Well, in a big surprise to probably no one, Hugh Jackman beat out poor, sad looking Eric Bana with eighty-six pecent of the vote.  Seriously, I don’t think I have EVER seen Eric Bana smile in any of the movies I’ve seen him in.  Let’s hope that in person he’s a bit more bubbly than his onscreen personas.

I’m going to keep it all-Aussie here on CDF, although I will admit to reaching back a bit in time for this one.  Because goodness knows it’s been a very long time since we’ve seen our next contestant looking luscious.  In fact, I think his normal look is sweatpants, lots of facial scruff, and a beer belly.  I’m glad he’s enjoying life and all, but I’m interested in seeing how he is going to look for his new movie.  Well, actually I just looked at a trailer for it, and it seems teh hawtness is not to be.  At least I’m not getting a hot vibe, more like LOTR meets an inexplicable Caesar haircut.

VERSUS

Oh yes, it’s that time again!  Time to look at all the pretty dresses!  I know some of these are a bit on the spendy side, but did I mention how pretty they are?

What do I look for in a dress? Vibrant color combinations, wearability, and uniqueness.  Because I have become intimately acquainted with the girl’s section of the clothing store, and there are just so many dresses that look awfully similar to each other, and I can only take so much pink and brown and pink and white.

Kate Mack – Copacabana Dress  also in Infant and Toddler So fluffy! So cute! Tiers of ruffles make this dress an irresistible confection.

O’Neill Kids – Layla

It’s got some wonderful colors and patterns, and a vintage vibe.

Roxy Kids – Check It Out

Love. It.

O’Neill Kids – Belle

Another ONeill with a wonderful print. And a halter dress for the win!

D&G Junior – Sailor – Dress

This is a dress that not many would buy due to the price, but I’m digging it nonetheless.

Clickety click here to

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I’m not sure what exactly the impetus was for the husband and I to begin viewing homeschooling as a valid option for next year.   I know that we regarded kindergarten as a big frakking waste of everyone’s time, and we were more than willing to give first grade a chance to redeem public education in our admittedly jaded eyes.  Private school would technically be an option, if it weren’t for the fact that the ones that seem to have a curriculum/philosophy that we can get behind costs the equivalent of a year of college.  And that, my friends, just isn’t going to happen.  Because even if we had loads of money and could afford it, it seems obscene to pay that much for elementary school.

All I know is that the Munchkin doesn’t like school, doesn’t like homework (really, who does?) and I don’t like the fact that there is no art instruction, music instruction is now something after school that is paid for, critical thinking skills are sacrificed on the altar of standardized tests and worksheets, and the schools in my state are having their budgets slashed to the point where certain districts are cutting the school year short.  And the budget problems are only going to get worse.  In fact, in my most humble opinion, it is the worst time in the history of my state to be a public school student, what with NCLB seemingly up for passage even though it is a horrifically misguided piece of legislation, and the morale of teachers being sucked down the toilet as they are asked to do more and more with less and less.  And just so you know, the Munchkin’s current school is in the top ten pecent in the state as far as test scores go. But test scores don’t always tell the whole story.

And so it seems to me, that this where I can step in.  This is where I can be proactive with my child’s education, rather than reactive.  Where I can take charge of the direction of his studies instead of sitting there wondering why the school does x a certain (crappy) way and fighting a rather entrenched bureaucracy with barely a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding.  I’m already at home, so no need to quit a full-time job, we learned years ago how to get by on just one income.  I have a degree in English, but I do suck at math.  Somehow though, I think I can handle it.

So the huz and I are in heated talks about perhaps not enrolling the Munchkin in second grade next year.  And let me assure you that my husband is actually anti-homeschooling and has been one of the major reasons I haven’t already tried it.  I realize that however much work I think it’s going to be, I should automatically double it.  However, I think that as my son’s steward, it is almost my duty to ensure that he can learn at his own pace and not have to fill out worksheet after worksheet after worksheet after worksheet.  I swear, if we want to focus on saving some damn trees, schools should be looked to as some of the main offenders.  I digress…

I will be the first to admit that I don’t know everything.  Shocking! I know!  But the one thing I do know is that the Manolosphere has some of the best and brightest minds in all of the intertubes, so why not ask for your opinions before I embark on a life-changing course?  Is there a flaw in my reasoning?  Am I being unrealistic?  Am I being too harsh on the public education system? Would you homeschool if you could? Will  my good intentions put me on a nonstop flight to hell?

So I turn to you, dear readers. I truly want to know what you think.

We jokingly refer to it as the “barber chair” but there really is a lot to like about the Boon Flair high chair.

I had spent much too much time deciding on a high chair for the Munchkinette, and I almost bought a Stokke Tripp Trapp until I saw this. Yeah, the chair now comes with plastic extenders that supposedly make the whole falling-backward-so-they-can-crack-their-head-open thing not happen, but if I am going to be spending almost four hundred dollars on a high chair (paying extra for the infant adapter AND the cloth cushion AND for a tray) I decided that I should NEVER have to think even for a nanosecond that my daughter could push the chair back from the table like that. Her chubby little legs are surprisingly strong, and she likes kicking as much as David Beckham, and with almost as much accuracy. As my kitchen table has quite a significant drop down portion beneath the table top proper, the Tripp Trapp was just not an option for me, no matter how “cool” it may look.

The Boon Flair is a single piece of molded plastic that rests on a pneumatic lift, thus giving it that old-timey barber chair vibe. But, it is insanely easy to clean, has a removable tray with two plastic liners, all of which fit in the dishwasher. As any parent who has had to clean off dried baby food knows, ease of cleaning is huge. It also has very cool casters on the bottom which make it a breeze to move around the kitchen, which my daughter loves since there is quite a bit of distance between the table and the kitchen sink, where she enjoys watching me do the dishes. I actually don’t enjoy doing the dishes, but it makes it less of a chore when I can interact with her.  The Flair has a five-point harness for keeping the squirmers in their place, and the removable tray means that I can still push her up to the table when she gets older.  And obviously, the pneumatic lift makes it ridiculously easy to adjust up or down.

The only drawback I can see is that for small kitchens, the bottom of the chair where the casters are placed might take up a bit too much room.   It doesn’t have any reclining features or huge plastic-y cushions, which might be a minus for some  but which I view as a plus.  It isn’t a chair for napping, and the plastic cushions just make the child sticky and whiny in the warmer months.  Not to mention they are a pain to clean.

Other than that, having dealt with a more traditional high chair with my first child, I’m actually looking forward to feeding times with the Flair!

*I was given no compensation for this review. Money spent on this product was my own hard-earned cash.

According to the results of last week’s poll, a full forty-six percent of you were never asked by your parents to go back to your room and change that outfit, missy.   I applaud you on your tasteful clothing choices throughout your youth. A devious thirty-three percent, though, were ordered to change, did so, and then snuck the clothes in your bag and managed to change back into them at a friend’s house or a bathroom somewhere.  I applaud you for your, er, ingenuity.  Seventeen percent were ordered to change and did so, I applaud you on your obedience, no matter how many things you uttered under your breath.  Only two percent had the cojones to ignore your parents’ directive, and I applaud you for somehow not getting grounded for life.

Today’s poll is about a man who, last week, placed an ad on craigslist to “sell” his two sons, claiming they could be used as “child slaves or footstools.”  He says it was all a big joke, and included that fact at the bottom of the ad. He was arrested for filing a false report, which seems to me the police didn’t have a whole lot to go on and were annoyed at him and wanted to arrest him for something.

I love me some OPI, and I was at a store looking for some polish for my toesies when my eyes fell upon this display of new nail colors from OPI based on the Shrek motion pictures. 

I’m not sure when it became a good idea to make nail colors based on children’s movies, but I will say that the greens in this collection are truly hideous.  I was discussing them with the salesgirl and she said they reminded her of boogers.  Personally, they remind me of a fungus.

Yeah, there might be some ten year old who thinks it’s a good idea, but I’m not sure anyone else will.

Congratulations to David Byrne, who will be taking his sexy self over to the Celebrity Dad Hall of Fame!  He handily beat Gilles Marini to ascend to the hallowed hall which houses our most favorite men!

So our little Friday diversion starts with two brand new contestants, and today I’m going to pit Aussie against Aussie!

VERSUS