Pink Bikini Espresso and What Not to Wear

Recently A has realized 2 career options. This is both good news and bad news. Good news because she realizes she cannot live with us forever and needs to obtain employment. Bad news because – well you decide-
Career Choice #1 was discovered while we were driving home one night recently. We passed an espresso stand – “Pink Bikini Espresso”. Pink Bikini Espresso you ask? Some background- in the NW there is an espresso stand on every corner. In an effort to lure customers there has been a trend for some of the drive-thru espresso stands to require baristas to wear scantily clad bikinis. (Only the female baristas. ) There is, of course, controversy regarding these espresso stands- some groups feel they should be illegal. Although I feel this is exploiting women - I also feel this is America, if there are women who want to apply as baristas and wear a bikini serving hot coffee- well then, so be it. There are plenty of barista jobs which do not require bikini uniforms. Back to A - she saw the pink bikini on the sign for the espresso stand and exclaimed – “Wow – I bet you GET to wear a pink bikini if you work there. Wouldn’t that be cool mom? And it is close to our house, so you can see me every morning on your way to work! I would probably even give you free coffee”. Gee thanks A. Although free coffee sounds quite nice – obviously seeing my daughter in a bikini, in an espresso bar each morning does not!!
Career Choice #2 was discovered while the girls and I were watching “What Not to Wear”. This is the show where hosts Clinton and Stacy surprise an unsuspecting, poorly, dressed person and denounce everything about their wardrobe, hair, make up and in this case lifestyle. The victim in this episode was an erotic dancer. The first 3 or times they stated “erotic dancer”, I was wondering if the girls knew what that meant. Then finally instead of erotic dancer – Stacy stated, “Just because your career is a stripper, and you take your clothes off for a living, doesn’t mean you can’t dress nice when not working!” Well let me tell you – A was lying on the floor – she sat up, looked at me, and said “What does she do?” K said “She takes her clothes off for people” A then lights up and says – “You can do that and they pay you to do it? I want to do that!!!” OHHH MYYY!!! Please be aware – A hates clothes. Even when she was a baby, she hated clothes, pajamas, and blankets. The minute we get home she is out of her clothes. We are constantly asking her to put some clothes back on. “Please even a T-shirt” Although I explained it is not morally correct to take your clothes off in front of strangers and why it would not be a good career choice – A still seems a bit doubtful as to why it would be bad to be paid to take your clothes off. A pivotal moment was when she decided she could be a bikini barista in the day and then in the afternoon or evening, she could be a stripper – she would not have to take much off – only the bikini.
I keep telling myself she is only 7, she WILL change her mind. Until then, we will continue to try to teach her morals, values, right from wrong, and some modesty!!!

Wurst Pictures, New Glasses

Finally (yes more than a week later) here are the Wurst Pictures. I had forgot to mention some of the most important activities at the Wurst Festival - 

Henna Tattoos (K loves these)

Rock Climbing wall (surprised A isn't still climbing that wall).It's the Prize Lady

New Glasses - K got new glasses. Pretty hip and funky and she looks so good in them!

Wurst not Worst Weekend

This weekend was the Wurst Weekend. That's Wurst as in giant weenie, not worst as in bad. This is one of the major fundraisers for the year.   Thanks to all who bought raffle tickets - sorry you probably did not win - I will check tomorrow - I think they would have called you by now if you won.  I think there are pictures in our camera - which I cannot find - so check back for pictures later - I will add them when I find the camera.  

There are food booths (of course one sells bratwursts on a bun), jumpy ride thingys, arts and crafts, and little carnival type games that the kids play and win points which they then redeem for cheap prizes. I volunteer in the prize booth - which is pretty fun.  You get to be known as one of the "Prize Ladies", you are in the shade (it was very hot), and the others in the prize booth are super nice parents.  The little kids are so cute when they come to "claim" the prizes. They are so proud of the points earned. T helped with set up and as a Gopher.  It is fun to have such a fundraiser right off as it creates this immediate team building atmosphere amongst the parents.

Although fun, it sucks all the energy out of you - I think I am finally recovered!

This week has been a bit rough.  T is in Denver at some secret conference - covering IT stuff and making sure the guys scheduled to do the IT stuff do it correctly.  He is on "alert" for Hurricane recovery efforts if needed.  At this point apparently not needed, but the week is still quite young!! A is out of sorts with a cold and no daddy in town- better today, but yesterday had a major meltdown (she really does not do Mondays!!).  K is working hard at school.  She brought home some papers and had 100% on all of them she showed me(I am hoping she did not just show me the ones she did well on).  I worked with her tonight to study for a test in Social Studies - they are studying our state.  It is fun to study with her, I am learning so much about our state as well as learning a bit how K views things or thinks about things. 

Crab Legs, First dance, Lemonade, and Mondays

Crab Legs - T goes to pick up A from school on Thursday, A hands him a paper towel with something wadded up in it. He unwraps it - it is a crab leg!!??? Story is that a class mate went to Alaska or likes crab - not real clear which or perhaps it is both, but he brought crab legs to share with the whole classroom as a snack. Yes I agree this is a bit odd for a classroom snack - but hey a break from crackers and cheese!! A stated to T that "I don't like crabs, you like lobster, and a crab is like a lobster, so I saved you my crab leg". Such logic!! Needless to say T was touched.

First Dance -Also on Thursday when T is the one picking up the girls - K has the news that the first Middle School Dance is tomorrow (Friday). After a state of shock (his little girl actually wants to attend this dance - isn't that what teenagers do, not my little girl?) he calls me at work (this is what you do when you are parentally perplexed if you are T). I know nothing about the dance. Apparently you don't know anything about it until the day before - then a permission slip is sent home and the family life is turned upside down with what to wear to the dance and schedule reshuffling. K was very excited to go to this dance and a classmate of hers traditionally has a party before the dance where all the 7th and 8th grade girls go to her house and get ready, have dinner, and then go to the dance together. We agreed she could go to both the party and the dance. Agreement was that she could stay at the dance until 8:30, at which time I would pick her up. If she wanted to leave sooner, she could call me and I would come get her. Thank goodness for cell phones!!!

K stayed at the dance until 8:30, sent me a text at exactly 8:30 asking "Wher R U?", and then talked non-stop on the way home telling me about the dance. On the way home we called T to let him know we were on our way home and he asked how was the dance she said - "Ask mom the details - I have given all of them to her!" When we got home, she fell into bed exhausted! Sorry -due to the short notice, I forgot the camera and did not get a picture of this -- darn it.

Lemonade - we made lemonade this weekend. This was not in my plans for the weekend, but A was persistent that we need to make lemonade. I made the lemonade so that she could see the process (and to shut her up about making lemonade). Prior to making the lemonade, she had developed her own process - she got a lemon out of the refrigerator and poked it with a pin and was squeezing it. I guess she thought you could "tap" a lemon to make lemonade. When it didn't produce the lemon juice, she continued to poke the lemon with the pin - this is where I finally saw what she was doing and decided it would be better to just get some lemons, and make lemonade with the kid!! Our friend J was over visiting on Sunday when we made it and so each of the girls got to take a turn squeezing the lemons. A kept stating "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!" It was pretty fun. Although now I have created a monster - A is now pondering how you make ice cream. I guess this weekend we will have to make some ice cream as I can only imagine what she will come up with for how to make ice cream.

Mondays-Monday morning hit like a ton of bricks. No one wanted to get up or get ready for school. The routine to get out the door involved a bunch of nagging and yelling by me. On the way to school we discussed at length how we can cooperate and do better getting out the door to school. We come to some agreements (I hope) and then start talking about school and other things and listening to the radio. I think all is okay. We pull up at the school with about 2 minutes to spare. As we get to the school, A bursts into tears - "I don't like Mondays, I don't want to go to school, I want to be homeschooled, I want a kitten (this is A's latest)..." and she won't get out of the car. WHAAAAT??? The first bell rings. K gets her backpack, a kiss from me, and heads into school - thank you K! A is in the car crying and determined not to get out. Finally I tell her this is unacceptable and if she ever wants me to even consider a kitten, she needs to get out of the car and head into school. She agrees to this, but is giving me the evil stare (T's side of the family knows this stare - it has been known to burn a hole in your shirt). I walk her to where the class is lined up - luckily the teacher has not started moving the line into the school. Whew - no tardy!! She is in tears and the teacher looks at me confused - I shrug and say "Rough Morning? I think she will be okay, but call me..." I was very concerned, so decided to circle around through the other entrance to the building and check on A in her class. The class was just coming up the stairs into the class room - the teacher saw me and said "She is fine now". I ducked behind a corner so that A could not see me (I was concerned if she saw me, she would either evil eye me or start crying) - and yes she was absolutely fine. However, her day must have continued to be a bad day.  On some of the class papers for that day, on the line for name - she wrote "Gloom".  I asked, "How did your teacher know who's paper it was?" to which she replied, "Simple, no one else uses the name Gloom.  When the teacher was handing back the papers and said Gloom, I got my paper!!"  What a nut!!

On Monday, as I got back into the car - it occurred to me - when the world overwhelms you don't you just wish you could just break down and cry like that and go on and on about how you wished things were better?! Especially on Mondays!