Television, our oft maligned family member

Yes, I am aware of the research that says that children should not watch television, adults who watch it will get fat, babies who are "exposed" to it will never develop properly, yada, yada, yada. I don't care! We watch it, okay?! There, I said it. My name is Autumn, and I let my kids watch television!

The TV is on constantly in our living room. We have three TV's in the house. Although, that shouldn't really count because the TV in the teen's room isn't connected to the dish, (just DVD's and GameBox400 or whatever) and the TV in the angel's room can only view whatever is on the TV downstairs. Long story. (Our dish programing is for two different rooms, but one night in a fit of rage and super human strength, the husband snapped the primary remote in half with his bare hands, which I found both alarming and a little bit sexy! So now we are using the second remote as the only remote and both TVs show the same channel. Huh, I guess that story wasn't so long after all!)

I even let the baby watch it. I know, I know, bad mom award. All the research says that I should be carrying my baby with me all day, reading to him and showing him flashcards. Luckily I don't have anything else to do, like get the older kids ready for school or make dinner or anything. And forget folding laundry or taking a shower! Those little luxuries will have to wait! So, I plop him down in front of Blues Clues while I unload the dishwasher. So sue me! (Apparently TV can delay the onset of speech. You say that like it's a bad thing! I'm still trying to get the older kids to shut up!) But you know, kids television isn't what it used to be. Cartoons today, especially those found on Nick Jr or Noggin, are all about learning the ABCs and sharing and things like that. They're not like the old school cartoons, where anvils were dropped on heads. (Although, I kind of miss those old cartoons, violent though they may be!)

And I'm not letting them watch just anything! When the kids went back to school it took me two tries to "pry" the TV off of the Disney channel, where it had been for two months straight. And no Cartoon Network!! Those shows are terrible at best. The teen isn't allowed to watch his "grown up" cartoons while the angel is in the room, so he records Family Guy and gets up early to watch it. (It's one of those "pick your battles" things.)

When the kids aren't here, I often put the TV on HGTV or the History Channel and just let it play while I clean or feed the baby or play on the computer. Makes great background noise, and you never know when extensive knowledge of Emperor Nero might come in handy!

See, it's not all bad. I think that watching TV is one of those things that people complain about but do anyway, like co-sleeping, eating fast food, or buying gasoline. There's a ton of research that says we shouldn't do it, but that's not going to stop us. And how did we learn about that research? From TV, of course!

Congratulations! It's a (teenage) boy!

Okay, here's a re-cap of our family situation, for those of you who may not have been following along. The husband has two sons from a previous marriage. The older boy is technically his step-son, (though only a baby when he was married) and is therefore not covered by any sort of custody agreement. And while we will always consider him a member of the family (you divorce wives, not children) he only visits when he wants to, which is becoming less frequent due to the fact that he is 17, has a job and girls to chase and things like that. (We don't take it personally.)

The younger son, however, is a different story. He was supposed to visit every other weekend, every other holiday and two weeks in the summer. Luckily, the husband and his ex-wife parted on good terms and have agreed to throw the "decree" out the window. He was visiting as often (or as sparingly) as he wanted, or as often as was convenient for both sets of parents, as his mother and step-father live approximately an hour away from us. Pretty much boiled down to every other holiday, about 1-2 weekends a month, and most of the summer.

But NOW...he has decided to come live here with us. He has been here most of the summer already, not counting a week or two back with his mom. Before, when he was visiting, he would share the angel's room, as the peanut's stuff was in the smaller room. With this kind of permanence, we moved the peanut's crib to our bedroom (he was sleeping in there anyway) and freed up some space for Brother 2.

I also had the joy of taking him in to register for high school. (he will be in 9th grade starting Monday!) This is the same high school I attended (only 14 years ago!), and many of the same teachers are still there!

This is going to be quite the change for all of us, and I'm sure it will give me plenty of blog fodder. So, I am re-naming Brother 1 and 2, in honor of this change. From now on, Brother 1 (the 17 year old) will be known as the Sailor, because he has decided to join the Navy after he graduates this May. And Brother 2 will be know as the Teen. (Let the eye rolling and angst begin!)

So, to sum up, we now have two adults, one infrequent sailor, one 9th grader, one 2nd grader and one 5 month old living in a 3 bedroom townhouse. Sounds crazy? Try living it! (insert maniacal laughter here)

I'd also like to wish the Teen a very happy 14th birthday! (tomorrow) His gift, a new cell phone. (His old one had a run-in with some water...not good.)

And I'd also like to ask all of you to wish me luck with parenting a teenager. I still feel like one myself...minus the ability to text 70 words a minute.

The Death of Emily Post

Manners are one of those things that people acquire, whether through training ("What do say?" "Please?") or through maturity. ("Kids today are so disrespectful!") But all it takes is one trip to the movie theater to realize that manners may be on the way out. It's too bad, because being polite is a very attractive trait, one that is often undervalued. People may not notice when you are being polite, but they sure notice when you are not! So, humor me while I give a rundown of my own personal pet peeves and maybe a gentle reminder for all things manners related!

My Personal Pet Peeves

• Don't forget to say "thank you"--I am in the habit of thanking people for pretty much anything. I once thanked a police officer for writing me a speeding ticket. (Although, that may be going too far) I thank waitresses, UPS guys, tele-marketers, my kids...pretty much a good habit to get into. (Note to all people who work customer service: You should be thanking ME! I'm doing you a favor by using your business...so when I thank you for whatever service you have provided, you should thank me for my patronage.)
• "Excuse me" is not just for burping--If you bump into me in a crowd, say it. If you walk between me and whatever it is I'm looking at in the store aisle, say it. If you need to interrupt my conversation, if you need to divert your attention away from me while I'm speaking, if you didn't hear what I said, say it.
• Don't crowd me--Granted, I may have a larger "personal space bubble" than most people, but I really don't like people to stand too close too me. This is my dance space, that is yours. Especially while I'm trying to enter my debit pin into the machine. Courtesy dictates you should look away...that means you, grandpa! Take a step back.
• Don't drive with your parking lights on--okay, it's not really a "manners" thing, but it drives me crazy anyway. If it's dark enough for lights, it's dark enough for headlights. Parking lights are used when a car is parked. (As indicated by the name.) You can't drive a parked car, so don't drive with your parking lights on. Okay, somebody help me off this soapbox...
• Put your damned phone away!!--Are you honestly so popular that you can't even go for two hours without checking your messages? And the glow from your phone in a darkened theater is like a giant spot-light shining on your Stupid Sign. Turn off your phone in theaters, churches, lectures, etc. And don't carry on a loud conversation in crowded hallways and elevators. No one else wants to hear about how much you hate your brother's girlfriend. (It just makes you seem catty) Pay attention to what is going on. Look both ways when crossing the street and be ready to order when you get to the front of the line. You should be paying attention to the real life people in front of you. It drives me crazy to see a group of teenage girls sitting together and each completely engrossed in a conversation with somebody "better" via text. If you absolutely must answer your phone or text while talking to me, please see the "excuse me" section.
• I think the word you were looking for is "are"--I am not a teenager, therefore I do not recognize the words "r", "u", or "2". It's okay in a casual text or facebook comment, but if you want me to understand you in an email, please use actual words. DOAMBIDUADWTL. (Don't Over Acronym Me Because I Don't Understand And Don't Want To Learn.)
• Super negative blog posts--I really hate it when people do nothing but bitch on their blogs! Oh, wait...

Vacation Part III

Hey, everybody, sorry to leave you hanging. But you know how summer goes. So where was I? Oh, right, driving through South Dakota...

South Dakota is the largest state in these United States. Okay, not really. I don't think it even makes the top ten. But it certainly feels big when you are driving all the way across it! South Dakota is a well known tourist destination in it's own right. The Black Hills are truly beautiful and the area around Mount Rushmore has a bunch of kitchy, touristy spots that are really fun to visit.

And then there's the rest of the state. The 90% of SD that is not the Black Hills is mostly farmland and tourist traps. And the farther east you get, the more ridiculous and desperate they get. "Last chance to see the biggest teepee ever made out of drinking straws!"

Here is a giant stretched car on top of a billboard. (Which, by the way, is one of 7 million billboards that blemish the lovely farmland through which I-90 travels.) I think this is advertising a car museum, which I think the husband would have enjoyed if we weren't so tired and weren't in such a rush to get home.I really have no idea what this was all about. Clearly it's a T-rex skeleton, and it's human owner, out for an evening stroll. Totally normal right? Except that this was just outside of the (in)famous 1880 Town, which is a replica of an 1880 town. (Thus the clever name.) I think the lesson here is that back in 1880, human and dinosaur skeletons were able to exist peacefully together. We can all learn a little something from history.

After a LOOOONNNG day in the car, we decided to stop in the Rapid City area and stay the night. We saw multiple RV parks in the Black Hills on our way, and we hoped that there might be a vacancy in one of them. It was still several weeks until the famous Bike Rally, so we hoped that pulling in to town at 9pm wouldn't have us camping in the Walmart parking lot. (We drove past Sturgis, which it turns out is just a normal, suburban town for 50 weeks of the year.)

We pulled into a really cute RV park, which was across the street from Reptile Gardens. (We didn't go...the husband and I have been before and the angel wasn't interested in a zoo dedicated to snakes and spiders. *shudder*) After relaxing for awhile, we decided to stay an extra day in the Black Hills to rest before another 8 hour day in the car.

We had taken the husband's older boys on a trip there back in 1998, but the angel had never been. So we went to Mount Rushmore, which is pretty cool the first time, but if you have been there 7 or 8 times (like I have) you start to see the hype. The angel took one look and said, "Neat," and then asked where we would be eating lunch. But first we made the kids pose for pictures...it just felt like the right thing to do.

We stopped in Keystone, the ultimate of ultimate tourist trap towns, and rode the Alpine slide. (Which was actually kind of fun!) And I drug the husband through the Presidential Wax Museum. This was actually really cool, and he even admitted afterward that it was fun and educational. Even the angel was enjoying herself, and they give you little remote control things that narrate the tour, so she was learning a lot about our past presidents.

We followed up by visiting the Prairie Berry winery, where Mommy had a great time sampling wine and Daddy got to entertain the kids. I bought some Red Ass Rhubarb wine, which is a little sweet for my taste but I plan to save it for a special occasion.

And after all that, the ride home was pretty uneventful. As exciting as vacationing is, as fun as it is to travel and see new things, it always feels good to come home. And, a month later, I'm STILL trying to get caught up on laundry.