My kids sometimes complain because I am pretty particular about what they watch and listen to. In fact, they don’t watch live TV at all. Instead, they watch TIVOd shows like The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy, and Little House on the Prairie. Seriously. My kids are normal kids, except they don’t watch the supposed “wholesome” shows on The Disney Channel and network TV.

Don’t get me wrong - there are *some* good shows being produced today. I do allow my girls to watch American Idol (once they are through with the auditions) because I think it is a good “slice of real life” in that there are people who win and people who don’t win. And thankfully, everyone (so far) has accepted their fate quite graciously on AI. They also love The Magic School Bus (which is a great educational show on PBS). And then there’s… um…

The rest of the shows that my girls’ friends watch tend to focus on dating relationships. My oldest is almost 9 and I asked her, “are you ready to start dating?” Thankfully she replied, “no way mom!” Well, that settled it. She doesn’t need to watch shows about “how to snag a guy” or “how to get him to kiss you” or anything similar.

Movies are the same… we don’t need to see a movie just because everyone else is (gosh, when did I start to sound like my parents?!). I took a lot of flak from other parents because I didn’t allow my girls to watch the Shrek movies. I read reviews of popular movies before going to the theater, and the reviews of the Shrek movies discussed how much “potty talk” was used. I have enough trouble getting my kids to use nice words, why add more potty talk to their vocabulary? The way I see it, movies and TV are basically fluff… they are not necessities required for my kids to grow up happy and healthy.

But if a good one comes along, we’ll be there! Our favorite series thus far has been the National Treasure series. It’s the first big screen movie series our whole family can enjoy. [You might say, “wait - there’s lots of violence in those movies” and you’d be right. But the type of violence shown in these movies is more akin to what I watched as a kid in Bugs Bunny, and is therefor not a problem for us.]

Anyway, back to the title of this post… I heard about a father whose kids wanted to watch a popular movie that was rated PG-13. The kids made a list of all the pros (everyone’s seeing it, top-notch actors, award-winning, etc.) and the cons (only 3 swear words, minimal violence, sex is off-camera, etc.). To illustrate his point, the father made a batch of special brownies and told the kids they could see the movie if they could eat the brownies without being affected by the cons. You see the brownies were made with top-notch ingredients and an award-winning recipe, but there was just 3 tbsp. of dog poop added. He mixed it really well and baked it at 350 degrees, so hopefully you won’t notice that little bit of crap… This illustration may be a little far fetched for some folks. But why expose my kids to crap if I don’t have to? Thanks to TIVO and about a zillion TV stations, I can tailor my kids’ media intake to be exactly what they need (without any added crap).

Have you met the Ice Cream Man? Not the guy who makes you pay for the ice cream he sells, but Matt Allen (shown right) - a.k.a. Free Ice Cream Man. Matt’s mission is to travel the world, giving away half a million ice cream treats. To date, he’s given away 125,000, so he’s not finished yet.

Ice Cream Man achieves his mission through sponsorships by companies like Blue Bunny (who makes ice cream of course). And he says he pays for gas on his debit/credit card but doesn’t really pay too much attention to how much it adds up to (which is probably a good thing if he doesn’t want to get too depressed).

My biggest question for Matt was why? To which he answers… “Here are a few reasons: 1. Free ice cream makes people happy, 2. Because I know there’s a way I can give away hundreds of thousands of free ice creams, 3. It’s the best job in the world (I think), and 4. Hopefully, it’ll inspire and motivate people to get out and do stuff, like fulfilling their dreams.”

Hmmm… guess that about sums it up. Oh except for one more thing.
Matt, could you head over to my neighborhood next?

This week has been a tough one, because of stories I’ve read (or heard) or hurt children. As a mom, that really tugs at my heart strings and makes me hug my own kids a little tighter. The hardest story to handle is of 5-year-old Maria Sue Chapman (daughter of a great Christian musician - Steven Curtis Chapman). On Wednesday night, Maria was struck and killed by a car in the driveway of her home. The car was driven by her older brother and was a terrible, horrible accident.

Losing your child is any parents’ worst nightmare, but losing your child at the hand of a sibling is torture. That poor boy has to live with this for the rest of his life. The worst thing would be for parents to blame the sibling, because at that point they would be losing two children instead of one.

But I don’t believe Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman will do that. I believe God doesn’t give you more than you can handle, and perhaps He has brought them to this moment “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

If you haven’t heard it before, Steven Curtis Chapman wrote a song about little Maria a few months back. It’s called Cinderella. It was inspired by a bath time that Steven tried to “hurry,” but Maria and her sister Stevey Joy weren’t exactly cooperating. Listen to the song and be inspired by the lyrics of this special song. (Have some tissues handy if you have kids!)

Someone wrote the following on Steven’s blog, and I think it sums up the story perfectly:

The stroke of midnight came too soon.
The grand ball came to an expected and unexplainable close for your Cinderella. And like the story-book Cinderella, the magic came to an end, but in a different way.
Your Cinderella exchanged her beautiful gown, not for common clothes, but for a spotless, white robe.
Her glass slippers for a street paved with gold.
Her tuxedoed attendants for a host of saints and a chorus of angels.
Her distant prince for the ever-present Prince of Peace.
Her bejeweled chariot for a heavenly mansion prepared since the foundation of the world.
And she exchanged her gleaming white horses for the reality that she never needs to rush off again – she is now home.
Really, the grand ball came to a close for those left behind. But for Cinderella it is just beginning.

I love web sites that make your life easier, and Tastebook.com is one of those sites. I enjoy cooking. I’m no chef, just someone who enjoys preparing food for friends and family. I have a couple of recipes I’ve honed over the years to be “near perfect” and those are the ones people frequently request. With Tastebook.com, I can now simply share the recipes through my online cookbook. It’s genius!

You can create as many online cookbooks as you want, and even have them printed and bound to store in your kitchen (offline). I love that you can add recipes from several online recipe sites (although I’d like to see them create relationships with even more recipe sites to make the whole process even better). You can even upload photos to further enhance your personal recipes. It’s a great replacement for my (offline) notebook of collected recipes (especially since many of those sheets are faded, torn, and stained).

Check it out when you get a chance. If fact, I’ll even share a favorite family recipe for Monkey Bread (or Monkey Ball Cake as the kids usually call it). Enjoy!

I know it’s hard on a rainy day
you want to shut the world out and just be left alone
But don’t run out on your faith

‘Cause sometimes that mountain you’ve been climbing is just a grain of sand
What you’ve been up there searching for
forever is in your hands
When you figure out love is all that matters after all
It sure makes everything else
seem so small

- Carrie Underwood, “So Small”