How To Tell When Your Child Is Watching Too Much "Clean House"

Mia loves Clean House. That's okay, I like it a lot as well. Mia will happily sit and watch back-to-back episodes.

This morning, Mia kept prodding me and telling me I had to get up and saying something about Clean House. I was afraid, at first, that she'd called Miss Nicey on me, and I was going to stumble downstairs, half-asleep, to find the whole Clean House Crew here. I realized, however, that my clutter, mayhem and foolishness is nowhere near qualifying for an episode of Clean House.

Mia, however, had decided to skip right to the reveal day. I recently bought some new butter cream place mats with green vines and leaves; by happy coincidence, they match a butter cream tablecloth I just happen to have. Mia put the tablecloth on the table, put the place mats down, and finished with a purple vase of butter cream silk mums and Boston Ferns.

She had also decorated the living room in Moderne Barbie. One end table is covered with Barbies in various stages of amputation and undress, but they are all sitting up, nestled around the lamp. She's placed various other dolls and stuffed animals on the other furniture.

Never mind that the tablecloth is all sorts of crooked and I have no idea how the vase of silk mums actually made it into my house in the first place, as I hate mums, silk or real, but I thought it was the sweetest thing, ever.

As a side note: it was Sponge Bob's tenth birthday this week. Nickeloden is running a Sponge Bob marathon this week-end. All Sponge Bob, all week-end. Someone at Nick needs their head on a stake for that one.