Home Improvement

I actually amazed myself this weekend. I repaired a hole in the bathroom wall. This was no small accomplishment considering that it involved making a corner. (Special thanks to the gentleman at Home Depot that gave me some pointers!!!) I repaired the hole and then painted the bathroom. I used Marmalade (a light orange) and Aurora Orange (a deep orange). Most of the bathroom is the light orange. The area behind the toilet and above the bathtub are painted the darker orange. It looks really cool! The paint made a huge difference in the lighting. It went from being a bright white light to looking more amber. I still need to paint the trim and the door (they will be Polar Bear - a fancy name for white) and then decide if I want to paint the cabinets. I am going to paint magnetic paint on the door and then paint over it in the white. That way I can use little metal containers on the door. (This is a great idea for a kid's room).

Giving Back

I have to say how proud I am of all the students at the dance studio. We had a canned food drive for the month of February and they donated a total of 401 non-perishable food items!!!! How awesome is that?!?!

We are in the process of trying to partner with an organization on a long-term basis. We are just waiting on the woman to return from vacation and get back with Jennifer. We both want to give back to the community. We have been amazingly blessed and want to spread those blessings to others. We also want the company members to learn to volunteer and help out in the community. We want them to learn what it means to truly serve others from your heart. After all, spending money on a gift for someone is easy, but giving of yourself can be difficult.

Further Evidence of Intelligence

Jacey scored an Excellent at Math Olympics today and placed 4th overall in fifth grade computation. She was the only one from her school to receive a placement ribbon!

Science Fair Results

Can't believe I didn't post this earlier. Superior ribbon and a silver medal!!! What a smart child I have!

Completely Disgusted

We had the dance competition this weekend. I really thought that I was beyond shock. I mean, two years ago I watched children dancing in fishnet hose and bras and panties literally purchased from a lingerie store. I've had to re-think my prior stance on that routine. After all, it was a broadway style routine and at least the dance movements were appropriate. This weekend was a new low. I saw a hip hop routine performed by 16-17 year old girls where they danced in high-heeled shoes, slapped each other on the rear -- there were so many sexual overtones to this routine I can't even begin to put it into words. I honestly watched the routine with my hand over my mouth. One of the other mom's in our group asked me if I thought they would eventually put a pole on stage and have an exotic dance category. But, as bad as this routine was, nothing could top the following:

Picture the 6 & under category: Cute little girls in their dance costumes with their hair pulled up in bows and all excited about dancing in the competition. Now, imagine those same little cutie pies doing sexually suggestive movements straight out of a hip hop video while their parents are in the audience making cat calls. Or, how about one of those same little girls standing on a box (meant to be a stage) and gyrating while the rest of the girls in the group surround the box with their rears to the audience shaking it for all their worth. I really hope that my disgust is being conveyed.

When the judges reward these types of dances (and believe me they did) and their parents are acting that way, what are these children learning? Maybe I'm taking it out of context or blowing it out of proportion, but this really bothered me. I firmly believe it's a statement of the lack of morality of people today. Everyone seems to be so concerned with winning or getting more that they don't care what it costs in terms of their emotional or moral well-being. How is getting a high score at a dance competition or in anything else enough to sexually exploit your child? That's what this weekend was all about - the sexual exploitation of children in the name of dance.

The same mom that made the joke about the stripper pole made a very poignant remark about these parents. She said, "How sad is it that their parents don't love them enough to say no?"