Senior Week - I Don't Think So

NO, my daughter is not going. Not because I am worried about what she might do. I’m absolutely not. It’s just an environment that she does not belong in. Basically a bunch of out of control teenagers all squished together in one town for a week.

I cannot understand why any mother would endorse, or even worse, actually rent out a place at the beach for High School Senior Week for her daughter plus ten of her friends in a town over three hours away from home as a celebration for them graduating from high school. But that is the deal.

It goes without saying that there will be no parents present. But I’ll say it anyway. There will be no parents present. The parent's role in Senior Week is that a parent has to rent the place because the kids are too young to sign a lease. Hello there. If they are too young to sign a lease then they're too young to stay there without a parent.

Some other parent apparently signed the lease for the place up above where the girls will be staying - for ten accompanying boys.

Each kid is supposed to pay $400.00 to cover the rent. So with both the top and bottom floor, the landlord will be making $8,000.00 for that one week.

Why am I against Senior Week? Because it will be taking place where

• over 100,000 high school seniors flock for Senior Week for “freedom and partying”
  
• the police force is doubled in anticipation of them coming and being there because.......
  
• most of the town's annual arrests take place during this particular time every year.
  
• police issue wristbands to all the kids, so they can ride the bus free - because they anticipate that most kids will be too drunk or stoned to drive.
  

I'm still wondering why the big argument in favor of senior week is that "this is what seniors do”. Really? This is the big senior rite of passage? Wow! What a commentary on our culture and society for thinking it's OK, for landlords and other merchants who profit from it, and on parents for enabling them to participate.

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Prom A Drama Ding Dong

The Senior Prom is a complete aberration on our family's landscape. My daughters are not the type to go to it. They didn't want a senior picture taken or a yearbook. They could care less about the graduation ceremony.

Generally speaking, our family sees the status quo up ahead then turns right around and runs in the other direction, whether or not there is any idea of where else to go instead. I can't really say this is a good thing or a bad thing, it just the way we move through life. I can say tho, with absolute certainty, that it is not an easy way to live.

Sooooo, I was pretty shocked when our youngest daughter told us she was going to the senior prom and asked if I'd make her dress. I've posted about it already a few times. It's been a real pain in the everything but apparently worth it, now that it's just about over.

We're heading into the home stretch of the promma drama, hopefully anyway, because THE DRESS IS DONE. It's hard to believe that we actually designed and created a beautiful, comfortable prom dress without too much screaming, yelling and tears. (I did manage to restrain myself, on numerous occasions, from stabbing The Royal Highness repeatedly with the seam ripper or worse yet, the scissors).

The shoes (third pair - wrong color first time, too tight the second time), earrings, rings and the hair orchids are in her room and ready to adorn.

I'm picking her up from her job in about an hour and dropping her off to get her upper and lower nails shaped, painted, polished and buffed, while I attend a meeting at our high school about what to expect when your child goes to college. (We have two going to college and I already know what to expect - financial ruin - but there may be something else to learn so I'm going). Tomorrow afternoon is the updo appointment, and tomorrow night is the prom.

We will be gathering with her boyfriend's family to take pictures before they head out. One of my best friends, who happens to be a real photographer, is going to meet us there with her camera. So there will be some good pictures soon.

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Prom Dress Commentary From My Mom

I have laughed harder with my mother than just about anybody in the world. She and I have had many laughing times over the years...........in person is the best, but we've had many a laughfest over the phone, and now emailing too.

When she heard about the prom dress being made over here she told me a fantastic story about how she got my youngest sister's prom dress at a yard sale for a quarter. ......ho hum.

Here's the email she just sent to me that made me LOL. So I called her and she and I are on the phone right now talking and laughing as usual.

Here's what she wrote in her email!

"just read your blog about the prom dress mess. I'll write the end of the story for you.

The day of the prom my daughter spent the better part of the day preparing her hair, make up, fingernails, and toenails while in constant contact with her boyfriend. It turned out that we hadn't considered any jewelry so we went to the mall to find something appropriate. There was nothing appropriate but we bought something anyhow. As the magic hour approached, that moment when her boyfriend would soon arrive and she put on the dress viewing herself from all angles in the mirror (full length unfortunately), she made her final decision. "I'm not going", she said. "


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How Not to Whip Up A Prom Dress

There is no way to make this long story short. I must have been out of my mind when I agreed to make my daughter's senior prom dress. Especially because she wants a prom dress with sleeves. Sleeves? YES. Sleeves! And not just any sleeves. A certain kind of sleeve that really isn't a sleeve at all. I've come to learn that it's really more like a wing.

Fabric Store Visit #1
She wanted a black prom dress so we bought black fabric and a pattern that I thought had a little bit of a sleeve thing going on.

We left the store and went home. Then she changed her mind and decided she wanted it out of turquoise. So went went back for

Fabric Store Visit #2 and got turquoise fabric

First Attempt at Whipping Up a Prom Dress

I made the bodice of the dress in the absence of my daughter. This slippery turquoise fabric was difficult to deal with and I had to rip it out a couple of times and remake it. I tried it on her and it was so way to small we had no choice but to chuck the first attempt into the trash can.

Fabric Store Visit #3

I went back to get more turquoise fabric and there was no more left.

Second Attempt at Whipping Up a Prom Dress

We went back to the black fabric and I altered the pattern into something that was basically unrecognizable from the original and made it right on her body. The sleeves weren't long enough for her so I took them out and made new longer ones......and personally thought it turned the dress into a giant T Shirt.....Anyway, the dress was completed from top to bottom, and fit like it was made right on her body, because it was. She really hated it and I hated it. It was just too much black.

Fabric Store Visit #4

We went to get some silver fabric to make a sash to match her boyfriends tie, thinking that would help the dress. We also stopped on the way and got a pair of killer silver and black high heels

Second Attempt at Whipping Up a Prom Dress Continued:

I made the sash and she hated the sash and we both still hated the dress.

My other daughter stopped by and tried it on and asked if I'd make her the exact same dress only shorter and with different fabric so she could wear it all the time. She also offered an interesting comment to her sister about the dress "Pretty dresses are for those girls who are ugly. You are so beautiful it doesn't matter what you wear. It's all about your face and hair." Somehow there was just no consolation to be found in those pearls of wisdom, so we wound up throwing the second attempt into the trash with the first attempt.

The next day we went to the mall to look for a dress to buy. She hated every one she saw, especially the ones I made her try on.
We decided to make her dress, again. So on the way home we stopped for

Fabric Store Visit #5

and found fabric she liked, this time turquoise jersey knit. but they didn't have enough of it.

Fabric Store visit #6

The next day I went to another fabric store and found enough of the turquoise jersey knit and a new pattern with the kind of wings she wanted and then brought her back to the store for approval. She liked the fabric and the pattern, we bought it and out the door we went. We stopped on the way back to return the high heels.

Third Attempt at Whipping Up a Prom Dress:

So far it seems to be going quite well. I've only had to make minor adjustments to the pattern. I'd say it should be completed by Wednesday evening. Then we'll have to go find a pair of shoes so she can stand in them with the dress on and I can figure out where to cut it off.

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Healthy Food Choices for Kids

Every now and then I work in the public school system, and am always shocked at how alarmingly crappy the average diet of most of the attendees is, and you can't just blame it on the school.

Last Thursday I was at an elementary school. The snacks most of these kids bring in from home are non food items, usually boxes, pouches or bags teeming with chemicals, dyes and sugar. In a classroom of 25 first graders one had a bag of grapes and one had an apple but the rest had pure junk food. And then there was a lot of trash afterwards because it was all packaged.

I witnessed one kid who had a bag of Doritos for a snack at 10:00. For lunch, a couple of hours later, that same kid ate another bag of Doritos, a sandwich that consisted of 2 pieces of cinnamon bread with nothing in between them, a container of grape juice, and a container of pudding. I was told that he eats that same lunch EVERY DAY.

They did have a salad bar in the cafeteria, but I did not see one salad made. It was hot dog day so most of the kids had a hot dog on a white bun, juice, pudding and an ice cream bar.

I see this over and over, and whenever I mention my concern to teachers and other staff, the answer is the same and I am dead serious. “It’s all they will eat.”

There is such a simple solution to this insanity. If the choices were salad bar, some fruit, water, homemade soup, etc then THAT is all they would eat………!

btw, the photo above is a painting by Giuseppe Arcimboldo who was born in Milan in 1527 He is famous for his portraits of human heads made up of vegetables, fruits, tree roots, books or other elements.
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