I‘m taking a couple of days off from the blog (it’s been a while). As a sort of parting gift, some insufferably patronizing vintage sexist ads. Feel free to discuss, or to just use this as an open thread.
I’ve got a couple of quickie posts scheduled for the next couple of days and will check in from time to time. If some big news story breaks, or there’s a troll run wild, or something else that requires my immediate attention, please email me!
guest, you’re right.
My kids were born in 81 and 84. They had the best of all options for non-gendered toys. Lego and Fisher Price and all the good brands of sturdy toys for tots were in primary colours. Items like play kitchens were either wood, whitegoods white, or – for a special treat – in those marvelous avocado and ochre colours beloved of 70s designers. The cement mixers and other trucks and construction toys were mainly safety yellow and fire engine red.
Now that I have a not quite 6 month old granddaughter, my heart sinks when I look at the pink toys aisle and the camo-black-grey-yellow toys aisle at Kmart and the like.
Fortunately there are a couple of (sometimes ruinously expensive) suppliers to kindergartens and schools who have good quality toys, many of them “educational”, that are suitable for anyone and everyone.
Eli, omg! i’m so sorry :’C
Wishing a very happy easter break to those who have such a thing as an easter break, may your chocolate always have the perfect mouthfeel and your cats be content. Here in Britlandia we got one day of sunshine and are now set to spend the rest of the long weekend being rained on and galed at in traditional fashion.
I had a nice thing happen – I got to say thank-you to Jeremy Corbyn on a street corner. Everyone has feet of clay – I just think he’s the nearest thing to not having feet of clay we’ve seen in a good long while.
Oh yeah, I’ve had a tongue sandwich. I thought it tasted like bologna. I was, in fact, tricked into eating it by a neighbor when I was seven or so. I just don’t understand why it fell out of favor. Maybe because it’s actually used in bologna nowadays?
I remember seeing it in the supermarket when I was a kid, but now we have to go to the Hispanic markets* to find it.
*some of the best markets EVAR (if you can find them, luckily I live in SoCal and they’re plentiful here) Mexican sweet bread FTW!!
Also, oops! I meant beef bouillon, not bullion! Still wrong, wrong, WRONG with lime jello!
@eli
Wow, I’m sorry. That really sucks.
Also, I have never had beef tongue, but I have had alligator meat. It was good actually.
eli I’m sorry. Has he always been like this, or is it a new thing brought to you courtesy of dementia? I’m guessing from what you say that it’s more like dementia has just made an existing behaviour more apparent.
It’s a truly shitty situation, when you must be so tempted to walk away sometimes but can’t due to his age and (presumably) frailty 🙁
@eli: Ugh. Did your dad think he was making a joke? That’s the most charitable reading I can come up with (my dad has made jokes like that, but a) he makes it VERY obvious he’s joking and b) on long drives he lets Mom do all the driving anyway– she likes to drive more than he does!).
If anyone is interested in joining an ongoing play-by chat GURPS Weird Western game, I am seeking an additional player. We meet on Mondays via Roll20 between 4pm (soon to be a bit earlier) and 9pm (usually) Pacific time, whatever that is locally to you.
@ SJA
There’s a place in town that used to do alligator sausage pizza; tasted like a cross between fish and chicken to me.
@Eli
Ugh, I’m sorry.
@eli
You probably know this but it may help for someone else to say it: You’re not selfish or evil if you try to shut him down when he starts being terrible to you. Living a long time and/or being ill is not a free pass to be cruel, and there are many social pressures in our society for women to quietly take abuse that no one should have to take, especially from older male relatives.
You can’t control his behavior or stop him from doing terrible shit, but you can refuse to take it quietly and without any complaint or resistance.
One option I might consider in that situation is countering his “terrible woman driver” narrative with “I’m sorry, total stranger to whom my dad is badmouthing me, for my dad’s behavior. He has dementia and doesn’t always realize when he’s making an ass of himself and ensuring that people won’t remember him kindly.” It probably won’t stop him from being cruel to you on purpose, but it may let you regain control of the story.
Just remember that you’re not selfish or evil for expecting him to treat you like a human being.
@Sally, @SJA, @Dalillama Thank you
@opposablethumbs
Hard to say. I’ve been doing a lot of research about dementia since I moved back in with them and he may have had it for a long time. He was? very smart and it seems intelligent people can hide it for a long time. But he’s always been horrible to me as long as I can remember and was 55ish when I was born. I’d happily walk away from him, but Mom needs me right now (cancer) and I just have to put up with a lot of nonsense to take care of her.
@nequam
YES! He thinks he’s a laugh riot! Always has! But he always gets toddler-tantrum angry if you don’t think his joke is funny (when you’re the butt or when it’s super racist)
Let’s just say…I hate the woman driver thing! Let’s talk about Jello and Beef tongue!
I miss the bodegas from when I lived in NC, but we have some nice korean and middle eastern groceries where I live now!
Beef tongue is fantastic, easy to make (requires some prep work but most if it is the set-and-leave type of prep) and depending on where you live it can be extremely affordable. The tongues are HUGE and can feed you for days.
Once it’s prepared it can be sliced thickly and grilled like steak, shredded for tacos, sliced thin for sandwiches, or any other thing you like to do with beef.
Thank you, Policy of Madness. I do know it, but copied your comment to my “stay sane” file, because other people’s words usually speak louder to me than my own.
Enjoy your well deserved break, David!
I hope you have a nice break, David! If anyone deserves a nice holiday on the beach, it’s you!
Target’s actually making a real effort to stop that shit.
And, naturally, bigots lost their shit over it, because how can a bigot buy a toy for a child if they aren’t told what gender it’s for?!
Yeah, if you guys like that Jello recipe, try this site:
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/
I found a book on this in my library, by accident. I have bad dreams about some of those dishes.
Oh and Buzzfeed has a video of people eating some of the recipes. Let’s just say, those dishes taste exactly how they look.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicaprobus/throwing-up-in-rewind#.pw1E2ngo1
@Dalillama
Gator pizza, huh? That sounds…interesting. I would try it. And yeah, to me it sorta tasted like rubbery chicken. (I know that makes it sound gross, but it really wasn’t bad!) And from what everyone is saying, I kinda want to try beef tongue too. Just not jell-o’d!
@eli
Np. I’m really sorry to hear about your situation with your dad and your mom’s cancer. 🙁 Hoping things get better.
P.S. Enjoy your break David! You deserve it for being so awesome.
Bina:
A penis? That usually works.
Did they make it snappy?
Alligator reminds me of sea cucumber. I know, most people haven’t had that, either. Both are kind of chewy with a metallic umami (think meaty) flavor.
Happy weekend, everyone! I’m celebrating the day by making fajitas.
David F., have a well-deserved break and I hope you get to recharge a bit.
Re the kids’ toys – about 2 years ago, in the run-up to xmas, one of the senators from our Greens party (here in Aust.) had a kind of awareness campaign going, asking people to give some thought to the kind of toys they were buying for kids’ presents, whether the toys bought into/reinforced gender stereotypes, etc. etc. The tabloids and the right-wing commentariat exploded with frothy-mouthed rage and pulled out all the “let kids be kids!” and “the Greens are anti-xmas!!!” stuff.
It would have been funny except the original message pretty much disappeared.
I wish everyone here lots of chocolate (or your preferred alternative) 🙂
Horrid day at work today – busy busy busy and non stop customers at the bar for well over an hour straight, at one point. No time to breathe. But I’m on my way home now looking forward to dinner. My parents said they’d prefer cake instead of chocolate for Easter so I got them a small cake each plus a nice card. ^_^ Also, apparently my grandad has decided to fast forward some inheritance money. It was left to me by my late nan, I was meant to get it when grampy died but apparently I can receive it in the next couple weeks, which is nice.
Oh, and my brother is spending his Easter with a friend in Texas. Well jealous, lol!
Oh. My. $DEITY. My cat is an addict for peeling off masking tape.
And she made the other cat an addict too.
My Dad usually drove, but I suppose that would be less traumatic than his criticizing my Mom’s driving.
@ David: Have a nice break from all this and a nice Spring break!