Introducing MckDaddy (again)

We needed a new post, and MckDaddy delivered. Enjoy his first post on his "new blog", which is actually just a folder on MckMama's site with its own look and feel. He chose to write a satirical political post, and links in this post are ad-free, so click away.

I have no commentary; to be honest, none is necessary. As Mark Twain said, “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

In the Beginning....

We need another new post! You guys are keeping me hopping this week. Luckily, one MWOP reader has written a post for me. Thank you, Shock and Awe for this "Intro to MckMama" post, based on posts from 2007. I didn't make the links live to keep clicks down, so if you want to read the accompanying post, please copy and paste it.

March 1, 2007 – MckMama quits her full-time elementary school art teacher job.
“Today, I officially resigned from my 9 to 5 job. What? You didn’t know I had a 9 to 5 job? You thought I had a 24-hour a day job rearing children? Well, I do. Which is why today I officially resigned from my 9 to 5 job.”

The entire post can be found here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/03/i-quit-um-in-a-good-way/

March 14, 2007 – MckMama and PC decide to put their house on the market and make an offer on the lake house.
“Well, as of tomorrow morning, our home will be on the market! Per my friend Jennisa’s request, I have posted some photos of the house we are most seriously looking at. Busy, exciting times lay ahead, no doubt!”

Here is the actual blog post: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/03/movin-on-hopefully/

March 19, 2007 – MckMama announces that the offer they put in on the lake house was accepted.
“They countered at a little more than what we offered; they probably would’ve taken our initial offer, but we also asked to close June 15, so to wait that long, they wanted a little compensation. We were perfectly happy to give them what they countered and Prince Charming is beside himself with anticipation: “I just want to move in right now!” he says.”

Here’s the full blog post: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/03/and-the-verdict-is/

April 21 & May 15, 2007 – Mckmama mentions several times her cleaning lady, Merly, who just also happens to be the “sometimes caretaker” of her kids.
“Merly (rhymes with Mary)is the wonderful lady who cleans out home and periodically helps e out with the boys. They absolutely adore her.”

Full post here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/05/who/

“…I have an absolutely righteous case of the stomach flu. Thank YOU to Molly (my friend and neighbor) and Merly (my cleaning lady and, as of late, helper with my children). I certainly wouldn’t have survived today without you watching my children for me as I, well, did the stomach flu thing.”

full post here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/04/i-didnt-blog-today-because/

June 11, 2007 – MckMama mentions on her blog that she is busy interviewing girls for the nanny position she has available.
“And, as if that weren’t enough, next week I: am interviewing 9 different girls for our nanny position.”

Read the entire post here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/06/hold-on-to-yer-hats/

June 15, 2007 – MckMama and PC move into the lake house even though their other house has not sold.
“We’re closing on our new house today…AND moving! The movers are here and we’re about to head out. Wish us “luck”!!!”

Here’s the actual link: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/06/moving-day/

July 5, 2007 – MckMama mentions PC bought a boat (what’s the use in living on a lake without a boat, right?).
“A few highlights were: Taking the canoe (borrowed from some friends…Prince Charming’s “new” boat is already in “the shop” before she’s even had her maiden voyage on our lake!!!) out with the boys.”

The entire post is here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/07/our-fourth-of-july/

August 20, 2007 – MckMama’s obsession with MSC begins shining through.
“Although we’re certainly not the Duggars, I am becoming more and more aware with each passing day that we really do have MSC* and we have had them very close together. (*Many Small Children). I am increasingly become a spectacle, if you will, when I go out in public (especially as the lone adult) with my MSC.”

Reading the entire post is actually worth the click: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/08/im-just-fine/

August 28, 2007 – MckMama hires a nanny named Karissa.
“For the past couple weeks, a great girl named Karissa has been coming over once or twice a week to give me a hand with the boys or a hand with housework. The plan is for us all to get used to each other so she can give me an even bigger hand when our new baby arrives.”

The entire post is here: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/08/meet-karissa/


September 4, 2007 – MckMama’s sister, Hilary, moves her family (husband and son) from Illinois to Minnesota to occupy (and pay rent on) Mck’s former house, essentially saving the day.
“Although I have no photographic evidence to prove it, my sister Hilary, her husband Rich and their son Isaac moved out of their third floor apartment in Illinois this weekend, trekked across Wisconsin and arrived at our “old house”. All the boxes are inside. Our old neighbors are now their new neighbors. They are well on their way to becoming Minnesotans and we couldn’t be happier!”

Full post: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/09/movin-on-up/

October 9, 2007 – MckMama brags about and (posts a photo of herself) getting on one of their jetskis in a wetsuit and zooming around the lake while 9 months pregnant with Small Fry.
“Of course, this post would simply not be complete without posting a cell phone photograph of me tooling around on Lake Superior on our recent trip Up North (Notice I was bootless and the Lake is COLD. I did not last long on the Lake. Um, also I’m 9 months pregnant the the sight of me even sitting on a Jet Ski would probably give my midwife a seizure. So, I hope she’s not “lurking”!!)”

Oh, yeah, this is a good clicker, too: http://mycharmingkids.net/2007/10/the-last-time-i-post-about-jet-skiing-well-maybe/

Where have I read that before....

Oh, I know! On Snopes!

Snopes version of swallowed contact lenses.

MckMama's version:

I also didn’t forget my contact lens case when we went out of town for a homeschool convention this weekend, either. Not me! I didn’t use hotel glasses to store my lenses in, telling my husband not to drink out of said glasses that I covered and set by the television. Not me! And it wasn’t me who was aggravated in the morning to find only one glass on the table. Nope. I didn’t roll my eyes and just have to laugh when my husband admitted that he forgot my contact was in there when he needed to use the cup at 3 am! Not me! I’d never giggle at the possible thought of my husband swallowing my contact lens.

And here's a second one on getting into the wrong car.

Just some humor and a new post for comments, since the last post was bogged down. Thanks WTF for the links.

Red Houses

MckMama visited the site of the first red house she and MckDaddy were set to buy last fall. She posted her experience on Friday, the day following when her fellow Minnesotans lost many homes and lives to almost 60 tornadoes in one day.

She didn't relate herself to or even mention her state neighbors who lost lives and homes, but she also didn't show any compassion, once again, for the plight of those much worse off than she is.

There are several glossed over points in her story. The one that bothers me most is how she tries to describe her marriage as troubled after Stellan's diagnosis.

I became pregnant with Stellan and had been told he’d not make it to be born alive. Financial stress was crippling us as the bottom dropped out of the economy. My husband basically had to quit working while he stayed home with our children as I was hospitalized on the high risk antenatal floor of a big downtown hospital for weeks on end. And even when I did get out, unborn Stellan’s condition finally having stabilized, things did not get better. Instead they got, you guessed it, worse. My husband and I self inflicted terrible pain on our already weakened marriage. Our relationship crumbled apart and we spent time separated. Verbal and emotional abuse that both of us heaped upon the other finally ended with police and court involvement. We decided against divorce, in favor of intense marriage therapy, which we were involved in weekly for about a year and a half. Our marriage, hanging on by a thread, threatened to self destruct, to flatten under the weight of our unborn son’s unknown prognosis, the stress of other children to raise and care for, financial obligations that quickly piled up out of control and a relationship that had had its communication problems from the get-go.

Wrong. MckDaddy was arrested the first time for Domestic Violence before they found out there was anything wrong with Stellan. Long before MckDaddy had to "basically quit working" to stay home with the children. In fact, he was not allowed at the 20 week appointment where Stellan was diagnosed because of his arrest days earlier.

Putting the blame of all their problems on Stellan's condition is wrong. Their problems existed before Stellan became their miracle child, back when MckDaddy was a contractor and MckMama was a stay-at-home mom with two houses, an Escalade, a nanny, and a blog with only 3-6 comments per post.

Even financially, as we laboriously put the pieces back together one by one, working hard to get out of the deep hole we’d allowed ourselves to fall into, we were getting back on our feet. Unfortunately, it was too late for some of our things. Being unable or unwilling to be good stewards of some of our possessions that, of course, are actually God’s, we got them taken away. A car repossessed, our rental house foreclosed on and then the home that we were living in sent back to the bank because we were so far behind with our payments.

Let's talk about this paragraph, shall we? "Unable or unwilling"...In February of 2009, MckMama and family had had one home foreclosed on, a second up for auction, and her Escalade reposessed. While this is something many could relate to in this economy, she didn't tell her readers this was what was going on. They both lied. They "sold" the Escalade, and "put their lake house up for sale". They talked about large purchases like expensive strollers and matching designer clothes for their children, regular "date nights" that many now think were actually court-mandated marriage counseling sessions, $100+ baby slings, cruises, multiple day trips weekly, and eating organically. They didn't live like a family about to lose everything, and by March 2009, they weren't.

MckMama started monetizing her blog, making it worth tens of thousands of dollars a month at its peak while Stellan was sick. So unable (but lying about it) turned into unwilling. They added to the economic woes of their neighbors by allowing their second house in six months to go into foreclosure, and started looking at houses that cost a half a million dollars.

Which leads us to the first "red house." A contract for deed $465,000 home with 3% down, the house was MckMama's "dream home."

The $13,950 they would put down on the "dream home" was money they "saved" for their lake house, but decided to use on "moving forward" instead:

Since we could not pay the full price of the entire loan to keep it at this point, we chose to put the money we had saved for the home into our next one, and move out so we could try to sell it in order to pay the bank back for our debt before the home officially foreclosed. We had six months to do it, so we thought it was best to get out and put it on the market as soon as we could. Sad as we were to leave, we knew the chips had fallen. There was nothing we could do but move forward at this point, and to try to sell the home and not leave the bank shortchanged.

The lake house foreclosed in January anyway, despite their attempts to not "shortchange the bank". Then the "dream home" "burned down."

“It was struck by lightning. The realtor just found out. He was calling to tell us that it burned down.”

Oddly enough, the realtor must have known something police did not. The day after the house burned down, an investigation was pending and no source was known.

And the "burned down" house? Well, it was technically still standing, with damage to only one side:



That was August 25th. By August 31, they had found a new red "dream home", originally listed for $699,000 in a subdivision outside of a small town, though she only shows pictures of a farm across the street and not of her subdivision neighbors. What they actually paid is unknown but thought to be almost $500,000.

But before they found the new house, she was stressed. They were packed, but despite what she writes, there was really no pressure to move, since the lake house was theirs until January 2010.

And over the course of the next few minutes, my mind calmed down and suddenly, as I was standing out front, leaning against our trampoline, under the fir trees in the front yard of a house we were having taken away from us, it hit me.

How quickly she blames everyone else. She was having her house taken away. A house she didn't have to move out of for another five months, when it officially foreclosed, a house she could make payments on, but chose not to because she was "unwilling" to.

We learned later, after the remains of what was left of the home were studied, that it had been an electrical fire that had started in the upper middle bedroom, after the lightning struck there. In the room that was to have been Stellan’s nursery. A handful of times, I’ve imagined the horrible scene of a house fire with our family in a brand new home. We would be disoriented, not familiar with the layout, it could have been catastrophic.

Lest we forget she didn't set up Stellan's nursery or move Stellan out of her master bedroom closet in the second red house until March 17, seven months after the fire. Maybe life would have been different from one red dream home to the next - or maybe she was playing on the emotions of those who love her miracle son.

She ends by telling readers how she praises God, he forgives her and gives her second chances. Though stressed, her red houses story is a web of self-inflicted financial drama and "almosts"...she almost lost a child, she almost lost her house, she almost chose divorce. Oh, the drama and the hardships, and the joys of being blessed.

If only those who do lose children and who did lose their homes to the nearly 60 tornadoes could be so blessed and experience only self-inflicted drama and almosts.

Hopefully, through all the blessings she has received, she is remembering the stress she has put on her neighbors through her irresponsible decisions, and giving more than a little volunteer time to her neighbors who lost everything, lives and homes, this week and are now in need of their own dream "homes to make a new start in."

Where did the truck go?

From a commenter, Jennifur:

Ok internet sleuths, I have been googling like crazy and can still find no mention of the press release she claims was made public about the Feed the Children truck:

LAFAYETTE, Tenn. (May 26, 2010) – On Thursday, June 3rd at 9 a.m., international hunger relief organization Feed The Children will distribute a semi tractor-trailer full of food and personal care items at the Bethel Family Worship Center. The distribution was made possible by the readers of Mckmama.com.

Bethel Family Worship Center is a partner agency of Feed The Children and has pre-identified the 400 recipient families. The boxes are designed to help a family of four for up to one week.

This distribution is one of 18 semi tractor-trailers full of food and disaster relief items sent for disaster and food relief to aid the flood victims in Central Tennessee, Arkansas and Kentucky where rain has caused flash floods and widespread damage to structures and homes in the area.

“Many people are experiencing difficult times due to the recent flooding,” said Tony Sellars, spokesperson for Feed The Children. “The generous donation from the readers of Mckmama.com will help put food on the table for families that otherwise might have gone without.”

I can find no mention of it being delivered, even on Feed The Children's facebook page http://www.facebook.com/feedthechildren or the church where it was supposed to be delivered to http://www.bethelfamilyworship.com/ .

She claimed when it began that the readers could choose wherever they wanted the truck to go to. The Feed the Children website says:

Truck Sponsorship donations must be received 30 days in advance of the distribution date. During that time period, Feed The Children will choose a qualified nonprofit agency that meets our standards for distribution. This agency must obtain a forklift, a pallet jack, a minimum of 20 volunteers, and the precise location for the truck distribution.

She claims that: "I’m super duper excited to let you know that this iPad giveaway is an official Feed The Children project, with proceeds going to their Truck Sponsorship Program!" but if you look on their website for special projects guidelines, it says: "4. Feed The Children does not approve of door to door, airport terminal, street solicitation, raffles or multi-level marketing projects." Somehow she got past the rules AGAIN.

I'm not doubting that the money was raised, since it went directly to the agency, I'm just wondering why there is no mention of it. There was a delivery at 9am on Thursday June 3, like she says, but it was in Cincinnati. Do you think the money donated went to a truck in Cincinnati and instead of admitting that she couldn't choose the location, she made up the press release and lied and said it was going to Tennessee?

If I'm wrong, somebody please find the proof that this truck went to Tennessee. If I'm right, that's one huge lie.

Math skills

According to MckDaddy, Jennifer is due September 5:

I am married to MckMama. She calls me her Prince Charming. We have five kids who are aged 5,3,2,1, and September 5th 2010. I've heard that all I have is this ever present moment. Here is my family sharing our moments together.

That's 29 weeks today, 28 weeks, 6 days yesterday when she posted her newest post.

Not 30 and certainly not "30 some weeks" in my opinion.

How do you interpret her writing "30 some weeks pregnant"? Is "30 some weeks" read as 30 weeks and a day? Or is she trying to make people think she is more like 31, 32, or 33 weeks along?

She has indicated she will be having another c-section. From what I have read, c-sections tend to be a week or so before the due date. If that's the case, c-section experts, does that mean you round up and you're now a few weeks ahead, however many weeks according to your c-section, or do you still go by a regular 40 week pregnancy timeline?

Is math different in Minnesota's frozen tundra?

Name That Photo

You know the drill, or you would if you have read MckMama's blog in the past. Take a look at the photo of little two and a half year old Small Fry's hand and give us a caption.

You may want to refer to a minute (starting around 4:50) of this film first.

Edited to add: I apologize for not getting around to posting on the house today. I read through the information found but I don't want to post the house information and pictures just for the sake of posting them. I am impressed MWOP readers found the information on the burned down house (and so quickly), but I need time to read through the forty-five thousand words (not really) MckMama wrote about the house to decide what lies and half truths were in her post. After all, that's what MWOP is about - the inconsistencies and lies, not exposing every area of her private life.

Right now, I may have been out too late and had too much to eat and drink (heh), so I'm going to go to bed and think about what I have read and I promise I'll have something up tomorrow that will hopefully be complete and not full of grammatical errors!

Dreaming about Obama

MckMama talks about using our nice words. She says:

If a point is worth making, if you believe it strongly enough to stake your flag in it, there should be no need to trash talk those who disagree. To talk like a bully doesn’t lend credibility to your point. Rather the opposite, in fact.

A great point, and why we should try hard to keep it clean while making our points on MWOP. Trash talk makes it easy for new readers and those on the fence to dismiss the valid points.

Otherwise, it was a standard, long, back-tracking (oh, and political) post.

Shirtless Children

A new post since the last one was taking forever to load. In reference to MckMama's "shirtless children" add to Google engines, thanks to her last post (complete with pictures), here's an article on the New York Times about protecting your children's images online:

Guardians of Their Smiles

He picked up a WHAT!?

New post is up. It revolves around a video you can watch here without giving MckMama clicks. Thoughts?

Some other points of conversation this week:

MckMama wrote an article that she referenced recently (but changed the wording on so she in no way mentions spanking) about spanking her children with wooden spoons. For her older two children, she was spanking them with a wooden spoon between one and two. Stellan is now 17 months old, the age where she writes about focusing on spanking her middle son, and it has some readers wondering if he is now being spanked with a wooden spoon as well.

There is a request to make a list of inconsistencies in one place. I'll work on this, but if anyone wants to chime in, I would be happy to have the help. It's a lot to go through.

And finally, there have been several comments over the last few weeks (err, well, months) about how this site feeds MckMama...her topics, her retorts, her snarky twitter comments, and her readership. I have wondered from time-to-time what would happen to her blog if MWOP shut down, and honestly, I think all of us here do feed into her site enough to keep her numbers higher than they would have been otherwise for a little while longer.

Regardless, is no doubt her numbers are dropping, and fast. In fact, if the public page view and visitor information for MckMama is correct.....

MWOP had within five thousand page views of MckMama two of the last seven days this week.

Just amazing, you guys.

It does leave MWOP with a dilemma. Do I shut down the site to avoid giving her more business? Or do we owe the kids some financial stability and need to stick with it a little while longer?

Discipline and the Mom video

Here's MckMama's explanation of the "Mom" video.

It's waaaaay down under "practice extinction" What do you think?

"Not Religious"

There's an interesting article in the news this week on the growing trend of "spiritual, not religious." The phrase rang a bell with me and it occurred to me that I had read "I am not religious" over and over on MckMama's blog before I saw the light.

Anyhow, here's a link to the article and just a few of the things I thought could relate to it.

Are there dangers in being 'spiritual but not religious'?

"I'm spiritual but not religious."

It's a trendy phrase people often use to describe their belief that they don't need organized religion to live a life of faith.

But for Jesuit priest James Martin, the phrase also hints at something else: egotism.

"Being spiritual but not religious can lead to complacency and self-centeredness," says Martin, an editor at America, a national Catholic magazine based in New York City.

Here are just a few places MckMama references not being religious (most are live links, so quoting the meat):

From Peace:

What I am about to give is not some blithe request or statement to pass time….really, from the bottom of my heart, I beseech you to pray for Stellan!!!

Pass along our request to your small group, post it on your blog, start it on the prayer chain at your church, put it in the bulletin, and just pray!! And, if you do not consider yourself “religious” (then, for one, you are in good company because I am not “religious,” either...I just have a radical, personal relationship with the Living Christ!!) and praying does not come naturally for you, then just be alone in a room and be quiet before God. He wants to know you and He wants to change your life!!!!

From Good Friday:

I am not religious at all!

No, I mean, seriously. I’m not. I do not follow a religion but rather a Person. I follow Jesus Christ.

Last (but definitely not least), there's Gospel. Truth. Again. This is the cached version, so feel free to go ahead and help yourself to reading this one. It's the long explanation on why church, etc, doesn't matter much in the big picture to MckMama. In true MckMama fashion, there's too much there to copy over here.

Funny?

There is a new video up on Vimeo. I know some people have already "seen" it, but for those who haven't, here you go:

Mom!? from Jennifer McKinney on Vimeo.

What do you think? Funny?

Inappropriate

In light of this comment from a MckMama reader:

For example, my son said to me, “Mommy! My PENIS IS SO HUGE! After he played with it and inadvertently gave himself an erection.

Hows THAT for inappropriateness? I may just blog about it!

I thought this topic might be apropos. What things are inappropriate or off limits on a mommy blog?

A new post

Hello, all! It's been a while, huh? I have been trying to walk a line - not nitpick every fault and only post the things that are glaring lies. Unfortunately, I had Disqus set to stop comments at 7 days, so comments cut off this morning. Sorry about that!

Here's a new post for your comments!!

Oh, edited to add: I am a busy person outside of MWOP and I certainly do miss things. If you have something I haven't written about that you would like to guest post, please let me know in the comments and leave your email! I think hearing from other perspectives would be very interesting!