Bling Bling Baby and some other stuff

I am once again wearing my wedding ring. I took it off shortly into my pregnancy because of weight gain and swelling. Gavin is almost a year old and ring didn't fit still, even though at one point I weighed 10 pounds less than when I got pregnant. What can I say? I have puffy sausage fingers. But now my puffy sausage fingers have a little bling.

It was with a mixture of defeat and eagerness that I took my beloved ring to the jeweler on Wednesday. I was eager to have my sparkly bauble back but at the same time I was waiving the white flag of defeat by having the ring re-sized (up 1.5 sizes).


My jeweler told me to take the ring to Ben Bridge or Zales in the mall because they have jewelers in the store and could fix it quickly. The Ben Bridge people told me it was going to cost $95 to have the ring re-sized so I took it to Zales and they told me it was going to cost $200. Tough call. Also, Zales was going to charge another $200 to secure the stone because it was visibly loose (I dropped it on the kitchen floor that very morning). Ben Bridge was going to charge $50 to secure the stone. Another tough call.


After I dropped the ring off at Ben Bridge I decided to check out the new and improved Southcenter mall. Wow. It was under construction for a long time and I like outcome. Hmm, now that I think about it I may have liked it so much because it was in the middle of the day on Wednesday and there wasn't a horde of teenagers clogging the walking paths.


The sales people at the clothing stores all looked like teenagers, though. So young! I was, and still am, on a mission to find a purse that will take the place of carrying both a purse and a diaper bag. I went in and out of most stores. I found a lovely messenger bag that would have worked beautifully at Macy's but it was more than I wanted to spend at $78. For a messenger bag? I think not. If I didn't have an obscene number of purses as is it would be easier to justify buying but I can't. Especially now that Ryan's work with his friend is drawing to a close and his work with the city begins. Ryan's friend paid him every month but the city may not pay Ryan until the work is done, 3 months from now. Not to worry, we have a small stash to pay bills but I don't think buying another bag would be the most prudent thing to do. Although I would be helping the economy by buying a bag. Just doing my American duty!


My tour through the mall made me want to cling to Gavin and his babyhood all the more. The stores that obviously cater to young teens were borderline obscene. And dark, and loud and smelly. I never, ever, set foot in the stores that blare music and have just enough light so you can see the clothes on the rack in front of you but not enough to the clothes on the rack across the aisle from you. Since I was on a quest for a messenger type bag I had no choice but to visit these scary, scary stores. The music was so loud that WELCOME. IF I CAN HELP YOU FIND SOMETHING LET ME KNOW!" I responded, "I'M LOOKING FOR A MESSENGER STYLE BAG." The sales person carefully studied my lips as I was shouting as another tool to help them decipher what I was yelling - the music was that loud. I didn't complain about the music because I'm in the over 20 crowd that clearly doesn't belong in those stores; and I really don't belong while pushing a stroller with my little guy. If the music wasn't so loud I would have turned the excursion into a learning experience.

Me: "Gavin, do you hear that music? It is too loud. Value your hearing."
Gavin: "Ma ma ma ma! Di di di di!"
Me: "Those posters on the walls objectified women and young men. Women are to be valued and respected. You, too are to be valued and respected and you have value and worth even when you keep your shirt on."
Gavin: "Da da da da! Eeeeee!"


I could not get over the clothing in the stores that catered to teenage girls. The underwear was sexy, if not a bit slutty and the skirts were short and bit on the slutty side. Same goes for the shirts. I know that I have a boy but there are going to be girls all around him wearing this stuff! And it's not just the girls clothing that gets me its the advertising for the boys (mens) clothing; the guys with their washboard abs, wearing their pants partially unzipped with a scantily clad woman fawning all over him. Can't they at least try to be somewhat subtle with the sex sells?

Another shocker, a book that was compiled of advice for teenage girls from a regular column in Seventeen magazine. It was all about sex. I know kids are having sex at younger and younger ages and I'm not opposed to sex ed (heck, look at Bristol Palin) but can't we encourage the kids to delay gratification? It seems like a lot of parallels could be drawn between how we, as Americans, want everything NOW and our economic crisis. Wall street is just a reflection of our greed in mainstream America.

This could get me a lot of flack but I don't care. Yes, I know the CEO's are greedy little bastards but you know who else is greedy? Me. I want a specialty coffee drink, I want $100 shoes, I want a cheap shirt so I can have 3 shirts instead of one really nice shirt. I want a nice house with nice decorations. I want my son to have cute clothes and a cute Halloween costume. It's not bad to want all of this stuff but when we put those material wants above all else and we spend more than we make then we create a life that is built on one huge lie. Then our neighbors see what we have and they want what we have while we in turn want what they have so we are constantly consuming and consuming and are never satisfied. We want more, more stuff to fill the void that grows larger and larger as we try to cram it full of useless stuff.

Now that I re-read what I just wrote it seems I took a huge leap from the sexualization of kids to the current economic crisis without connecting the dots as well as I think they are connected in my head. Too bad you can't jump in my head because it is crystal clear up there - to me. Eh. I would try to write more to connect the dots but the dog is looking like she's going to barf and Gavin just went down for a nap so I should finish this post I've been working on for a couple of days now and go get some housework done while I have some free time.