Moving to the dorm...is he ready? Am I ready?

The day is here...my baby...18 years old... is moving out of the house...to the dorm...20 miles away. Ok, ok quit laughing at me! LOL This is hard for me, we are a close family, but I know this will be good for him. Plus, he is really excited about the experience of living on campus this year. He's been attending the U the last 2 years, so he knows the campus well. At least that helps calm some of my fears ;-)

Calvin Klein Billboard - How Do We Stop It?

By now many of you have seen or heard about the provocative Calvin Klein billboard that is in New York. The one with 3 boys and 1 girl (all appear to be late teens, maybe early 20's)...engaging in...well...PDA. PDA=Public Display of Affection. No, I will not be posting the picture here.

In this case it is PDA gone way-over-board.

Yes, most of us over 40 remember the Brooke Shields commercial of yesteryear when she says "You want to know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing." It was cutting edge cute at the time. Today it would be quite tame.

There is particular outrage amongst Mothers...both those who see it in person, and those of us on the Internet. In this world of trying to protect our children, especially our daughters, we are disgusted by this "promotion" of sex...add to that the connotation of sex with multiple partners.

So what can we do about it?

First off...if your kids have seen the billboard in any way, talk to them about it. Hopefully they will find it as inappropriate as you do. Keep in mind the age of your child when getting into detail. The younger they are, the more general you should be.

Second...call Calvin Klein. That's right...tell them how you really feel. 1-866-513-0513

Third...stop buying Calvin Klein. I've now heard of Father's Day gifts being returned, because they were a Calvin Klein branded item. I've also heard others say they are no longer buying CK items at all.

Fourth...let's ask ourselves why our society is driven to think that this kind of advertising is OK, and why do advertisers think this is what we want to see to entice us to buy their brand?

And finally...let's hope our children grow up and change the face of this kind of advertising for future generations.

The Emotions Of Graduation

Friday was the big High School Graduation Ceremony. Leading up to it I was fully prepared to be a blubbering idiot during the commencement…I’m a sap. I also invested a lot of time and emotion into raising our children to be great students, and really good people.

To my surprise I didn’t shed a tear! I had this huge pile of Puffs in my purse, and only touched them to move them to an outside pocket of my purse, for easy access. I had worn the waterproof mascara also.

It probably helped that it was chaotic just to get into the gym. The seating was first-come, first-choice on seats. The doors were to open at 6:30...we arrived at exactly 6:30...you should have seen the huge lineup of people outside waiting! My hubby dropped my daughters and I off so we could get a spot in the line while he parked the car.

As we made our way to the gymnasium I kept thinking “Please let us get good seats to take photos from!”

Of course, all of the premier seats were taken by the mass of people in line ahead of us. We did manage to find seats pretty close to the front, but pretty high up.

So, back to the topic…why didn’t I cry?

Maybe it was the lady in front of us who was crying at everything…and I mean everything! The student speeches, the choir’s 1 song, the School Board member’s speech….everything.

More than likely it was seeing how truly happy our son was to be there. As he walked in and took his seat he was looking for us. He really wanted to find where we were. In the masses he finally saw us, and has the best smile on his face! And when he accepted his diploma he looked at us a waved a few times on his walk back to his seat.

The good news is that when we go thru this 2 years from now with our twin daughters we will be the ones “in the know”, and we will be at the head of the line. I wonder if that’s the time I be a blubbering idiot?

Kids and Books...Read Read Read!

We recently went out with some very dear friends, and the discussion turned to their 1st grader. They told us he is doing good in school, and got really happy when they told us he is one of the top readers in his class. They said he didn't used to be, but recently there was a reading challenge given to his class. As with most classrooms, there is a boy in his class who is somewhat of a nemesis on certain things. During one of the classroom reading minute updates, our friends' son saw this other boy had a lot more minutes read. That's all it took...he went home, told his parents about it, and told his parents he was going to get more reading minutes than the other boy. That night he began reading more than ever before!

Not only did he win the reading challenge, he greatly improved his reading skills, and was recently given the only speaking part from his class at a recent school event! I could just feel the pride as his parents told us this story :-)

For anyone who knows us, books have always been a large part of our lives. Our kids have always had books to read. The only downside is we have a hard time getting rid of them...still need to get some book shelves *sigh*

Some of our favorite places to get books:

• Barnes and Noble: we purchase the annual membership, and easily save more than that with the books and items we purchase both in store and online. I really, really love using the online site, especially at Christmas when our DD puts together her book wish list.


• Garage Sales: Another fantastic idea is to look for books at garage sales...summer is coming and there are sure to be many sales with books for all ages! I found many books this way for my kids when they were younger. And it was even more fun when the kids found them themselves...it was like they had found a secret treasure LOL


• Libraries: Many school libraries do a turnover once every 2-3 years and will have a book sale. The prices here are super on these books, and there is normally a large variety to chose from.

Don't forget that books make wonderful gifts as well. No child is too young to have a book -- I even give them for Baby Shower Gifts. Hey, Dr Seuss will never be out of style ;-)