Poll: What does your monthly grocery bill look like?

As a parent of three growing girls, they eat a lot. With a grocery bill that hovers around $400 a month, I'm fortunate that we can afford it! Heading to Costco today to stock up on the essentials and by essentials I mean milk, bread, and eggs!

Angelina Jolie is speaking out on feeding her brood of six. "We go through so much food." [UsMagazine] "They're still little. So can I imagine it's going to gets worse."

Yes, Angelina, it does. Just wait until they have friends over who raid your cupboard too!

What's your monthly grocery bill look like?

Do your kids get new lunch boxes every year?

When I was growing up, my grandparents would take me back-to-school shopping every year. I would get new clothes, a new backpack, a new lunchbox and the necessary supplies to get me through the year. To me, this was normal. Granted I was an only child and taken shopping more than others but this was normal for me. My husband on the other hand would be taken to buy new school supplies but the backpack was reused until it was needed to be replaced and lunch was taken to school via brown bags or bought in the cafeteria.

Our daughters are getting ready to head back to school in two weeks. We have been looking around at all of the newest bags and lunch boxes and getting excited the youngest is finally going to start school. I was all ready to buy the girls their new lunchboxes when hubby puts his foot down. He says the older two do not need lunch boxes because they got new lunchboxes last year.

To me they look horrible. With brown stains that line the edges, trash is how they look to me. I tried to wash them. I spray and washed the edges, allowed them to soak in the washer for awhile, and washed them again. They look hopeless.

How often do you replace your children's lunchboxes?

How do I get more help cleaning my house?

With summer here and the kids always here, my house has turned into a war zone. Remnants of the snack eaten after lunch litter the family room carpet. Barbie houses designed by the girls fill the downstairs den and could never be thought of being picked up because "It took so long to put it together". Puzzles that have been put together are not allowed back in their boxes because they want to enjoy looking at their hard work in physical form. Clothing that has been dirtied from outside play waits in line by the washing machine that never seems empty. Wet towels from the beach or the pool need to be constantly washed and dried. Pens, pencils and colors that were missed when the girls "cleaned up" seem to find their way into your bare feet while making the beds or when carrying a load of laundry.

I've had it!

My mother always had a day of the week when we cleaned: a time to dust, a time to fold, a time to empty the dishwasher. Although it was only her and I for many of the years of my childhood and not much mess ensued, we did our duty to keep the house as clean as we could find time for.

Last night, as it tried to relax on my back porch, my youngest daughter wanted to play cards. As I look around at the shambles my house had become since summer vacation began, my blood pressure started to rise. From somewhere deep down, a fire was beginning to burn and at some point my voice was destined to get loud-- real loud. I tried to calm myself down by getting up out of the chair I just settled into, after cleaning up some mess destined to be in my sight, and began busying myself again. Attacking the mound of books sitting on the kitchen table, she came at me again.

"Mommy, will you play cards with me." This is all it took for me to snap!

I had enough. While every other person in the house watched TV, made a paper craft with glitter, or found a way to stain the carpet in the den by some new, different way, it came. My voice had found its volume and the attention in the house was all on mom. By the time the cleaning extravaganza was over and my notebook was in front of me, I asked myself a question.

Why didn't we have one day of the week we cleaned the house? This would be the best option in getting everyone involved in the clean-up of process in the home we all shared. This could lessen my load, I thought. As I sat with my notebook, I became interested in what chores other parents have for their children.

I have tried allowing my oldest to unload the dishwasher and something always seems to get broken. Folding clothes is another chore that never seems to find a bidder. How about putting the clothes away? I feel as if it's more difficult to get this job done than pulling teeth.

What's your cleaning routine at your house? Is this a weekly things, need by need basis or maybe it never gets done?

How about your children's ages? How does this affect what they can and cannot do?

Help!!

How about moving in with a suspected murderer? You up for it?

Drew Peterson, the Bolingbrook, Illinois police sergeant who has been suspected of killing his third and fourth wives, Kathleen Savio and Stacy Peterson, has been arrested in the case surrounding his third wife's death. Kathleen Savio was found dead in a dry bathtub just before all of the marital assets were finalized in their divorce. At first the thought was an accidental drowning. Seems a little odd she drowned in a dry tub? This was the theory and Peterson was let off until his fourth wife came up missing. I'm sure his being a police sergeant in the police department in Bolingbrook didn't have pull on letting him of the hook so easy, do you?

With the investigation into Stacy Peterson's disappearance on October 28th, 2007 renewed interest in Savio's death. Authorities then exhumed the body and her death was ruled "homicide staged to look like an accident."

All the while Drew Peterson has been suspected in the disappearance of his fourth wife, Stacy Peterson, and the murder of his third wife, Savio, a 24 year old mother of two, Christina Raines, has been living under the same roof as a suspected "madman." In February, the two made and appearance on NBC's Today Show. When asked by Amy Robach why she is with him she responded with "I love him, he makes me laugh," and claims to have no concern for her safety.

Why in the world does a woman put her life and the lives of her children in a home with a man suspected of murdering two of the women he married and pledged to love and cherish until death do them part? Well, I guess Mr. Peterson was tired of loving these women and helped death find his mates a little quicker than letting nature take its course. Christina Raines is lucky she made it this far alive. Sometimes I think the state should take a more active role in the lives of children where the mother seems to have a death wish for herself. She knew Drew Peterson had a history of abuse. She knew he was suspected of killing his last two wives and she purposely put her life and her children's lives in the path of a oncoming truck. She should be ashamed of herself.

Why do women do this? If you can't do a healthy relationship for you, do it for the kids. Tell the truth, would you move your children into a home with a suspected murderer?