Octomom calls 'Jon & Kate Plus 8' star an attention seeker

The pot is officially calling the kettle black. Octomom Nadya Suleman, who had in vitro fertilization to have eight babies while she already had six kids at home, says she doesn't understand why Jon & Kate Plus 8 star Kate Gosselin (who had six babies with two already at home) is trying to "glom onto my life. It's so flagrantly obvious."

Suleman was responding to comments Gosselin made back in February on the Dr. Phil show. I guess Suleman was a little busy and didn't see the show when it first aired. Hey, wasn't Suleman a frequent flyer for a while with the good doctor?

W'ever. She's seen the show now and she's not happy. "She needs to stop partially making judgements toward me. She doesn't even know me," Suleman said to radaronline.com about the Gosselin comments. "That's what tends to happen to people who are less educated."

Meow!

Suleman goes on to attack Gosselin, saying, "Don't you (Gosselin) have, like, a lot of issues in your life? A lot of marital problems?"

But we're still a little confused about who is the attention seeker here -- bikini-clad Kate on vacay with the 8 and their bodyguard but no Jon or Octomom in the park juggling the babies while filming her own reality show?

-- Sherry Robinson

Mommas, McDonald's wants you!

It's every Mommas dilemma: You've got to get Johnny to the baseball field and Cindy to gymnastics, and you have no time to fix dinner. You pull through the Mickey D's drive-through. But as you place your order you cringe inside, because you know the fries contain crazy calories and all kinds of fat. So you cross your fingers and pray that you will be able to get the kids to eat healthy tomorrow.

Now McDonald's is trying to get the word out about their healthy food by using people they know you can trust -- other Mommas. According to the Washington Post, they are giving Moms in the behind-the-scenes tours of the company's operations and then asking them to tell the world about what they have seen, via the Web. McDonald's execs hopes to get what they're calling Quality Correspondents to spread the word on their food's good ingredients (real eggs and chicken, apple slices, low-fat milk) rather than focusing on the unhealthy choices (i.e., the bad stuff that tastes so good).

Said Tara Hayes, manager of U.S. communications at McDonald's, "We saw this as a great opportunity to give the facts and let people make up their minds for themselves. You can take it or leave it."

The Mommas in the program say that no one told them what to say. "We've been told to tell our perspective on things," said Veronica Gilmore of Edinburg, Va. "That's all we can ask for."

McDonald's isn't alone in trying to ditch its junk-food image, especially in light of obesity rates among children in this country. Last year, Burger King gave its kids' menu a healthy makeover, adding apple slices in the shape of fries, flame-broiled (instead of fried) chicken tenders and low-fat milk. That meal would be a total of 305 calories and 8.5 grams of fat.

Now, not everyone can be a Quality Correspondent, but you can join the community to hear and read what these women have to say as often as they update their reports. So, as we prepare for this week's gorgefest on Thursday, perhaps we should be thankful that we do have choices to make. We can forgo fast food or -- when Mom's Taxi does the drive-through boogie -- at least make healthier choices.

-- Sherry Robinson

[The familiar face of McDonald's, Ronald McDonald, in this photo from the Associated Press.]

Best family car? Only if you're 3 inches high!

Forbes magazine, published by the folks who bring you the annual list of the gajillion richest people on the planet, now wants to help us parents figure out which is the best car to buy.

Thankfully, you won't have a long list to look through because they only give you the 10 Best Cars for Families.

Of course, there are the usual suspects -- the Toyota Sienna minivan and the large Ford Taurus sedan -- as you might expect.

But then they throw you a curve: a 2008 Mini Cooper Convertible. All I could think was: A Mini Cooper? Convertible? Really?

Sure, families come in all sizes -- but that one seems like it's made for Polly Pocket's family, not mine.

--Sherry Robinson