up the money for airfare for our kids and we spent 4 humid and hot glamorous days in The Big Apple! Then, 5 years later, my husband's new employer was sending him to a conference in Vegas and he said, "Why don't you & the baby come along?" after I threatened certain body parts and told him he'd never go to that den of iniquities without me. So, we flew to Vegas for 4 days with an 8 month old, only to discover that I was extremely ill with strep throat.

So, you see, not only do my husband & I not take fancy-schmancy trips, but our kids have not had these experiences, either. This is a big freaking deal to the entire family! Add that to my penchant for list-making and obsessing over every last thing that could possibly go wrong Spring isn't hurricane season in FL, is it? How bad is the bed bug epidemic there?, and you have a family ripe for the possibility of F.U.N!

Meanwhile, our kids are helping out by catching every last infectious disease known to humankind, and injuring various body parts. 'Cuz, our family motto is, "If someone ain't sick, wait 'til they are before you leave for vacation!"! Oh, and the baby's sprained ankle has recovered just enough for her to unpack all the suitcases I've just packed, while simultaneously filling the same suitcase with granola crumbs.

After Disney, my man and I want to take a "real" honeymoon in Mexico or Jamaica! But, first, I'd have to get a passport. Told you I am a loser!

You don't even want to know...

March just keeps getting crazier and crazier around here. I am thinking that God really wants me to have a penitential Lent. I hear you, Lord! You can take a break for April, OK? Maybe a little one?

Anyway, I'm just going to post some of my 40 Bags, 40 Days pics, and then go back to more purging while I comfort a 16 month old who has a double ear infection AND a badly sprained ankle (possibly a "hidden" fracture).

This is our "Big Cabinet" in the kitchen, which previously collected small appliances, and odd paperwork, and an old calculator (?), etc. In the "before" shot, you can see all of the junk wonderful treasures on the counter below. After I cleared it all out and threw away a whole boatload of weirdness, I decided to think about how to better organize our kitchen so we can maximize efficiency (ha!). With that in mind, I decided to make this Big Cabinet our cups/glasses cabinet and also store our blender there.

So, what happened to the cabinet that previously housed the cups?

It is now our "breakfast cabinet"! I put all of the cereal, bowls, mugs, k-cups (for my beloved Keurig!), sugar bowl, creamers, and tea in this cabinet. So, for the majority of family members, this means going to only one cabinet in the morning and the fridge to fetch the milk and half-&-half. Easy-peasy! I'm a GENIUS!

And, here is my OTHER cookbook cabinet! I have a lot of cookbooks, and I really do use most of them on a regular basis, so it's nice to have the space to see them all clearly.

OK, now I'm going back to play nursemaid to my brood. Did I mention that 4 of them have Spring Break this week? This is after most of them were sick all of last week and when I picked up the 2 "un-sick" ones on Friday, the teacher said, "Have a wonderful Spring Break!". I did a perfect imitation of a deer in headlights, thinking "WHUCK the WHUCK?!? I didn't know it was Spring Break!". But, it is.

I'm still here!!

I haven't disappeared OR stopped doing my 40 Bags, 40 Days Challenge, LIFE just got super-busy (kids got sick, brother's wife had their 1st baby, etc) and I haven't been able to post for a couple days week.

So, I have a few "after" pics to share because I forgot to take the before pics I didn't want to overwhelm you with too many pics in 1 post. *I'm nice like that*:

And, now to prove how much I really needed to do this challenge, here are some before and after pics:

Yes, we are now the proud owners of a sad, little liquor cabinet which cannot begin to contain the vast amounts of liquor bottles now stored in our basement!

And, I have begun a 2nd "Cookbook Cabinet" which will also serve as my "hide candy from the kids" cabinet and my "small, fragile vases for which I never receive flowers"  cabinet.

Today, I am hoping to tackle the DVD wallet and rid us of all those scratched DVDs (why do we put them back in there after we've determined that they are useless?) and I would also like to tackle the large wall cabinet in the kitchen (which is the middle section of the new liquor cabinet, the 1st & 2nd cookbook cabinets, and the 1st Aid cabinet). We shall see.

How is everyone else doing this Lent? Spring sprung here last week, then went back into hiding (deep sigh....) for another week or two. So, to keep up my spirits I'm channeling a little bit of "Annie".

More later!!!

We have a WINNER! Oh, and some helpful tips.

Without further ado, the winner of the Purex Complete Crystals giveaway is Noelle! (Noelle, I will be messaging you later on where to send your free coupon!) CONGRATULATIONS!

Later today, I'll be posting 2 days worth of my 40 Bags Challenge, but while you're sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for that, I wanted to share these awesome tips with you from Sarah over at Clover Lane. I could not have said it better myself!

Day 5

Here are yesterday's pictures from the 40 Bags Challenge. We (my 2 daughters & I) worked in the girls' room, specifically on the changing table and their dresser. We purged SO many clothes and baby blankets (little sob from Mommy). Of course, I realized that the day I have to go through all the clothing bins in the basement will be even more work now, but it's all worth it!

Here are the before/afters of the changing table:

The before/after pics of the dresser are not too dramatic, as most of the work occurred inside the drawers and, for some reason, the pics don't tell the story very well. Here you go:

All tolled, we got rid of 1 bag of trash and packed away 2 garbage bags full of clothing. Whew! Now, I have to start on today's Challenge..... More later!