And I thought I was insane!!!!

I've spent the last hour or so unwinding from a rather unexpected emotional evening. Earlier, I had "17 Kids and Counting," the TLC show about the Duggars, on in the background. I have a strange fascination with this family. I watch them with my mouth slightly ajar...similar to the face I assume I would make if I saw a two-headed person walking down the street eating sunflower seeds and spitting the shells out of their mouths....some to the left....some to the right.

Anyway, after the Duggars were done having kids for the hour, a show about little girls and beauty pageants came on. I don't even know what it's called....and in my horror I can't be bothered to pick up the remote to press the "info" button to find out.

Just know that I looked up from my computer to see a pageant mom talking about the "dress" that she purchased for her two-year old's upcoming pageant. It cost $800.

No...that wasn't a typo.

EIGHT HUNDRED DOLLARS.....(and no sense apparently!)

This dress is ugly. It is pink, with a short little tutu (?) and lots of jewels and sequins. It is really tacky....$800 worth of tacky to be exact.

Then...as if spending $800 on a pageant dress for a two-year old when the country is in the worst recession that it's seen in at least half century isn't crazy enough...the mom proceeded to stand her two-year old up on the vanity in her bathroom and scrub some kind of tanning stain on her porcelain skinned child....so "the sparkles will show up better." During this process, the two-year old...even though the mom says she "loves tanning time"....seems COMPLETELY not into it.

Maybe it's because I have a son, and he'd rather eat dirt than be on display somewhere. Maybe it's because I spend 8 hours every week in classes about counseling and the effects on us of the families we grew up in. MAYBE it's because I spend only 19 cents on hair color for myself...even when it's way too dark and makes me look somewhat gothic...it was STILL only 19 cents! Maybe...just maybe...it's a combination of all of the above.

But I think that during my lazy tv watching tonight....I managed to spot someone who needs therapy in a much worse way than I do. If you have to list your child's favorite hobby as "sucking her thumb" on the sheet for the emcee to read aloud (true story!) then she's just not pageant ready! Who knew that if you needed to feel a little less like a crazy person, that you just needed to tune into a little TLC????