Banjos, Mullets (sort of) and a TLC Rant

As we were driving past Bagby the Barber the boys remarked on going there and the first thing Max said was, "He cut my hair too short."  We went once and it took an incredibly long time--both the wait and the cut.  The boys were really fairly young--so you can do the math; we didn't go back despite the nice barber and the big screen TV.  And, yes, we didn't go back because Max's hair was a little too short and that seems to be seared into his brain.  He likes it short, but it was really short.  It might've been because Uncle Alex asked for his hair nearly bald--my phrase not his.  At any rate, we were talking about how we liked their hair cut.  I said I liked Max's on the shorter side, tight around the neck and ears with a little length on top.  I like Stuart's longer on top and shorter around the neck and ears but not as tight.  Max had a few comments about his and then Stuart busts out with, "I like mine shorter in the front and longer in the back."  You can imagine the look on my face and luckily I was driving so I didn't have to look directly at anyone.  Yes, it sounds exactly like a Mullet.  He even said, "If I could just move my whole hair back (taking his hand on the top of his head, pretending to slide his hair back like a wig which made his forehead taut) then it'd be better.  Sigh.  He's fascinated with hockey, too...

We were talking about instruments one day and Max kept saying he wanted to learn how to play the banjo.  Yes, you heard correctly the banjo.  My selection isn't that far off either (ukulele) and, of course, Stuart wants to learn the electric guitar.  Go figure.  That's a story in itself. At any rate, I forgot that Max is studying the Civil War and he's totally interested in it and wants to share things about it with us.  I think that's great.  The banjo, not so much.  But, at least it makes sense within the context of what he's learning.  I'm still curious about the faux mullet.

http://www.thegraphicsfairy.com/

I've deleted the rest of the story because it veered off into the TLC shows featuring 2 different families with 19+ children.  Oh, I have a lot to say about that and it's just not my place.  Plus, I originally titled this post, "Banjos, Mullets and Hillbilly Miscellanea" and I didn't want people to think I was calling these tremendously large families hillbillies.  That's really not where I was going with this, but I was so sidetracked by my thought about this picture.  The pic reminded me of a scene where all the girls were playing instruments and singing together.  The boys were fascinated by this ginormous family.  I didn't know that TLC featured more than one of these families and I really didn't think another one existed.  That almost sounds wrong in writing it, on so many levels.  I'm not sure what it was about that particular show that mesmerized them.  I even said to them you get an half hour and then it's bed time, so change the channel to the show you want to watch and that's it--time starts now...no response, so I asked if this is what they wanted to watch and they did.  Painfully, I sat with them and watched it.  I can say that won't happen, again.  One day I caught them watching Kate +8, which also fascinated them.  That time I think they were curious about all the brothers and sisters who were the same age.  It is really difficult explaining to children who understand babies grow in their mommies' "tummies" that all 6 of those younger children lived there at the same time.  I think it's difficult for many adults to fathom.  With that said, they don't go looking for these shows but sometimes the channel is on TLC and these shows "magically" appear.  It's like roadkill because they can't seem to look away.  Sometimes I can't look away.  The horror.  I think TLC is supposed to stand for "The Learning Channel" (could be wrong)--these days it seems to stand for "The Looney Channel."  Every sort of freakish human oddity seems to have a home and a show on that channel.  I won't even go into it--the boys know they aren't to look at the other shows and very quickly change it to something else.  Somehow, the shows about these large families momentarily slipped through the cracks.  Perhaps it's just fascination about other families.  We'll leave it at that. 

So, with one picture I've veered away from the odd (kind of hillbilly-ish) things about my children to odd families or people in general.  Odd doesn't necessarily mean bad--I actually enjoy a little odd from time to time--but TLC really makes me wonder what we are thinking at times and I'm not talking about What Not To Wear.