After a day and a half of waiting and listening to the seemingly interminable up-to-the-minute Channel30/5/11/13/21NewsCenterAccu-WeatherQuickAlerts, we finally saw snow.
Yesterday afternoon, around 4:00 PM, my husband called and said that his boss had advised everyone to go home and finish the day working from home because the weather was getting bad. Just as he arrived home, it was as if the sky above turned on the snow-making machines and we went from an vast expanse of bare grass to several inches of the white stuff within 20 minutes or so. We get a lot of snow here, of course, but it doesn't usually start so abruptly. It continued all evening. Here are a few pictures from right after dusk:
Santa and Rudolph weren't fully inflated yet when this was taken, making them look as though they really, really liked each other.
inflatable heaven all lit up
Our Christmas tree is about 7½ feet tall, but it doesn't look that big here, probably because we have gift bags circling the tree like covered wagons to keep the galloping herd of buffalo our giant dog from chasing the kitties under the tree and knocking it over.
It's hard to capture details, so you'll have to imagine the cool bubble lights. I always thought those were the coolest and thought that I'd have them when I grew up. I do have them now, and they are (in fact) the coolest.
The fireplace is to the left, and you can't really see it, but there is a very large clay chiminea shaped like an owl on the hearth full of pebbles and candles.
PS: I noticed that I forgot to include Question 4 from the yesterday's quiz. It should have been:
4. When do you take the tree down?
I used to leave the tree up till at least the Feast of the Epiphany(^) (January 6th), but the last several years I've taken the tree down the day after Christmas, because that was all I could stand (after my Dad died). Somehow, this year is finally different, and I feel like celebrating again, even if only tentatively. I don't know if we will make it to Epiphany, but I'm certainly willing to try.
Finally, a quick Q & A, because a friend was wondering about a few things after I posted a picture of our tree last night:
Q:What's that lurking behind your Christmas tree? A: A copy of the poster for Le Chat Noir(^), the famous 19th century Parisian cabaret. Well, famous in the 19th century, anyway. The poster (not my copy, of course) dates to 1896. Here it is without a tree in front of it:
I always think the cat looks really cheesed.
Q. The picture makes it look like your walls are painted purple. What color are they really?
A.Purple. A purple-y sort of dark dusty violet. I ♥ the color.
I was super busy today, deep cleaning the kitchen in advance of the Holidays. I got the oven and microwave clean, as well as about half of the cabinets. I watered and trimmed the plants, yanked down a brown vine that had tried to strangulate the window blinds before it up and died, and filled the aquarium-that-doesn't-have-a-fish-yet with more water. I need to get a fish or a frog to replace our dearly-departed Siamese Fighting Fish, Cookie Monster ('cause he was blue), but we haven't decided on fish or frog yet, so the aquarium remains empty but for water.
Earlier, the SuperCat had taken another in her series of epic baths, launching her fleet of ducks, and swimming around for close to 90 minutes while I picked up in our adjacent bedroom. The bedroom is a bit cleaner, and I'm pretty happy with what I managed to do today. I'm finally getting into the holiday mood (after like, 8 years without it), so I'm trying to take advantage of it by getting things accomplished.
A friend sent me this quiz in email, and instead of just answering it and sending it back (which I did do) , I'm posting it here. Let me know if you answer the questions; feel free to post a link to your answers or post the answers in the comments field if you'd like. 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Due to playfully pouncing kitties, lumbering dog-oxen, and rampaging SuperCats, we try to avoid sitting down with large rolls of wrapping paper and sticky tape at all costs, and use (then subsequently re-use) gift bags as often as possible.
2. Real tree or artificial?
Artificial. Real trees are pretty and smell nice, but real trees are an allergy issue around here. Plus, real trees last a few weeks at best, while an artificial tree lasts for years and years. Thus, it seems greener somehow to have a fake plastic tree.
3. When do you put up the tree?
The weekend after Thanksgiving. That feels like the right not-too-soon-not-too-late time break out the presents! The ribbons! The wrappings! The tags! And the tinsel! The trimmings! The trappings!
5. Do you like eggnog?
Love it. So far this year we've had "regular" nog; "light" nog (relatively speaking, of course. Egg nog is not "light"); and soy nog. Soy nog is better than I would have guessed, and I plan to get it from now on. When the SuperCat was very small - and she was born very small - she showed an early preference for egg nog. She was so small and tiny, and she needed the calories, so we gave her egg nog (pasteurized, of course) whenever we possibly could. She's still a huge nog fan, just like Mommy. 6. Favorite gift received as a child?
Lincoln Logs from my Dad when I was about 5 or so.
7. Hardest person to buy for?
My husband. Generally speaking, he doesn't want a lot of stuff, and if he wants it, he probably has it already. It's very difficult to come up with new things he'll like. 8. Easiest person to buy for?
Any of the kids. They want (variously) toys, clothes and/or money. Very straightforward. And they are always appreciative, which is nice.
9. Do you have a Nativity scene?
A crèche? Yes. For some reason, most Catholics seem to call it a crèche, which means "manger" or "crib" rather than calling it a Nativity scene. I have three. A smallish mostly-plastic one, a handmade wooden one, and one made from polymer clay that I made several years ago. The tradition I am familiar with is to keep the baby Jesus out of the crib/manger/crèche until Christmas day, to signify His birth.
10. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Sometimes, we get around to mailing them, but not usually, so often it's email or phone calls.
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
A hideous short-sleeved bright green sweater with a white striped neck band from an aunt who did the shopping for my grandmother that year. Yuck. Seriously yuck.
12. Favorite Christmas Movie?
A Christmas Story (You'll shoot your eye out, kid!) 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Year round if I see something I like, but after Labor Day in earnest. I dislike crowds, so I try to get it out of the way before they kick in in earnest.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Yes, a few times. Not the hideous green sweater, though. I donated that. I don't like to return stuff, ever. I would rather do anything than stand in line to return things, so unless it was broken, I try to make-do, donate it, or give it away.
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
I haven't had it in years, but my grandmother's Peanut Butter Divinity Fudge. I need to dig up the recipe and make some. The other favorite would be turkey and gravy. Oh, and Chex Mix. Gluten-free, Rice-Chex-only Chex Mix.
16. What decorations are on your tree?
Mostly blown glass. White lights. Things the kids made over the years.
17. Favorite Christmas song?
Don't really have a single one. I like Fairytale of New York, obviously (see previous post). I love Carol of the Bells, which everyone knows, but many people don't seem to know the name of.
And a song called Walking In The Air, by the English composer Howard Blake, for the film version of Raymond Briggs' The Snowman. It is simply beautiful.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay at home?
Both. I really would prefer to stay home, but we usually end up away from home, which I find sort of stressful, sort of not. Aside from my kids, I don't really have a lot of family, and I prefer to stay home; my husband has a lot of family, though, and he understandably wants us all to be together. So it's sort of stressful, but tempered by the fact that he's happy, so I'm ok with it.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Yes. Yes, I can. Dasher Dancer Prancer Vixen Comet Cupid Donder & Blitzen (originally Dunder & Blixem - the Dutch words for Thunder & Lightning). And sometimes, the non-canonical Rudolph.
20. Angel on top of tree or star?
A tin star.
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning?
Christmas morning. It doesn't feel right to open gifts Christmas Eve.
Because we often travel, we often end up either opening gifts at home Christmas Eve and then go "out and about" Christmas morning; or go "out and about" Christmas day and open gifts whenever we get home Christmas night.
When I was little, my Dad often worked Christmas Eve night, so we didn't see him until Christmas morning, and it would have been impossible to think of opening more than one gift on Christmas Eve without my Dad being there.
If we opened one gift, if was the one from our grandparents back East. That was only because we'd called long-distance to talk to our grandparents to wish them Merry Christmas and to thank them for their gifts, so we'd open them to know what they were.
Long distance was always such a huge big deal back then, reserved for holidays or special announcements. It wasn't something you did just because.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year?
All of those sappy made-for-TV-mushy-romantic-Christmas-movies. For example: pretty much whatever is on the Lifetime Movie Channel this month(^).
Oh! And the fact that The Night The Reindeer Died isn't a real movie. Because if it was real, it would be awesome. Lee Majors-awesome. Just think about that for a minute, will ya'?
I'd like to say that consumerism, greed, and all that bothers me, since it does seem to be magnified around this time of year. And it does, but probably not as much as maudlin sentiment.
23 What theme or color are you using when you decorate?
I hadn't put up my largish collection of ornaments in many years, due to a number of factors; until this year. During the years we didn't put up the big tree, I fell into putting up a tiny tree with turquoise, pink and silver ornaments. It was really pretty. This year, I'm back to the "everything goes" color scheme, with turquoise, blue and silver decorations outside.
As for a theme, it's eclectic, just like all of my other decorating endeavors. I like vintage and unusual ornaments.
♫ Oh, Christmas Tree ♫
24. Favorite for Christmas dinner?
Food? Turkey and gravy (see question # 15). We don't seem to have any one thing that has to be served to call it Christmas dinner. I knew someone years ago who always had fish soup. I know people who always make Dresdner Stollen(^), a German bread-like cake (link pops to recipe). I've known other people to always have lasagna, spaghetti or beef roast. I have a friend whose family always eats shrimp.
Maybe we should start a tradition. Any suggestions?
25. What do you want for Christmas this year?
Hmmm. Not too much, really, apart from the usual... Peace On Earth... Goodwill Towards All Men... and a new flannel night gown.
If Santa is listening, a DVD of The Snowman would be nice, since I haven't seen it in many years and would like to share it with the SuperCat. Since I've been extra-good, maybe a self-healing cutting mat for sewing, and/or a charm or two for my bracelet.
A couple of weeks ago, at the bookstore, while looking for a birthday present for Dan, I realized that the store was playing Christmas music. Thanksgiving, which seems to be the unofficial earliest date possible that has been deemed safe to play Christmas music without customer rioting, was still six days in the future, but that wasn't what really surprised me.
What surprised me was the song.
They were playing one of my favorites, Fairytale of New York, originally by The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl. It was surprising because it's a bawdy song about spending Christmas in the drunk tank in NYC. Part of the song is sung between two characters who, while fighting each other, use some pretty nasty language. I waited, listening while I shopped, and when they got to the verse with the naughty words, I waited for them to be sung out over the bookstore...
I waited for it... and... they'd been replaced with non-naughty words that sort of rhymed with the originals.
Dammit.
They'd trashed the song.
When I caught up with Dan and the Supercat, I mentioned it to him, and he's heard it, too, noticing the clean version they'd played. I think we were both a bit miffed: someone had taken a perfectly indecent Pogues song and completely ruined it by tidying it up, ridding it of part of what made it good to start with. They aren't words I use in everyday conversation; they aren't nice or polite words at all - rather nasty, in fact. But they convey the mood of the besotted characters, so they belong in the song.
Worst of all, it was a bookstore. Grrrrrr. They deal in ideas, but for whatever reason, someone decided that we couldn't handle ideas, and scrubbed the song clean for us.
Phooey.
A teeny tiny itsy bitsy part of me thinks I should be happy that they played the song at all, but the bigger part of me thinks it should be played as written, as the composer intended, or not at all.
If it doesn't belong in a retail atmosphere (and it may not - I'm not sure it's something I want my small child to hear), don't play it at all. I can see plenty of good reasons not to play it - it's a song about drinking and has foul language; and that might have a deleterious effect on holiday shoppers. That makes perfect sense.
What doesn't make sense is playing a song known to have naughty words and an adult theme, then editing it to remove the parts that make the song unique.
Oddly, this has come up before, almost a year ago, when BBC Radio 1 played a censored version last Christmas(^), after years of playing the "regular" version. They said they were censoring it to "avoid offence". The scrubbed version lasted less than a day, Kirsty MacColl's mother (KM died as the result of a terrible accident a few years ago), and zillions of fans complained.
Anyway, here it is in all its uncensored glory:
The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
At around the same time the BBC was censoring the Pogues last year, the fine folks who bring us The Venture Brothers(^) (probably my favorite TV show) released their annual holiday song to the world.
The Venture Brothers, is a definitely-not-for-children (mostly due to cartoon violence and adult situations) animated series on Adult Swim(^), what the Cartoon Network turns into late at night. It follows the adventures of a scientist (Dr. Thaddeus S. "Rusty" Venture), his bodyguard (Brock Sampson) and the doctor's two sons (Hank and Dean Venture) as they fight villainy, mostly found in the form of the Guild of Calamitous Intent, sort of a union for bad guys (with health/dental insurance and everything).
If it looks and sounds a lot like Jonny Quest, it's almost certainly no coincidence, The Venture Brothers seems to try to balance on the thin line between parody and an earnest homage to Jonny Quest.
Here's a clip from The Venture Brothers, with their arch enemies, The Monarch, and his wife, Dr. Girlfriend. Dr. Girlfriend is the one with the reallylow voice. And yeah, she's a she.
So, as I said, every year around the holidays (since 2004, anyway), The Venture Brothers creators have released a Christmas song on their website. They haven't released one for this year yet, but I went looking yesterday, and found the songs from the previous four years(^).
The songs thus far have been:
The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend singing the Bing Crosby-David Bowie classic Peace On Earth/The Little Drummer Boy (2004)
The Monarch and Henchmen 21 & 24 singing Dolly Parton’s Hard Candy Christmas (2005)
Venture Aid (2006)
And, from 2007:
The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend singing (you guessed it) Fairytale of New York. Since it was released around the time of the BBC controversy, I wonder if it was released in response to the censorship?
Regardless of why, it makes me happy to know that someone else gets it - in fact, that a lot of people get it. Not everything is for everyone at all times - some people may be offended, or the material may be inappropriate. But destroying original work is not the answer.
I haven't done a Thursday Thunks(^) thingy in a while, but this week's was sort of cool, so I'm playing along. Italics are theirs.
Suicide, House, neighbors, dogs, PB&J, STD's and accents Welcome to the December 4th version of Thursday Thunks! Where we make you think a little bit before you blog!
This week we will answer some crazy questions brought to you by Berleen, the color sky bluepink and the number 7 (as in the number of days until my birthday).*
1.Have you ever not thought about the possibility of suicide?
Huh? I don't think about the possibility of suicide most of the time. The last time I thought about it was yesterday in regard to Spalding Gray(^) when I heard a Talking Heads song (Love For Sale from one of my favorite movies, True Stories). Spalding Gray plays town leader Earl Culver, who never speaks to his wife. Spalding Gray died almost five years ago and it is still very sad to think about. He was incredibly talented.
2.How many dogs have you owned in your life? What kind? What were their names? For a dedicated cat person, I've had a surprising number of dogs. Let's see... a). Two red miniature dachshunds, Hans & Gretchen. b). A Hovawart names Binky. c). A red miniature dachshund named Pudgy (named for Betty Boop's dog).
Pudgy (Betty Boop's)
d). A black Cairn Terrier name Josephine (named for the giraffe in Josephine, the Short-Neck Giraffe(^) from the good people who brought us Mister Roger's Neighborhood. She looks like Toto, from the Wizard of Oz and lives with my daughter. e). A very large black German Shepard named Dennis (he's here in the house somewhere). I can't remember why we named him Dennis, but it was funny at the time. A few days after we got Dennis, someone told me that they didn't like his name because it was the same name as her ex husband. But I'd already had his tags made, so he's Dennis. This is Dennis:
Upside down on the lawn, smiling for the camera.
3. In one word, what do most people describe you as?
Honestly, I have no idea. Whatever it is, I hope it's a nice word.
4. Do you watch HouseMD? Why not?
Used to. Not much anymore. No idea why.
5. What irritates you most about your neighbors?
Nothing at all irritates me about my immediate neighbors. They are all quiet and nice. There is one terribly bitter soul in the neighborhood who is constantly trying to upset people and cause problems, but for the most part, I feel sorry for her and bad about what must be a terribly lonely and miserable existence, but never really irritated with her.
6. Have you ever called someone in for some sort of abuse or neglect on humans, animals or property?
No. Though I did help capture a parrot this past summer and the Animal Shelter came and got it. And one time I called for a possum and another time for a sick crow. Does that count?
7. What color is the sky in your world?
I love that question when it's asked sarcastically with a mock-serious tone, but I'm assuming they really want to know, so the answer is... sort of gray and overcast.
8. Did you see those 2 planets that everyone is talking about this week?
Uh... I have no idea, so I guess not.
9. Would you like to submit your own question for future Thursday Thunks?
Maybe. How many would I have to come up with?
10. Do you have a skin condition? Are you gonna tell us what it is?
No. I used to have this terribly dry, itchy skin, but it was caused by eating wheat gluten due to Celiac Disease. When I found out I had Celiac and stopped eating wheat, it stopped being dry and itchy, and everything has been fine ever since.
11. Have you ever had an STD?
Do children count?
Honestly, no. Not even fever blisters. icky icky icky.
12. Do you do any crafts?
I knit and crochet. I work in felt (needle felting, wet felting, sewn felting); make dolls; and work in all types of clay (polymer and ceramic). I sew, too and do other things as the mood strikes me.
13. Peanut Butter & Jelly - what flavor is the jelly?
Strawberry or strawberry-rhubarb. They didn't ask, but the peanut butter would be chunky and the bread would be gluten-free.
14. Stripes or polka-dots?
Polka Dots.
15. What accent drives you crazy? Is it a good crazy or a bad crazy?
Men with a British accent are sexy, but men with a Southern accent is even sexier. For example, my husband, or Rafael Eledge(^) on Antiques Roadshow. Those would all be good crazy. That Southern drawl gets me every time.
Badcrazy would be a really harsh Northern accent. There is nothing good about hearing that.
Finally (for now), here are two videos from True Stories (see question 1):
Wild, Wild Life (with a young John Goodman)
People Like Us (more John Goodman goodness. This time he's singing)
I have been so busy the last few weeks. My darling husband's birthday. My first gluten-free Thanksgiving. A dental appointment, followed by another dental appointment (which was the last one, thankfully - at least till next time). A bunch of family birthdays. All of the things that make life good (minus the dentist).
So, let's see: Thanksgiving was wonderful. One of the nicest things about Thanksgiving, in fact one of the nicest things, period, ever, was that we went to dinner at the home of some dear friends and almost everything was GF. How awesome is that? The gravy was made with corn starch, the meats were GF, the salad was GF, the green pistachio fluffy stuff was GF (how I love that stuff), and they even purchased crackers that were gluten free! And, added bonus: I'd never had or even seen the brand before, but they were so good I went out the weekend after Thanksgiving and purchased two huge boxes.
But back to dinner: I was deeply touched that our friends went to so much trouble on my account, and I will never forget their kindness.
I wish I had photos to share, but we had such a good time talking and eating and having fun that my camera stayed in my handbag.
I brought my own stuffing, which my husband made, using home-baked GF bread. It was (at best) only meh; he followed the recipe I'd found, but it was too... something. The spices were wrong, I found it too sage-y. He did an excellent job, so no complaints there. I chose the wrong recipe, which I won't mention here because it came from another blogger's site. There was absolutely nothing wrong with it - I am just not a sage person, and haven't been since I participated in sausage making when I was a kid. Yuck. Phooey. We will try again, of course. We both love stuffing, and it was really, really close.
I happily ate it anyway, of course, because the gravy was soooo perfect. Even a sage overdose couldn't subtract from the joy of eating such wonderful holiday food with friends and loved ones. The ham and turkey were incredible. The candied sweet potatoes were sublime, baked in brown sugar syrup and then topped with marshmallows in the last few minutes to give them a soft/crunchy/toasted top.
I didn't have pie, because I forgot to bring any. I said I would bring some. I planned on it, but promptly forgot it in the do-you-have-the-diaper-bag-have-you-walked-the-dog-where-are-my-shoes frenzy to get out the door and to their house on time. I actually baked a really nice pumpkin pie, and left it at home.
When I baked my first post-gluten pumpkin pie, I experimented with a cookie crumb crust using Mi-Del gluten-free ginger snaps(^). Substituting the ginger snaps for the graham cracker-based recipe really wasn't right, though and the crust turned out ok, but a bit too buttery. I'll do it again, but with less butter.
The pie was awesome, though, because the filling was incredible. Here is my recipe:
Pumpkin Pie
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (I use fat-free) 2 large eggs 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt (half the time I forget the salt, and it's fine).
1). Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. 2). Mix everything together 3). Pour it into the crust 4). Bake for 15 minutes. 5). Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F 6). Bake 35 to 40 minutes longer or until knife inserted in center comes out clean. 7) Cool. 8). Serve with whipped cream. 9). Refrigerate leftovers.
So basically your back-of-the-can/box/jar pumpkin pie recipe, right?
Not really. That's the recipe I start with, but it is never the one I end up making. I added 1/4 cup of finely chopped candied ginger (shades of James Beard's famous recipe). And I double all of the spices (at least) and add ground cloves (about 1/2 teaspoon).
It was delicious. It was spicy. It was forgotten. But I happily "made-do" with Watergate Salad.
Watergate Salad reminds me of family reunions and potlucks. Easter at my grandmother's house. According to Wikipedia(^), it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the famous Watergate complex of Nixon fame, so that's a puzzler. Here's a pretty standard recipe. If it's important to you, it's easy to find pudding mix, marshmallows and whipped topping that are gluten-free.
Watergate Salad
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding mix 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice 1 cup miniature marshmallows 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 1/2 (8 ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
1). Mix everything except the whipped topping together in a bowl. The pudding mix will make everything else a creepy green color. Ignore this. 2). Once everything is well-mixed, gently fold in the whipped topping. 3). Refrigerate. 4). Use sugar-free pudding mix and reduced-sugar whipped topping if you'd like. 5). Serve and hear everyone happily exclaim, "Oooooh! The green stuff!"
So, that's what I've been up to. That and making tutus, sewing dolls, working on various other craft projects, making an advent calendar, getting my Christmas tree up, and so on.
I think that the reason the Motrin ad to-do has crawled under my skin as it has is because it is disheartening to see that some people simply do not get it. I have children in college and high school in addition to the SuperCat, so this isn't my first spin around the block. So, while things are better today that they were 20 years ago, and much better than when I was a child myself, we aren't quite there yet.
My children range in age from 20 on down to toddler, and I would like to think that my daughters won't ever face a culture that devalues their decisions and decision-making. But that probably isn't so.
It's still see as acceptable to make fun of women and their choices. I'd like to see that change, and for me, avoiding products from companies whose culture allowed this sort of ad makes sense.
An update, of sorts: The people at McNeil Consumer Healthcare, makers of Motrin, have placed an apology in the spot where the ad once ran on their website. The apology contains the line: We are parents ourselves and we take the feedback of moms very seriously.
Now, aside from the weak apology, which trots out the thread-bare phrase "taking _____ very seriously" which is somewhat of a joke over at Consumerist(^), that sentence begs a question:
Whose bright idea was it to make fun of mothers and marginalize their decisions? If you'd like me to be a customer so much that you target an ad at my demographic, whose bright idea was it to make fun of that same demographic? And that goes double since, as you say, you are parents.
Finally, a parody of the original Motrin ad. It is everything the original wasn't (funny, smart, and sharp). It's from Motherhood Uncensored(^) and The Imperfect Parent(^).
Tonight, after I got home from a lovely day out and about with my sweet husband (we had a blast - more on that later), reading through my RSS feed, I found an entry at Crunchy Domestic Goddess(^) that I found infuriating (not directed at CDG, of course).
Companies often try to capture the spirit of a particular group for monetary gain. This shouldn't shock us - it's how advertising works. Advertisers want you to associate their products with your problems. They want you to think that they understand and that they can help solve your problems. They try to use words and images that register with us, so that we'll think they are speaking our language.
Mothers are a group that is frequently targeted. This also shouldn't shock us - moms like me make a lot of the buying decisions for our homes, and persuading us to purchase something can result in huge profits.
It's far too late in the evening (early in the morning, actually) to debate the pros and cons of target marketing, but allow me to say this: when it doesn't work, it can result in the worst type of backlash.
Like the kind I am about to engage in:
All parents, regardless of where they live or what they believe, want what is best for their child. Good food, good health, and safe environment. Those are the basics.
Of course, we all want everything good for our children. We want them to love and feel loved; comfort and feel comforted. We want them to feel sympathy and empathy, to receive it when they need it, and to have the compassion to give it freely when they should.
We all want our children to grow up to be everything they were meant to be.
And while we each may parent differently, we all want the same things. We all work toward the same goals, though we may take different paths to get there.
So, when a company chooses to poke cynical, mean-spirited fun of us to make a quick dollar, it doesn't help. It adds nothing of value. It belittles the very people who do society's heavy lifting.
McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Motrin, (ibuprofen), have decided that it makes monetary sense to belittle women who, after careful study, keep their young babies in slings worn on the body(^). Women the world over "wear" their babies. They always have. It provides babies with the constant warm and loving environment they need to thrive and flourish physically and emotionally.
Many moms have found that babies who are worn are generally happier, and more content. They find that their babies eat better, and they often breastfeed longer, which directly translates to better health. Slings allow mothers the freedom to move back into an active lifestyle soon after the child's birth, and it has been suggested that slings can help with postpartum depression. Translation: it's good for moms as well.
But, according to the people who make Motrin (and Tylenol, for that matter), and in contrast to the overwhelming majority of women who wear or have worn their little ones, doing what women all over the world do and have done for centuries, wearing your baby makes mom cry.
The ad has lines like: Wearing your baby seems to be in fashion.
Translation: Jump on the bandwagon, you silly, thoughtless woman.
Someone should inform them that women have always done this. Always. Take a look at a United States Mint One Dollar coin. It has Sacajawea, the Shoshone guide to the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804 on the obverse side, her tiny son Jean Baptiste being carried on her back. More, from the ad: Supposedly, it’s a real bonding experience.
Supposedly? Where is a baby supposed to be, if not with her parents? In a crib, alone and screaming?
(&)
These things put a ton of strain on your back, your neck, your shoulders. Did I mention your back?!
Um, no they don't. Choosing the right sling and wearing it properly doesn't hurt. If it does, seek out the help of other moms, try a different one, or wear the one you have differently. Did I mention it isn't supposed to hurt?
Honest.
Really.
I promise.
The ad ends with:
Plus, it totally makes me look like an official mom.
Translation: There you go again, fluff-for-brains. You didn't research your position. You didn't think it through. You aren't competent or smart. You're doing it because it looks good.
~~~
McNeil Consumer Healthcare and Motrin thinks it's ok to insult moms to make a buck. They think it's ok to demean women, to undermine our parenting, to sell their product.
But they are wrong. This cynical ploy is enough to banish Motrin from our medicine cabinets. If the makers of Motrin feel that denigrating women to make a buck is ethical, we feel comfortable refusing their product.
Generics are there for a reason. Loyalty to brands only works when the brand is worth being loyal to. The makers of Motrin and Tylenol have lost me as a customer.
If you'd like to hear the ad yourself, find it here, at Motrin's website. It was there when I started writing tonight. If they remove it, Barb at Perfectly Natural Photography(^) has thoughtfully transcribed it.
If you Twitter, consider tweeting this. If you do, please add "#motrinmoms" or "#motrindads" (no quotes) to your tweet. I'm not sure who started this, but here are the results at Twitter(^). Pages and pages and pages. My own Twitter feed is in the smaller column here on my blog, or here(^).
If you feel moved, you can write a quick note to McNeil Consumer Healthcare here(^). Here is what I wrote:
I find it hard to fathom that denigrating mothers makes good business sense, so when I heard your commercial last night which belittles dedicated parents to sell Motrin, I was shocked. We will no longer be purchasing Motrin (or Tylenol) and will strongly encourage our friends to avoid your products as well.
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