Pet Peeve Phriday

Ok so I have already done one post on bad baby names but this is topic that is always getting new 'winners'.

My daughter Cecilia (a nice saints name by the way) goes to a kindergarten program 2 days a week for some help with her speech (not her swearing her annunciation). In her class is a girl named Princess and one named Blessing! Seriously! For real! These are these poor kids names.

Sure they might turn out to be normal kids and adults but why take the change with names like that? It's hard enough to raise good kids.

Who is going to want to date, hangout with, or hire a person with a name like Blessing or Princess? How high maintenance are these girls gonna be? Only will time will tell but if I was a betting man I'd have to go with higher maintenance than a spoiled rich sorority girl or a Ford Pinto.

Do parents actually consider the power of a name and what it will do to a child? I admit that I wanted to name one of our kids Zephaniah (a boy not a girl) but my lovely bride talked me out of it.

Heaven help the men who get stuck married to these two future Diva's in training.

On the plus side maybe they could be wide receivers for a NFL team when they grow up.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Overused Phrases and Words that need to go. Can we agree to get rid of these. What ones would you like to add?

Team Building
Action Items
New Paradigm
Think Outside the Box
Out of Pocket
Significant Other
Take that offline
Back in the day
Old School
It is what it is
Fail
Epic
Not so Much
Just Sayin'


On the other hand maybe I need to engage in some Team Building with my family, including my Significant Other, and show them how Epic it was Back in the Day when we rocked it Old School. First I better make a list of Action Items, that will take awhile so I will be Out of Pocket for awhile working on a New Paradigm. But I would probably Fail, Just Sayin'. Oh well, It is what it is.

Pet Peeve Phriday

People who Talk at the Movies.

I didn’t pay $10 to listen to you comment on the movie, discuss the movie with your date, ask your date questions because you can’t follow the plot (how hard is it to follow an Adam Sandler or Will Ferrell movie?), or just chat cause you are bored.

Crying, laughing, screaming in horror, clapping and cheering are allowed if the movie plot dictates.

Getting up 5 times to get your free refills of the tub of popcorn and jumbo Coke are also frowned upon. If you must do this to feel like you are getting your money’s worth from your $14 popcron and $9 soda then plese get an aisle seat.

Also to be discouraged is making-out and groping like white-trash…unless the movie is really truly awful. But may I suggest in that case going home or at least out to your car.

Pet Peeve Phriday

The Super bowl – well actually this one in particular

I hate, loathe despise etc… both teams. Why? Well thanks for asking. Let me expound.
First off they are BOTH dome teams. I loathe dome teams almost as much as I do shows like The View and Oprah or The Donk. Why you ask again? Well have you met The Donk? Oh you were asking about Dome teams. Because its sissy football. Poor little millionaires can’t play in bad weather. Why not just put skirts on the players and have them play two-hand touch? You say it would be too rough on fans and players alike to play outside in places like Detroit and Minnesota? Tell that to the people in Green Bay and New England. Well I’ll give you Detroit; it would be too dangerous to play outside there but for different reasons. Plus outdoor games in winter are the only time you can look at the cheerleaders and have it not be a near occasion of sin. Most of the time they look like silicon filled Barbie’s in search of a brass pole. At least in the winter they are covered up a bit. Also add to the list of things that make domes a debacle, Astroturf aka fake grass – what with the cheerleaders we already have enough things that are fake.

I know that the politically correct team to route for is the New Orleans Saints. But I am sick of hearing about poor post-Katrina New Orleans and how great it would be for the city if their team won. Oh boohoo. There were 1,836 total deaths from Katrina, horrible to be sure, but there is double that number of babies killed every day in this country. Don’t want to get wet? Move to a city that isn’t below sea level. How hard is that to figure out? What you say they are too poor to up and move? I’m sure The Blow Hard in Chief announced a stimulus package for that in his State of the Union Address the other night. Bro has more packages than a gaggle of women shopping on black Friday.

Plus I am sick of Peyton Manning, don’t hate him or wish a pox upon him, but I’m sick of seeing him on TV pimping every product under the sun. He could sell a SUV to Al Gore or vacuum cleaners at a NOW convention. Ok so there is a bit of jealousy in there. He makes millions shilling for advertisers and I make pennies, literally.

Other reasons to hate the Super Bowl:

The halftime show. Ok I love The Who, The Who of the 60’s and 70’s that is. But 2/4ths of them are dead (deader than Kelsey’s nuts) and the other two are old enough to collect social security. And the only Who song that people under 40 know is the one that CSI uses for its opening. I guess it could be worse. They could have gone with a younger act. Could you imagine having to suffer through The Jonas Brothers or Lady Gaga? They are both painful in their own special way.

The Hype – 2 weeks of talking this game up and how great it will be. Plus a 10 hour pre-game show. Could the game be anything but a letdown?

Ads – need we discuss the ads? Beer, trucks, ED drugs etc. I don't drink beer, I have all the cars I need and I certainly don't need Viagra. I am curious to see the now infamous Tim Tebow ad. With all the free publicity Focus on the Family has gotten over this ad, they should just agree to cancel it and save a million bucks. Now that would be funny. And it was just announced that CBS is considering taking an ad for a g@y dating service.

Carrie Underwood will be singing the national anthem. Not sure if that is a plus or a minus. Her music isn’t my taste but she seems to have a nice voice and she’s easy on the eyes, so its probably a good choice by CBS. What would be cool is if she got on stage at halftime and sang My Generation with Roger Daltrey.

At least I’ll be at a party that will have good food. I guess I can just hang out and eat wings and chili and be my sardonic self.

The only thing that could have made this a worse Super Bowl would be if the Vikings and the insufferable drama-queen Brett Favre were playing. That guy makes women look decisive.

So I’ll pray for a monsoon for Florida on Super Bowl weekend so the Princesses have to suck it up and play in bad weather for a change. And so this game won’t be an offensive track race.

The Super Bowl does have one thing going for it (besides being in south Florida this year); it’s not the Pro Bowl. Does anyone actually watch that thing? Other than the player’s mothers of course. We know the wives won’t be watching it, they will be out spending the extra check that the players get at the shops in South Beach.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Today’s pet pheeve is prayer requests. But lest you think I’m totally heartless, not just any prayer requests. I’m talking about those pathetic ones, usually sent via an email that has been forwarded about 100 times by bored housewives, which involve some lame request.

You know the kind:

Subject: Urgent Prayer request

Sent: 1/12/09

To: Entire Inbox

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ. I just received a desperate call from my second cousin twice removed on my step-father’s side of the family. I may have told you about them in an urgent prayer request last week. That is the side of the family from Boise who has been in the refuge removal business for generations.

Anyway my cousin, Ida Mae, was at the Piggly Wiggly supermarket and ran into her prom date from high school (I’m sure I’ve told you about Billy Ray, such a sad story) and he was all distraught. It seems that his third wife’s niece, Bambi, has an entrance exam for cosmetology school in the morning and she is very nervous about it. This will be the fourth time she has taken it and I believe five is the limit.

Bambi is the pride and last hope of the family. She is already an assistant hostess at the Double T dinner (midnight to 8am shift) but she has had her heart set on cosmetology school since that Christmas so many years ago when she was given a Barbie Style Salon Play Set.

So I ask all prayer warriors out there to lift up our sister Barbie in prayer. Let’s storm the gates of heaven dear sisters. Fire up those votive candles.

Amen and God Bless


So spare me the prayer requests for sick cats (that’s a blessing), a painful hang nail, for your toddler to get into a private preschool...I’ve got more than enough to pray for here at home as it is.

But do send on any requests involving serious illness, financial difficulties, teenager in trouble, doubts of faith etc...

Or you can send any and all prayer requests to my wife. She will pray for anyone anytime for any reason. Her list of intentions before the family rosary takes longer to recite then the actual rosary. We finally had to install a 10-intention or less express rosary option.

And yes I do know that I have a long stint in purgatory coming my way :P

Pet Peeve Phriday

Today's pet peeve is hospitals. Not the people that work there but having to go to them in general. Just the whole process of registering, waiting to be seen, the intial checkup by a nurse, then by a Dr, then the lab test, then the xrays, then the diagnosis, then the treatment etc...

I'm typing this from my Blackberry at around 2am this friday morning from a hospital's ER. So forgive me if my normally crappy grammar, spelling and typing is even suckier than usuall.

Sam and I came down here 3 hours ago cause she's been running a fever for 6 days and it was getting higher. So we are are hanging out in an ER room while she is being given antibiotics by IV and being stuck repeatedly like a human pin cushion. She's got more pricks in her arms than there are in congress.

Looks like we should be able to bust out of here in about an hour or so and get home in time to get a few hours sleep before the little darlings start waking up.

Don't get me wrong I am glad they can help her and get her straightened out and the hospital we are at this is pretty nice, a lot nicer than that dump we were at for the c-section lsat week. But two trips to the ER in the past 10 days is annoying. Plus there are a lot flu patients here. If I start oinking like a pig I'm going to be really ticked.

Oh well i'm tired and my thumbs hurt from typing on this keyboard thats smaller than brittany spears' mini-skirt. Plus i shouldn't rant when tired so i'll signoff for now.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Business Buzzwords

Yo Dorks, no one thinks you are smart or cool when you use your stupid 'pithy' phrases.

Such as the following:

Actionable
Authenticity
Best of breed
Brain dump
Co-opetition
Disintermediate
Incentivize
Mindshare
Offline
Outside the box
Proactive
Repurpose
Solution
Synergy
Value-add

And the newest one that I despise is "Out of Pocket"
As in "I'm on vacation all next week so I will be out of pocket"
If you read about some guy in Maryland snapping during a business meeting and beating the snot out of one of his coworkers with a running shoe, that would be me.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Pet owners -
Not just any pet owners but one specific kind. You probably know a couple like this

· Decided not to have kids because of the poor environment but has two pretentious pure breed dogs
· Met with the breeders ahead of time and paid thousands of dollars for the dogs
· Talks about their dogs as if they were their children and also has some ‘cute’ story to tell about them
· Feeds the dogs designer dog food and spends more money of dog food than I do on groceries
· Buys their dogs Christmas gifts and dresses them in sweaters
· Sends pictures of their dogs in their Christmas cards
· Takes their dog to the groomers monthly
· Spends $20,000 for the dog to have a hip replacement instead of $50 to have it put down
· Hangs out at dog-parks drinking Starbucks coffee with other losers
· Let their dogs sit on their laps while driving
· Takes their ‘babies’ to doggie daycare while at work and checks in on them throughout the day on the doggie webcam
· Can never do anything fun at the last minute cause they have dogs to care for
· Spends more on medical care for their 2 dogs annually than I do for my 12 kids
· Hauls them around in a Volvo station wagon with ‘Coexist’ and ‘Practice Civility’ bumper stickers on it (one of these days I’m going to flatten one of those cars with my Suburban)
· Say things like “isn’t he so cute”, as their dog is rubbing on your leg or sniffing your crotch

I hope they have fun with those dogs when they are old and can’t take care of themselves. I’m sure an Akita can change depends just as well as one of their non-existent children could.

Pet Peeve Phriday

It's back by popular demand - just go with it people.

Today's pet peeve is grocery store shopping carts that don't work correctly....you know the one's with the wheel that broken and makes a clacking sound while you are trying to push it...not that you can steer it with the front-end all out of alignment anyways. Or how about the front produce part area, where a kid would sit, that won't fold up or down properly.

Why don't stores have the cart-return boys put ones that are broken out of service until fixed? Or if they don't want to fix them then maybe they could donate them to bag-ladies. I feel bad when I see them lugging all their junk in shopping bags. Or give them to my kids, they would love to use them for shopping cart races.

And how about the huge carts that have the front-end of a Little Tykes toy car? (full disclosure - I've used those before) What are stores thinking? The aisles of the stores we shop at aren't wide enough for shopping carts the size of VW Beetle.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Today’s Pet Peeve is brought to you by Satan.

Have you ever gotten bored during Mass and browsed through the hymnals? (not that I would ever do that) But what is up with hymnals having song #666 in there? Isn’t that like hotels having a 13th floor? Or airlines having flight #13 or #666?

We have a few hymnals at our church and two of them have song #666 in them. One song is “Only Begotten, Word of God Eternal” and the other is “Change Our Hearts”.

Like those two songs will ever get song at our church. What choir or folk group director is going to announce; “and our communion song is number 666”? I mean unless of course I was choir director.

Shouldn’t the song books just be numbered 664, 665, 667, etc........

Pet Peeve Phriday

Parents who use an atlas to name their babies. Now not all of these are bad, if fact some of the names I actually like. It’s just the trend of naming kids after cities, states and countries that is annoying.

Dakota, Denver, Cody, Carson, Cheyenne, Austin, Aspen, Ireland, Savannah, Charlotte, Dallas, Sydney, Madison, Virginia, Augusta, Catalina, Troy, Orlando, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Venice, Olympia, Montana, Paris, Houston, Holland, Trenton, Jackson, Mason, Easton....

And before anyone points out the fact that I have a daughter named Alexandria (a city in both Virginia and Egypt) – all I have to say is tough tootsie - do as I say not as I do :P

Baby Name test:

It always helps to say something out loud to yourself to see how it sounds. For example: "Babe Ruth is a Hall of Fame baseball player". See that just sounds right. "Pee Wee Herman is a manly-man". That just sounds wrong.

So before you name your baby take the following test – Which sentence below does the name fit in better? Say it out loud.

1) "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States [blank] [blank]" or
2) "And now, on the main stage, the Lusty Ladies Adult Club presents the hot action of [blank] [blank]."

I'm thinking birth certificate forms should include this simple test.


Celebrities may be the worst at naming babies. What is it about celebs that they have to give their poor kids ridiculous names? Are they that big of publicity-whores? Are they that insecure that they have to try and standout even more?

Here is the 50 craziest celebrity names from London Times article.

Aanisah: Macy Gray (also mother to Tahmel)
Apple: Chris Martin and Gwyneth Paltrow
Astrella Celeste: Donovan and Linda Lawrence (also parents to Oriole Nebula)
Atherton Grace: Don Johnson and Kelley Phleger
Audio Science: Shannyn Sossamon
Aurelius Cy: Elle Macpherson and Arpad Busson
Blue Angel: U2's The Edge and Aislinn O'Sullivan
Bluebell Madonna: Geri Halliwell
Brooklyn: David and Victoria Beckham (also parents to Romeo and Cruz)
Calico: Alice and Sheryl Cooper (also parents to Sonora Rose)
Camera: Arthur Ashe and Jeanne Moutoussamy
Destry: Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw
Diezel Ky: Toni Braxton and Keri Lewis (also parents to Denim Cole)
Fifi Trixibell: Bob Geldof and Paula Yates (also parents to Peaches and Pixie)
Fuchsia: Sting and Frances Tomelty
Gaia: Emma Thompson and Greg Wise
Gulliver: Gary Oldman and Donya Fiorentino
Heaven: Lil' Mo (also mother to God'Iss Love Stone)
Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily: Paula Yates and Michael Hutchence
Hopper: Sean Penn and Robin Wright
Ireland: Alec Baldwin and Kim Basinger
Jaz: Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi
Jazz Domino: Joe Strummer
Jermajesty: Jermaine Jackson and Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza (previously married to Jermaine's brother Randy)
Kal-El Coppola: Nicholas Cage (Kal-El is Superman’s original birth name)
Kyd: David Duchovny and Tea Leoni
Lark Song: Mia Farrow and André Previn
Lennon: Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit
Liberty: Ryan Giggs
London Emilio: Slash
Luna Coco Patricia: Frank Lampard and Elen Rive
Marquise: 50 Cent
Memphis Eve: Bono
Moon Unit: Frank Zappa, also father to Dweezil and Diva Muffin
Moxie CrimeFighter: Penn Jillette (also father to Zolten)
Ocean: Forest Whitaker (also father to Sonnet and True)
Pilot Inspektor: Jason Lee and Beth Riesgraf
Poppy Honey: Jamie and Jules Oliver (also parents to Daisy Boo)
Rocket: Robert Rodriguez (also father to Racer, Rebel and Rogue)
Rufus Tiger: Roger Taylor also father to Tiger Lily and Lola Daisy
Saffron Sahara: Simon and Yasmin Le Bon (also parents to Amber Rose and Tallulah Pine)
Sage Moonblood: Sylvester Stallone and Sasha Czack (also parents to Seargeoh)
Satchel: Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee
Seven Sirius: Andre Benjamin and Erykah Badu
Shiloh Nouvel: Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie
Sosie: Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Suri: Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes
Tallulah: Bruce Willis and Demi Moore (also parents to Scout and Rumer)
Willow Camille Reign: Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith
Zola Ivy: Eddie Murphy and Nicole Mitchell

Pet Peeve Phriday

Wearing hats sideways and droopy pants.

Ok so maybe I’m old but I can’t stand when people (mainly punk teens) wear their baseball hats sideways. I have, after many years, gotten used to kids wearing them backwards. But the folks that wear them at an angle look like a bunch of trailer-park trash morons and most of them confirm that description when they open their mouths to speak. These are the same yahoo’s who were the baggy jeans that are hanging halfway down their butts. Don't you just want to yank them up and staple-gun them to their hips?

Pet Peeve Phriday

DF HRU2D? Me? HIOOC. DGA I'll BBL. GTGP.
GLYASDI*

Did you get that? Yeah me neither. See below for the 'translation'.

Today's pet peeve is the lack of people (myself very much included) being able to write in coherent complete sentences due to emailing, IMing, texting, face booking, blogging and now tweeting.

People, mainly young people but older peeps too, have gotten way to used to to using abbreviations. Colleges and employers are complaining that finding young people who can write a good essay or business memo are scarce. No one it seems, except old women, write letters to people any more.

As Tigger would say, TTFN (Ta Ta For Now). I guess Tigger was the guy that started all this abbreviation stuff.


*Dear Friend how are you today?
Me? Help! I'm Out Of Coffee. Don't Go Anywhere I'll Be Back Later. Got To Go Pee.

God Loves You And So Do I

Pet Peeve Phriday

(the return of pet peeve phriday - so Jo doesn't have to do laundry)

People who can't make change or do simple math without some type of computer.

Go to any retail store, especially fast-food places, and everything is computerized. Now this is not a bad thing in and of itself. It makes sales lines move along faster and its more accurate. But heaven help the store employees if the power goes out. The stores practically shut down.

As a test, next time you are paying for something change the amount of cash you are giving the cashier AFTER they have punched in the amount and the computer has told them the amount your change should be. If the total bill is $17.21 at first just give them a $20.....after they have let the computer tell them the amount of change, give them 21 cents and see if they can actually figure it out in they head.

Heck at fast food places they don't even have numbers for the cashiers punch in, they have pictures of the food.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Car turn signals – more specifically the improper use of them.

You got three types of turn signal users

1. The total non-users

2. The always use/long users

3. The proper users

In the first group are the morons who think the roads are built just for their exclusive use. These are the same people who weave in and out of traffic, talk/text on their phones while driving, run red lights, drive way over the speed limit and are just generally selfish idiots on the road.

The second group are people who use their turn signal for every single turn they make! It can be 2am with not a car in sight and they are turning into their driveway (and they live in a cul-de-sac) and they use their turn signal. Or their turn is coming up in a few miles so they turn their signal on 5 minutes ahead of time - just to be sure. Never mind that there are 20 other turns off that road before they get to theirs, they just gotta be ready. This group is normally made up of two groups of people. Group 1 is people over 65 and Group 2 is people I live with and am related to by marriage.

The third group are people who use the turn signal as need and at the proper time but who aren't OCD about it. If there is no car in sight and they are changing lanes on a highway, they don't bother. They have more important things to do with their hands while driving. Like holding their coffee or changing the channel on the radio when David Archuleta or Flo Rida come on.

I don't think I need to tell you what group I fall into :P

Pet Peeve Phriday

8 hot dog buns and 10 wieners in a pack! Come on people. Let's get the amounts even already people! What do I have to do? Buy packs that equal a common amount? 5 packs of buns and 4 packs of wieners so I have 40 of each. Is this some conspiracy to make me buy more?

Other business don't do this. Socks don't come in 3's to go along with a pair of shoes. Altough - the way we lose socks around here that might not be a bad thing.

Pet Peeve Phriday

Another one of my pet peeves is people who start lists like this and claim they are going to post a new one each Friday and then don't.

Today's entry: people who do Air Quotes with their fingers. Folks it adds nothing to conversation except to make me want to bite your fingers off. Listen it drives me nuts and I'm part Italian - you know the people who invented talking with their hands. If it annoys me imagine what it does to boring people, like say the English.

Pet Peeve Phriday

People Driving with Dogs on Their Laps

And little lap dogs in general.

Yesterday leaving my neighborhood a woman driving a SUV almost ran the light at my street. As a carefully pulled out after she had finally stopped, I glanced at her, and surprising she wasn’t on a cell phone or putting on makeup, her distraction was one of those yappy little dogs sitting on her lap.

Listen people if you want to own one of those obnoxious little dogs that a cat could beat-up, go right ahead. I have no problem with that. Just don’t drive with it on your lap. A few weeks ago some woman was blasted in the media for nursing while driving but you never hear anyone complain about the yahoo’s driving with pets on their laps. And no I’m not comparing a baby to a Miniature Schnauzer in importance.

***Bonus peeve***two for the price of one today***

When the above took place, Sam and I were taking the 8 youngest kids to Daily Mass. I was working from home so we decided to take the kids to 9am mass at a nearby church. After getting ourselves and the kids reasonably presentable and then packed into the van and almost getting killed by drives-with-dog-on-lap-chick we pull in to the parking lot only 2 minutes late. We try and quietly slink into the back pews and Sam gives me an Oh No look. It’s not a mass it’s a communion service. And it’s not a deacon run communion service it’s a run by a never-got-over-not-being-allowed-to-be-a-priest-old-woman communion service.

I look over at Sam and mouth “you owe me big”. She knows how I dislike communion services and lay person run communion services in particular. Yeah I know stuff happens and the priest can’t make it sometimes. And yeah I know stuff happens and the deacon can’t make it sometimes. But this was painful.

I feel for you folks in parishes without full time priests or just one over worked one. We are blessed with two orthodox priests at our parish and a deacon who can pinch hit in an emergency and run a communion service.

JUMP! JUMP!

Isn't That Special

Pet Peeve Phriday

The person in the express line at the grocery store with a cart full of stuff (diet coke, 42 cans of Friskies cat food for Mr. whiskers, lean cuisine dinners, bags of chips and boxes of ding-dongs etc...). Then she (yeah it’s usually a she, sorry ladies) finally takes out her check book to pay – duh, yeah you have to pay. Then she rummages through her Mary Poppins size purse for a coupon good for 15 cents off this month’s Cosmo Mag (she’s such a rebel) and a pen to write the check out with. Never mind that there is a huge 15 Items or Less and No Checks sign right above her curler clad head. See it has to be a woman, I guy would never carry around a checkbook with him. He might wear curlers but no self respecting man is paying with a check. Plastic or cash baby. That’s how we roll. Not that we are totally immune to ignoring the 15 items or less sign, we are just going to violate it at Home Depot or the Liquor Store

A Bit of an Explanation on Yesterday’s PPP Post

This is what happens when I write a post in 2 minutes and don’t expand on it or proof it. I almost, almost, put this disclaimer at the beginning of the post: “you can never know everyone’s circumstances and what they are going through. I’m reminded of a story. There was a man traveling on a train with 3 small children. The children were being loud and running wild and the man didn’t do anything about it. A fellow passenger went to confront him about it. The man told him that he just found out that is wife had died and he didn’t know how to tell the children or what to do”.

Those are in no way the people I’m talking about. I’m talking about the permissive parents who consistently choose to not discipline their children as a way of life. These are the people I can’t stand being around. And who in fact I refuse to be around. Whenever we have a party I have to approve Sam’s guest list. No one is invited who doesn’t choose to keep their kids somewhat under control…I’m not saying their children have to act like Ezzo Robot Kids. So I’m not talking about perfectly behaved children. All kids are different and respond to discipline differently. But the parents at least have to try.

I read that article a few years ago and could relate to it from both sides of the issue. Sam and I owned a Christian bookstore for 10 years. The best thing about running the store was the people you met. And the worst thing about running the bookstore was the people you met. There were people who literally let their kids run wild in my store and destroy inventory. Were these kids who couldn’t behave? No way. I’d get a hold of them alone from their parents and tell them to knock it off and they would listen. They were just never told to chill and not destroy other people’s property or be obnoxious little jerks.

Yes it’s unfair that Large and Homeschooled families are judged more quickly than other families. Unfortunately in my cases it’s deserved. But that’s life. We also stress to our kids that they have to be better behaved in public than other kids because people are just waiting for them to act up so they can say “see I told you those big homeshool families are out of control”. Fair? No but that is the way it is. So we deal with it. So yes I’m sensitive to how my kids and Sam and I are perceived by others. But sadly I see a lot of truth in the Catholic Information article. Does the author go overboard and seem to lack charity and understanding at time? Sure he does. But there are many people who see large families that way.

So we just keep on trucking and do the best we can and if that’s not could enough for some than so be it. They obviously have larger issues to deal with.