Because it’s been a crapper of a week and I just don’t have it in me today.  But, I needed to give you something to get over the hump. And that something would be the adorable chubby cheeks of Laila Ali’s new baby, Sydney.  They just beg for someone to nom on them!

I am a sucker, total sucker, for great educational programming.

And the History Channel’s How the States Got Their Shapes falls into that category very nicely.

With Brian Unger (former Daily Show correspondent and NPR host) and his completely deadpan delivery, this show manages to make what could potentially be an extremely boring subject and make it sing.  He’s not to hard on the eyes, either, which always makes for a nice bonus.

If you’ve got a mature 8 year old, they should do fine with this show.  There is some historical violence, such as various reenactments of Civil War battles and so far, they have said the word “hell.” But it is totally in context.

You will find out the answers to these utterly fascinating questions: (and I say that not at all facetiously)

-How did an asteroid create the border for three states and change history?

- Why did we almost have a state called Forgottonia?

-Why does Montana look like it took a bite out of Idaho?

-Did the Civil War actually begin… in Kansas?

The season is already six shows in, but I’m guessing you can find it on reruns.  It IS the History Channel, after all.  If not, they’ve got all previously-aired shows online.

And yes, I am officially a geek.

It seems that 43% of you hate housework as much as I do, but unfortunately, aren’t able to have someone come in and do it for you.  I remember when we put our home up for sale when I was six months pregnant (stupid, yes!) and for the six weeks or so it took to sell it, we had a cleaning crew come in every week because there was no way I could keep the house in good enough shape to show it.  And it was heavenly.   15% of you try not to stress out about it, 12% of you do have someone come in to clean for you, and 6% fear that “Hoarders” will be knocking on their door at any moment.  Only 3% of you actually like cleaning, and now I know why all of us get along so well!

Today I’m all about the travel plans.  Or possible lack thereof.  Some friends of ours are going on a Disney Cruise around the Mediterranean this summer, and I have to admit I’m a teensy bit jealous.

But, but…

Where is Jar-Jar?

I’m especially fond of young Jabba up there.

Comicscavern via Buzzfeed

Apparently I take life much too seriously as 74% of you said that people who think young “scowling flowergirl” being posted all over the internet is no big whoop.   There is no doubt that Grace Van Cutsem and that photo are as precious as they come, but I can’t help but wonder if when she is grown up she will be offended at all the places people chose to put her, or if she will think it is a riot.  Or maybe she will need years of therapy, who knows? 

And that, my friends, is why I don’t put up pictures of my kids on the internets.  Because I just don’t know.

But, this week’s poll beckons. 

In my suburban neighborhood, I would say that a full 75% of the garages have never held a car.  Some people have turned them into rec rooms, complete with sofas and big screen televisions.  Others, like my next door neighbor, transformed theirs into a playroom for theirdaughter.  Oh, there is a couch in there, too.  Others, like ourselves, just have some random stuff piled everywhere, but no car.

For that, I plead the insanity of moving with a three month old, and never being able to recover.  We’ve got the house in order, but the garage is a mess.  We aspire to having at least one of our cars in there, and can hopefully do so within the next month. She said optimistically.

I won’t lie, the only way my family gets through long car rides is by watching videos. 

My son is prone to carsickness (something he apparently will never grow out of, as he has had this since he was a baby) and my daughter?  Well, she just hates being confined in her carseat and the only way to stop her from screaming the entire time is to have some Wiggles playing.  I honestly tried to resist playing the movies for her, but after multiple car trips with non-stop crying and a couple of crying-induced vomiting sessions, I copped out.  We don’t play it on trips shorter than twenty minutes, but after that, all bets are off.

We briefly considered installing a DVD system on the roof of our minivan, but decided against it because with the seven year age difference between my kids, it is pretty much a gurantee that they will never want to watch the same movie.

We also thought about installing some of those headrest monitors, but the drawback was  you could only play one DVD at a time, and they were mucho expensive.

Enter the RCA Twin Mobile DVD players.

You can actually play two different DVD’s since you can load each monitor with its own movie, but there is still a single power source.  The whole thing has worked out perfectly, especially since my daughter is still in her rear-facing carseat, and will be until she is at least two.  Her monitor is strapped to the top of her seat, and my son’s monitor is strapped to the back of the front passenger seat.  My son wears his headphones, and we are all happy.  I would have preferred larger screens, as these are only 7 inches, but they don’t make a system like this with 9 inch screens. 

And the whole set was less than one hundred and fifty, which I consider to be a HUGE bargain.

You might have noticed a distinct lack of Teeny Poll last week, and that was because last Sunday night found me frantically trying to fight a virus that my dear husband allowed into our computer.   Thanks hon!  Three hours of my life I can never get back.

I went totally personal on the last poll, and most of you (44%) suggested semi-formal, no matching for our upcoming family photo.  I’m thinking you guys are right.  We will have to ponder exactly how we are going to carry it out, but hopefully it will turn out not looking too cluttered.

Today I want to talk about summer camps.  The Munchkin is into science, computers, and robotics and the like.  I found a great-looking robotics camp done through a local university.  I was really excited about it, until I clicked through to find the price tag.  For six hours a day, they wanted me to fork over $800!  I about fell off my chair.  That doesn’t even include lunch!  I’ve looked at quite a few others, and it seems that if you want to do something even semi-interesting, it is going to cost you big bucks. However, maybe I’m being unreasonable?

The Wiggles certainly have their place in any child’s music catalogue, as does Raffi.   But for my daughter’s go to dance music, it’s gotta be TMBG.  I was never a huge fan of theirs when they were producing regular old pop music, but when they started recording the kid stuff, my fangirl status was cemented.  They mix humor along with education, and who doesn’t like that?  Nobody, that’s who. 

I can’t stand the faux-folk, stripped-down, guitar-driven stuff that somehow has become so popular on the toddler circuit, and the female singers are the worst offenders (Elizabeth Mitchell and Lisa Loeb, I’m lookin’ at you).  I don’t know why, but listening to them does not make me want to shake my thang, rather it is akin to having your hair ripped out of your head, strand by strand. I appreciate percussion instruments, that’s all I’m saying.

So I’m going to post this video from TMBG that is my daughter’s favorite, and I promise you will be singing it to yourself for the rest of the day.  Yes, its that catchy.  And cuter than hell, too.