Why, Dennis Rodman, of course!

I mean, he is really tall, right?

88% of you were not affected by the Aurora shooting in making your movie-going decisions.  Although from the comments, it just might be because you don’t really attend the movies a lot as a general rule.  8% said you were reluctant to attend a movie, and it made 4% of you hesitant to send your older kids.  I have to say that my  husband and I saw The Dark Knight Rises last Wednesday and I was definitely keeping a closer eye than normal on my fellow audience members.  Side note: babysitting is expensive!

Today I am all about the kerfuffle in New York over a supposedly well-meaning health initiative that treats bottles of baby formula like prescription medicine.

To not too many people’s surprise, Sting won out over Mick Jagger with quite the few more votes.  Although I do have to say that in looking at some very old pictures of young Mick Jagger, he was actually kind of beautiful in some of them.

Now, to fight silver fox with silver fox, I’ve got one of the current stars of Mad Men.

VERSUS 

Today my son and I visited this place, specifically to view this.  My son has a fascination for the Titanic, and has read every book in our local library about it, as well as many others I have bought for him.  I would say he has read at least twenty books to date, not including information from various websites.  So we decided to indulge him and journey a hundred miles or so to see actual artifacts salvaged from the wreckage.

Anyhoo, Balboa Park is an absolutely beautiful place, and it was his second time visiting, but I knew he remembered nothing from that last visit as he was too young.  As we were rushing across the park to make our appointed exhibit time, I couldn’t help but marvel at the Spanish-inspired Churrigueres architecture present in many of the building designs.  If there is one knock I have on Southern California, it is that we are fairly architecture-poor.  Which is a shame because I really love it.

So, hoping to inspire my own offspring with this admiration, I had us stop and examine the particular building in the photo above.

“What do you think about that building?” I asked in a non-threatening, open-ended sort of way meant to lead to deep discussion.

“What do I think about that building?” he replied.  “I think it looks really expensive, that’s what I think.”

Definitive answer, conversation over.  He was already moving on towards our ultimate destination.

OK, then.

Who knows, perhaps I at least planted a seed?

72% of you say that expensive is not necessarily the way to go when it comes to buying new children’s furnishings.  The rest are all for it, and I’m not against that either.  It’s just that I’ve seen my son’s casual disregard for anything that isn’t electronic, so I’m loathe to purchase something expensive. Because I’m pretty sure he will just do something dumb and ruin it. 

Heck, when I was his age I ruined the furniture in my room by neglecting to put a coaster under my glasses, and I was fairly conscientious.  There were dressers we could have gotten from family members, but I needed a tall chest of drawers rather than a long dresser, and all anybody had were the long dressers. So, cheap furniture it was!

Today I would like to know if the tragic shooting in Colorado has colored how you feel about attending the movies, at least for the short term.

A good friend of my son’s is in a Boy Scout troop (well, Cub Scout webelo, to be exact) and my son has been bugging me to allow him to join the Cub Scouts.  He wouldn’t be in the same troop as his friend, but he’s willing to give it a go.

And then they had to come out with this.

I fully realize the Boy Scouts is a private group and can dictate membership as they see fit, but it is very discouraging to see that they promote an official agenda that is discriminatory.  Although I did read somewhere that the Boy Scouts do receive money from the Department of Defense, so perhaps they aren’t as totally private as they would like to say they are.

So as a parent what do you do?

Do you try to locate a local troop that may not heartily embrace the “official” BSA party line?  I have heard that in my area, many of the troops march to the beat of their own drummers, so to speak.

Do you try to work and change from within?

Or on principle, do you refuse to join an organization that holds beliefs counter to your own?

I’m very interested in what you all have to say.

Is it Wednesday already?

I have never attended Comic Con, but as I live a mere hour and half away, I know many that have.  One day I must go, just to see the spectacle.

Images via The Mary Sue

An overwhelming majority, 89%, stated that stay at home dads are cool.  10% felt that moms should be the primary caregivers.  I have to say I’m with the majority on this one.  I think that if dad staying home works for that family, then have at it!  Dads bring a different energy to child raising (at least the ones that I know) and I don’t think that is a bad thing.

Now, we recently got rid of my son’s all-in-one loft bed for a raised bed without the desk/dresser components.  He was simply too tall for it, and as his ceiling is not vaulted, was feeling a bit claustrophobic.  In fact, he wouldn’t come straight out and tell us that he hated sleeping up there, he kept faking stomach aches and asking to sleep on the couch.  Seriously?  I thought we were better at communicating than that.  But after a few days my husband and I sussed it out.  Kids, they kill me.  Well, my kids, specifically.

Anyhoo, that left us with needing to buy him a dresser.  We took a bit of time deciding which of these routes to go.  Which one would you take?