Children's Programming

Now that the redheads are finally interested in television, if only for a few minutes at a time, I’ve had the opportunity to watch some of the children’s programs lately. They still love Barney but at least they are watching different shows now too. Thank goodness.

I’ve noticed that lots of the programs incorporate Hispanics into the show, many by using Hispanic main characters such as Handy Manny and Dragon Tales. And Barney has included Spanish speaking songs since the beginning.

Disney has the toddler programs on in the mornings but then it changes to tween shows around late morning so then our only choice is Sprout. If us adults are watching something the girls will start saying “Sprout, Sprout”, wanting us to turn there. Hopefully there’s a new television for their room in the near future.

I haven’t figured out yet why Nena, the host for Sprout, wears the exact same clothes day after day after day. Does this make her more familiar to the children? I change clothes daily and my grandbabies still recognize me. It drives me crazy.

Then there’s Caillou. What kind of name is that anyway? His sister, Rosie, has a normal name. And why is he bald when none of his friends are?

Why do some of the mice in Angelina Ballerina wears clothes and some do not?

And many of the Sprout shows have characters with British accents. I kinda like Kipper. Kipper the dog. The dog with the slipper. Kipper the dog. But I don’t like it when that song gets stuck in my head.

Noddy is this strange little boy that lives in Toyland or something like that. They have some strange and scary characters in that show.

And I’m sorry, but Thomas is just downright boring.

I think all of the Sprout shows are “safe” for the children to watch. They just do a lot of repeats. I’ve seen Caillou break his mother’s favorite mug about six times in the past couple of weeks.

I can remember growing up the ONLY time we got to watch cartoons was on Saturday morning. We always looked forward to that day. Later, Sesame Street, Electric Company and Mister Rogers came out on PBS but it took us a while to get a UHF antennae. I didn’t get to watch much of those.

And I know, we shouldn’t let the redheads watch TOO much television. But it sure can make a good babysitter.

Finale

January sure seems like a long way off. *sigh*

This is an excellent recap of the last show:

http://www.journaltimes.com/articles/2009/05/19/ap/entertainment/d9899ho80.txt

Technology Free Weekend

Well, it was somewhat technology free. I didn’t turn my pc on at all. The redheads left Friday afternoon and I had plenty of time to surf…I just didn’t want to. Seems like blogging and facebooking and surfing in general has gotten old. I actually went to bed about 6:00 PM Friday night. I just needed the rest plus this graduation has really got me down. It felt good to catch up on my sleep. I had good long naps after dinner Saturday and Sunday too.

My cell phone stayed dead until yesterday afternoon. I didn’t even know it. I only use my cell phone in “have to” instances. I am just not a phone person at all. These people who talk while driving, walking, ordering in a fast food line (grrrrr, my pet peeve), sleeping (they must since they can’t breathe without one), I just don’t understand. I grew up without a cell phone and lived to tell about it. No big deal. I know they are handy but not something I couldn’t live without.

We worked in the yard Saturday morning and then hubby and I went to Hattiesburg Saturday night. We just took our time and ate at Newk’s and did a little shopping. I needed an outfit for graduation (*sniff*), something not too dressy since we will be at the football stadium. I found some black capris and a semi-dressy shirt at Dressbarn that will work just fine.

Sunday morning was senior recognition at church. My daughter was working so she couldn’t be there (*more sniffs*). They are short handed at work and she didn’t want to put them in a bind by asking to be off. She officially is out of school, since Friday, but had to be back this morning to practice graduation.

Okay. I don’t know how you other moms have handled graduation but I’m not doing very well with it. I didn’t know I would get so depressed. She’ll still be at home next year. She’s commuting, not staying in the dorm. So it’s not like she’s moving out. But this has been so depressing. Several years ago I actually got empty nest anxiety. I started panicking just thinking about what we’d do, or not do, once she left. I regretted having just one child at that time. I did some reading on adoption but my husband just wasn’t in agreement. I guess it was a good thing he wasn’t since the Lord sent us the redheads not too long after that. But I guess it has really hit me that my baby isn’t a baby any more.

So for now, I’m just going to allow myself to be sad if I want to. It’ll pass sooner or later.

Observations

I passed by a freshly bush hogged field this morning and there were about twenty buzzards sitting out there having breakfast. It was like a free breakfast buffet. Poor little rabbits, birds and mice. That must have been a horrible way to die. I’m just guessing but I bet buzzards get a large amount of their meals from road kill. What did they do in the days before cars? They just had to wait for an animal to die of natural causes? I’m sure there weren’t too many possums killed by the wheels of a horse drawn buggy.

I also saw mud puddles at my house this morn. That was a good thing. The rain has been dodging us and we needed it. It helps with our water bill.

I am watching the gas prices rise. It goes up about seven to ten cents every two or three days. I’m wondering if they’ll sock it to us again this summer with prices over $4.00. I am not looking forward to that.

Love's Travel Center is open. I was afraid it was going to shut down the old truck stop across the road that has been there forever. It won't. It is NOT what I was expecting. I thought it would be a true truck stop with a greasy spoon restaurant but it's simply a store with two fast food places. That's it.

I made a quick trip to Hattiesburg Saturday morning and since I was by myself I decided to stop in Columbia and get cheesy tots. I rarely get them on the weekends. But the BK was totally shut down when I got there. Closed. Wonder what’s up with that. Needless to say, I was extremely let down and disappointed. I just waited and ate Cane’s chicken for lunch instead.

Then, as I passed by the Favre estate and was admiring the fence and landscaping (that would take probably five years of my salary to pay for) I wondered what the heck is this guy going to do now. And how long is it going to take him to decide this summer. I sure wouldn’t mind seeing him take on the Packers. WOW! What a game that would be. And then again, I think he should just retire, for good, and let his nephew continue the Favre legacy. But no matter what we think, it’s his prerogative. NOT ours.

Friday is my daughter’s last day of high school. Forever. I’m sad but I know life goes on. I well remember her first day of kindergarten. She loved her teacher, Mrs. Teresa. Many of those twenty two children (the smallest class they’ve had at school) will be graduating together next Thursday night at the central high school. They’ve been friends for thirteen years or longer. We will miss little Jesse though. He was badly burned Sunday night and is currently at the burn center in Mobile.

It has been extremely busy in our office, but unfortunately not company wide. It’s simply because we are short handed in the office. I’m hoping production picks up soon. We can only wait and see.

It’s going to be a long, hot summer I do believe.

Thanks Guys!

I've been really, really slow about blogging lately. But so have MANY others. Several of you have even blogged about it also. SO, thank you all! That takes some of the pressure off of me.

It's just a very busy time of year. And my brain and my body are tired. I'm tired of end of school senior stuff, like proof reading essays, graduation invitations, color guard tryouts, gathering college information, applying for scholarships and grants, ACT's.

I'm tired of arguing with bull headed men about putting greenery back into the church parking lot. That is something that is going to be there for YEARS and it needs to look nice!!!

I'm tired of training my supervisor for WEEKS. He should have it by now. But he doesn't.

I'm tired of my yard looking like crap, but I don't have the energy or money to fix it right now.

But at least I'm not tired of this blog. I've just slowed down a bit.

Thanks.