The dress patterns of nurses

I was recently reading an old blog of Kerri's friend Cassie who experienced the joy of grown adults in holiday sweaters. Here's a little sample from her post "Was the message somehow passed on to teachers that they must wear the ugliest, brightest and gaudiest sweaters and accessories for every holiday? Is there research out there that says students will learn better if their teacher's attire is crazy bright and busy? It was bad enough for Halloween that almost every teacher (well, usually the ones over 40) walked around for weeks before in orange and black. But now I have seen bad taste gone overboard. Giant snowmen, snowflakes, Christmas trees adorn many a teacher's upper body. One of my superiors was wearing a blood-red sweater with matching tie with Santas on it. How can I take him seriously? "
Well recently the dress code wars have reared their ugly head at my office and I wanted to let Cassie know she was not alone. It isn't just teachers that seem to have gotten some memo to dress in an ugly juvenile fashion. It's also nurses. Once a nurse over 40 is taken out of the hospital and no longer has to wear scrubs their take take on business casual is just horrifying. not only did we go through the ugly holiday top period which I believe Cassie described beautifully, nut we are now back into the usual pattern of dress like your in kindergarten. The ways grown women accomplish this is by wearing turtlenecks with little animals all over them. Or tiny seasonal patterns on the turtle necks, like fall leaves, or little hearts, or snowflakes.
Or when the dress code says no t-shirts they assume it doesn't mean no t-shirts that someone has thrown glitter on. We actually had a woman who came to work one day in coral corduroy pants, I didn't know they made those for people over 10.
Or my favorite happened the other day when on of the old women said to one of the 30 somethings "we have this dress code because your not dressed appropriately when you wear cargo pants". The punchline to this was that the older co-worker was wearing a brown velour track suit with fall colored leaves on the jacket part and she thought her outfit was totally appropriate.
Another thing I really liked was our new dress code had to specify no skorts. Skorts were actually a problem at our office. (By the way skort isn't even in spellcheck which proves people shouldn't be wearing them!) 60 yr old women walking around in floral skorts. I really never thought I would see those again once I was out of grade school.
So just know I too work with the fashion challenged and the next holiday is Valentine's day which is another experience in scary clothing at my office. I wonder if I sneak a camera in if I can get pictures without getting caught. I have to think about that.
R.

Censorship of Classic Songs

I was driving to work the other day when i heard a song i have always been very fond of "Take A Walk On The Wild Side". They actually eliminated a line from a song that has been on the radio since 1972. After all these years of airplay they now feel they have the write to remove a phrase from the sons. The phrase in question "and she never lost her head even when she was giving head" They eliminated "she was giving head" there are no bad word in that, yes it's sexually suggestive, but the censures approved it in 1972.
So what has changed now. Why is the FCC ruining perfectly good song. If anyone has other experiences of censorship gone wrong I would love to here them.
Hope everyone stays warm!
R

Cute and Evil

Cute and Evil is the name of the blog that my neighbor and friend, Cassie, writes. Recently she did a post about Juice saving the world. Basically she has started buying juice in frozen concentrate form. It's much cheaper, less packaging, etc. etc. I started doing this based on her suggestion about a month ago and it has been working out great. When I first thought about it I could only imagine orange juice since that was the only thing we drank from concentrate when I was a kid. But I found some yummy flavors at the store - pomegranate/blueberry, Apple/Passion/Mango. There are also plenty of organic juice concentrates too. If only they had V-8 fusion in concentrate. mmmmm. Here's a link to her post. Be sure to check out her recent post about HGTV's dream home as well. Something to think about.
http://cuteandevil.blogspot.com/2009/01/how-juice-can-save-world.html

This challange is just baiting me to insult someone!

In my opinion there are different levels of breastfeeding in public. There are the women who discreetly feed there infants (emphasis on infant) usually under cover of a loose top or light blanket and I have no problem with that.
There are even those women who feed there infants (emphasis on infant) not so discreetly, say they just whip out the boob and attach the infant. A little disturbing but hey the infant (emphasis on infant) has to eat, so I will say that is fine also.
Then there are the women whose children have teeth and can ask to have mommy's boob. That is unacceptable. Those children need to be eating real food. No one wants to watch a 3 yr old breast feed, that's just wrong. I know there is the "there's no more perfect food then breast milk" argument. But really once you can chew I'm sure there must be a suitable alternative. Also doesn't that hurt once those little suckers can bite.
As far as the big deal on facebook with the photos of the women breastfeeding, that was way blown out of proportion. It's a boob. And here comes the part where I offend people. We don't object to photos of cows being milked.
Now that I have probably offended everyone that reads this I will thank Kerri for bringing up this topic and have a goodnight.
R.

Challenge Topic - Public Display of Mammary Glands

Talked to a friend today. She is pregnant with her second child. With each pregnancy she gets Weezy Jefferson boobs. Her quote - "Cool thing is that they stand up on their own. Bad news- can't put my arms down." I thought this was priceless. Good thing she's a funny girl and has a sense of humor.

This reminds me of a topic I've been wanting to blog-challenge Rachel on for a long time. I'll post my feelings on the subject later. What's the subject you ask?

Breastfeeding in public. enough said. Rachel, your thoughts?

p.s. I found an article that there was some kind of hubbub on Facebook about a picture of a mom breastfeeding. Facebook is taking over!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28433838/

Best and Worst Toys of Christmas 2008

So I thought I would do a quick post of some of our toys from 2008. Both kids got a ton of stuff and it's like being a kid again because I get to play with it too! There was so much I can hardly remember it all. I'm sure I'll be editing this list as I see something I totally forgot about.

Most engaging toy award goes to - Vtech Helicopter. Jimmy got this from my aunt and he plays with it for hours. Of course it makes tons of noise so be prepared.

Most fun we can't have with yet toy - The Butterfly House. A pop-up tent in which you watch larvae pupate into butterflies. You send away for the larvae, watch them build a chrysalid and then hatch. Of course we can't do this until spring when we can release them. Of course we could do it now and let them live in the house and then watch them wither and die in 2 weeks but that wouldn't be too much fun for the kids.

Most wished for toy - Wowee Alive cub. Very cute and kinda cool. Paige would not stop talking about this cub. That being said she doesn't play with it as much as I thought she would.

Most branded toy - Tinkerbell and pixie hollow EVERYTHING!

Everything old is new again toy - Our old Kitchen set which I moved from the office into the corner of our living room, now both kids play with it all day!

Worst toy ever - Tinkerbell Pixie Dist Magic Arrival Playset - UG! where do I start? First I guess, sorry to Grandma because she is the one who bought this. The gimmick is that you put glue on Tink's wings (you get 4 sets), then you place her in the "pod" and shower glitter down upon her and her wings. First, the glue runs everywhere even if you let it dry to tacky for a while. Then the glitter WILL NOT come down no matter how much you pump. We ended up just doing it by hand and the glitter is super fine so it gets everywhere. Today Paige showed me her tink and how all the glitter fell off of one of the wings already. She was really disappointed but I think playing with the glitter in her hands made up for it. Steer clear of this one. there are better fairy toys out there if you kid is into this latest Disney craze.

Best "toy" not used for it's intended purpose - Tinkerbell Fancy Pajama outfit Paige uses for dress up instead of for sleeping. nice and cozy instead of itchy like most of the play dresses are. Tip - get old pajamas from friends or yard sales for dress up. They're just as good and much more comfortable not to mention cheaper.

Best toy mommy had more fun with than Jak - Fisher Price Clipo. He loves this, throwing the pieces, carrying them around, snapping a few together. But I love building things with it and Paige loves playing with it too. The set we got even comes with 2 heads so you can build people.

Toy I can't wait to start buying for my kids as they get older - anything from the Discovery Store - Science is cool man!

Toy list would not be complete without mentioning - My Little Pony Ponyville toys (which go along perfectly with Polly Pocket and Littlest Pet Shop)

Last, the moms out there really need the link below. It's a service that will email you information for any recalled item out there, not only toys. I get an e-mail whenever there is some rogue toy out there harming small children. It's a great service and every parent should sign up so they are aware.
https://www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.aspx

A New Year = A New You?

Yikes! Rachel has been running amok hasn't she? That's ok, I always enjoy the ravings of a mad lunatic. Strangely enough her latest post doesn't surprise me. I get calls from her all the time with tales of odd happenings or just things dumb people do. The home cremation still may have shocked me a bit. But I will file that in my need to know file in case I ever need it. You can never be too prepared.

So I'm blogging late into the night because I have to before Rachel strikes again. As long as I'm in bed by midnight I should be ok. Which makes me think of coffee. Throughout my life I never drank coffee and I didn't depend on caffeine for a pick-me-up. I was just usually able to muster up energy all on my own. I never understood people when they had to have their coffee and couldn't live without it. Then I had children and I tried coffee. I must applaud my friend Amy for my first taste of a cappuccino one night at her house. It was delicious and I talked late into the night leaving her and her husband yawning because I was so wound up from it. Now I drink 1 cup every day. I need it and I crave it. Not only for a little boost but because I savor my coffee time. When I have coffee I sit down and relax for a bit. I might talk on the phone with a friend, watch the kids play, read a magazine. as long as it's not work. I now highly recommend coffee to my mommy friends. and if you don't drink coffee then try to find something else like a cup of tea, a crossword or sudoku (I love both), whatever you can do for a few minutes each day to just stop and relax for even a short moment. mmmm coffee. Can't wait for my coffee tomorrow.

I don't know about you readers but I'm thrilled for tomorrow and the tomorrow after that and the whole new year. I'm feeling good and hopeful and energized. My biggest thing this year is "No more waste". meaning time, money, whatever. I have a lot to do that I have been putting off for some time and this is my year to put behind the old list and get on with some new stuff. Including but not limited to blogging more. I sometimes wonder though about resolutions. Why do we feel the need to change ourselves or promise to change ourselves every year? Weren't we fine just as we were? Nope apparently not. I'm always trying to improve something and I hope this does not rub off negatively on my children. I think it's great to want to constantly progress but I think we do that at the price of appearing that we are then never good enough. So what can I do? Sorry readers but I don't think I have the answer to that just yet. Maybe I'll tackle it and say I'm "learning" or "trying something new". That seems more positive. I'll let you know.

2008 Kerri was not so bad but I sure do miss 2002 Kerri. She was at her best! and 1996 kerri was totally awesome. I hope 2009 Kerri is cool. Happy new year!!!