Don't Try This At Home

More On the T-Shirt Thing (Moms for Modesty)

I did a post a few weeks ago about how some parents dress their daughters inappropriately and the so-called 'attitude' t-shirts some parents buy for their children (both boys and girls). What I didn't address in either of those posts were the unbelievably skanky t-shirts some girls wear that imply they will do anything. Wink, wink.

You know the ones (don't forget to check out Charlotte Church's rugby shirt in the post below):

• I'm HOT
• Flirt
• Bad Girl
• Sexy
• You know you want me
• You wish

Jules over at Everyday Mommy started the Moms for Modesty movement when she saw these shirts being marketed to girls under the age of 12. Perhaps some parents think those shirts aren't as in-your-face as a shirt that has SEXY in glitter letters. Really? The implied intent is just as awful.

Mona Charin has written an article I would love for you all to read called, Alert: Severe Shortage of Grown-Ups. Here's a snippet of what you'll find:

It isn't that the adults here have no standards. Are we in any doubt about what would happen to a kid who wore a T-shirt that said "Girls can't do math"? It's not that these people are impossible to offend, it's that the wrong things offend them.

Amen to that, Sister! I think she hits on one of the fundamental problems of our society today: we are offended by the wrong things. Don't call my daughter stupid, but you can definitely call her a slut. That makes sense.

In another paragraph of her article, Ms. Charen tells of a student who was asked to change his shirt or leave school. He sued (with the help of the ACLU--don't even get me started!) on the basis of the first amendment. He won. Excellent! Now we can all wear whatever we want and forget about common decency. Shock value is where it's at, people. The more the better. It's our inalienable right.

One of my main mantras is Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. Yes, you have the right to free speech. Here's something I learned in my college poli-sci class: my rights end where yours begin and vice versa. I have certain rights, but I need to take into consideration how I use those rights and how my use affects others. We've really become a self-centered nation (another whole post; I'll spare you my thoughts on this for now).

The bottom line is this: We owe it to our daughters to teach them to respect themselves. With respect comes dignity, self-confidence, and empowerment. It's a tough way to go. It's a lot easier to just give in and go with the flow. Of course, then you may drown.

DO Try This One at Home

Remember when Shannon reviewed Cascade 2-in-1 Action Pacs? Then Shalee reviewed them? Yeah. I'm jumping on that bandwagon myself.

After Shannon gave this product such a glowing review I thought I'd try them. I've seen her dishwasher. My dishwasher and hers are both about 20 years old. I had never tried these new-fangled detergent squares because I thought my extinct vintage dishwasher wouldn't know how to handle them. I knew if they worked in hers, they'd work in mine. I was actually all set to go out and buy the Action Pacs myself, but lo and behold! All I had to do was comment at Shannon's blog and a very nice product manager from Cascade contacted me to see if I'd like to try a sample. Let's see...Um, YEAH!

I expected to receive about four little squares in a nice little trial package. Oh no! I got an entire bag just like I'd buy at the store. I did my little happy dance and ripped open the packaging. I noticed there was a lot of PR stuff about celebrity couples and who's cleanest, blah, blah, blah. I also saw Sarah Jessica Parker's name somewhere. I was not interested in how the upper crust also deigns to use cleaning products. What matters to me is whether it works. And you know what? It does. It works very well.

My dishes are very clean and, as the other ladies have already said, you do not have to pre-wash or rinse your dishes! It would not be inappropriate to picture Snoopy doing his happy dance right here. I am really loving this little perk because Husband seems to be completely incapable of rinsing a dish. If I'm not there to rinse it and put in the dishwasher, the dish will sit on the counter and congeal or harden overnight. Now? No problem! Just stick in the dishwasher and let the magic Action Pacs do their job!

I want to thank SF at Cascade for sending me this wonderful sample. I would highly recommend that you try Cascade 2-in-1 Action Pacs soon--even if you have an old dishwasher. They'll work. You'll be amazed. You'll do the happy dance.

What It Means to Me

Shalee, my perky and oh-so-fun friend at Shalee's Diner, has tagged me for a word meme. I am to write what these words mean to me: Buttercup, Bookstore, Pasta, and Inspiration.

Buttercup: A tea set with little yellow flowers that are cups with handles. Also, when I was about five we lived in a house with an oak tree ringed with buttercups. Every spring I would check on their blooming progress. I loved them.

Bookstore: Amazon.com. Time suck. A pleasure not often enough encountered.

Pasta: Indulgence. I love a good cream sauce.

Inspiration: My friends. I'm prone to bouts of depression and so many days I would rather sit in my house and hide. My friends help me through those days. Shannon helped me learn to sew and encouraged me to go further than I thought I could or would. These ladies check in with me every single day. We raise our families together. Christine is a trusted friend who reminds me I need to play every now and then!

Rebellion

I know that everyone has a rebellious stage. Some are worse than others. I dated inappropriate boys (that's code for LOSERS--just callin' 'em like I see 'em, folks) and drank a lot of beer. I needed to test the limits of what was acceptable and how far my parents and friends would go. Turns out they went pretty far and let me fall flat on my face to teach me a lesson. Good for them. It worked as far as I can tell.

I found this article by Michelle Malkin today via Neal Boortz's site. In my humble opinion, Miss Church is rebelling to the Nth degree and has already fallen on her face. Unfortunately she doesn't seem to have the good sense to get up, dust herself off, apologize, and start over. She's gone from sweet little girl to, as Ms. Malkin puts it, skankdom. Believe it or not, Charlotte, there is a happy middle ground.

Why I Need to Win the Lottery

How cool would it be to own the house that inspired Walt Disney's The Haunted Mansion attraction? Way cool. As in

• I might give up shoe-shopping for a month cool.
• It would almost be like I'm living in Disney World cool.
• I no longer need outside confirmation that I rock cool.
• OMG Can You Believe I Actually Had $1.75 Million Dollars To Buy This Awesome Place! cool.

Yeah. Cool.

WFMW: Bedlam Food Drive (republish)

I am stealing this from a friend who told me about it. It's not my idea and I'm not taking credit for it. However, I think it's a fantastic way to encourage participation in a food drive and I'm going to suggest it to our own PTA this fall.

In Oklahoma there is a huge rivalry between Oklahoma State University (Go Pokes!) and University of Oklahoma (Bah!). It's hard to find a car that doesn't have an OSU sticker or an OU antennae topper or a vanity plate that says "House Divided" with part of it orange and black, the other part white and red.

One way to use this rivalry for good is to enourage kids in a Bedlam Food Drive at your school (with appropriate teams, of course. Don't come cryin' to me if you use OSU/OU in Minnesota and it just doesn't work.).

It works like this: Have the kids bring in canned food items with their team's name written on the bottom of the can in marker. Each day the tallies are posted and the winning team for the day is announced. If it's OSU one day, I can pretty much guarantee OU will have it the next day. The kids (and their parents!) just can't stand to let the other state team get ahead. The real winner in this bedlam battle is the food bank.

To view more hints and tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer the original Works-For-Me-Wednesday tipster!

I Was Always More of a Captain Jack Sparrow Woman Myself

However, I'd be willing to switch over to Will Turner's team after receiving this, um, action figure as a gift this weekend.

As you can see, his right had is at the ready.

That Elisabeth Swan is one lucky lady...

Fall Into Reading Challenge

Katrina at Callapidder Days is hosting a Fall Into Reading Challenge. I'm so excited! I recently quit the book club I've been a part of for eight years. I thought about this decision for over a year before I finally quit. We just weren't focused on books any more and I was disappointed with the discussion. Unfortunately we couldn't always get the focus back on books and it was more of a two- or three-hour social time than book discussion. The good thing about book club, though, was that I read many books I may not have otherwise picked up. Now that I no longer have my book club to determine what I read, I get to read what I want, when I want! That means I'm all over the Fall Into Reading Challenge. Care to join us? Put your list together and head on over to Callapidder Days.

My list (in no particular order):

• The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo (reading to the kiddos)
• Jewel by Bret Lott (reading with Shannon)
• City of God by E.L. Doctorow
• The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
• The Geographer's Library by Jon Fasman
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult
• We Were the Mulvaneys by Joyce Carol Oates
• The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
• The Ruins by Scott Smith
• Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow

For me, that is an incredibly ambitious list. That list works out to about three books per month. Of course, I also have six pages of a Word document filled with other books I'd like to read too... For some reason that made me think of this movie quote:

Tyrone, you know how I love watching you work, but I've got my country's 500th anniversary to plan, my wedding to arrange, my wife to murder, and Guilder to frame for it. I'm swamped.

What's on your list?

WFMW: Jon Udell's Library Lookup

This post originally ran on July 12, 2006. Sorry for the repeat, but I'm thisclose to finishing the PTA directory! I'm up to my eyeballs in addresses, phone numbers, and formatting! (BTW, sorry to those of you who have already seen today's tip this week. I saw that Shannon also linked to it earlier this week. It's a great tip though! Totally worth inundating you!)

Here's the scenario:

You have two browser windows open. One for Amazon so you can browse through books and find a few you'd like to read. The second window is for your local library so you can then look up and reserve the book you found on Amazon.

Well, do I have a new trick for you! It's called Jon Udell's Library Lookup. You are going to make me your hero and favorite friend after you start using this. You are going to wonder how you ever existed without it.

Here's how it works for Firefox (and you most definitely should be using Firefox as your browser!):

1. Go to the Jon Udell's Library Lookup site.
2. Scroll down to your state and find the library you want.
3. Simply click and hold on the link and drag it onto your browser toolbar.
4. Go to Amazon.com and look up a book (like this one).
5. Click on the Library Lookup button you just put on your toolbar. A new window will open.
6. Click over to the new window and see with amazement that you have just looked up the book at your local library and now all you have to do is reserve it.
7. E-mail Chilihead to tell her she is your favorite and you will tell the masses of her fabulousness. Name your first-born after her regardless of gender. Buy Groucho glasses in bulk and hand them out at your local library.

Here's how it works for Internet Explorer (which you really need to ditch and just start using Firefox):

1. Go to the Jon Udell's Library Lookup site.
2. Scroll down to your state and find the library you want.
3. Right click on your library's link.
4. Choose "Add to Favorites".
5. Choose the "Links" folder.
6. Go to Amazon.com and look up a book (like this one).
7. Click on the Library Lookup button you just put on your toolbar. A new window will open.
8. Click over to the new window and see with amazement that you have just looked up the book at your local library and now all you have to do is reserve it.
9. E-mail Chilihead to tell her she is your favorite and you will tell the masses of her fabulousness. Name your first-born after her regardless of gender. Buy Groucho glasses in bulk and hand them out at your local library.

To view more hints and tips, visit Rocks In My Dryer the original Works-for-Me-Wednesday tipster!

Look It Up In The Dictionary and There's a Picture Of . . .

chilihead -- [noun]: A person of questionable sanity who starts their own cult 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

See this post.

Still not convinced? How about this:

I totally swiped that picture from http://www.scientology-kills.org/Cruise%20medal%20ceremony.htm.