You're Either In or You're Out

Sunday, September 24
10:25 am
64 degrees
Sunny

I'm going to say this up front as nicely as possible:
I DO NOT WANT TO DRESS IN THE SAME OUTFIT AS A 7-YEAR OLD.

Recently the Minneapolis Strib reprinted an article from the NYTimes about children's fashion. Seems that fashionistas are getting younger and younger. A precious lil gal, around 6 years-old, was pictured with her many oh-so-hip outfits. Maisy, or Daisy was quoted as saying, "I only wear Seven jeans."
Being a fashion square myself, I had to go online and check out the brand. Yeah. $150 plus bucks for jeans. Seven brand cut-offs are a bargain at just $128. That's women's pricing and kid sizes are just over $100 a pop. The official brand name is "7 for all mankind."

I'm fairly certain that only a small percentage of mankind (and we use "man" in the generic sense lest we offend) can afford to cover their child's rumpus with jeans that cost what some families might spend for their weekly grocery budget.

The article also mentioned a new magazine, Cookie, that's devoted to "mom style and kid culture."


Harkening back to my resolution to be less judgemental, I decided to check it out. OK. It's nicely done, well designed and seems aimed at the modern, style and trend conscious mom. The mag and their web site is chock full of parenting tidbits, style and beauty, fitness for mind and body. Oh, and lots and lots of ads. Because we don't have enough pressure to have the right stuff, now little Maisy or Daisy or Jordan or Madison also has to have the right hair style and stylish clothing.

Style conscious children, like 7-year old Maisy or Daisy, represent the new frontier in marketing. Cause, Gawd knows, the rest of us have been bled dry already. Brands like Diesel, Guess, Juicy Couture, Nike, are all making child size clothing. If you choose cradle to grave fashion, head to The Gap, they've got a size for everyone: infants to baby boomers. Even J. Crew has jumped on the bandwagon with crewcuts, down-sized prepster clothing for little ones.

Also let it be said:
We are happy that most nations have moved away from Oliver Twist-style child exploitation.
We are in favor of parents doing their best to be good parents.
We support teaching children about art, music, culture, how to use tableware, and poop in the toilet.

However, we draw the line at turning children into mini-hipsters or trendy extensions of mom and dad. Growing up is hard enough without pushing children into being worried about the 'cool factor' too early. {We can hardly wait to see how the rebellion phase plays out with this group.} Let children be children and not an accessory.



Our children's wardrobe way-back-when was influenced more by living paycheck-to-paycheck than by any fashion sense. Given the choice, children will choose outfits that are, well, unique. Who would guess that a girl who was unembarassed to GO OUT IN PUBLIC, let alone pose with a giant Babar character, in an outfit of tie-dyed leggings, jean jacket, neon green bandana and a hat embroidered with "Arkansas" would grow up to be fairly stylish. Cool happens. On its own. There's no stopping it. Just don't rush it.

Feel free to parent as you choose. This is, after all, a free-market-capitalistic society. We're going to spend some time on this lovely Sunday shopping at Sears shopping for a pair of jeans that no self-respecting 7-year old would be caught dead in.

Listening to: Candi Staton, You Don't Have Far To Go. Only the best new R & B album in the last ten years. Listen to it.
Eating: Pistachio nuts
Getting ready: to haul my a** around Lake Harriet

Work in progress.

September 8
Friday evening 9:49 pm
57 degrees
Cloudy

OK. I'm a nerd. I admit it. Simple things amuse me.
I like to make things -- the sillier the better.
Like knitting a striped kitten. With "britches" on.

The problem is -- well, there are several problems.
1. My things bear little resemblance actual pattern. Instead of looking like a "kitten with britches," my effort resembles a striped butternut squash. My thalidomide kitten. Of course, it's still in it's nascent phase.

2. I improvise before mastering.




3. I have a hard time finishing them. But am I discouraged because my efforts look amateurish? That I'm doomed to be a less-than-average-knitter? Or because the kids on the playground are making fun? Hell, no! Let the absurdity continue.

Awhile back, I resolved to finish everything before starting something new.
I offer up this, this, object to you, dear readers to publicly proclaim that YES, I will finish this project. I will sew on the little button eyes. I will knit the little ears, and kitten appendages and then sew them on. And then I will reveal my kitten for all the world (or at least the 2 people who read this blog) to see.

Contain yourself.

This week's fitness Report: Tuesday = Yoga. Wednesday = Workout w/ Chad. Thursday = Ran 3 miles. Friday = Workout w/ Chad. Tomorrow @ 8:30 am = Yoga.

Currently = exhausted.

It's Now or Never.

For some crazy reason the fitness bug has bitten. Maybe it was not having the strength to schlep heavy boxes from upstairs to the basement.
Maybe it was not being able to see a visible waistline.
Maybe it was not wanting to appear in public in a swim suit or even wear a sleeveless blouse that revealed upper arms like bratwurst.

Whatever the reason, we are now committed to reducing body fat and increasing strength. It started in April. Let's not overdo it right away. Start simply. How hard could it be? There's a little yoga studio nearby -- i yoga -- which turned out to be perfect. But not so easy. 15 minutes into the first session it felt like someone turned on the heat. And there's nothing quite as humbling as having your ass kicked by a pregnant teacher. The stretching feels wonderful and holding up your body weight in Down Dog or Plank is bound to build strength. Slowly, though, slowly.


Then, to up the ante a little we found essentials4fitness. Because self-discipline is a foreign concept, and because personal trainers aren't just for celebrities, we signed up for 10 sessions with this guy. Don't let that youthful demeanor fool you. He's one tough taskmaster. The first session was exactly one month ago and one muscle group or another has been sore ever since. Public appearance in a swimsuit is still a few months off.

Not to neglect the cardiovascular system, running on a more regular basis is part of the grand plan. Try the new favorite treadmill workout: watch this while doing the "random hill climb." Yummy. Then you feel like you deserve that plate of pasta.

We've heard that interval training -- that is alternating walking and running -- burns more fat faster. So try the Bravo Interval System . One simply runs during commercial breaks and walks during the show.

Or another favorite: the iPod Interval System. This is best used outdoors, say, running around Lake Harriet. Set the iPod on "shuffle" and walk for one song and run for the next. Totally random, not scientific and probably frowned upon by professionals. But that's what makes running fun. If it can be called fun.

You could get lucky and walk to a 4:35 Diana Krall tune like All or Nothing at All or a 4:19 Dylan song like Simple Twist of Fate. Followed by a 2:00 run to a Ray Charles tune like Hit the Road Jack.

Or you could get an extended Coltrane jam like the 7:58 version of I'm Old Fashioned for the run segment. You never know what's coming next. And that's the challenge. Today, is a holiday. No physical activity required. Thanks to the American Labor Unions for a day to celebrate work by not working. Or working out.

On the agenda today: eating, drinking and card playing on Rita's new pergola.

P.S. My brother, Dennis, asked "What are you training for?"
The reply, "Life, I guess."

A colleague, a former college swimmer, wants us to train for the Alcatraz to San Francisco swim next August. Just slightly over 1 mile in the water, a wet suit required as the water is quite cold. Should I risk heart attack or go for it.

Unless you have some other suggestions. Or I could just stand around looking fabulous in my swim suit.