An open letter to Hulu...

Hulu, there's no easy way to say this. We need to talk.

You have been an awesome roommate with the hubby and I these past couple of years. You're so funny, and entertaining, and giving. It's like you always know what we want, and ask nothing in return.

Well, almost nothing. You like attention. Nothing wrong with that. So, a couple of times a show, you have your commercial breaks. And we just accepted it as one of your adorable little quirks.

But, just like with any friendship, relationships change when a baby is thrown into the dynamic. And some of the things you used to talk about, well, they're just not appropriate in a toddler's presence.

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Your kids aren't listening, but they're watching...so practice what you preach.

Went out to lunch with my dad (my son's "Poppa") today. There's a nice little sportsbar with a decent menu super-close to my work, so we headed there. It's a "seat yourself" type place, so we grabbed a table in the corner.

Then we sat there for a while. We had arrived around a quarter after noon, so the place was fairly full by the time we got there and, apparently, no one had noticed us come in. Once we reached this realization, my dad and I promptly began to argue about who should go alert the bartender to our presence.

Dad: She'll think I'm a creepy old guy hitting on her. Go tell her we're here.

Me: But...I don't wanna.

Dad: You need to be more assertive. They're here to wait on us. We're the customers. In fact-

Me: Okay, fine. I'm going.

I told the bartender where we were sitting, and she came right over to take our drink orders. The service remained okay up until a little while after our food had arrived. Being the middle of the lunch rush, the place was pretty full, and my dad's glass sat empty for a while awaiting a refill. Since our waitress looked to have her hands pretty full, the manager walked over and offered to grab a refill for us. Sure, that'd be awesome. Right after he walked away from our table, the waitress came over with refills.

Dad: Oh no. He's coming back over here with a refill. He's going to have wasted a trip and be mad. Here, help me hide this drink.

Me: I thought you said we were the customers and they were here to wait on-

Dad: Let's put the napkin holder in front of it.

So, what lesson do you think I learned from my dad today? To be assertive? Or to pretend you're out of beverage so a server doesn't think you put them out?

Not that I'm any better. I'm constantly telling my son not to climb on things because it's not safe, but I'll also climb on top of the counters to get something off the refrigerator.

But then, isn't that one of the perks of having kids...mild hypocrisy?

Breaking Bad (Habits)

Recently my niece started biting her fingernails. This is an issue, not only because it's an unhealthy and difficult-to-break habit, but mainly because it's something I do constantly and now have to be careful to not do in front of her.

And since I can't bite my nails in front of her, I probably shouldn't do it in front of my own impressionable kid. Or do any of my other bad habits, either, like: popping my knuckles, popping my neck, picking at scabs, popping my elbows, popping my knees, biting and picking at dead skin on my lips, popping my toes (yeah, I know).

But it sucks, because breaking a bad habit is really, really hard. And I certainly don't want to be a bad influence on any of the kids in my life, but, seriously...it's so freaking hard. And, not to make excuses, but it doesn't help that OCD runs so high in my family (I was diagnosed at 14).

So, to help me out, I turned the best advice people on the internet pretending to be doctors has to offer, WebMd.

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