Degrees of Kevin Bacon, back from my vacation with my MIL...

[jenP_97]

Hi, all.  Finally caught up with all the messages I missed in my week 
of absence, and wanted to weigh in on the KB thread since my brother-
in-law works in the entertainment industry.... he works on "Blind 
Date", except works is a relative term, as it's in hiatus right now 
and he's not getting paid. ;)

Okay, so...  I'm going to cheat here and use "The Oracle of Bacon" at 
UVA (link at bottom) because though I know the rules, I'm not the 
biggest movie watcher, so I can't find the obscure links. :)

Paul (b-i-l)'s brother John (2?) was a Digital Effects Supervisor 
for Hollow Man, which starred Kevin Bacon (3).  Of course, I've met 
John and our children play together when we come to town, so maybe 
that makes John a (1) and KB a (2)?

More:

Paul (1) is friends with Stan Evans (2), who wrote and produced "Talk 
Soup" during the Greg Kinnear (3) years, who was in _Nurse Betty_ 
with someone called Pruitt Taylor Vince (4), who was in _24 Hours_ 
with Kevin Bacon (5).  For some reason, that seems more legitimate...

My freshman (college) roommate was a girl named Marisol (1), who went 
to high school with Staci Keanan (2), who was in _Nowhere_ with Scott 
Caan (3), who was in _Novocaine_ with KB (4).

What a fun game. :)

Anyway, onto my Florida visit with my MIL:

Well, my MIL likes to talk.  A lot.  And since she's been out of 
work, she doesn't have as many people to talk to... so she talked to 
us.  A LOT.  Sometimes it was about things that I agreed with - like 
some family issues.  Sometimes it wasn't, like her views on racial 
profiling at the airports, and how it *wasn't* offensive, and how 
innocent people who looked Arabic (and even were Arabic) *shouldn't* 
be angry or offended or feel like their rights had been trampled on 
because of their appearance/religion.  But I let my husband argue 
with her... cuz I was already feeling guilty for arguing with her.

Why?

POTTY TRAINING.

Ugh.  Isn't it a horrible thing?  Ginger turned 3 on the 10th (of 
March, of course), and is, as you may know, NOT potty trained yet.  
Not because she isn't capable, but because she refuses to do it.  
Well... we've decided to just drop it as a subject of conversation 
because every time we bring it up with her, she gets defensive, and 
it feels like we put off the "big day" by weeks at a time.  Well, we 
told my MIL this, but of course, she raised 3 kids (on her own, 
mostly, which I totally give her credit for!), so she knows better.  
So we're at a restaurant, and something comes up, and she tells my 
daughter that the only way she can go to preschool is to use the 
potty.  And Ginger says no, she's going to preschool after the baby 
comes (which is true, and we've told her this).  My MIL shakes her 
head and tells her that they don't allow you to go to preschool 
unless you can use the toilet.  Ginger got a little upset, and argued 
with her some more, and my MIL got this stern look on her face and 
told her emphatically that they won't allow kids with diapers into 
preschool.  So of course, Ginger started to cry, and I said, "Ginger, 
you can pee in your diapers as long as you want, Grandma doesn't know 
anything."  In text, this looks awful, but I said it sarcastically 
with a smile on my face.  Of course, that STILL doesn't mean it 
wasn't a horrible thing to say, and as I said before, I was very 
embarrassed and guilty for the rest of the visit.

The next day, she hands me a paper with an article entitled "Kids DO 
come with an instructional manual after all!" with quotes from some 
book, and she tells me, "I thought the potty training tips were very 
good - but I don't want to force anything down your throat!!!"

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!

So I'm starting to wonder what would happen if she DID move out to 
California with us and had more daily contact with us and the way we 
raise our kid(s).  Maybe I *would* start hating her after a while...

Well, sorry this was so long - thanks for wading through it.  Potty 
training support would be welcome. :)

Jen (the failure at motherhood... hehehe)

Oh yeah!  The link to the Oracle of Bacon!

http://www.cs.virginia.edu/oracle/