Why I'm Not Mad at Abercrombie Guy

I haven't shopped at an Abercrombie store in years. For a couple of reasons. Just walking past the store in our mall and inhaling the mix of fragrances wafting from the dark elusive entryway gives me a headache and reminds me of a storyline out of some YA Fiction novel waiting to happen. And mostly because... I'm not their demographic.

As I sift through all of the blog posts and articles regarding the recent comments made by the Abercrombie and Fitch CEO, I feel like I should probably be as pissed off about his comments as everyone else seems to be. After all, I am a Mother to three daughters.

I'm a Mother trying to raise those three daughters to be strong, self confident and smart. I'm a Mother trying to raise her daughters to understand that "Beautiful" does not equal skinny or tall. It does not equal having blemish free skin and frizz free hair.

I'm a Mother trying to instill in my daughters, kindness and compassion and the ability to see past what's on the outside, to see what people are on the inside.

So, as I read about him marketing his clothing to "thin, beautiful people" the "cool kids" not the "Fat Chicks" you would think I would shake my fist and call for a boycott of his stores. I should scream that he is what is wrong with our society and the war we fight to keep our daughters self esteem in tact. The war we fight to keep them young, innocent and pure, in a world that seems to be wanting them to grow up too fast. 

But I can't.

What I can do is shake my head and agree that his comments are a douchey thing to say. His words are unkind, but so are the comments I'm reading regarding his looks. We're fighting unkind words with more unkind words. What kind of lesson is that teaching our children? Are we telling them it's ok to make fun of his looks because he attacked overweight people first?

Kind of sounds like it to me.

What you have to remember is this CEO's job is to sell clothes. He's found a niche market that is making him money. Just like the stores that cater to Plus Size Women and the Big and Tall Men.

For that, I can't fault him.

If you don't like it, don't shop there. But all you're doing by attacking him and re-posting his unkind words is giving him a voice and making his product more desirable for the people who can actually shop there.

At some point, we the parents, have to step up and take responsibility for our children and the way they're raised, regardless of outside influences. There are going to be big, bad outside influences around every turn, and it's our job to teach them how to deal with those, to know when a celebrity or CEO peddling tiny clothes, says something unkind, it doesn't make it true. You are giving his words power.

As the Mother of 3 BEAUTIFUL, FUNNY, SMART, AMAZING Daughters, I hope to instill in my girls the ability to be comfortable in their own skin, to look the other way on things that are marketing ploys and to be able to distinguish the asshats from the good guys.

Cute, Isn't She?

Three Kids, And Still A Rookie Sometimes.

I woke up yesterday feeling like ass. Like I had strep throat, the flu and a sinus infection. As you well know, being a Mom gives us little to no sick days, so I muddled through, feeling worse as the day worn on.

After the girls ate dinner, I sent them to the living room to play so I could clean up. I was looking forward to putting myself into a Cold Medicine Induced Coma, and chasing it with 10 hours of sleep, when we heard a loud "Crack" from the other room.

Followed by wailing.

The Husband rushed to see which child collided with which piece of furniture. He came running back in the kitchen carrying "Mary Kate" who had what appeared to be a dent in her forehead.

Trying to remain calm, I went through what little I know about head injuries and realized that all I know is: "Better Out Than In, They Always Say.." While I'm certain that is a line from Shrek regarding his farting and burping habits, I was pretty sure that it applied to knots and dents on kids heads, too.

The husband starting going through what he knows about concussions. Dilated eyes, Vomiting, Dizziness, Drowsy... Which, having happened at bedtime freaked us out even more because she kept saying she was tired.

We iced, we watched, we waited, debated and googled.


We have girls. Outside of kidney issues when "Mary Kate" was a newborn, our experience with the ER and injuries is limited, having only been there once when "Ashley" who normally looks like this:

Swelled up like Will Smith in Hitch and looked like this on Easter Morning:

Sidebar: Turns out it was a wasted trip as the Dr. thought she had an infection of some sort. (With absolutely NO other symptoms, I might add.) I still think it was something she ate or came in contact with. 

Anyway, head injuries and breathing issues scare the shiz out of me. After about an hour and a half of watching her for any symptoms, the dent seemed to be replaced with a more normal goose egg type of bump. So we decided to skip the ER in favor of letting her sleep in our bed and waking her up several times.

Bye Bye Cold Medicine Coma. Womp Womp.


She was as fine as one can be, being rudely awakened and asked a bunch of questions at 2am. She appears completely normal now, although I did make a peace of mind call to the Pediatrician today, who suggested we keep an eye on her for another 24 hours, since we didn't see the fall and couldn't really judge how hard she hit.

Concussion Watch 2013 continues, as I continue to be reminded, that as a parent, every single day is a new adventure. Some roads I will have traveled, and some I will be pushed down unexpectedly, without a map.

So Flippin' Proud

I absolutely *heart* my tiny humans.  They never cease to amaze me.

My sweet Munchkin started Swim Team back in August. She didn't know the proper strokes and had never even heard of the Butterfly. Within a couple of weeks she had learned them all and could swim most of them properly.

Over spring break the coaches decided to start teaching the kids how to flip turn. Munchkin was excited at first and went for it without a second thought. After several hard tries, she got too close on a flip and scraped her shoulder down the wall. From then on, she was hesitant and scared.

Every day in practice the Coach would yell:

"Closer, Munchkin!"
"You have to get closer to the wall.."
"Kiss the wall, Munchkin! Kiss the wall"

And every day she would come up short.

This past weekend we attended our first meet, on the road. I knew ahead of time that the Munchkin was signed up to swim her first 50 in freestyle. This meant the opportunity for a flip turn. In a meet.

I explained to her that not all swimmers flip turn and if she wasn't comfortable, she didn't have to. But it would be great if she would just try. She was confident when she assured me she wanted to do it.

Since this was our first 50, we didn't have a time to beat and we would come to learn that she (at 7 years old) was set to swim against two, 16 year olds in that heat. I have no idea why.

We told her that she was going to be swimming against some big girls and not to pay attention to the other lanes. To concentrate only on her lane, her turn and getting a time in this stroke.

When she got up on the block next to the 16 year old, the officials pulled her down thinking something was wrong with the line up. After the coaches assured them that she was in this heat, they took their marks and this is how she did:

She executed her turn perfectly. In my haste to not be caught on my own camera blubbering and crying with tears of pride and joy, I turned the camera off and didn't capture the moment where the "Big" girls gave her high fives and her coach (who you can hear in the background of the video the entire time) came and scooped her up in a big bear hug.

She didn't win this heat, but I couldn't have been more proud.

I *heart* my tiny humans. 

My New Musical Obsession: Ruu Campbell

I love music. I'm not musical in the least bit but I could and usually do listen to music most of the day, everyday. From my car to my kitchen and everywhere in between.

As a result, I'm always hyper aware of music on commercials, on television shows or at the coffee shop, constantly in search of my next favorite artist.

I was catching up on some Parenthood episodes a couple of weeks ago and fell in love with a snippet of a song they played at the very end of the episode. I popped open my laptop and started googling. I found the Artist easily enough (Ruu Campbell, the song was Mathereal) but getting his music proved to be very difficult. He's not on itunes, spotify or any of the other sites I usually peruse. I stalked his Facebook page and it appeared that I wasn't the only one loving him.

After more fruitless searches, I went back to his website and ordered his CD after listening to just a couple of other small samples of a song or 2 on his site. Not the best way to know if you will like the whole cd or just one song, but I went for it anyway.

I got it in the mail the other day and I'm. Dying.

It's so good! It's a great, "working at the coffee house or chill out on a weekend morning kind of music." The Husband who doesn't usually get my musical obsessions and taste even commented on how much he liked it.

You can check his mellow tunes out on his website and order his cd there if you are so inclined, hopefully we won't have to wait much longer to hear him everywhere.

Check him out! He might even sign your CD before shipping it to you!

Pay it Forward... or Backward

Tis' the Season for giving. I like it. Not just the getting part, but giving makes me happy too.

The smallest of things are great examples, like using the extra change in my console to drop in the red Salvation Army kettles or watching my kids get excited about doing it for me. We've bought toys for kids in need and dropped those off, in hopes of teaching my Children a lesson in giving and just as importantly, helping make Christmas morning happy for someone who isn't as fortunate as we are.

Over the past month or so I've been the recipient of several random drive thru giving sprees, having the car in front of me buy my coffee or in 2 separate cases,  pick up my bill for lunch in the drive thru when I had just ordered 3 kids meals. Each time it surprises me. The fact that some stranger would buy a meal (or 3) for a person they can only see in their rear view mirror.  

The first time it happened I was so shocked I didn't think fast enough to "Pay it Backwards" but after that time, I knew that I needed to at some point. So the next day at Starbucks I bought the coffee for the car behind me. I smiled thinking about the reaction on their face as I drove away.

I was caught up in a multi-car giving spree one day at the coffee shop, The person in front of me buying mine, me buying the one behind.. The girl working the window said I was about the 5th one in the chain and sometimes they just get on a roll... Since that day, I've decided that at least once a week I'm going to buy coffee for the car behind me in hopes of being the start of the chain.

So next time you're in line at the drive thru (or anywhere really) I encourage you to pick up the tab for someone behind you. You'll be amazed at how happy it will make you feel.

Now, We Celebrate Christmas

I am a Holiday Traditionalist. I like to savor each of my holidays as they arrive. I'm not opposed to celebrating, decorating or getting ready for a holiday a month in advance, as long as it doesn't trample all over another holiday in the process. See: Thanksgiving/Christmas.

I'm strongly opposed to decorating for Christmas until Thanksgiving is in the books. I personally love a good food holiday and love to enjoy it thoroughly. I also love Christmas, it is after all the most wonderful time of the year. But I like to keep the 2 separate. Just like I won't start celebrating Valentines day at New Years or Easter by Valentines Day. Each holiday deserves its time to shine. I think trying to eat Thanksgiving dinner by the twinkling lights on the Christmas tree makes it feel like you're celebrating Christmas, without the gifts, you know, the good part.  To me, it takes away from your actual Christmas celebration because you've been there, done that.

I know, I'm becoming the minority on this but I just don't see myself budging on this one. So, my family will spend the next couple of days whipping out all of the Christmas Decorations, our Elf will arrive from the North Pole and by the 25th of November, 1 month until Christmas, our house will be ready to celebrate the next Holiday. All in perfect order.

"As a holiday traditionalist, I refuse to even think about trampling old people until after midnight tonight."  - badbanana