Who Knew?

I have never believed I was sexist. In fact I had always believed I had no gender bias at all. Until recently, that is.

Several days ago my daughter-in-law, Renea, called me with some suggestions for my three year old grandson, Owen, for Christmas. Most were the typical things I know he likes . . . books, trains, racecars. However she did mention he would like a "Dora the Explorer" kitchen. "It's rather pink," Renea said.

Well, I have no problem with a boy playing with a kitchen, (if fact, there's nothing much better than a guy who can cook!) but when I checked out this particular kitchen set, it was definitely "girly." I couldn't bring myself to buy something so feminine for Owen. I did an exhaustive search on the internet to see if I could find something in red, blue, yellow, or anything non-pink. I did find a couple, but they were extremely expensive. I decided that Owen didn't really need a kitchen, and even convinced myself that my son & daughter-in-law didn't have the space for such a large item.

Well today I came upon a kitchen set while walking through Target. It is red & blue & even has a photo of both a boy & a girl playing on the box. It is more expensive than the Dora one, but it's not embarrassingly girly. I bought it and have to admit I would rather pay a higher price than to get the pink one. So I guess I am sexist after all.

That's Entertainment--Part II

How do you spend the day after Thanksgiving . . . relaxing, watching football, eating leftovers? Well, in my house my son, Trent, who has spent the past several months moving, dismantling, & assembling furniture for his brother and sister-in-law, and I spent most of the day on my new entertainment center. Yes, the one I primed and painted several weeks before.

I had brought all the pieces to the entertainment center into the house after thoroughly drying them in the garage. When I was having weekend company I stacked the pieces up against the wall to get them out of the way. On the Friday after Thanksgiving Trent & I were ready to assemble it. When I went to hand him the support boards, they stuck to each other causing a big chuck of paint to come off one of the boards. With my usual impatience I pulled a large strip of paint off and told my son that I was done with the eggplant paint . . . we would just pull off the paint and take the entertainment center back to silver. He had no choice but to agree (I was already peeling!) and began to help me remove the paint. It all went pretty well until we came to the two base pieces and the paint would not come off. We were attempting to scrape it with our fingernails to no avail. Trent suggested a razor scraper, so I made a quick trip to Big Lots to purchase one. After several hours, we had FINALLY removed the paint, but not without putting a few scratches and scrapes on the pieces. Another hour and the easy-to-assemble center was good to go. Although it actually looks pretty good, I do lament the waste of time and energy that went into the project!