Turn a T-shirt into Short Workout Pants

"I really am enjoying my new job. In my first training session, they said that they call us "industrial athletes." This is no joke! My job is to load packages into the back of a truck. The boxes are often heavy and they want you to move them as quickly as you can.

It's extremely physical. Squatting, lunging, lifting, reaching and placing heavy packages at a rapid (aerobic) pace for approximately three hours solid per shift, is quite an enviable workout and had a lot to do with why I chose to apply for this job.

My first night on the dock, I wore a tank top and a pair of jeans. I quickly wished I hadn't! The denim is too hot, too constricting and every time I squatted or lunged, I mooned everyone behind me. My second night on the dock, I wore a pair of running capris and was so thankful that I did. I decided to get a whole wardrobe of workout capris and T-shirts.

The thrift store had a few workout/yoga pants that were in my size, but I had to modify the length. Otherwise, I realized I could make new running capris out of large T-shirts!

Here's what you need:
T-shirt, at least a size large
Sewing machine (hand stitching won't cut it with this project).
Elastic (you can recycle from old clothing)
Thread
Pins
Scissors

To begin with, choose the appropriate sized shirt. The size of the shirt you'll need is determined by the size of your hips and backside. Consider the length. Consider what you want to do about a waste band.
My median size is a 10, and a mens size large is enough to make a basic pant for me. The red shirt pictured was a 2XL and there was enough leftover fabric on each side too make a waste band if I wanted. I'll describe that later.

Fold your T-shirt in half down the middle, with the sleeves together.

Take a fair amount of care to smooth it out with your hand as much as possible. Working with knit can be a little tricky, as it stretches and pulls out of shape easily. When we're talking about pre-worn T-shirts, it should be expected that there will be some wonkiness right off the bat. Just go with it and gently hand press it, moving the bulky places out of the way.

You can take your measurements and draw up a pattern if you like, but I just grabbed a pair of knit work out pants that fit me the way I like.

Lay your workout pants (or similar pattern) on top of the T-shirt as this picture shows. It is really important that the portion that is the outside of the legs lines up with the folded side of the T-shirt. That is because you are going to have only one inner seam on the leg of your pants. No need to waste time and thread by adding unnecessary seams! Besides, if you have a logo or design on the front of your shirt, this will simply be placed on the side of your pant and not look too weird. You may notice also as this picture shows, that the bottom of the pant lines up with the bottom of the T-shirt. This means your pants are pre-hemmed! Cool, right? I know!

When you cut, you want to account for your seam allowance. I only wanted a quarter inch seam, so I made sure I cut that far from the outside edge of my (pattern) pants.

You're cutting through four layers of T-shirt, and therefore you are cutting both pieces you need to make your pants. Sewing goes pretty quickly.

Each piece that you have is a pant leg. Fold each one in half vertically, with right sides together. Make sure you match the sides evenly. They should be symmetrical.

Pin up the leg, stopping right when you get to the point that is the crotch.

These pants are meant to fit snuggly, and your seams will take a lot of pulling - especially if you're using them for working out.

The last thing you want is your seam to rip open while you're jogging down the street, in the middle of a yoga session or working the leg press at the gym. I know I don't want to have my co-workers laughing at me endlessly because my pants split open in front of everyone!

Each and every seam is doubled and tripled. Two straight seams, about a millimeter apart, and a zig-zag stitch that is evenly straddling the outside straight stitch. I then very carefully trimmed away the excess fabric, to within two millimeters of the seam.

Once you have your pant legs sewn and threads trimmed, you'll want to turn them right side out. This photo is an error, I started pinning with the pant legs inside out and realized that If I had sewn them that way, the seam that joins them would have been on the outside.

Once the pant legs are inside out, match up the seams at what will become the crotch (I hate that word!)

Pin the two pieces together and just as you did when you sewed the pant legs closed, sew a quarter inch seam using a straight stitch. Sew a second parallel stitch a millimeter apart and then zig-zag down the middle of the outer stitch. Trim off the excess fabric.

After you have the two halves of your pants joined, you want to try them on. If they are too loose, you can take them in. If they don't come up high enough, you can add an extra long waste band.

I recycled elastic from old clothing. On the gray pants that have the logo, I chose to do a waste band because they seemed to be to short and would pull down in the back during squatting. I could have used the scraps leftover from the red shirt, and this would have looked quite nice. However there was an ugly old gray sweatshirt that has been sitting in the recycle pile for a while and I chose to take the waste band off of it because it matched so well. I cut the elastic to the length that I needed, enfolded it into the waste band and sewed it together. I then pinned this band, with right sides together, to my pants and sewed it with a double straight stitch and a zig-zag. Trimming off the excess thread, these pants were done!

The red pants were plenty high in the waste, and I decided that I wouldn't bother with a waste band. I didn't care to have a hem, either. I know that having the elastic showing makes them look like ridiculously long underwear, but I don't mind. My shirt will cover the elastic.

I did want to make the point, however, that they may well function as long underwear! You can have them as leggings in the colder months, wear them under skirts, whatever you like.



These pants were so easy to make, I can see making many of them in the future! Whenever I find myself running short on work-out pants, I can just grab a few big T-shirts from the thrift store or my husbands dresser and whip a few up!

Gearing Up for Growing

The light ground behind the trellises is the back half of the garden that
we cannot use this year.

It's SPRING! It's almost time to plant! I had a lot of fun this afternoon tilling up my vegetable patch with my shovel and getting it ready to tuck my little babies in their beds. Can you tell I like to garden?

This is my fifth year with this particular garden. You can see in the photo that it's quite a lot smaller than it has been before. Half as small, actually. There is a tree in the corner of the yard that needs trimmed back to allow enough sunlight into the back half of the garden. For now it's useless space, and that makes me sad. But a smaller garden will allow me to tend all of the plants more easily and I am hoping that the trade will equal larger, more lush plants with bigger fruits and vegetables.

In the past we have done container gardens and my very first real vegetable patch was a crop of contraband cucumbers I had growing underneath the back porch of an apartment I rented. I planted holly hocks and sun flowers in front of them so the managers couldn't see them from the street. Those little cucumber plants were pervasive and unruly! It was very hard keeping them out of sight and they even came back the following year with out replanting.

The light earth has seen four years worth of
gardening and has had most of the nutrients
leeched out of it. The black compost was
spread on heavily.

This particular patch of yard has seen a lot of gardening and it shows. Looking at the difference in color of these two soils in the picture above, it's obvious that my garden soil is pretty barren. But that black stuff, it's not ordinary soil. That's what a years worth of vegetable matter looks like after it has decomposed. And entire years worth of kitchen waste and yard scraps actually and I have tended my compost dutifully.

My compost bin is a large plastic container (and old garbage bin) with holes drilled along the sides and the top and a gaping hole in the bottom to allow decomposed matter to come out of the bottom. I watered it, turned it with a pitch fork and after the year, I raked it out along the ground to allow it to finish breaking down in the early weeks of spring.








There are many ways to make your own composter. I personally didn't fuss with layering. I notice a lot of experts like to have rules with the "proper" way to compost. While I am sure there is reason behind these rules, I doubt that my grass clippings will refuse to decompose if they are not adequately sandwiched between dried leaves and moldy broccoli.

How rich and black this compost was! That's pay-dirt!

The kids got new gardening tools this year from the Easter Bunny, and what a perfect idea! The Little Miss was helping me shovel the compost into our bin to carry to the garden patch.

While we were  digging out our compost, we found some garlic cloves that had sprouted. We found about twenty little ones, so we decided to plant them! I'm guessing they will be ready in the summer, with fresh garlic bulbs.

This year I am only planting five things. It was going to be four, but I couldn't ignore the hearty little garlic cloves. I've gotten myself in trouble in the past trying to grow too many things. I love vegetables, so of course I get greedy. Since last season, I have started my own business and I know that I won't have the time to weed and take care of quite so much.

My fence is a figure head fence. It has no real power, I know that. It's not going to keep the animals out or the children who decide to take a walk inside, but it does provide a visual stop for children who are running mindlessly through the yard too focused on their game to think of  helpless plants stuck in the ground to be stepped on by careless feet.




My garden layout is carefully planned to allow maximum sunlight to all plants,
and arranged by height following the directionality of the sun. In the past, we
 have had great luck with companion planting.

I am growing tomato plants along the trellises, and I will be buying seedlings. Every year I grow my tomatoes from seed and wind up with my heart broken after the rabbits have their way with the baby plants. The garlic will be in the back right corner. I will give those unruly cucumbers another shot, and have allotted them a large space in the front. Some jalapeño's and some lettuce should give us a nice summer salad. The garlic will go well with the wild onions that grow beneath the oak tree to make the dressing.









One if the tiny garlic sprouts we found
growing in our compost.

I am sure I will plant herbs in the corners after it warms up a little more, but for now this tiny garden is more than enough to make me happy.


Do you garden? What are you growing this year?

Knitted Star Flower Hair Tie

 

I like to knit various types of flowers, and sew them onto ponytail holders. You can do a lot with these, however, and use them to decorate, or embellish clothing and accessories. You could even mount them onto sticks to make a bouquet in a vase.

You can easily vary the size and shape of these flowers, by increasing or decreasing the amount of stitches, just make sure that the number of your base round stitches is divisible by the number of petals you intend to have. These are six petal flowers, so the base round had to have 36 stitches. If I wanted 5 petals, my round could have 25 of 30 stitches.


Materials:
WW Yarn, in Various Colors (two for each layer of the flower, one for the stamen/pistols and one for the leaves).
Size 2 Circular Needles
Small Crochet Hook
Tapestry Needle
Ponytail Holders (Non elastic) )

Knitted with size 2 circular needles, both in the round and flat.

Knit two of these, in coordinating colors:

Base Round:
CO 4, split in half and join in the round
R1 - k
R2 - k1m1, all the way around.
R3 - k
R4 - k1m1, all the way around.
R5 - k
R6 - k1m1, all the way around. *You should have 32 stitches.
R7 - k7, k1m1, k7, k1m1, k7, k1m1, k7, k1m1 *You should have 36 stitches.











Petals

You are going to divide these 36 stitches into 6 petals. This is really very simple. Pull the cable so that all of the stitches are congruent and there is no gap. Pull the cable out, six stitches from the top needle, and slide those six stitches to the end of the needle while the rest remain on the cable.

Knit the six stitches, turn, and purl back.
Repeat this for 8 rows and then begin decreasing.
R9 - k2tog, k2tog, k2tog
R10 - purl
R11 - k2 tog, k
R12 - k2tog, snip the yarn leaving a 4 inch tail, pull the tail into the last loop.

Slide the next six stitches on your base round onto your needle, just as you did the first. Start the yarn again in the first stitch and form follow the steps above.
Do this for the remaining petals.

Weave in all of your ends, on the outer points.



Finishing Flowers
Once you have knitted two star flowers, decide which is going on top and which is going on the bottom. On the bottom flower, weave in all of your tail strings.
Place the top flower where you want it, and use a crochet hook to go through the bottom flower and grab the inner tail strings of the top flower, then pull them through so that you can tie/weave them in beneath the bottom flower.

Use your crochet hook and your pistol/stamen color to create the inner bits of the flower.

                              Figure 1                            Figure 2                          Figure 3

 

You can make a fringe in the center of your flower by slipping a strand of accent yarn under a stitch and then tie the ends once or twice, snipping them short in the front, as in Figure 1.
You may choose to surface crochet in a ring as in Figure 2.
You may choose to make little balls by pulling a pieces of yarn through a stitch, knot it several times and pull the ends back through the flower and tie them off, as in Figure 3.

Leaves
On the under side of the bottom flower, insert your needle beneath 11 stitches to "pick them up" from the base round. Use your leaf color to knit across and purl back.
Take care to keep the knit stitches on the side facing up, and the purls on the back.
Knit and Purl the leaves back and forth until you have near the length of your petals. This will be approximately 10 rows. Once you have knitted to the edge of your flower, begin decreasing your outer stiches by knitting two together (k2tog) on the knitted side. Do nothing on the purled side.
Continue tapering and decreasing until you have one stitch left. Snip your yarn and pull the tail through the loop. Weave the end under.




Final

Use your tapestry needle and yarn to fix your ponytail holder to the flower. You'll want to sew through the back of the flower, wrapping it around you band.

Once this is done and you've tidied up your ends, you're good to go! Make them in different styles and colors to wear with different outfits or just get creative with them.

Lowfat Smoothies To Promote Healthy Weightloss

Welcome to the Festival of Food Carnival. In celebration of the New Year and Healthy Starts, we're sharing recipe ideas for healthy, nourishing recipes or anything you would enjoy this time of year. Hosted by Diary of a First Child and Hybrid Rasta Mama, you're welcome to join us next time, or if you have a previously published recipe you'd like to share, add it to the linky below.

Whenever I decide that I would like to lose a bit of weight, or even just to get a handle on my eating, I will break out my blender and make myself smoothies to replace my lunch. I created this recipe 6 years ago, but I have modified it a few times since then as my idea of what is healthy changes. It's important to me that the smoothies taste good - I don't want to dread them. I also want to make sure they have plenty of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants while containing little fat.
Some may not feel that these are healthy when they consider their own personal standards and dietary goals, but this recipe can be tweaked and ingredients substituted with ones that are appropriate for different needs.


1/4 cup of cooked/cooled unseasoned, unsalted beans
1/2 cup vanilla flavored nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup fruit juice or skim milk
1tbs. honey
1 cup of frozen berries or fruit (strawberries, blackberries and blueberries are loaded with antioxidants)
1 fresh banana

Place the ingredients into the blender, beginning with the liquid and the beans. Add in the yogurt, fruit and berries. You may wish to add more liquid.
You will have approximately 2 cups or 16oz of smoothie from this, which is appropriate for a meal replacement.



That is a good base. You can also add pureed vegetables, vegetable juice, spinach, wheat germ or any other items that contain nutrients that you feel you need.

The beans not only contain added protein and fiber, they are complex carbs that will slow down the digestion of the slurry and help you feel full longer and help stabilize your blood sugar so that you will not "crash" as easily during the day. They also contain soluble and insoluble fiber to help aid digestion. Unflavored, you do not taste them.
The yogurt supplies calcium, but also probiotics which help with digestion and cleansing and this provides many health benefits throughout the body.
The fruit juice and frozen berries contain even more antioxidants and vitamins and minerals. The berries are full of fiber to help further with digestion. Eating berries is also thought by some to ease joint inflammation and lessen the effects of arthritis.
The banana has many vitamins and minerals as other fruits do, but they also contain larger amounts of potassium than any other natural and easily attainable food. Potassium helps the circulatory system deliver oxygen to the brain and your muscles (which is vital when you are exercising more), helps regulate your heartbeat, maintain blood pressure and proper balance of water - which again, is important when you are working out.

Because we are talking about health and I am touting the nutritional benefits of this recipe, I am including a breakdown of the nutritional information - as generated by the Recipe Calculator at SparkPeople.com. This recipe calculator is a fantastic tool for keeping track of nutrition and calorie content of your personal recipes.

 

What are your favorite ingredients to add to your smoothie?


Photo Credit: S. Schleicher *********** Please take a moment to visit the blogs of our other Festival of Food participants. The links in this list will be live by the end of the day, as participants are all in different time zones.

• Sarah at Why Food Works shares Guilt Free Ranch Dip. Food is more fun when dunked, and kids eat more veggies with dip - use this high-protein, low-fat, Ranch-flavored spread at picnics, parties, and meals! You can also find Sarah on Facebook.
• Christina at The Hippy Homemaker shares her tasty vegan Black Bean and Barley Salad With a Cilantro Lime Dressing, a low-fat meal that packs a real flavor punch! You can also find Christine on Facebook.
• Bianca at the Pierogie Mama shares a quick and simple recipe for roasting cauliflower. Garlic, olive oil and Parmesan cheese make anything taste amazing!You can also find Bianca on Facebook.  
• Have a blender? Then That Mama Gretchen says it's time to gather your veggies and plan a Mexican fiesta to debut this skinny version of taco soup. You can also find That Mama Gretchen on Facebook.
• Lindy at Poppy Soap Co. shared an incredibly easy Herb Rice recipe that makes a great pantry staple! You can also find Lindy on Facebook.
• Luschka at Diary of a First Child loves foraging for her food, and this Nettle Soup recipe is a great immune boost for the changing season. You can also fine Luschka on Facebook. 
• Mari at Honey on the Bum shares her love of beet kvass, a daily drink that holds particular importance in the winter.
• Destany and They Are All of Me shares her recipe for low-fat healthy smoothies that taste just like dessert.
• Lauren at Hobo Mama offers a nut-buttery, chocolatey treat that tastes indulgent while being grain- and sugar-free. You can also find Hobo Mama on Facebook.
• Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama shares a super easy, fix it and freeze it Curried Lentil Soup In A Jar! You can also find Jennifer on Facebook.

Stay connected! Be sure to "Like" the Festival of Food Carnival Facebook page.

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Seven Recipes for Beans - Post Holiday Cleaning

Welcome to the January 2013 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Recovering from the Holidays This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama. This month our participants have written about how their families get back to normal after the holidays are over. ***

To say that I overindulged in the holidays this year is like saying Richard Simmons has frizzy hair. I know I over did it, and that's not typical for me.

 

I try to eat fairly healthy. I love vegetables and have a strange fondness for beans that others don't really get. I haven't been eating well lately, and coming off of a really restrictive diet a few weeks ago caused me to lose sight of my healthy eating goals, in a really big way.  

I don't want to add up how many cookies, peanut butter balls, pieces of fudge, or coconut macaroons I have eaten in the last week. Nope, I'm not going to do that to myself. But I can tell you that I feel BAD, physically. My muscles feel weak and tired, my head feels foggy, my stomach is queasy and has that "sour" feeling that I get when I abuse it. I feel headachy and tired and I want to go to sleep throughout the day. My body is sick on the sugar and butter and trash I have fed it and I long to feel energized, fit and clean inside. I want... beans.

Beans - they are amazing! Honestly, when I would go running (too long ago) I had twice the energy to put those miles out on days when I had beans for early lunch. They provide the right amount of protein to keep muscles moving all day long with out wearing out; they're full of fiber and basically keep you running smooth and clean all throughout the day. One bowl of beans a day will do some amazing things  and you notice the changes pretty quickly.

• Beans contain plenty of protein for your muscles to do what they need to do throughout the day.
• Beans contain lots of fiber - both soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber cannot be broken down by your body, and can help cleanse toxins and other waste that tends to stay in your colon and putrefy. It also contains soluble fiber that can help break down some of that other stuff and process it more easily.
• Beans are positively loaded with antioxidants which can help combat toxins in your body. FYI, the darker the beans, the more antioxidants they tend to have.
• Beans help you feel full, and stay full longer. They are what is considered a low-glycemic food. The sugars found in beans break down more slowly and steadily, preventing blood sugar crashes that send you running for high processed carbs like bleached flour products and sugary stuff. Ergo, they help to reduce food cravings substantially, and help you lose weight.
• Beans and other plant based, nutrient rich foods help your body produce more leptin - a hormone generated by our bodies fat cells that controls our appetites and boosts metabolism, giving us even more energy and decreasing our food cravings.

Here are some more recourses for the health benefits of beans and their restorative properties:
Nine Reasons You Should Eat Beans
Beans and Their Healing Power
Beans - A Natural Fat Burner!
WebMD, Beans: Protein Rich Super Foods
10 Best Super Foods
WebMD, Antioxidant Superstars
Prevent Disease Dot Com

Also, check out Hillbilly Housewife's Bean Recipes! She has some terrific recipes. I love the black bean soup, especially.

Although beans are amazing healers and can restore our bodies from the inside out, a bowl of beans a day gets pretty tiring - especially when you're eating the same variety every day. So, here are seven of my favorite bean recipes. You can make a bunch in advance and freeze them individually for convenience, if you like.

 First, some tips and general information about beans:

• Always allow 4 hours to prepare the bean dishes. You may not need that long, but it's always better to have them finish early and keep warm, than to have to wait on them while you're hungry.
• Water amounts and cooking times in these recipes are approximate. Use enough water to keep the beans covered, and add more as you need it.
• Don't boil the beans outside of doing the rapid soak. The skins will burst if you do. It won't hurt them or affect their taste, but they look better and have a better texture if the skins are on.
• Always cook beans in a large enough pan.
• If you over salt the beans, you can drain them off in the middle of cooking and add additional water.
• The older your beans are, the longer they will take to cook. If you have been cooking your beans for hours and they never seem to soften, they may be quite old. It is said that salt and acid in the beans can toughen them, but I've never had issues with that myself.
• Always sort beans to remove bad ones and small rocks. You can go through ten bags of beans and never find a rock, but you don't want the one you find to be the one that breaks your tooth.
• You can use canned beans and adapt these recipes, but take care to note the sodium content of the canned beans - and stay away from beans that have preservatives - especially disodium EDTA.  Not only because it is a carcinogenic substance used in house hold cleaners and cosmetics, they make it out if several toxic chemicals, including formaldehyde. Yep, right there in your food.
• It is said that draining the water the beans have soaked in and cooking them in fresh water can reduce the amount of intestinal gas that results from eating them. I have also heard that adding a tablespoon of sugar can reduce it.
  The scientific fact is that beans produce excess gas because their molecules don't break down much in the stomach - and the job is left to the bacteria in the small intestine.  I've also heard that the more often you eat beans, the easier your stomach can break them down.
  If you are worried about producing excessive gas, take a beano tablet and also reduce the amount of onion/garlic and other odor producing foods you put into the beans.

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Ham and Beans with Banana Cornbread
Although this recipe is very basic, it's perfect for the day after holidays. The simplicity is pretty welcome after a big extravagant meal the day before.

Basic Ham and Beans
Ham (either bone from left over Christmas Ham, or a pound of ham cubes
1tbsp. oil
1 cup onion, diced small
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1lbs. dry pinto beans - sorted, rinsed and soaked
Salt and Pepper to taste
6 cups of water (approximately)


In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium high heat. Add your onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook until it browns at the edges (caramelized garlic is so sweet and nutty!). Add your ham. If using cubes, put a little sear on them. If using the bone from a left over ham, immediately add water, brown sugar and salt and pepper.

Bring the beans to a boil and turn the heat down to low. Cover with a lid and simmer for one to two hours, stirring occasionally and checking the water level.

Banana Cornbread
1 cup of milk
2 ripe bananas
1 egg
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Heat oven to 400F. and grease an 8"x8" pan (or line a muffin tin). Beat milk, egg and  bananas until the banana chunks are broken up. Add remaining ingredients. Bake 20 to 25 minutes.

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Apple Bacon Black-eyed Peas

1lbs. black eyed peas, rinsed, sorted and soaked
1/2 lbs. hickory smoked bacon, cut into half inch pieces
1 granny smith apple, cubed small (leave the peal on)
1/2 cup minced onion
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar
salt and pepper to taste
Enough water to keep beans covered

In a large pot, start cooking your bacon. Leave the fat in the pan and add in your onion, garlic and apple. Cook until it breaks down. Add in your beans, water, cinnamon and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer on low with a lid on until the beans are tender - usually about one to two hours.

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Chicken and Navy Beans with Cheesy Vienna Style Bread


Chicken and Navy Beans
2 lbs. chicken meat, boned and skinned
1 lbs. navy beans - sorted, rinsed and soaked
1 tbs. oil
1 onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 carrots, pealed and diced
1 tbs. chili powder
1 tsp. paprika (smoked, if you have it)
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 can stewed tomatoes, broken up
1 can tomato sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Fresh Cilantro
Six to eight cups of water or chicken stock

In a large pot, heat your oil. Add in the onion and the carrot. Cook until soft. Add in garlic and lightly brown.  Add in your liquid, tomatoes and tomato sauce, chili powder, paprika, oregano, salt and pepper. Add the chicken and beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook on low for one to two hours until the beans are soft.

Add in the cilantro and cook for 10 more minutes.

Cheesy Vienna Style Bread
When I'm talking about Vienna Style Bread,  I mean THIS. However, I don't bake my own, I buy Roma Brand, which is a local bread company in my city.

Slice your bread (if you didn't buy pre-sliced) and butter it on one side. Heat a skillet over medium, and lay the buttered side down. Add a slice of provolone cheese and cook until the buttered side is browned.
Yah. It's hard. It's like, half a grilled cheese sandwich.

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Beef Chili


2 lbs. ground (extra lean) beef
1 lbs. red kidney beans - sorted, rinsed and soaked
2 cans stewed tomatoes
1/2 cup of onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbs. chili powder
1 tsp. oregano
1 tbs. cocoa powder
Salt and Pepper to taste
6 cups of water (or so)

In a pot, brown the beef. Add in the onion and garlic, cook until soft. Drain the fat.
Add in the cans of stewed tomatoes and break up with a spatula. Add chili powder, oregano, salt, pepper and cocoa powder. Let cook for 10 minutes, so that the flavors are well infused.

Add in the beans, and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, then reduce to low and simmer with a cover for one to two hours. Check the beans regularly to add in more water as needed.

 

I like my chili topped with sour cream and cheddar, lettuce and tomato and served with corn chips.

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Red Beans and Rice

This is not a very healthy meal, when you put in the beef smoked sausage, but I love it. I try to cut down on the sausage in my portion. You can also substitute turkey sausage, or omit it altogether, if you wish.

2 lbs. Beef Smoked Sausage, sliced
1 lbs. red beans, sorted, rinsed and soaked
1 tsp vegetable oil

1 onion chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced

2 carrots, diced small

1 bell pepper, diced small

2 cups fat free beef stock

4 cups water

2 cups uncooked brown rice

3 tbs. Cajun Seasoning

 

In a large pan, sauté your beef sausage. Without draining the fat (you may need to add more oil), add in your vegetables (add the garlic last, when the rest are half way finished cooking). Add the beef stock and water, the Cajun seasoning and the beans. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and cover. Simmer for one to two hours until the beans are tender.

Cook the rice according to instructions. Serve the beans and beef mixture over the rice, or stir the rice in.

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Refried Beans

Refried beans are wonderful to cook yourself. I always have a bag of pinto beans in my cupboard for making refried beans. Whether you wrap them in tortillas, eat them with corn chips, or form them into patties for making burgers, you can make a bunch ahead of time and freeze it. You'll also find it hard going back to store bought ones!


1 lbs. pinto beans - sorted, rinsed and soaked
1 tbs. oil
1 cup of onion, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. cumin
1 tps. pepper

In a large pot, heat your oil and sauté the onion and garlic until tender. Add your soaked beans and water. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat. Cook on low, simmering for one to two hours until the beans are soft. Drain the beans fully. Any liquid left in the beans will make them runny when you mash them.
You may mash the beans with a potato masher, or run them through a blender. The beans will be light in color when you mash them up. They certainly won't look much like canned beans. Add your seasonings in, adjusting to your preference. Place them back into the pot and cook over medium heat until heated through and they darken.

Homemade tortillas are simple to make and go wonderfully with your refried beans!

*************************************************************************************

Black Bean Salad

This salad is great to put on a regular garden salad, or add some chicken to it and have it on tacos. Add some quinoa for texture, or eat it with couscous

1 tbsp. oil
1 cup onion minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lbs. black beans - sorted, rinsed and soaked
6 cups of water

1 cup of ham, finely minced
1 cup of red bell pepper, chopped small
1 cup of corn (frozen, thawed)
2 tbs. fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbs. fresh cilantro, finely chopped
1/3 cup of green pimento stuff olives, coarsely chopped

1/3 cup of rice vinegar
1/3 cup of oil
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, heat the oil and sauté the onion and garlic until the garlic begins to caramelize. Add the beans and water, cook for one to two hours until the beans are soft. Let the beans cool at least to room temperature, place them in a large bowl.
Add in the ham, corn, bell pepper, parsley, cilantro, and olives.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the vinegar and oil, salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the bean salad and mix gently so you don't mash the beans.



***
Visit Code Name: Mama and Hobo Mama to find out how you can participate in the next Carnival of Natural Parenting this March!
Please take time to read the submissions by the other carnival participants:

• Pinterest Inspiration for Easier Winter Holidays Shannon, writing at Natural Parents Network, shares inspiration for having more relaxed winter holidays from their Handmade Holidays Pinterest board.
• Seven Recipes for Beans - Post Holiday Cleaning — Destany at They Are All of Me shares her favorite bean recipes that she hopes will help her body recover from overindulging her sweet tooth during the holidays.
• The Recovery in the Change — Laura at Pug in the Kitchen made changes in her life and attitude throughout 2012 and was pleasantly surprised at how those changes impacted her holiday recovery!
• Could this question change your life for ever? — To get your new year off on the right footing, Mrs Green of Little Green Blog is challenging us all to love ourselves with commitment and discipline. She asks you to focus on a simple question which might just bring you back in balance...
• Holiday Recovery — Meegs at A New Day talks about how the holidays can be overwhelming for a toddler, and how she's helping her 3 year old recover.
• 5 Ways to Detox After the Holidays — Brittany at The Pistachio Project gives a few ways to help you detox and get back on track after the holiday season has passed.
• 3 Simple Ways to Establishing Rhythm After the Holidays or Any Time — Sheila at A Living Family shares 3 simple ways to reestablish a rhythm of connection and calm in your family after holidays, visitors, travel or any time.
• Gemstones For Holiday Hangoverss — Jennifer at Hybrid Rasta Mama delves into the power of gemstones as an often overlooked means of dealing with the holiday letdown.
• Getting back to Healthy — Bess at A Warrior Mom talks about the struggle of getting young ones back to eating healthy after several days to weeks of getting more candy and sweets than normal for the holidays and gives some suggestions on how to get them back to eating healthy in the new year.
• Post Christmas Juice Feast — Sam at Love Parenting explains why she has created a new tradition of juice feasting, and how she includes her toddler when detoxing.
• The Java Monkey On My Back — Christy at Eco Journey in the Burbs realizes it is time to kick her cup of Joe habit as a first step toward detoxing.
• Minimalist Holidays — Jorje of Momma Jorje doesn't find much need for recovery after her minimalist version of the holidays.
• Do something for you — Lauren at Hobo Mama urges you to find a silly and indulgent reward of me-time — and she has hers.
• do we recover? — Kenna at Million Tiny Things wonders what recovery really means in the context of the tragedies of this past holiday season.
• 37 Easy Ways to Save Money — Shannon at GrowingSlower is sharing these money-saving tips to help get your budget back on track after the holidays.
• A Two Year Old's Resolutions — That Mama Gretchen is putting the holidays behind her with a spin on traditional resolutions — New Year's goals for her two-year-old! Sound crazy? Read on for an explanation!
• How to Find Balance after the Holidays — Deb Chitwood at Living Montessori Now tells her favorite ways to start a new year with hope and calmness.
• Fresh Awakening — For Luschka at Diary of a First Child, the new year has coincided with a return to restful nights. With sleep, she's found new directions in life, but while she can't make too many changes to her life right now, she's inspired and excited about the future.
• Learning to slow down after a busy Festive Season — Stoneageparent describes the joys and lows of this year's festive season, as well as her New Year's resolutions.
• Detoxing' Your Toddler After the Holidays — Does your family suffer side effects from the holidays? Join Christine from African Babies Don't Cry to learn how she detoxed herself and her toddler off the treats and festivities of the season.
• Scheduling is OK! — Jaye Anne at Wide Awake, Half Asleep explores the possibilities of the — SCHEDULE!!
• We're Saving their First Christmas for Next Time — Mercedes at Project Procrastinot takes it easy after moving with her husband and new babies to Scotland.
• A Vacation from the World — Mandy at Living Peacefully with Children retreats with her family at the end of every year in order to recuperate and enjoy one another.
• On the Road to Recovery — Dionna at Code Name: Mama isn't just recovering from the holidays, she's recovering from a lifestyle.
• We Never Left the Grind — Erika Gebhardt compares a typical day pre-holidays and post-holidays.
• Remembering and Recovering from the Holidays (One day at a time) — Emily at S.A.H.M i AM is recovering from holidays slowly--taking one day at a time--while trying to remember all the sweet moments that passed too quickly.
• 5 a Day — To get back on track Jennifer at True Confessions of a Real Mommy needed a simple system to help her family learn new values.
• Holiday Detox & Healing: Bieler Broth — Megan at The Boho Mama shares her secret for a gentle, whole-foods-based post-holiday detox: Bieler Broth!
• I'm Mama Not Supermom — After a year filled with changes Angela at EarthMamas World has to remind herself that she does not have to be supermom while recovering from the holiday chaos.

10 Secrets Seasoned Runners Don't Tell You - Usually!

I used to be an avid runner. I loved it. When I was in top shape, I had endless energy, lung capacity and stamina. I was in such good condition that my resting heart  rate was 42 bpm, which is typical of marathon runners.

I loved running, weightlifting, calisthenics, and yoga so much that I over trained and blew out my knee. I didn't need surgery, but it took months to heal and by the time I felt up to running again, I had lost the level of fitness I had gained and felt so disappointed with myself that I just stopped.

I continued eating healthy, even though I had given up (most) exercise but lately my food habits have become very poor. Not only have I gained 25lbs. in the past year, my body feels tired, weak and sick. Yesterday my body decided to hand me a warning in the form of a mild gallbladder attack. I don't ever want to know what a major attack feels like. I had been wanting to start running again, since reading Hobo Mama's post about her 5k, I made a goal to start running again after the holiday fuss died down. My first time out this morning reminded me about the pitfalls and lessons I learned when I was just starting out (the first time.)

Here you have it, 10 running secrets that most runners don't tell you:


1. They Felt Stupid at First, Too.
One of the hardest things for beginning runners to do is put on tight clothing and go jogging in front of people they don't know. Those people stare. It's true! But they're not laughing at you (usually) and most people respect what you're doing for your body. Some are even envious because they want to want to do what you're doing. Many will even offer you an encouraging nod.
As you get into your groove and find your zone, you will learn to tune other people out - so you'll miss the smiles or even waves of support. When you go running, you want to get lost in the rhythm of your body, your breath, the solid pounding of your feet and ignore everything else.
Just a tip though - keep your forearms parallel with your body and avoid twisting your torso when you run - you may feel odd and robotic to do so, but believe me, you'll look ridiculous if you don't. Besides, you waste a lot of energy running like that.


2. Clip Your Toenails Down to Stubs.
I didn't do this when I first started, even though I could feel the nails digging into the sides of my toes, because I had such cute toenails! Stupid, really. Nothing puts a damper on your run quite like the searing stabbing pain of your pinky nail digging into your little toe. It's like this: you can be a runner, or you can look good in sandals. You may find other vanities that take a back seat to your health, such as the need for more frequent bathing/hair washing reeking havoc on your skin and hair - just for an example.
 
3. Swallow, Don't Spit.
When you run, your mouth gets spitty. The rapid air flow through your mouth and nasal area (especially in the colder months) dries your spit and makes it well, phlemy. I know it's hard to imagine swallowing a gelatinous mouthful of booery saliva, but spitting not only wastes precious hydration - it can lead to some very embarrassing mishaps when your loogie doesn't part ways with your mouth in a nice tidy break.


4. Support All of Your Bits.
If you're a dude, wear supportive underwear. Your stuff is going to get really sore if you're out there swinging loose with your testicles smacking the underside of your butt cheeks. If you're a lady, wear a sports bra. Your boobs will thank you.
Also, be aware of nipple chaffing, regardless of your gender. Keep your hair pulled back and dress appropriately - less is usually more. I prefer running in the winter (between 30 and 40 degrees F), and keep my attire down to a pair of full length spandex, a long sleeved t-shirt, a headband pulled down over my ears and a pair of gloves. Make sure you wear the right shoes, too and that they support your feet snuggly.


5. Ain't No Shame in Shuffling!
Many runners do tell you this one. Walk when you need to, run when you can. There is a very popular program out there called Couch to 5k, that uses a system of alternating running and walking and is quite effective.
Shuffling is really slow running - slower than jogging walking, even. But it's still pulling both feet up off of the ground and therefore burns more calories than walking does. The point is, don't worry about how fast your going. When you become a more experienced runner, you can think about picking up the pace. In the beginning, just do what you can and don't fret about it being enough.

6. Everyone Has Bad Runs.
You can rock your run one day and fall short the next. Sometimes your body just isn't feeling it. I know seasoned marathon runners who have bad runs. Maybe you're wore out from a bad week, may be you're fighting off a cold. Perhaps you didn't get adequate fuel the day before. May be it's windy, or you pull a muscle, or you just flat out suck, once in a while. It happens to the best of them.
When you're starting out, you'll likely have more bad runs than good. But every day you run is a day you did something good for yourself.

7. You Don't Need Expensive Gear.
Shhh. Don't tell Nike I told you that! They want you to believe you need special clothing that wicks away moisture and 100$ shoes to keep from jacking up your feet. You want something that allows you to move without binding or constricting. Something that won't flap around in the wind you'll be making. You want a good, supportive pair of running shoes. Stay away from dyed socks and know that natural fibers such as cotton are good for breathability.
Look. Sporting companies make a killing off of people this time a year, by convincing them to drop hundreds and thousands of dollars on stuff they don't need because they think it will make them skinny. Getting into shape doesn't need to cost you anything. Keep it simple.

8. Poop Before You Run.
I'm not joking about this one. When I started out running, I would go in the early noon-time, just before my lunch. Never had any problems. But when my kids started back to school and I needed to get up at 5am to go running, I found myself with a serious issue that nearly kept me from running at all.
You see, it's an odd thing that happens to your body when your heart beats faster - everything speeds up inside your body. Metabolism, blood flow, and even your digestion. Therefore two miles into my run would have me in total misery, longingly eyeing every large bush I passed and sometimes having to head home early. I researched and found that this is not an uncommon problem. The lesson is, know your body and work with it. And also, you may want to plan your route so that there are some gas stations along the way, if you're going to be out a while.

9. High Aerobic Exercise Cleans Your Lungs.
This is a wonderful, fantastic thing. But be aware of it. You see, even if you're not a smoker, you have likely a bunch of crap and sitting inside of your lungs. Dust particles, mainly, and smog if you live in a city. If you live with a smoker, you likely have second hand tar and other nasty things.
Don't be alarmed for the first week or two, when you find yourself hacking and coughing up stuff. It's normal and very healthy.

10. You lose your gains quickly when you stop.
And it's ok. I actually did have a running friend warn me of this, so I was expecting it. It was still disappointing when I did try to start back up, to see how easily my progress was lost. It's also discouraging to think that I had to maintain that level of activity all of the time.
The fact is, what is quickly lost is also quickly regained. If you need to take a break, don't fret. You will lose ground but your body will spring back so much more quickly than it did the first time you started, so take heart. Once you begin for that very first time, you'll probably never have as hard a time with it again.

Whether you find these tips amusing or beneficial, here are some other links to websites that can help you get started as a beginning runner:

Running Mom
Runners Resource
Runners World - Beginners Only
Running Planet - 8 Week Program
Couch to 5K
About.com Running and Jogging


Get up. Go. Run!

So... Do You Want to Learn Yoga?

DISCLAIMER: I know that these poses are not perfect and I do not claim to be proficient in yoga. ;)

 

Yoga has been a love of mine for over ten years. That said, I will go months without practicing, which hinders my progress in advancement. I actually don't strive to advance the way that many do, but rather to maintain. I began yoga as a way to tone my muscles and keep fit. The reasons I do it now are to keep my body from deteriorating now that I'm getting older.

My family has a history of really nasty joint diseases and I also have patella femoral syndrome. After the birth of my fourth child, I began experiencing excruciating hip pain, especially in winter. I know that I am becoming arthritic, and when I am not practicing my yoga my joints suffer terribly. Yoga also can help lose or maintain weight, though that is not a reason for me.

However. If you read this blog with any regularity, you will know that I am a self-teacher and self-proclaimed cheapskate. I don' need no stinkin' yoga classes!

I started out with Wai Lana yoga dvd's (actually, I think I started back when VHS was still being used with regularity. I love Wai Lana, and have the Little Yogi's Dvd for my little ones though I dare say they love to practice their stretches whenever they see me do it.

Yoga with Wai Lana makes me so happy. She is so calm and peaceful and her smile brightens my mood whenever I see it. Her voice is also soothing, but I admit it presents a challenge near the end when she does the relaxation to not fall asleep. I have done this a few times and woke up on the floor completely startled that it had happened.

After a while, I felt the need for something a little more custom.

I began researching the different yoga postures. I went to websites such as Yoga Journal, Mind Body Green, and especially Yoga.About.Com to learn everything I could about the more basic poses.

Mostly, I wanted to know what effect each posture was known to have, to maximize my benefits and purpose. I asked myself, "what do I want Yoga to do for me, physically?"

The answer was of course, help alleviate my joint pain and prevent my muscles from deteriorating from lack of use. So I made a list of those postures that suited my needs the most. I grouped the postures together and came up with 3 different routines that I would alternate, taking care to give attention to all of my muscle groups so none would be neglected.

Youtube searches helped me to see the proper way to get into each position without harming myself and making sure that I understood how to do the postures correctly. Poses such as downward facing dog, the warrior poses, or extended side angle would actually damage my joints further if I did them improperly. I used mirrors and had my kids take my photo while practicing so that I could tell how I was doing. It was very humbling to see myself at first.

I also wanted to know about the history and philosophy of Yoga. It's not enough for me to simply know how to do some of it for my own benefit. Yoga, I perceived, is not simply a manner of exercise. It is a life style, even so much as a religion. While I do not practice all aspects of yoga, I do honor and recognize them. I meditate and reflect and focus on my breathing.

I went to the library and checked out books on Yogis and Gurus and studied them. Among my favorite by far is "B.K.S. Iyengar, The Path To Holistic Health." I have found this man to be a complete inspiration and the book is a treasure trove of information.

I am still learning and improving and striving to be in sync with the rhythms of my body that yoga teaches.

If you need anymore inspiration to try yoga, for whatever your personal reason, take a look at this:

Vegetarian Black Bean, Lentil and Portabella Stew

This is one of those future "Granny's Famous" soup recipes. I've got a couple, but this is my first vegetarian stew and I'm quite pleased with it. I'm sure I will make it plenty here on out, and it's just in time for fall, too! I've made a large batch and frozen the individual portions to ration out over the next few months... Next time though? I think I'll make a double or triple batch. ;-)

1/2 lbs. black beans

1/2 lbs. lentils

Cooking Oil

2 large portabella mushrooms

1 medium onion (1/2 cup)

1 head of garlic (yes, the whole thing)

2 carrots, chopped into pea sized bits

1/2 zucchini

1 bell pepper

3 large tomatoes

3+ cups of water (or vegetable broth)

1/4 cup chopped cilantro

2 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tbs. chili powder

2 tbs. light brown sugar

Cook the beans according the the instructions, but add a tsp. salt so they're not bland. Canned beans will work, but not taste as good. Once the beans are cooked, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add two tablespoons of oil. Dice the onions and saute in the hot oil. You're looking to caramelize them, not simply cook them until they turn clear. Mince the garlic cloves and add them next. Once both the garlic and onion are turning brown at the edges, add the carrot, zucchini, and bell pepper. Cook for 5 minutes then removes from heat.
Skin the tomatoes by dropping them into a bath of boiling water and then into cold water. The skins slip off. Cut the tomatoes up and add them to the vegetables. In a large pot, add the vegetables and water. Add in the beans and lentils and heat to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the cilantro, salt, pepper, chili powder and brown sugar. Once at a boil, cook for 15 minutes or until the lentils are as soft as you'd like. Cool for 10 minutes, then serve.

**Recipe hint - I like to buy a bunch of cilantro when it is in season and chop it up and freeze it into ice cube trays. This not only saves my cilantro from going bad before I use it all, I have it when it's not in season.

One way to deal with a heatwave - dry some fruit!

Drying foods is the earliest form of preservation. It not only saves your fruits and berries, the drying process amplifies their sweetness. You don't need some new-fangled contraption, either. Actually, you don't even need an appliance at all.


You can look up many designs for making a solar drying box, but I'm a simple girl, so I kept it really basic.








I sliced mangos, strawberries, bananas and apples, and also threw in some blueberries.

Try to cut your fruit into even pieces. For the mango, I dried it as is. But everything else was soaked in a simple sugar syrup for ten minutes, either to counter tartness or prevent oxidation.

I laid the fruit in shallow boxes, lined in a dark colored fabric. I placed a dark colored cotton cloth over the top and taped it in place. I then placed it in direct sunlight, away from  where  insects could get them. I have an umbrella clothes line that I could set the boxes on.



Temperatures were well into the hundreds and the air was really dry. Most of the fruit was fairly dry by evening, but I chose to finish them in the oven overnight. I could have left them for two days outdoors or placed glass or clear plastic over the boxes for one day. However, the fruit is now perfectly dry, and I will keep it in a paper bag for two days to equalize it. Not allowing good ventilation in the first few day can cause mold.





Have fun experimenting with different fruits, and drying will give an exceptionally long shelf life to save those fruits that might end up as compost. Don't forget to dry veggies too!

Context over Content

Years ago as a new mother, I was fraught with concern over what my children were exposed to. Namely, the media. As most parents I was - and still am - worried what the impact will be over what they see and hear. Violence, profanity, sex... these are all predominant themes in our culture and what is acceptable for some parents is out of bounds for others.

I kept it pretty basic, and because I was so young and new at the parenting game, I had blanket rules over what I would allow my children to see or hear. Anything with overt violence, of course, was unacceptable. So were movies that would be too scary and give them nightmares. And nudity. Because, of course, nudity implies sex, doesn't it? Anything of a sexual nature must be kept from view. And I felt fortunate that there were all of these ratings on materials that would tell me what I should and should not let my children see and hear.

One day, I was watching one of my favorite movies, "Interview With a Vampire" and I hadn't seen it in a while. Therefore, I was caught off guard by how much nudity is actually in that movie. Full frontal nudity, to be exact. There is a scene in this film, where the child vampire comes upon a square and through the sliver of a door crack, sees a beautiful woman bathing herself. She was fully naked and you could see everything from her breasts to the triangular patch of hair between her legs. My hand flew immediately to shield my six year olds eyes and I was embarrassed and felt guilty all in one instant. And then I paused... and without processing my intent, I dropped my hand and allowed him to look. This woman was not doing anything remotely sexual. She was bathing, that was all. Something we all do, something he had seen me do many times. Why the shame and embarrassment? The content was nudity - the context was completely innocent, a woman taking a bath. If I take him to an art museum, he would see countless naked bodies doing all sorts of nonsexual things. In art, nudity is celebrated. It is beautiful!

From that point forward, I stopped worrying at all of the content, and instead began to focus on the context of material. After all, the above image of a woman standing onstage with her breasts exposed is nowhere near as sexually explicit as two individuals embraced and moving up and down in obvious intercourse - and yet, the ratings on our television and movies do not allow for these fine distinctions. Because of that, we have commercials on the radio that talk about a woman who likes to wake up with a "Dicken's Cider" and how her friend is appalled about the vulgarity of such a statement until she realizes the technical flub that allows such trashy comments to be uttered on the radio - the content of the words Dicken's Cider is completely innocent, the context of what those words sound like when said together is not taken into consideration when laws pertaining to censorship are created.

 

 

The context over content rule applies to many things, not only those which occur in film and television. For instance, swearing. Is shouting the word, "shit" in a moment of frustration nearly as detrimental to a young child as telling them that they have "poop for brains"? Of course not. Yet, swearing is often banned from many households out of hand because it is considered bad for a child to hear, and some parents will say damaging things to their children but feel that they're ok, skating on a technicality. They're not using foul language, they're not outwardly calling their children names, even if they are implying it.

 

A few days ago, I was having a conversation with some friends of mine. We were discussing child pageantry and the outfits those little girls often wear in their competitions. I wish to share part of that conversation but at the same time, I mean no disrespect to those who participate in beauty competitions. These are only my observations, after all. The argument many parents of pageantry girls make is that their children are fully clothed. That they wear less clothing to a public swimming pool or the beach. My counter argument, once again, is the context: the motivations and implications behind those outfits. The makeup, the hair, waxing, tanning, clothes that no grown woman could get away with wearing outside of a strip club or racy stage show (with out others raising their eyebrows at her). It is what those outfits and get ups symbolize in our culture - the context they are designated for being used to judge a little girl is something I cannot reconcile for myself.

 

 

But I recognize that when it comes to context, we all may have a different definition of the context, which is why when censorship is established the lawmakers are forced to use blanket discriminations based on content alone. A friend of mine recently took her two young children to see a comedian-slash-magician perform at her local theme park. She was told that it was family friendly but was sorely disappointed - even outraged as the show was, in her opinion, quite inappropriate for young kids to see. The outfits on the dancers she (and others) claimed, belonged in a strip club, along with the provocative dance numbers. I read a bit of the argument, and some people were upset that these parents were angry. They claimed that women at the beach wear less clothing than those women up on stage, what's the problem?

 

 

The problem, once again, goes back to context. Girls at the beach are there to tan and swim. Of course, they want to look good and the "sexy" innuendo does play a part. Is it the same thing as a costume that is designed for the sole purpose of being sexy, donning thigh high stockings held up with garter belts, bedazzled brassieres and mini skirts while the women undulate, present their backsides to the audience and dry-hump the male dancers or the floor? That, it appears is subject to individual determination.

 

 

A society that has only recently come to tolerate images of breastfeeding mothers in the media (and I use the word tolerate very very loosely), yet allows for regular viewing couples who are in the midst of various intimate acts, but get away with it because technically no genitals are showing, needs to rethink it's parameters of what is acceptable child-friendly content. It all goes back to context, and since it is nearly impossible to regulate on a grand scheme, it is something that every family and every parent must examine and decide for themselves.