Blog Posts by MQ

Elmo Snippit with Katy Perry

If you didn't know, musician Katy Perry was booted from Sesame Street. Her segment was taped and it was going to air as part of the show's 41 st season. She did a spoof of her 'Hot 'N Cold' hit with Elmo. Thanks to a bunch of parents griping about her cleavage, her performance got yanked.

I'm personally so tired of parents acting like Oscar the Grouch about everything. Sure, as parents we have concerns about what our children see, especially on a television show catered to youngsters. But is this really necessary? It seems most of the negative buzz is about Katy's dress and her cleavage. I've seen the video and the outfit in question. You can see it here.

I think Katy's dress is just fine and kids wouldn't even notice her outfit. I have two young boys and they wouldn't care about her dress. They would be looking at her face and listening to her sing. If kids are noticing her cleavage, they are too old to be watching Sesame Street anyway. After all, women have boobs. What

Family Laughter

"Dad, tell the one about bonking that kid in the head with your toy train." "Dad, tell the one about running from the neighborhood bullies." "Honey, tell the one about passing out in the park." That's the way most of our family get-togethers end. Whether it's sitting around the table with half-eaten pieces of birthday cake on car-themed paper plates scattered about or sipping coffee together, stuffed from a delicious Thanksgiving turkey, the best part of every family gathering is the laughter.

After the last bite of food has been taken and our rambunctious, young kiddos have retired to the playroom, the adults sit around the table and retell funny stories we've heard a million times. Certain topics never seem to get old like my dad's rebellious childhood or my husband's PG-rated college adventures involving alcohol-related stupidity. My sister and I tend to tell the same stories from our childhood about goofy Barbie antics and high school shenanigans.

No matter what life

Google InstantMore exciting news for all of us Google fanatics, bloggers, writers and seekers, Google Instant. According to Google, this new-fangled search tool features "predictive, real-time" search results. Google Instant will save you 2-5 seconds per search. Uhm, maybe I'm totally ridiculous, but I never thought searching was a long process to begin with. That was the whole ease of Google. It was fast.

And what's with "predictive" searches? Well, it seems this type of search shows you results before you finish typing. In other words, it's psychic. Great. Now I have someone else telling me what I want. The kids, my husband and my laptop. Super.

I'm not sure why this Google Instant concept is so newsworthy because 2-5 seconds isn't a big thing to me. If I didn't have to type at all - now that would be exciting. It would save my back from the pain of typing and slouching all day. I wouldn't have to deal with sticky keyboard keys or pieces of crackers getting lodged under the cracks by

Happy Face Rabbit

I always thought I was cool enough to hang with everyone else, even people 10-15 years younger than me. Well, my coolness theory was busted wide open a few weeks ago when I saw a glossary of emoticons online. It's not the animated emoticons, just the simple text ones you can make with parenthesis and symbols. You know, modern day hieroglyphics. I looked through it and realized I knew two of them, Smiley Face and Wink Face. Seriously? How sad is that?

See the emoticon glossary in Emoticons for Dummies: Skip the Fail Face and Get Smiley Face!

Wait, there's an emoticon for "cat" with cute little whiskers? There's one for baby and coffee? Why didn't I know this. Is it because I'm no longer a geeky teenager or is it because I'm old and totally "not with it." And using the term "not with it" should really prove just how uncool I am these days.

My impending old age is no longer years and years away. Remember when you were a kid and 30 seemed like grandma status? Well, I'm

Last week, my oldest son (almost six) had his little brother (almost three) in a headlock. When I walked back into the room, he spotted me and quickly pretended it was a hug. He even added, "Awwwwe, you're so sweet," to the fake brotherly love fest to prove his innocence.

Yesterday during my trip to the grocery store, I was grabbing a few Luna Bars when I spotted four small fists punching at each other and swinging around wildly in the aisle. There was kicking, pinching and yes, another headlock. It was like a cage match without the cage. I stared for a minute with a look of dismay on my face. Maybe someone else will claim them? No such luck. I stepped in and physically separated them.

My boys are entering the "you-annoy-me-and-take-my-toys-so-I'm-gonna-hit-you-until-you-stop-or-until-mom-walks-in-the-room" phase. I have to give them both credit, because they are equally good at provoking each other and most of the time they are both guilty when things reach a boiling

The majority of parents have probably been in a similar situation as reality star and new mother, Kourtney Kardashian. As a new mommy, she is discovering how much swearing actually goes on in her life. Now she's worried her baby's first words will be bleeped out on national television. The biggest potty mouth culprits? Her sister Khloe and her baby daddy, Scott Disick.

As a child, I was under strict orders never to use swear words. While I heard them occasionally - like when my dad got a paper cut, which was his biggest pet peeve in the universe - my family didn't cuss. As I got older, I started peppering f-bombs into my personal conversations and I've since realized how hard it is to stop.

My hubby and I agreed to cut the cussing down to a minimum when we found out we were pregnant for the first time. It's not an easy goal because it becomes such a habit, but we worked together to tone down our offensive language. Now that my kiddos are bigger and closely relate to

It's hard being a mom because in addition to our human children, most of us have fluffy children too. Whether your kids have two legs or four, getting them to take horrible-tasting medicine is impossible.
Both of my sons have had bouts of croup and let me tell you, it is scary! The very first time we heard loud barking (exactly like a seal) through the baby monitor at midnight, my blood ran cold.

A common medicine to help ease an episode of croup is Albuterol, one of the most horrid tasting medicines around. When your child is struggling to breathe and refuses to take medicine because of the bad taste - well, that's not even an option. That's when I discovered the Wheel of Yuck and that's why I'm sharing it with you. It's my BFF.

The Wheel of Yuck is the brainchild of FLAVORx. (No, that's not a rapper.) The company has created an interactive, FREE guide that let's you know which three flavors are the most "yuck-busting" for a specific medicine. For example, because

Yesterday, I wrote a blog post about my five favorite kid shows. I watch television with my kidlets, so I see cartoons on a regular basis. I must admit, it was not an easy list to compile. I asked my children to tell me which shows they like the most and even asked my husband for input. The point of my blog post was to identify the shows that aren't annoying to parents. Let's face it, many of them are. I was forced to create my list by process of elimination. Here are a few things about kid shows I just can't stand:

1. - Men wearing tights. I find this totally ridiculous. What happened to normal pants? Why in the world does a grown man need to jump around and dance for an audience of small children wearing nothing but a smile and thin layer of spandex? If you know, please enlighten me.

2. - Characters with mismatched outfits. I understand these shows are all about bright colors and carefree attitudes, but why must the characters wear a pink top, orange socks, purple shoes,