Caption Contest!!

Golly, I love fashion shows! Have a great weekend and I'll see you on Monday!

Am I Over-reacting??

On Tuesdays Jenna has show-n-tell in her Pre-K class. Tuesday night she told us that one of her friends brought in a Cheetah Girls video and they watched some it.

It's been my understanding that the Cheetah Girls is geared towards the 'tween generation. I asked Jenna, "Do the Cheetah Girls wear really short dresses?"

"Yeah." I was not happy to hear this was being shown to 5 year-olds.

Yesterday I called the principal and voiced my concern. She had never heard of the Cheetah Girls but told me she'd look in to it. In my conversation with the principal I acknowledged that the teacher can't control what is brought in for show-n-tell. I was dismayed that she chose to show it.

I'm not a prude by any means, but given the chronic, wide-spread, low self-esteem issues that our Nation's girls have already, I don't need for it to start with my five year old.

A couple of hours later she phoned me back and said she had discussed this with Jenna's teacher. Her teacher said it was a 'G' rated video and they watched about 15 minutes of it. She did indicate that from now on no outside videos would be shown unless the teacher had screened them first.

Regardless if it's a 'G' rated video, is it still appropriate for five year olds? In my mind, no. Then again, parents are over-protective at times; sometimes for good reason, and sometimes not.

I may have over-reacted but I'm sticking to my guns. I don't care if the Cheetah Girls is on the Disney Channel. There's a lot of shows on that channel that are not appropriate for pre-schoolers.

Whaddaya think??

En garde!

Last night was my first lesson in fencing. This is a sport not many talk about around the water cooler, I can assure you.

Outside of my utter love and devtion to all things Princess Bride, I've been intrigued with fencing for 20 years when I was at Shakespeare On The Green. There was a group of fencers giving demonstrations during the pre-show. Now that the girls are older and Jenna can get herself ready for bed while Steve puts Mallory down, I figured this might be a good time to give it a try.

Last night we just worked on footing; en garde, advance, retreat, lunge, and recover. I took three advil when I came home as my quads and shoulders are mushy. And next week I need to remember to take my albuterol before class as I was coughing and wheezing a fair amount when I came home. YAY exercise-induced asthma!!!

Enter the jokes, Tom.....There's about 20 of us in class. I'm the only woman and one of the oldest. Yes, I'm surrounded by pre-pube boys!!! Oh well. I still enjoyed it and we were informed that in March we'll be eligible for a beginners tourny!!

I have no idea how far and how long I'll do this, but it's something of interest. Dare I say, I'm also interested in belly dancing???

Weekend Wrap-up

Weight Watchers Update: After my first official week back on the wagon after the holidays, I'm pleased to report a 5.6# drop. I started the week at 221.8 and ended it at 216.2. WIth this new weigh-in, I weigh less than I did at the start of the holidays.
~~
Not a bad weekend to report. Just the usual domestic crap. Steve and I are taking today off as we're hoping to re-fi the house. Jenna's Christmas Program has also been rescheduled for this afternoon. As we both have floating holidays hours we decided to make a day of it and get stuff done.

I did manage to clean out the bottom of my closet. I've been saving onesies and shirts that the grils' have worn that are my favorites. I had been keeping thm in a tote but the tote was so big my shoes wouldn't fit and kept spilling out onto the floor. Now, despite common myths of the female gender, I am not a shoe maven. Regardless I was getitng mildly annoyed.

The next step was to find my rotary cutter and cutting board. Why you ask? It is my plan that when I'm done collecting clothes I'm going to make a quilt out of my favorite swatches. Granted, it's still going to be a few years down the road before I'm ready to tackle this project. But that's my plan.

I was never this sentimental before I had kids.

Sadness

Today, as I was thumbing through Yahoo! News, I found this article that literally brought tears to my eyes.

In it, it tells of a 16-year old girl who gave birth to a boy and drowned him in the toilet, then threw him away in a plastic bag.

Threw. him. away. No regard to his life or his potential.

This baby didn't ask to be conceived. This baby didn't ask to be born. This baby didn't ask to be killed.

Meanwhile, there are families yearning to love a baby as their own.

Did the State fail this baby, or does it rest solely on the girl and her parents? Did they seek every opportunity to provide a stable and loving home for this boy?

I think of my own children as I grapple with the thought that there are people out there who are incapable of loving children and therefore, subject them to verbal, physical, and sexual abuse, who are willing to sell their children for drugs.

For years I regarded myself as Pro-Choice. But once I had children of my own and discovered the joy and heartache they bring to me on a daily basis, I find that my views have changed.

Help me understand what goes through peoples' minds when they make such decisions like this.

Then again, maybe I don't want to know.

Economic Downturn - Good?

Yes, Tom. Fencing. ;-)
~~
I can't help but wonder is this recession isn't such a bad thing. Think about it....

During The Great Depression, granted things were a lot worse, but people had to ration and scrimp and make sacrifices to make ends meet. Enter WWII. Again, more rationing and living within their means, making sacrifices. After the war our country saw a HUGE explosion of businesses, inventions, and ideas.

The country was in unity.

And things got done. Progress was made.

But it didn't come easy. Nearly everyone had to give up something in order to contribute to the overall success of our country. We quickly became the most prosperous country in the world thanks to a lot of hard work.

Are we that bad now? Not even close. But with so many huge corporations folding because of lousy planning and infrastructure, this could very well pave the way for "the little guy" to step up and fill in the gaps and rebuild the economy from the ground up.

And look at where we are now. Gasoline sales are down, first because of gas being $4/gallon, then because of slower economic times. People are walking more, driving less, saving a little extra money. People had to buy cheaper, more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Holiday sales were down everywhere. People were unsure about their next paycheck. People found other ways to celebrates the holidays that didn't involve searching for the perfect gift.

We, as a nation, are capable of solving this and coming out for the better. That's just who we are. That is what this country was founded on; ideas, visions, and dreams.

Maybe I'm just the eternal optomist.

Two-week Wrap-up!

After being away for 10 days it's going to be a bit difficult to get back into the swing of things....
~~
Weight Watcher's Update: The holidays are finally over and it's time to get back on the wagon. I didn't do as badly as I had feared with 5w off. I started Thanksgiving at 220 and ended Christmas at 228. New Year's week I unofficially started up again, meaning I wasn't counting points yet but drinking more water and eating more fruit and throwing out yummy treats like chocolates and cookies. That really hurts, to throw away yummies like that. But it's the long-term goal that I'm shooting for. Saturday Steve and I officially started counting points and my weigh-in was a pleasant 221.8 (down from 228 the previous week) so not near the hole to crawl out of as I had anticipated. It's going to be a bit more difficult with exercise and the weather as I really just don't like going to a gym. However, next week I start beginners fencing. I'm looking forward to that!
~~
Boy, am I glad the holidays are over! As much as we say that we're going to cut back and scale down the food, gifts, and celebrations, we never do. Why is that? The holidays went well, all things considered. Steve and I finished our kitchen face-lift about three days before Christmas Eve. I'm sure not having that stress right before the holidays would have made things a lot easier, but where's the fun in that??? I didn't take any formal "before-and-after" shots but I think I have enough here to give you a general idea.
In this picture you can sort of see the white-ish cabinets and the slightly darker wall color. Too milk-toast for me. Th countertops are a light terra cotta-esque with splotches of brown, cream, and teal in it. I never liked the countertops because they just didn't look good against the walls. Steve bought two unpainted base cabinets and ordered a custom countertop. Thankfully the formica we have is still being produced! I decided to paint the kitchen at the same time. Trying to find a paint color proved more challenging that I had anticipated. With mom's help we settled on a butterscotch.

Here's the new addition. Whenever we get around to actually redoing the kitchen this is what I had envisioned; a full horse shoe (the side withe DW has the sink, and there's another back of cabinets behind me). It's the most logical use of space.In this picture you can see that I sponged one wall a metallic copper. THis entry way leads into the dining room. I found the plate at Pier 1 and it's in brown, copper, and gold. The counter chairs we got at Nebraska Furniture Mart on close-out for $70/each. There's an inset of verdigris and copper-colored stone and I re-upholstered the chairs in a copper micro suede. The valance I whipped up in one afternoon and it's a shiney striped fabric with maroon, copper, gold, bronze and I put a maroon woven ribbon on the bottom edge for physical and visual weight.

We figured that for less than $800 we have a new kitchen with more drawers and counter space and this will hold us for a few more years. We'd like to do a complete tear-out with stained wood cabinets and new appliances, but for now, this works just fine.

Time to get back to work in earnest. It's nice working for a university that's closed during the holidays so I don't necessarily have to work. There were a couple of days where the kids went to daycare and I stayed home. But, I guess all good things must come to an end.

I know there is more to report but right now it's not coming out. I hope all of you had a peaceful and successful holiday season.

It's good to be back.