This is why we don't watch...

This morning, after Mr. Bug and I finished breakfast, we sat down to watch Caillou together, as we often do. But we were a little early, and no me gusta that Dragon Tales show that is on before Caillou. So, when I switched on the TV, the weather report was on, and I figured I would just watch that until it was time to switch to PBS.

I paid attention to the weather report - all 7 days of the extended forecast - and now know what the weather will be like for the first time in probably six months. But I STOPPED paying attention when this commercial came on for Wife Swap. It was some silly preview about the "Miss Manners" mom switching places with the belching, behind-scratching mom. I immediately drift off into thoughts about why any mom, who thinks they are doing a decent job of mothering, would want to "hand off" to someone they don't even know, and how silly the show's premise is, and do people really watch this?

While I am off in la-la land, the preview keeps on running, and switches to highlights of the children's behavior. Without any warning, my TV (via one of the belching mom's offspring) yells at me, "KISS MY BUTT!"

And my son, who knows what a butt is, and that we don't use that word in our house, thinks that is totally hilarious.

So hilarious in fact, that he tries yelling it himself... which is even MORE hilarious.

All hilarity aside, I was a little peeved. I spend enough time debriefing my kids when they come in repeating the latest piece of garbage they've heard the neighbor kids say. It bugged me a little that my kids have to hear it even when I decide to watch a weather report.

ANYWAY,

In Other News
- folks have been asking about when we are leaving for China and what not. We officially booked flights today. Leaving October 6. Returning October 19. Before we'd even started planning flights, someone asked me how long the flight was. I told them that I thought I remembered something about it being 13 hours.... and I was right... if we're talking about the flight from Detroit to Tokyo. All told, we will be in a plane for 19 hours on the way out... and that only gets us to Guangzhou. Two more hours the next day will get us to Kunming. Aye, aye, aye.

- I finished the blanket that I'm leaving at the orphanage. It is totally lopsided. But it's warm, and I think that's all that matters.

- We took the training wheels off Boo's bike yesterday. By this morning she was able to start from a dead stop and keep on riding. The kid isn't even 4 1/2 yet. You GO, girl! (No pun intended.)

- The boy child is learning to work his charms on his mom. This evening, when he was supposed to be sleeping, he was sitting up and yelling as loud as he could. I issued very stern warning. His response was to throw his arm around my neck and say, as innocently as you can imagine, "I love you, mommy." Unrelenting in my firm demeanor, he just started laying sloppy, wet kisses right on my mouth. I am the first to admit that the boy is cute. (And, obviously, he knows that.) But, I was not taken in. He ended up getting what he refers to as "spank your bottom."

- The end. Good night.