8.24.2009

Three Things I Have Been Wondering About Today

Let's start with underwear.

Why is it so hard to find plain old regular underwear for children, and especially for girls, these days? I wanted some good-quality, plain-ish, comfortable underwear for Sister (who has finally outgrown her size 18-months training underwear, little peanut that she is). I was thinking something on the order of a "hipster" model -- not the full-blown brief, but still plenty of coverage. Something sturdy. Something unadorned -- that is, no Doras or Barbies or Spongebobs. Do you think I could find any? The answer is no. But, in case you're looking for some g-string underwear and push-up style "bras" for your size 6X daughter, they have those at a well-known national retailer. Or, if you'd like the Disney On Parade series of 90% polyester teeny-weeny-bikini undies, they have those at another well-known national retailer. If, instead, you are looking for underwear that highlights the derriere by stitching a word across the seat of the panties, that also seems to be in good supply. I did finally settle for some halfway decent panties at a well-known children's clothing store, but I have to say they are flimsy and ugly. Next year, I'm just going to blow the budget and go to Hanna Andersson. They have little girls undies as they should be.

What is all the anger over health care reform about? I have seen some pretty disturbing news reports about violence and intimidation at town hall meetings organized to discuss health care reform, including: this story about people getting into physical altercations; this one about people protesting health care reform with their guns handy (just in case?), including one man who was carrying an assault rifle; and this one where a democratic Senator in favor of health care reform is accused of supporting Nazi policies (apparently, his accuser forgot the detail about how the Nazis exterminated 11 million civilians, 6 million of them Jews, as part of their Final Solution?). I can understand disagreeing with health care reform on philosophical grounds, and/or from a public policy and implementation perspective. What I don't understand is why our nation can't have a reasonable and respectful debate about it without bringing violence and wild accusations into the mix? (On the other hand, I'm sure there have been some reasonable and respectful debates that haven't made the news. And, readers, if any of you have information that debunks the news stories I linked to, please do debunk; I would sleep better at night if these stories weren't true).

And, the third thing I have been wondering about today is:

Who the hell was that guy in the black Lexus who stopped in front of our house this morning and put his trash and recycling in with ours? Really? Really, Guy In The Black Lexus?? You can't pay for your own trash removal??? I was not happy, but I did try to keep a game face on for the kids and mumbled something about how that person must have lost his job and doesn't have enough money to pay for trash removal right now.

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(Uh-oh, I think I might need a new label called "rants").

[BTW, this post was edited from its original format to remove the actual names of the retailers whose selection of underwear I did not like. I'm trying to be a good bloggy-citizen here.]

2 comments:

ljchicago said...

I was at Target with my youngest sister recently and we noticed the padded "bras" for little girls. She said rightly that they look like sleep masks!

shaunms said...

Oh no! And I thought clothes for little girls were getting better. (Then again, my little girl gets mostly hand-me-downs -- it's the big girl with the size 8 feet who wears her funky Ugg boots with jean shorts that I have to worry about.)