Pedigreed Housewife World

This summer I have done the dreaded Mommy no-no. I’ll admit it. My kids have been plopped in front of the tv for much much more than the usually restricted hour a day. Go ahead and flog me now. We’re going to the pool, park, library, and other outings and the kids and I are both exhausted and on goes the Netflix. Usually we TIVO everything or watch Netflix with the kids, but this morning I was extra bad. I let the kids watch NickJr unsupervised while I took a shower. When I came out the girls were screaming that we had to buy a tangle free brush now. Now! Or it will be gone! They then repeated an infomercial to me, capturing all of the marketers highlights. The brush won’t hurt. It gets tangles out TWICE as fast as any other brush. It comes in four colors. You can get a free one if you act now. And most importantly you have to act now or the brushes will all be gone. This foray into commercials had them all worked up. I turn off the tv and sit them down. “Kids, do...

It’s summertime and my girls are in love with the birds. As we drive off to pricey outings all they really want to do is point out Meadowlarks and Robins and try to make bird sounds. So I decide that we would dedicate one afternoon to staying home and bird watching. The girls are super excited to discover a giant birds nest in one of our trees. They want to know how the birds made that nest. We consult their book on local birds and discover that birds pick up everything from twigs, grass, leaves, and mud to trash. “Litter! Oh no! The birds have our litter in their houses!” the girls cry. They ask me if we can make a birds nest. Why not. I tell them to start by gathering what a bird would gather to make a nest. They consult one another and strategize, “Abby you get the twigs and I’ll get the leaves,” Briana suggests. “No, let’s both get whatever is green, leaves and grass, first, then get the twigs,” Abby amends. Briana likes division of labor so she coun...