As I mentioned in my introduction, my posts will vary from telling you "my story" as it has developed over the last two years, to posing situations as they are happening present day that I would like to collect your opinions about.

First, allow me to clarify that I get along with my fiance's ex wife very well (often times better than he does), and if we had met under different circumstances we probably would have become very good friends; DF definitely has "a type", and her and I are very similar in both physical appearance and basic personality traits, although we do tend to approach life differently. I think BM is an EXCELLENT mother, and most of the time I am in complete agreement with how she does things. Other times I have absolutely no flippin CLUE what she was thinking. Today happened to be one of THOSE days.

I'm sure that many of you have seen these reality shows that are based in pawn shops, where every other word is a bleeped out f bomb (done in such a way for you to easily be able to fill in the blank), there are fights and other assorted drama breaking out all the time in the store, and there is a constant stream of some pretty unsavory looking characters filtering in and out telling their assorted tales of woe to the cameras. SD9 is a huge fan of one of these shows (although she doesn't watch it here, and up until tonight DF and I had never seen it ourselves) and every time she comes back from her week with BM she is talking non-stop about whatever happened on the episode the week prior, and how funny they thought it was. At our house, we spend most of our time catching up on the homework that gets ignored during the weeks SD spends with BM, and we don't get nearly as much tv time to keep up with such things. Yes, that would be a DIG. }:)

It just so happens that the show SD9 loves so much is filmed within driving distance of the city that we live in, and a couple of weeks ago SD and BM were very excited to tell us all about how they had actually GONE to the store and got to meet the people that work there and they all thought SD9 was soooo cute and it was soooo awesome. DF and I were a little surprised that BM had taken SD there, because we thought it was in a rather derelict part of town, and although we weren't entirely familiar with the area, questioned whether that was safe place for them to be going. BM assured us that we had NO IDEA what we were talking about...... after all we don't even watch the show.

So tonight DF and I were relaxing and watching some television (SD is with BM this week), and while flipping through the channels came across some interesting looking programming. The ensuing conversation went something like this:

ME: What is this?
DF: Omg does that guy have tattoos on his face?
ME: Why is he threatening to beat up that woman?
DF: Did that guy just say he is selling grandma's heirloom to support his crack addiction?!?!?!
ME: Is this filmed here?
ME: OMG is this the show that SD9 is always talking about and her and BM actually went to the store?!?!?!
ME: Is that the WEST SIDE??? I thought BM said it was safe!!!

DF had no choice but to shake his head and reach for the aspirin.

Seriously though, this is where I solicit your feedback. Are those shows appropriate for a 9 year old girl to be watching, and more importantly, is it appropriate for that 9 year old girl to be actually going to the shop where that show is filmed, in the straight up GHETTO, a woman and a little girl, alone??? DF and I probably won't say anything about this, because we have learned over time to pick our battles VERY carefully and this one doesn't seem worth it since they obviously both returned without incident or harm, but it's times like this that all I can do is shake my head and say to myself (and my DF)....... really, BM? :?