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Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Invent Now

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At the 2008 Women's Conference in California Dr. Condoleezza Rice stated, "We're not doing a good enough job of preparing girls for science and technology professions."

Myself, I wondered - Why are we the only parents who signed our daughter up for Science Camp?

The first day of science camp some of the boys made remarks about girls and their ability to do science. By the end, Ainsley had dispelled any negative assumptions about girls and their scientific brains.

Forty years ago women made up just 3 percent of science and engineering jobs; now they make up about 20 percent. That sounds promising, until you consider that women earn 56 percent of the degrees in those fields. A recent Center for Work-Life Policy study found that 52 percent of women leave those jobs, with 63 percent saying they experienced workplace harassment and more than half believing they needed to "act like a man" in order to succeed. In the past, women dealt with that reality in two ways: some buried their femininity, while others simply gave up their techie interests to appear more feminine, state a Newsweek article, Revenge of the Nerdette, this year.

I get some solicitations from Interactive Webgames designed for girls.

Here's the disappointing thing - their primary focus is on getting dressed, extra-curricular activities include going shopping and home decorating.

Getting dressed should take up maybe 20 minutes of a person's day. Unless you're actually a fashion designer or aim to become one, it really shouldn't make up the focus of your life.

Computer literacy is now a fundamental and necessary skill and girls should be encouraged to use computer time in a more productive imaginative way.

The computer games our girls should spend their time on should have a have a broader mission. Cure cancer, invent a new kind of engine, build a new building, heal the world's psyche, teach and learn.

For this reason I was happy to stumble on a website for children and a contest at InventNow.org. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has developed a game for children - both girls and boys - to introduce them to the process from inspiration to invention.

As parents of girls - we need to really encourage girls to make the fields of science and technology their own.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Choose Our Family Portrait

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The Official 2009 Family Portrait will be used on marketing material and About Me pages, sent to our relatives and hung in our home.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Best Christmas Ever

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Due to previous years of party exhaustion we have instituted Extended Family Christmas on Christmas Eve.

We did stockings and presents for the children.

My mother-in-law - always beautifully sentimental - handed down her mother, grandmother's and her own China. There was a set for each daughter-in-law to be handed down to our daughter(s).

Christmas morning was perfection.

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Crossing traditional gender-lines, Zack got his own baby doll so he won't have to borrow his sister's and a cooking set and Bonnie Bell lip gloss (it tastes good and Ainsley wants him to stop stealing hers). I theorize that it's just as fundamental for boys to practice being nurturing caretakers, exceptional fathers and competent homemakers as it is for girls to practice being maternal. He loves them. Oh don't worry, he still received loads of trucks, tractors, animals, and dinosaurs which boys traditionally get and he loves those too.

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By the same token, I was excited to give Ainsley the giant set of Tinker Toys to encourage development of engineering and inventive skills.

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Everyone in our house got ipods or mp3 players. It was fun to reflect on getting a Walkman when I was a kid. How cool was that?

It's fascinating to see how many of the new toys come with interactive Internet components.

Webkinz and Precious Girls Club toys and products both come with secret codes for websites where they can play learning games and practice earning and spending money and points. They can interact online with each other if they know each other's sign-in code. I was thrilled to hear that the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood was effective in getting outside advertising OFF of webkinz.com. I wasn't even aware that it was on there and I'd been allowing Ainsley to play on Webkinz.com for months. It's hard enough to approve the original content without worrying about approving of and supervising outside advertising.

Two of Ainsley's friends got Nintendo DS and they can text each other from the video game. It's a brave new world. Parents have to try hard to keep up.

Tell me what your family got excited about for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #11

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Santa's cookies are made . . .

So let's talk about stuff. Presents. Gifts under the tree.

Santa is bringing Mp3 players. Ainsley is getting an ipod Shuffle. New. She's getting the one from the Product (Red) Campaign so part of the proceeds went to Aids medication in Africa. Zack is getting one that looks like those old Fisher Price tape players that he can carry around and work himself.

If you spend 2 years dedicatedly writing about girls there comes with it a perk or two. I held the perks back for Christmas morning.

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A special thank you to Terry Candee, from GoGo Glue Gun Fun,who sent a doll from of her Quirky Dolls Design-A-Doll Kits from her Etsy store.

Ainsley will also receive a Mandaloob Book Set, a stuffed animal, book,and jewelry from The Precious Girls Club, a flower necklace from Lia Sophia Jewelry.

A Genuine Thank you to every company who helps support this website and every company who makes products appropriate for girls.

Sure, it's easy to be frugal when people send you free stuff right?

Absolutely true. But, it's also easy to be frugal when they don't.

Quite a few of the other items under our tree are from thrift stores and garage sales and I feel just as good about those.

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I scored Ainsley this giant set of Tinker Toys for $1.50. It's value on Amazon is $199.

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Zack is getting this real cowboy hat, retail value $40. I paid $2 and it's never been worn.

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I paid $1 for this brand new Melissa & Doug farm animal puzzle. Retail value, $9.99.

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I'm especially excited about this Thomas Travel Tote, retail $21.99.

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It's FULL of trains that retail $10 to $25 each. There's a little wear on some of the trains - a boy before him loved them much. He's 2, he doesn't care. I paid $3 for the whole set!

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And let's not forget there's a $5 bike. He's gonna love it!

If we paid retail value for all this stuff we'd be paying our credit cards off until 2020. That is not going to bring joy to our family or the world.

It's Christmas Eve and it's a little late to change your Christmas strategy now. Except Christmas comes every. single. year. on. the. exact. same. day.

Now - this year - is the perfect time to gently announce that you're not going to give individual gifts to the extended family, but you'd be willing to do white elephants or draw names between adult siblings' families next year.

Now. While their blood pressure is souring after spending too much money on gifts for you and yours. While they're worrying about the credit card bill that's going to come in 3 weeks.

I'm gonna tell you it feels delicious to start the New Year with a clean slate instead of behind on the bills. THAT is priceless.

Because it takes a few months and some planning to find these perfect gems at garage sales, now is the right time to decide that next year - next Christmas is going Meaningfully Frugal.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Merry Christmas!


More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

If you find Christmas depressing you are not doing it right. (You spent money you don't have on people you don't like - stop that.)

Make spreading JOY your Christmas Tradition and you will find yourself and your family feeling . . . well, Joyous.

Don't believe the ads and marketing - spreading Cheer costs virtually nothing, though it is priceless.

There's still plenty of time to spread some Jolly around.

Have you been to a nursing home lately?

It's a sad, depressing place. Until YOU brought your children with their smiling faces and did a little dance or sang a sweet song. You don't need an invitation or a reservation - any nursing home in the country will welcome a smiling family with 30 minutes to say Merry Christmas or sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

My mother-in-law produces a Grandkid Christmas Pageant every year. Every kid gets to learn a part and participate. We took the show to a Nursing Home to spread some Christmas Joy this year.

Making your neighborhood safer with Christmas Cheer is a wise investment.


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We let Ainsley play outside with her friends unsupervised. I know it's a very old-fashioned thing to do. But, we do it for 4 great reasons -
1. We believe she can handle herself and every little bit of experience in handling herself in the neighborhood without supervision makes her better at handling herself.
2. We do not parent out of fear. We teach courage and parents have to go first.
3. We still believe in the overall goodness of human beings like our neighbors.
4. It makes her happy.

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To make our neighborhood safer we go out into it and knock on doors and introduce ourselves. We delivered Christmas candles to spread Christmas Cheer. Zack, to his eternal remorse is not allowed out alone yet, but within the next few years he will be and twice this year the neighbors have brought him back after he escaped.

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Knock. Knock. Hi, we're Tracee and Jeremy and these are our children. Perhaps you see them playing in the street, riding their bikes, hanging out with their friends. We sure do appreciate you looking out for them and helping them stay out of trouble. We're so happy we live in a safe neighborhood where people look out for each other's children.

This actually cost me nothing. See, my mother's neighborhood does this and she has been saving up the Christmas Candles delivered to her house for years. She's allergic to the scents and could not use them. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Very frugal neighborhood gifts that you might try include Christmas cookies, cocoa, fresh baked bread, banana bread, candy canes, ornaments from thrift stores, etc. Do whatever is easiest for you.

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Christmas Caroling to the town's shut-ins.


Anonymously leave money for someone (in front of your kids).


Clear out toys and clothes we've outgrown to give to a family whose house burned down.


Light the Advent Candles as a family at church. Ainsley read a very long recitation and prayer perfectly.


More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

If you do these types of Holiday Traditions with a smile on your face and Merry in your heart . . .

How could your children possibly think Christmas is about getting stuff?


Monday, December 22, 2008

Neurotic Grad Student Won

Neurotic Grad Student Won the Little Windows Jewelry Kit. I hope she visits more often, we could always use the insight of a neurotic grad student around here.

(Random.org generated #62.)

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

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Ainsley's two grandmothers, eh hem I mean two sets of grandparents, pooled their Christmas dollar to get Ainsley a real American Girl Doll.

Doesn't Kit Kittridge look just like her?

It might just be an absurd amount of money to spend on a doll.

But, its like when my husband was researching our next phone plan and he kept trying to tell my father-in-law and I about other phones and all the "even better" deals and features.

But we want IPhones. We said.

It would be just like the time when we got a new computer that we could afford and it was a small PC. I hated it every time I used it. It was frustrating and annoying.

Yet, my used Macbook Pro makes my heart sing every single time I touch its keys.

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The American Girl Doll is like that. It makes her happy every time she looks at it, holds it and thinks about it. Are there cheaper dolls? Sure. Dolls that pee and some you can take in the tub? Yeah. Could we get a knock off that look exactly the same for 1/2 the price? You bet. But, it is not the same. It's not. No, it's really not. You can say it is. You can try to convince her and yourself that it is. But, it's still not.

She got it early. So NaNa could be there to see her face when she opened it. Unfortunately, my mother lives in Utah.

It's a big deal - they don't indulge her like this every year.

If you pop out an early gift it's a bigger deal than one which gets swamped under the avalanche of other gifts from everyone on Christmas Day.

Also, I didn't want that American Girl upstaging us and Santa.

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The moral of the story?

* Sometimes the brand matters. Even a used or reconditioned one of exactly what we want is better than another brand on certain items. Factor in resell value.

* Pool money between relatives for THE thing.

* Don't upstage each other's gifts. Sometimes that means an early present is appropriate. The child really gets a lot more enjoyment out of an early present.

Oh, and if you're sucking in anxiety this year sit down and count out all the other people who will be giving to your children. I count this as a frugal tip because it costs me nothing but mediation between two sets of grandparents.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Come back until Christmas for more Frugal Christmas Tips. Ho Ho Ho I'm feeling Jolly!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Barbie Hijacked Feminism


Barbie hijacked "Feminism" and used a poor defenseless little girl and Amy Poehler to do it.

Oh, well, she did kill The Bratz and I'll be forever grateful. My kids do enjoy her laptop and the pink VW Bug and the singing High School Musical Dolls, so perhaps I should just surrender?

I'd have no complaints with Barbie if not for this . . .
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Evidence that girls are internalizing Barbie's impossible body type.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Little Windows Jewelry Contest

Sticking a child's name on a gift teaches them nothing and robs them of all the smooshy good feelings that giving provides the giver.

I want them to know that feeling. Every year I try to help them make something for the adults in their lives.

No peeking NaNa and Grandma!

In past years we've decorated wooden breakfast trays, painted mouse pads, printed photo calendars, painted golden treasure chest boxes.
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This year Ainsley and I did Little Windows from www.little-windows.com.

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I liked this because it was a miniature chemistry lesson and an exercise in creativity.

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You take a digital photo, use the free photo cropping software on their site and print on the paper provided. Mix up the resin compound and pour it into a mold.

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The set they sent me advertises enough materials to make 3 necklaces.

But, I hate to waste a good resin and was able to get 9 little windows out of the chemicals supplied.

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I used one necklace that Lia Sophia sent me to try. (The open silver choker pictured.)

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Made myself a keychain.

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Made 3 Christmas ornaments with some Christmas ribbon and ornament hooks.

And made a little zipper handle for Zack's backpack.

Ainsley was so proud of them she took them to Show and Tell.

That gorgeous box up there makes a gift box for one of the necklaces.

Little-Windows products range from $4 (magnets - should have thought of that!) to $48 deluxe kits.

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Leave a comment and you're entered to win one of the All in One 3 Necklace Kits. The contest will run until Monday Dec. 22.

You must, MUST, must leave an email address or I will not be able to contact you.

After Christmas Update: Almost all of the hardware for the necklaces in this set broke within hours of wearing. This is embarrassing because I intended to give quality gifts. I still love the little ice cube looking resin photos - however, it's not worth the extra money for the complete kit. I was able to make much sturdier items with 20 lb. craft wire.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Reviewer X: Girl Week: Table of Contents

Reviewer X: Girl Week: Table of ContentsCheck out Girl Week at Reviewer X.

CCFC Action Works

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Like you, I hate writing a random letter any corporation is going to ignore. It makes me feel almost as powerless as doing nothing. But, I LOVE knowing my letter joined thousands of other letters and made a serious impact. Read all this cool stuff the CCFC has already accomplished.

From a CCFC newsletter:

Are you distressed when Batman, McDonalds, and Lego partner to sell kids on fast food and video games? When Nickelodeon features the Bratz in a made-for-TV movie? When Elmo and Barbie morph into a "Barbie loves Elmo" toy?

Are you appalled when marketers spend billions of dollars advertising toxic brands and products directly to children - and then lay all of the blame on parents for the rise of marketing-related problems like childhood obesity, youth violence, and precocious, irresponsible sexuality?

Why not do something about it? Support the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the only national organization devoted solely to countering the harmful effects of commercialization on children. With your help, we're making a difference. We rely on you because we will not compromise our commitment to children and families by accepting corporate funding.

We act on your marketing concerns. When a Boston father contacted us because Webkinz World, the leading social network site for young children, was accepting outside ads, we alerted the media and launched a letter-writing campaign. As a result, Webkinz now gives parents the option for kids to use an ad-free version of their site.

When a mom in Seminole County, Florida, alerted us to McDonald's report card advertising at her daughter's school, we made the ads a national embarrassment for the fast food giant. Our campaign for commercial-free report cards was featured on Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and hundreds of newspapers around the country. As a result, McDonald's agreed to end the program.

We're reclaiming schools from corporate marketers. Schools around the country are are promoting reading and not consumerism with CCFC's Guide to Commercial-Free Book Fairs. With our help, legislators and educators have made South Carolina the first state to ban all marketing on school buses. Working with local activists and parents, we've successfully stopped BusRadio - a company that plans on "taking student targeted marketing to the next level" - in school districts from Connecticut to California.

We're countering the sexualization of children. After more than 5,000 emails from CCFC members, Scholastic, Inc. decided not to bring the highly sexualized Bratz brand back to school this year. When we caught BusRadio advertising 90210 - a television show chock full of teen sex and drinking - on its website for children as young as six, they began pulling the ads within hours. Our campaign to stop Children's Hospital in Columbus from selling naming rights to the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch for $10 million launched a national conversation about the ethics of public health institutions partnering with corporations that undermine children's wellbeing.

Help us stop the commercialization of childhood, advocate for policies that protect children from unscrupulous marketers, and take on the worst corporate offenders. Your tax-deductible contribution will allow us to continue to build a coalition of organizations and individuals who value children more than the bottom line.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, every contribution of $125 or more will be doubled from now until January 1st. Any amount you are able to give would be greatly appreciated. Please visit to support CCFC today.

$500,000,000,000: The amount of money in purchases that children under twelve influence every year.

$17,000,000,000: The amount of money spent to market to children, a staggering increase from $100 million in 1983.

$3,400,000,000: Revenue generated by the Disney Princess brand in 2006. There are 40,000 Disney Princess items on the market today.

1,200,000,000: Toys sold with kids' meals at fast food restaurants in 2006.

20,000,000: Baby Einstein videos sold by Disney through 2006. The American Academy of Pediatrics reccomends no screen time for children under two.

200,000: The acts of violence, including 40,000 murders, that the average child will see on television by the time they are eighteen.

25,000: Ads on television the average 2-11-year-old sees on television every year, a figure that does not include product placement.

4,151: The number of product placements on the first thirty-eight episodes of American Idol.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Your community has free Christmas stuff. I've never lived in a community that didn't. Do it. Participate. Don't grumble. Put a smile on your face and sing Jingle Bells while doing it.

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Ainsley was in the parade with her Brownie troop - we watched.

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Look! Santa!

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Our church did a Christmas Tree Forest and invited the town. It was beautiful.

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Our Sunday School Class did a "Joy to the World" Tree. We had a potluck and decorated our tree together.

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There was Living Nativity and they gave us free punch and cookies.

It was a really fun Christmas family-time weekend.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Truth About Rape

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The other day I sat watching a talk show on "rape prevention."

"Don't let your daughter go to Frat parties and get drunk while wearing a short skirt or they will get raped," was the advice.

And I thought,

Why have I never, not one single time, seen a show or read an article or book about how to avoid turning a boy into a rapist?

That might actually be effective and place responsibility where it belongs - on the rapist.

As it stands, I'm letting my son snuggle so close to me in my bed at night that I can't sleep. He rolls 360 degrees at least once every two seconds.

He's 2 and seems to need the physical closeness. Since I have absolutely no scientific evidence or even maternal advice on how to ensure that my son does not grow up with a rapist's mentality, I don't send him back to his own bed. What if withholding that snuggle-time is the crucial misstep? I define a rapist's mentality as a pathological inability to recognize a girl in a skirt, even a drunk girl, as a whole human being worthy of his respect, to be valued as more important than his penis.

It's not too much to expect from the male gender.

I'm guessing withholding of maternal and paternal love, physical closeness, disallowing or punishing feelings, yanking the doll out of their hands and replacing it with guns, teasing them for crying, and making jokes about their manhood and sexuality - turns some boys into rapists. The less pathological ones just turn into bad dates and worse husbands.

The truth about rape is that rapists and child pornographers would invent turtleneck porn and turtleneck fetishes if we all made our daughters wear turtlenecks to protect them from bad men. We believe its a lot easier to put a girl in a turtleneck (we can make her do it) and hope for the best, than it is to hold men accountable for their pathological and distorted thinking about girls (we have far less control over them), right?

The problem with this strategy is that it's 100% ineffective.

I'd like to see Dr. Phil or Oprah so a show along these lines:

Prevent Rape - Teach your son not to be a rapist.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Barbie Kicks Bratz ASS!

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Ding Dong The Bratz are dead!

Barbie killed the whole pack!

Bratz Dolls will no longer be sold after this Christmas season because they infringe on a copyright Barbie (Mattel) happens to own, so sayeth The Court.

Carter Bryant, in typical "mean-girl fashion," evidently conceptualized the rottin little Bratz while under contract with Mattel and then illegally sold the concept to MGA Entertainment.

Earlier in this cat fight The Bratz was court-ordered to pay Barbie $100 Million in lost sales. Mattel attorneys said MGA made nearly $779 million on the Bratz line since it was introduced in 2001.

In a recent ruling, Judge Stephen G. Larson of the District Court in the Central District of California shut down the whole Bratz line.

The court has ordered recalls from stores, the shattering of molds used to make the hideous little beasts and they are no longer to use the brand name The Bratz.

Who wants to join me in a gleefilled Hallelujah?

There IS a Santa!

Thanks to reader, and lawyer, Jonna for tipping me off on this legal triumph for all girls everywhere!

Maybe for New Year Eve we can get American Girl Dolls to take down Barbie!

More details at Associated Press.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thank God There Was No Facebook


Survey: Teens Sharing Nude Images Online, a clip from The Today Show on a survey released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com reports, "22 percent of all teen girls — and 11 percent of teen girls ages 13-16 years old — say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves."

"One-third (33 percent) of teen boys and one-quarter (25 percent) of teen girls say they have had nude/semi-nude images — originally meant to be private — shared with them," the article reports.

Why would girls and boys do this?

I'll do anything for you. Like me. Please like me! This will make him like me! I'll do anything to make him love me back! This will really make him love me.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Also, it would be ideal if a human being's sense of consequence developed before age 35. (Maybe that's just me.)

Thank God there was no Facebook, MySpace or the ability to send photos via cell phone when I was a teen or in my 20s.

R.B. if you're out there . . . Please tell me you hit delete when you got married.

Sexuality Education should include THIS phenomenon.

Read my So Sexy So Soon series.

10 Steps to Undo Sexualized Childhood

So Sexy So Soon, Sexualized Childhood

So Sexy So Soon: Sex Education Quiz

So Sexy So Soon: Premature Adolescent Rebellion

Support reviews like these by purchasing So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Seven Sisters for All Things Girl

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Amy Jussel, executive Director of Shaping Youth included me in her Seven Sisters for All Things Girl series.

She said such nice things about me that it literally made me blush. For some reason I don't get many comments so it's really, really validating and affirming to know that there are people out there reading and appreciating my work. (Several readers have told me they are sometimes struck speechless -- I choose to take that as a compliment.)

Her Seven Sensational Blogs About Girls also serves as a nice introduction so some of the other Girl, Power Bloggers out there. I think I'll hope around some of those links, subscribe to some feeds and add them to my blogroll and extend the invitation for them to respond in kind - after all, we have a common interest.

Reign of the Girl Child is preteen specific and its author Felicia Richardson-Battle is also the author of Feel Good Girl.

Girls Horse Club is a blogazine created by girls for girls. If your daughter has an interest in horses and blogging this could be her online home. The girls are coralled by LeadMare, Michelle Bushneff. Yee Haw!

What About Our Daughters by Gina, who appears to share my conviction that the current economic situation is not a surprise if you were paying attention. (It's awfully political over there, I'm on a political fast.) Gina is also running a Michelle Obama Watch website which highlights the ways in which Michelle is treated by the public and the media. That could get interesting.

I was happy to see my friend Claire Mysko on the list. I've written about and given away copies of her book You're Amazing, A No-Pressure Guide To Being Your Best Self. You will want to check out her site 5 Resolutions to Transform The Fashion and Beauty Industries.

Also my b5media friend and fellow blogger Charlene Polansky's blog Sports Girls Play is on the list. Char writes about how to raise your daughter to be a fantastic, striving for excellence athlete. Check out this handy printable training journal to help your daughter track athletic goals.
Vanessa Van Petten writes On Youth and Teens Today . She is writing to the net-generation (why didn't I think of that?) and the Dirt-E Secrets of an Internet Kid an e-book which will tell parents all the really bad stuff to watch out for when monitoring their kids' Internet usage. (I'm afraid to look.)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Quirky Design-A-Dolls

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Terry Candee, from GoGo Glue Gun Fun, a mother-daughter bonding experience, send me two of her Quirky Dolls Design-A-Doll Kits from her Etsy store.

We made a "Glamour" Doll together this Saturday. Each set comes with a pre-made 12" fabric doll and a plentiful amount of supplies and instructions to design about any doll your daughter can imagine. There is a variety of skin colors and fabric selections and themes. No sewing involved, just cutting, glueing and a little pattern tracing.

The retail price is $17, the time spent together designing the doll - priceless.

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Ainsley enjoyed the project so much that she declared she will "become a designer because she's very good at it," when she grows up.

Most of you know that I have a few issues with some dolls marketed to girls. Bratz and Barbi to name two.

I found this exercise quite interesting. You can't really say its a "clean slate" because images of dolls, Bratz, Barbies, American Girl, Jaks, etc., are in their face with various forms of marketing all day long.

But, it was intriguing to see watch her make this doll.

She made this doll to be like herself. She referred to aspects of it as "like me," several times.

Yet, she made some aspects very unlike her present self - yet, still like her inner-authentic self. The long curly hair instead of her current short bob, for instance.

She's like me in this. I cut my hair, yet think of my authentic self with the long hair I've worn most of my life.

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She also made her doll quite freckly. Gave it a fantastic hat and blinged it out.

And then there is this:

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She gave her doll boobs and a belly button and named it Molley (which also happens to be the name of her very first baby doll. She frequently names dolls Molley).

Buy a Quirky Design-A-Doll Kit for Christmas and learn more about who your daughter is.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

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Deck the Halls.

Make a family day of it. We went out for Chinese Food after Church, hit Walmart for the tree, had a hop on Santa's lap (bye bye memory of Mall Santa - Santa's at Walmart now and gives you a free photo in an hour). It's always exciting to see what we've collected and decide where to put it. Playing Christmas Carols in the background.

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Hint #1 - There's nothing Joyful or Merry about hissing "don't touch!" Put the breakable decorations up high and keep plenty of plush Santas and Frostie, wooden Manger Scenes, fabric decorations, cheap
Nutcrackers and Santa Hats down low - meant for playing.

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Hint #2 - Hit the Thrift Stores and Garage Sales. You'll find all sorts of ornaments and decorations that bring back warm and fuzzy feelings for you.

My mom handed down some ornaments and I realized how much I'm carrying on my childhood family traditions. I was especially happy to hang the 30 year old plastic mistletoe on the entry chandelier.

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Dude, plastic lighted Santa was only $20 at Walmart. I could not resist the simple pleasure.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in November.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip#3

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6
Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Invent Now

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At the 2008 Women's Conference in California Dr. Condoleezza Rice stated, "We're not doing a good enough job of preparing girls for science and technology professions."

Myself, I wondered - Why are we the only parents who signed our daughter up for Science Camp?

The first day of science camp some of the boys made remarks about girls and their ability to do science. By the end, Ainsley had dispelled any negative assumptions about girls and their scientific brains.

Forty years ago women made up just 3 percent of science and engineering jobs; now they make up about 20 percent. That sounds promising, until you consider that women earn 56 percent of the degrees in those fields. A recent Center for Work-Life Policy study found that 52 percent of women leave those jobs, with 63 percent saying they experienced workplace harassment and more than half believing they needed to "act like a man" in order to succeed. In the past, women dealt with that reality in two ways: some buried their femininity, while others simply gave up their techie interests to appear more feminine, state a Newsweek article, Revenge of the Nerdette, this year.

I get some solicitations from Interactive Webgames designed for girls.

Here's the disappointing thing - their primary focus is on getting dressed, extra-curricular activities include going shopping and home decorating.

Getting dressed should take up maybe 20 minutes of a person's day. Unless you're actually a fashion designer or aim to become one, it really shouldn't make up the focus of your life.

Computer literacy is now a fundamental and necessary skill and girls should be encouraged to use computer time in a more productive imaginative way.

The computer games our girls should spend their time on should have a have a broader mission. Cure cancer, invent a new kind of engine, build a new building, heal the world's psyche, teach and learn.

For this reason I was happy to stumble on a website for children and a contest at InventNow.org. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has developed a game for children - both girls and boys - to introduce them to the process from inspiration to invention.

As parents of girls - we need to really encourage girls to make the fields of science and technology their own.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Choose Our Family Portrait

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The Official 2009 Family Portrait will be used on marketing material and About Me pages, sent to our relatives and hung in our home.

Friday, December 26, 2008

Best Christmas Ever

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Due to previous years of party exhaustion we have instituted Extended Family Christmas on Christmas Eve.

We did stockings and presents for the children.

My mother-in-law - always beautifully sentimental - handed down her mother, grandmother's and her own China. There was a set for each daughter-in-law to be handed down to our daughter(s).

Christmas morning was perfection.

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Crossing traditional gender-lines, Zack got his own baby doll so he won't have to borrow his sister's and a cooking set and Bonnie Bell lip gloss (it tastes good and Ainsley wants him to stop stealing hers). I theorize that it's just as fundamental for boys to practice being nurturing caretakers, exceptional fathers and competent homemakers as it is for girls to practice being maternal. He loves them. Oh don't worry, he still received loads of trucks, tractors, animals, and dinosaurs which boys traditionally get and he loves those too.

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By the same token, I was excited to give Ainsley the giant set of Tinker Toys to encourage development of engineering and inventive skills.

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Everyone in our house got ipods or mp3 players. It was fun to reflect on getting a Walkman when I was a kid. How cool was that?

It's fascinating to see how many of the new toys come with interactive Internet components.

Webkinz and Precious Girls Club toys and products both come with secret codes for websites where they can play learning games and practice earning and spending money and points. They can interact online with each other if they know each other's sign-in code. I was thrilled to hear that the Campaign for Commercial Free Childhood was effective in getting outside advertising OFF of webkinz.com. I wasn't even aware that it was on there and I'd been allowing Ainsley to play on Webkinz.com for months. It's hard enough to approve the original content without worrying about approving of and supervising outside advertising.

Two of Ainsley's friends got Nintendo DS and they can text each other from the video game. It's a brave new world. Parents have to try hard to keep up.

Tell me what your family got excited about for Christmas.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #11

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Santa's cookies are made . . .

So let's talk about stuff. Presents. Gifts under the tree.

Santa is bringing Mp3 players. Ainsley is getting an ipod Shuffle. New. She's getting the one from the Product (Red) Campaign so part of the proceeds went to Aids medication in Africa. Zack is getting one that looks like those old Fisher Price tape players that he can carry around and work himself.

If you spend 2 years dedicatedly writing about girls there comes with it a perk or two. I held the perks back for Christmas morning.

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A special thank you to Terry Candee, from GoGo Glue Gun Fun,who sent a doll from of her Quirky Dolls Design-A-Doll Kits from her Etsy store.

Ainsley will also receive a Mandaloob Book Set, a stuffed animal, book,and jewelry from The Precious Girls Club, a flower necklace from Lia Sophia Jewelry.

A Genuine Thank you to every company who helps support this website and every company who makes products appropriate for girls.

Sure, it's easy to be frugal when people send you free stuff right?

Absolutely true. But, it's also easy to be frugal when they don't.

Quite a few of the other items under our tree are from thrift stores and garage sales and I feel just as good about those.

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I scored Ainsley this giant set of Tinker Toys for $1.50. It's value on Amazon is $199.

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Zack is getting this real cowboy hat, retail value $40. I paid $2 and it's never been worn.

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I paid $1 for this brand new Melissa & Doug farm animal puzzle. Retail value, $9.99.

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I'm especially excited about this Thomas Travel Tote, retail $21.99.

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It's FULL of trains that retail $10 to $25 each. There's a little wear on some of the trains - a boy before him loved them much. He's 2, he doesn't care. I paid $3 for the whole set!

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And let's not forget there's a $5 bike. He's gonna love it!

If we paid retail value for all this stuff we'd be paying our credit cards off until 2020. That is not going to bring joy to our family or the world.

It's Christmas Eve and it's a little late to change your Christmas strategy now. Except Christmas comes every. single. year. on. the. exact. same. day.

Now - this year - is the perfect time to gently announce that you're not going to give individual gifts to the extended family, but you'd be willing to do white elephants or draw names between adult siblings' families next year.

Now. While their blood pressure is souring after spending too much money on gifts for you and yours. While they're worrying about the credit card bill that's going to come in 3 weeks.

I'm gonna tell you it feels delicious to start the New Year with a clean slate instead of behind on the bills. THAT is priceless.

Because it takes a few months and some planning to find these perfect gems at garage sales, now is the right time to decide that next year - next Christmas is going Meaningfully Frugal.

Merry Christmas Everyone! Merry Christmas!


More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #10

If you find Christmas depressing you are not doing it right. (You spent money you don't have on people you don't like - stop that.)

Make spreading JOY your Christmas Tradition and you will find yourself and your family feeling . . . well, Joyous.

Don't believe the ads and marketing - spreading Cheer costs virtually nothing, though it is priceless.

There's still plenty of time to spread some Jolly around.

Have you been to a nursing home lately?

It's a sad, depressing place. Until YOU brought your children with their smiling faces and did a little dance or sang a sweet song. You don't need an invitation or a reservation - any nursing home in the country will welcome a smiling family with 30 minutes to say Merry Christmas or sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.

My mother-in-law produces a Grandkid Christmas Pageant every year. Every kid gets to learn a part and participate. We took the show to a Nursing Home to spread some Christmas Joy this year.

Making your neighborhood safer with Christmas Cheer is a wise investment.


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We let Ainsley play outside with her friends unsupervised. I know it's a very old-fashioned thing to do. But, we do it for 4 great reasons -
1. We believe she can handle herself and every little bit of experience in handling herself in the neighborhood without supervision makes her better at handling herself.
2. We do not parent out of fear. We teach courage and parents have to go first.
3. We still believe in the overall goodness of human beings like our neighbors.
4. It makes her happy.

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To make our neighborhood safer we go out into it and knock on doors and introduce ourselves. We delivered Christmas candles to spread Christmas Cheer. Zack, to his eternal remorse is not allowed out alone yet, but within the next few years he will be and twice this year the neighbors have brought him back after he escaped.

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Knock. Knock. Hi, we're Tracee and Jeremy and these are our children. Perhaps you see them playing in the street, riding their bikes, hanging out with their friends. We sure do appreciate you looking out for them and helping them stay out of trouble. We're so happy we live in a safe neighborhood where people look out for each other's children.

This actually cost me nothing. See, my mother's neighborhood does this and she has been saving up the Christmas Candles delivered to her house for years. She's allergic to the scents and could not use them. Reduce, reuse, recycle. Very frugal neighborhood gifts that you might try include Christmas cookies, cocoa, fresh baked bread, banana bread, candy canes, ornaments from thrift stores, etc. Do whatever is easiest for you.

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Christmas Caroling to the town's shut-ins.


Anonymously leave money for someone (in front of your kids).


Clear out toys and clothes we've outgrown to give to a family whose house burned down.


Light the Advent Candles as a family at church. Ainsley read a very long recitation and prayer perfectly.


More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

If you do these types of Holiday Traditions with a smile on your face and Merry in your heart . . .

How could your children possibly think Christmas is about getting stuff?


Monday, December 22, 2008

Neurotic Grad Student Won

Neurotic Grad Student Won the Little Windows Jewelry Kit. I hope she visits more often, we could always use the insight of a neurotic grad student around here.

(Random.org generated #62.)

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #9

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Ainsley's two grandmothers, eh hem I mean two sets of grandparents, pooled their Christmas dollar to get Ainsley a real American Girl Doll.

Doesn't Kit Kittridge look just like her?

It might just be an absurd amount of money to spend on a doll.

But, its like when my husband was researching our next phone plan and he kept trying to tell my father-in-law and I about other phones and all the "even better" deals and features.

But we want IPhones. We said.

It would be just like the time when we got a new computer that we could afford and it was a small PC. I hated it every time I used it. It was frustrating and annoying.

Yet, my used Macbook Pro makes my heart sing every single time I touch its keys.

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The American Girl Doll is like that. It makes her happy every time she looks at it, holds it and thinks about it. Are there cheaper dolls? Sure. Dolls that pee and some you can take in the tub? Yeah. Could we get a knock off that look exactly the same for 1/2 the price? You bet. But, it is not the same. It's not. No, it's really not. You can say it is. You can try to convince her and yourself that it is. But, it's still not.

She got it early. So NaNa could be there to see her face when she opened it. Unfortunately, my mother lives in Utah.

It's a big deal - they don't indulge her like this every year.

If you pop out an early gift it's a bigger deal than one which gets swamped under the avalanche of other gifts from everyone on Christmas Day.

Also, I didn't want that American Girl upstaging us and Santa.

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The moral of the story?

* Sometimes the brand matters. Even a used or reconditioned one of exactly what we want is better than another brand on certain items. Factor in resell value.

* Pool money between relatives for THE thing.

* Don't upstage each other's gifts. Sometimes that means an early present is appropriate. The child really gets a lot more enjoyment out of an early present.

Oh, and if you're sucking in anxiety this year sit down and count out all the other people who will be giving to your children. I count this as a frugal tip because it costs me nothing but mediation between two sets of grandparents.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Come back until Christmas for more Frugal Christmas Tips. Ho Ho Ho I'm feeling Jolly!

Friday, December 19, 2008

Barbie Hijacked Feminism


Barbie hijacked "Feminism" and used a poor defenseless little girl and Amy Poehler to do it.

Oh, well, she did kill The Bratz and I'll be forever grateful. My kids do enjoy her laptop and the pink VW Bug and the singing High School Musical Dolls, so perhaps I should just surrender?

I'd have no complaints with Barbie if not for this . . .
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Evidence that girls are internalizing Barbie's impossible body type.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Little Windows Jewelry Contest

Sticking a child's name on a gift teaches them nothing and robs them of all the smooshy good feelings that giving provides the giver.

I want them to know that feeling. Every year I try to help them make something for the adults in their lives.

No peeking NaNa and Grandma!

In past years we've decorated wooden breakfast trays, painted mouse pads, printed photo calendars, painted golden treasure chest boxes.
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This year Ainsley and I did Little Windows from www.little-windows.com.

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I liked this because it was a miniature chemistry lesson and an exercise in creativity.

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You take a digital photo, use the free photo cropping software on their site and print on the paper provided. Mix up the resin compound and pour it into a mold.

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The set they sent me advertises enough materials to make 3 necklaces.

But, I hate to waste a good resin and was able to get 9 little windows out of the chemicals supplied.

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I used one necklace that Lia Sophia sent me to try. (The open silver choker pictured.)

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Made myself a keychain.

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Made 3 Christmas ornaments with some Christmas ribbon and ornament hooks.

And made a little zipper handle for Zack's backpack.

Ainsley was so proud of them she took them to Show and Tell.

That gorgeous box up there makes a gift box for one of the necklaces.

Little-Windows products range from $4 (magnets - should have thought of that!) to $48 deluxe kits.

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Leave a comment and you're entered to win one of the All in One 3 Necklace Kits. The contest will run until Monday Dec. 22.

You must, MUST, must leave an email address or I will not be able to contact you.

After Christmas Update: Almost all of the hardware for the necklaces in this set broke within hours of wearing. This is embarrassing because I intended to give quality gifts. I still love the little ice cube looking resin photos - however, it's not worth the extra money for the complete kit. I was able to make much sturdier items with 20 lb. craft wire.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Reviewer X: Girl Week: Table of Contents

Reviewer X: Girl Week: Table of ContentsCheck out Girl Week at Reviewer X.

CCFC Action Works

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Like you, I hate writing a random letter any corporation is going to ignore. It makes me feel almost as powerless as doing nothing. But, I LOVE knowing my letter joined thousands of other letters and made a serious impact. Read all this cool stuff the CCFC has already accomplished.

From a CCFC newsletter:

Are you distressed when Batman, McDonalds, and Lego partner to sell kids on fast food and video games? When Nickelodeon features the Bratz in a made-for-TV movie? When Elmo and Barbie morph into a "Barbie loves Elmo" toy?

Are you appalled when marketers spend billions of dollars advertising toxic brands and products directly to children - and then lay all of the blame on parents for the rise of marketing-related problems like childhood obesity, youth violence, and precocious, irresponsible sexuality?

Why not do something about it? Support the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, the only national organization devoted solely to countering the harmful effects of commercialization on children. With your help, we're making a difference. We rely on you because we will not compromise our commitment to children and families by accepting corporate funding.

We act on your marketing concerns. When a Boston father contacted us because Webkinz World, the leading social network site for young children, was accepting outside ads, we alerted the media and launched a letter-writing campaign. As a result, Webkinz now gives parents the option for kids to use an ad-free version of their site.

When a mom in Seminole County, Florida, alerted us to McDonald's report card advertising at her daughter's school, we made the ads a national embarrassment for the fast food giant. Our campaign for commercial-free report cards was featured on Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and hundreds of newspapers around the country. As a result, McDonald's agreed to end the program.

We're reclaiming schools from corporate marketers. Schools around the country are are promoting reading and not consumerism with CCFC's Guide to Commercial-Free Book Fairs. With our help, legislators and educators have made South Carolina the first state to ban all marketing on school buses. Working with local activists and parents, we've successfully stopped BusRadio - a company that plans on "taking student targeted marketing to the next level" - in school districts from Connecticut to California.

We're countering the sexualization of children. After more than 5,000 emails from CCFC members, Scholastic, Inc. decided not to bring the highly sexualized Bratz brand back to school this year. When we caught BusRadio advertising 90210 - a television show chock full of teen sex and drinking - on its website for children as young as six, they began pulling the ads within hours. Our campaign to stop Children's Hospital in Columbus from selling naming rights to the infamous Abercrombie & Fitch for $10 million launched a national conversation about the ethics of public health institutions partnering with corporations that undermine children's wellbeing.

Help us stop the commercialization of childhood, advocate for policies that protect children from unscrupulous marketers, and take on the worst corporate offenders. Your tax-deductible contribution will allow us to continue to build a coalition of organizations and individuals who value children more than the bottom line.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, every contribution of $125 or more will be doubled from now until January 1st. Any amount you are able to give would be greatly appreciated. Please visit to support CCFC today.

$500,000,000,000: The amount of money in purchases that children under twelve influence every year.

$17,000,000,000: The amount of money spent to market to children, a staggering increase from $100 million in 1983.

$3,400,000,000: Revenue generated by the Disney Princess brand in 2006. There are 40,000 Disney Princess items on the market today.

1,200,000,000: Toys sold with kids' meals at fast food restaurants in 2006.

20,000,000: Baby Einstein videos sold by Disney through 2006. The American Academy of Pediatrics reccomends no screen time for children under two.

200,000: The acts of violence, including 40,000 murders, that the average child will see on television by the time they are eighteen.

25,000: Ads on television the average 2-11-year-old sees on television every year, a figure that does not include product placement.

4,151: The number of product placements on the first thirty-eight episodes of American Idol.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #8

Your community has free Christmas stuff. I've never lived in a community that didn't. Do it. Participate. Don't grumble. Put a smile on your face and sing Jingle Bells while doing it.

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Ainsley was in the parade with her Brownie troop - we watched.

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Look! Santa!

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Our church did a Christmas Tree Forest and invited the town. It was beautiful.

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Our Sunday School Class did a "Joy to the World" Tree. We had a potluck and decorated our tree together.

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There was Living Nativity and they gave us free punch and cookies.

It was a really fun Christmas family-time weekend.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in July.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #3

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Truth About Rape

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The other day I sat watching a talk show on "rape prevention."

"Don't let your daughter go to Frat parties and get drunk while wearing a short skirt or they will get raped," was the advice.

And I thought,

Why have I never, not one single time, seen a show or read an article or book about how to avoid turning a boy into a rapist?

That might actually be effective and place responsibility where it belongs - on the rapist.

As it stands, I'm letting my son snuggle so close to me in my bed at night that I can't sleep. He rolls 360 degrees at least once every two seconds.

He's 2 and seems to need the physical closeness. Since I have absolutely no scientific evidence or even maternal advice on how to ensure that my son does not grow up with a rapist's mentality, I don't send him back to his own bed. What if withholding that snuggle-time is the crucial misstep? I define a rapist's mentality as a pathological inability to recognize a girl in a skirt, even a drunk girl, as a whole human being worthy of his respect, to be valued as more important than his penis.

It's not too much to expect from the male gender.

I'm guessing withholding of maternal and paternal love, physical closeness, disallowing or punishing feelings, yanking the doll out of their hands and replacing it with guns, teasing them for crying, and making jokes about their manhood and sexuality - turns some boys into rapists. The less pathological ones just turn into bad dates and worse husbands.

The truth about rape is that rapists and child pornographers would invent turtleneck porn and turtleneck fetishes if we all made our daughters wear turtlenecks to protect them from bad men. We believe its a lot easier to put a girl in a turtleneck (we can make her do it) and hope for the best, than it is to hold men accountable for their pathological and distorted thinking about girls (we have far less control over them), right?

The problem with this strategy is that it's 100% ineffective.

I'd like to see Dr. Phil or Oprah so a show along these lines:

Prevent Rape - Teach your son not to be a rapist.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Barbie Kicks Bratz ASS!

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Ding Dong The Bratz are dead!

Barbie killed the whole pack!

Bratz Dolls will no longer be sold after this Christmas season because they infringe on a copyright Barbie (Mattel) happens to own, so sayeth The Court.

Carter Bryant, in typical "mean-girl fashion," evidently conceptualized the rottin little Bratz while under contract with Mattel and then illegally sold the concept to MGA Entertainment.

Earlier in this cat fight The Bratz was court-ordered to pay Barbie $100 Million in lost sales. Mattel attorneys said MGA made nearly $779 million on the Bratz line since it was introduced in 2001.

In a recent ruling, Judge Stephen G. Larson of the District Court in the Central District of California shut down the whole Bratz line.

The court has ordered recalls from stores, the shattering of molds used to make the hideous little beasts and they are no longer to use the brand name The Bratz.

Who wants to join me in a gleefilled Hallelujah?

There IS a Santa!

Thanks to reader, and lawyer, Jonna for tipping me off on this legal triumph for all girls everywhere!

Maybe for New Year Eve we can get American Girl Dolls to take down Barbie!

More details at Associated Press.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Thank God There Was No Facebook


Survey: Teens Sharing Nude Images Online, a clip from The Today Show on a survey released by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com reports, "22 percent of all teen girls — and 11 percent of teen girls ages 13-16 years old — say they have electronically sent, or posted online, nude or semi-nude images of themselves."

"One-third (33 percent) of teen boys and one-quarter (25 percent) of teen girls say they have had nude/semi-nude images — originally meant to be private — shared with them," the article reports.

Why would girls and boys do this?

I'll do anything for you. Like me. Please like me! This will make him like me! I'll do anything to make him love me back! This will really make him love me.

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

Also, it would be ideal if a human being's sense of consequence developed before age 35. (Maybe that's just me.)

Thank God there was no Facebook, MySpace or the ability to send photos via cell phone when I was a teen or in my 20s.

R.B. if you're out there . . . Please tell me you hit delete when you got married.

Sexuality Education should include THIS phenomenon.

Read my So Sexy So Soon series.

10 Steps to Undo Sexualized Childhood

So Sexy So Soon, Sexualized Childhood

So Sexy So Soon: Sex Education Quiz

So Sexy So Soon: Premature Adolescent Rebellion

Support reviews like these by purchasing So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Seven Sisters for All Things Girl

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Amy Jussel, executive Director of Shaping Youth included me in her Seven Sisters for All Things Girl series.

She said such nice things about me that it literally made me blush. For some reason I don't get many comments so it's really, really validating and affirming to know that there are people out there reading and appreciating my work. (Several readers have told me they are sometimes struck speechless -- I choose to take that as a compliment.)

Her Seven Sensational Blogs About Girls also serves as a nice introduction so some of the other Girl, Power Bloggers out there. I think I'll hope around some of those links, subscribe to some feeds and add them to my blogroll and extend the invitation for them to respond in kind - after all, we have a common interest.

Reign of the Girl Child is preteen specific and its author Felicia Richardson-Battle is also the author of Feel Good Girl.

Girls Horse Club is a blogazine created by girls for girls. If your daughter has an interest in horses and blogging this could be her online home. The girls are coralled by LeadMare, Michelle Bushneff. Yee Haw!

What About Our Daughters by Gina, who appears to share my conviction that the current economic situation is not a surprise if you were paying attention. (It's awfully political over there, I'm on a political fast.) Gina is also running a Michelle Obama Watch website which highlights the ways in which Michelle is treated by the public and the media. That could get interesting.

I was happy to see my friend Claire Mysko on the list. I've written about and given away copies of her book You're Amazing, A No-Pressure Guide To Being Your Best Self. You will want to check out her site 5 Resolutions to Transform The Fashion and Beauty Industries.

Also my b5media friend and fellow blogger Charlene Polansky's blog Sports Girls Play is on the list. Char writes about how to raise your daughter to be a fantastic, striving for excellence athlete. Check out this handy printable training journal to help your daughter track athletic goals.
Vanessa Van Petten writes On Youth and Teens Today . She is writing to the net-generation (why didn't I think of that?) and the Dirt-E Secrets of an Internet Kid an e-book which will tell parents all the really bad stuff to watch out for when monitoring their kids' Internet usage. (I'm afraid to look.)

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Quirky Design-A-Dolls

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Terry Candee, from GoGo Glue Gun Fun, a mother-daughter bonding experience, send me two of her Quirky Dolls Design-A-Doll Kits from her Etsy store.

We made a "Glamour" Doll together this Saturday. Each set comes with a pre-made 12" fabric doll and a plentiful amount of supplies and instructions to design about any doll your daughter can imagine. There is a variety of skin colors and fabric selections and themes. No sewing involved, just cutting, glueing and a little pattern tracing.

The retail price is $17, the time spent together designing the doll - priceless.

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Ainsley enjoyed the project so much that she declared she will "become a designer because she's very good at it," when she grows up.

Most of you know that I have a few issues with some dolls marketed to girls. Bratz and Barbi to name two.

I found this exercise quite interesting. You can't really say its a "clean slate" because images of dolls, Bratz, Barbies, American Girl, Jaks, etc., are in their face with various forms of marketing all day long.

But, it was intriguing to see watch her make this doll.

She made this doll to be like herself. She referred to aspects of it as "like me," several times.

Yet, she made some aspects very unlike her present self - yet, still like her inner-authentic self. The long curly hair instead of her current short bob, for instance.

She's like me in this. I cut my hair, yet think of my authentic self with the long hair I've worn most of my life.

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She also made her doll quite freckly. Gave it a fantastic hat and blinged it out.

And then there is this:

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She gave her doll boobs and a belly button and named it Molley (which also happens to be the name of her very first baby doll. She frequently names dolls Molley).

Buy a Quirky Design-A-Doll Kit for Christmas and learn more about who your daughter is.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #7

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Deck the Halls.

Make a family day of it. We went out for Chinese Food after Church, hit Walmart for the tree, had a hop on Santa's lap (bye bye memory of Mall Santa - Santa's at Walmart now and gives you a free photo in an hour). It's always exciting to see what we've collected and decide where to put it. Playing Christmas Carols in the background.

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Hint #1 - There's nothing Joyful or Merry about hissing "don't touch!" Put the breakable decorations up high and keep plenty of plush Santas and Frostie, wooden Manger Scenes, fabric decorations, cheap
Nutcrackers and Santa Hats down low - meant for playing.

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Hint #2 - Hit the Thrift Stores and Garage Sales. You'll find all sorts of ornaments and decorations that bring back warm and fuzzy feelings for you.

My mom handed down some ornaments and I realized how much I'm carrying on my childhood family traditions. I was especially happy to hang the 30 year old plastic mistletoe on the entry chandelier.

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Dude, plastic lighted Santa was only $20 at Walmart. I could not resist the simple pleasure.

More on this at Boycott Christmas in November.

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip # 1

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #2

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip#3

Steal This Christmas Gift Please!

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #4

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #5

Meaningfully Frugal Christmas Tip #6
Steal This Christmas Gift Please!