Things I have come to understand, learn or remember this week...

1. Taffeta melts very, very easily. This I learned when I first started Macy's Christmas dress and I went to press the first seem. Not a big deal, I had just started the dress. It was more of a problem when I went to press the seem for the zipper (yes, one of the finishing touches) on what I thought was the delicate setting on the iron. I was wrong and my nearly completed dress now has a hole in the bodice. At least it was way to big for Macy anyway so I will just redo the bodice and reattach everything to it. Oh well, lesson learned.
2. Butter cream frosting is a gift from God. Canned frosting is some horrible imitation that the devil came up with. I mean, really. Who would settle for that canned junk when homemade butter cream is so easy to make and is also heaven on a cookie, cupcake, spoon, finger, or whatever. Macy learned this as well when she got to decorate her Halloween Cookies yesterday.
3. On a similar note, three sugar cookies with frosting do not a dinner make. It does however result in a slightly ill tummy and a sugar rush induced headache for the rest of the evening. This is a mistake I hope to not repeat again in the near future. At least not until Christmas cookie time.
4. Two toddlers+ one mother's lap+ library full of books= two screaming children fighting over the one available lap and mother to read books that they do not want to share with the other toddler and glares from the parents who a reading to their one well behaved toddler.
5. While a child sized broom may seem like a good toy for toddlers so they can imitate Mom sweeping and help clean without hitting everything with the big people broom, it isn't. The little cleaning instrument becomes a club for one little girl to beat the other little girl with. That's a mistake I won't be repeating.
6. When a package arrives via UPS at 7:30 at night and I tell Macy it is something from Grandma Brenda, she immediately starts asking for the toy that she is certain is inside. When we open it and it is two matching blankets for the girls with their names embroidered in each one (thanks Breanda and Margo) Macy will also insist I take a picture.
7. Have their names embroidered on the blankets, however, does not keep Macy from trying to convince me that she should sleep with both blankets that night.
8. Teenage fashion (or lack thereof) is horrible. I am reminded of this every time I sub at high school. Let me enlighten you as to how the majority of next generation dresses:
A. Boys wear jeans that are way too tight. Not like hot Wrangler cowboy butt but skinny boys whose jeans are tight all of the way down to their ankles. Shudder...
B. Girls also wears these way too tight jeans. There are some girls that actually look good in these. And buy some, I mean little 14 year old prepubescent girls with no hips or body fat. Most other girls have a muffin top hanging out and it is not cute. Why they can't buy flattering pants, I do not understand.
C. Boys and girls wear ratty, nasty looking skater sneaker looking shoes. They look as if they were trampled on by a heard of cattle and that they smell that way too.
D. Both genders style their hair in the super messy frazzled look. Some get out of bed and don't touch it again. Others get out of bed, decide it looks descent and then mess it up to fix it.
E. It is not uncommon to see these adolescents wearing sweatpants, pajama pants, workout pants and scrubby T-shirts to school. Who taught these kids how to dress? When did it become appropriate to where these things in public when a person is not going to the gym or being checked into the hospital?

There are exceptions but those who seem to take pride in their appearance and dress with any style or to make any effort and trying to look like presentable, fashionable young adults are far and few between. Apparently it is "cooler" to fight the norm and try to be an individual by dressing like a scrub like no one -everyone else. I love teenagers, really, but come on kids. Maybe it is just the schools I sub at but it seems to be an epidemic.