The one where I get all old skool

I wasn't supposed to have Barbies as a kid. Instead, I had the Sunshines - a very sweet, wholesome, approximately Barbie-sized (but much more realistically-proportioned) family of dolls.


It was my Granddaddy, Mom's own father, who (probably unknowingly) went against her wishes and bought me for-real Barbies for my birthday. What could Mom do but grin, and let me welcome them into the Sunshine family?

I'm pretty sure my parents were similarly un-thrilled when Granddaddy decided that Michael Jackson doll clothes would be the perfect Christmas gift for me. But what could they do but help me write a thank-you note and sigh as I struggled to pull a single sparkly white glove (more of a mitten actually) over Crystal Barbie's built-in ring?


I was excited about the clothes, though. My older cousins had introduced me to Michael Jackson, and I thought he was pretty cool. So I happily dressed those formerly-contraband Barbies in red and black (fake) leather pants and jackets with all these extra zippers that didn't actually open, even though everything was just slightly too big for them.

In recent years, I haven't been a fan of Michael Jackson. Or Barbie for that matter. But scanning the radio stations in the car yesterday made me smile. When you look back at history, things aren't always so black or white. Remember the time before all the controversy? Before Michael Jackson - or the world in general - seemed so dangerous? Watching the Thriller video with my cousins. Trying to moonwalk on the playground. Thinking we were "bad," because we knew that bad meant good.

Those songs brought back happy memories from when I was growing up. At the same time, it made me sad to think that Michael himself didn't have a happy childhood. And neither did a lot of other kids. It made me want to do something. To protect the children, to make a brighter day, to heal the world...as if I'm the one who can do all/any of that. But, really? What can you do?

All I can think of is this: If you wanna make the world a better place, take a look at yourself, and then make a change.

*****

PS Oh yes, you did catch some MJ references in the last half of the post! From the "In recent years" paragraph to the end, there's about a dozen Michael Jackson song references, mostly titles. Find them all and you'll get....well...not a prize exactly...but definitely some survived-the-80s cred! Need a hint?

PPS Not sure where my old toys are, but I found them on Flickr - yay! I'm pretty sure those are the two MJ outfits I had. (Not the dolls, though.)

Photos by:
1) elasticcamel
2) Brimley
3) Sakurako Kitsa

Digital Switchover Casualties

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Photo by The Hubs. | More Wordless Wednesday.

Peanut butter: your deliciousness is our downfall.

The fact that peanut butter is so great is really the problem. It's delicious, high in protein and goes great with all kinds of stuff - jelly, celery, chocolate, crackers...and the list goes on...

So a problem with peanut butter is a BIG problem.

Which is why the recent salmonella outbreak is so widespread. And confusing.


Oddly enough, as far as anyone can tell, you only have to worry about products with ingredients from one source: the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA). (I say "as far as anyone can tell," because remember how we got all freaked out about tomatoes when we only should've been worried about jalapeños? I haven't heard anything different this recall. But I still feel the need to throw that little qualifier in there.)

How do you know which peanut-containing products may have sinister PCA-produced ingredients? There are a few ways to find out. Pick your favorite:

• List of brands not affected by the recall
• List of all recalled peanut-containing products - download in Excel or PDF (that would be Portable Document Format, Chanelle!)
• Search for recalled products by brand name, product description and/or UPC code

I'll leave you with this quote from a washingtonpost.com editorial:

"EVEN THOUGH he's not caught up in this mess, Mr. Peanut must want to clobber the geniuses at Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) with his cane."

(I don't think he's the only one.)


EDITED: fixed "brands not affected by the recall" link above. (Should go to http://www.peanutsusa.com/USA/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.page&pid=262.)

*****

Photos by me.

We all start again

Did you watch it? (Or listen?) Did you see history change? What will you tell your children (or what did you tell them) about yesterday?

It only happens every four years, and there's still time (every media outlet will be rehashing things for days to come. Or there's YouTube. Or podcasts.) to watch/listen and take this opportunity to talk about history or the democratic process.


You know how I love fresh starts. And Inauguration Day is a much-less-arbitrary new beginning than New Year's Day. So I'm hoping for the best for the next four years, but one great thing about the democratic process is that if we don't like something, we can speak up.

In the meantime, a ran across a few fabulous posts yesterday that I just had to share:

• What does the Inauguration mean to you? by Janice Croze at 5 Minutes for Mom offers a great perspective and invites additional comments and links.
• She also posted Praying to the One in Charge…
• observations on inauguration day is a delightfully conversational post by Marla Taviano.
• Chanelle of making food. eating food. marked the day with simply stated thoughts and the beautiful photo above.

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Photo by iamchanelle. Used by permission.

Guns, viruses & steely hearts

"Bomb" was the first word I heard when the radio alarm clock clicked on this morning. Something about a hotel evacuated, other weapons discovered - and they weren't talking about Mumbai. It was here in Phoenix. Scary!

I was relieved to read it was a smoke bomb, and no one was seriously injured. It actually happened last night. I've been a little slow on the news lately.

In fact, when I posted this and even this, I didn't realize the Mumbai attack was still ongoing.

By the time I reconnected with the world on Friday, I was shocked. There was still fighting in the Taj Mahal Hotel. There was a shooting in a toy store. And a Wal-mart employee was trampled to death by shoppers. Stomach-turning news. Also, I realized today would be World AIDS Day. Such a heavy heart.

What do I tell you on a day like today? Not about the idyllic Thanksgiving Day I had. No, not today.

Do I tell you to be thankful for each day we live and breathe on this earth? To remember the dead and the dying? To support a cause - giving to fight AIDS or help the people of Mumbai? That tragedy could strike anywhere? Maybe. But none of that seems sufficient.

We live in a violent world. And - I hate to say it - we all contribute. If we do not shoot or bomb or hit or yell, anger still smolders silently. We are jealous or disrespectful or bitter or or uncaring or spiteful or feel we deserve to be treated better than someone else. None of us escapes the violence of the heart.

Last night I was angry with my husband - one of those times where all the little stresses, concerns, frustrations that have built up come tumbling out at once for no good reason. I vented, cried, ranted, blamed, cried more, then I was all choked up, but I managed to stop sniffling just long enough to look at him and say, "I'm sorry I'm so mean."

This morning I was still wondering what to say to you. And as I prayed about it, one thought finally resonated: Love one another.

Love your neighbors - the ones next door and the ones inside your house and the ones in/from a country that's not your own. (Yeah, they're our neighbors, too. The planet's not that big.)

After that, what else can I say?

*****
Photos:
1) By me.
2) By Swami Stream. CCL.
3) By Dystopos. CCL.
4) By heath_bar. CCL.
5) By the Hubs.