Remember the dress? Of course you do. It’s ADORABLE.

Well, not so long after I posted about the dress, I realized that I had two dresses and two daughters. And that my daughters were the right combination (a younger chubby one and an older skinny one) that I may be able to get them each to wear a dress at the same time.

Now, I’m not normally a “dress them up the same” kinda person. They’re very different people with very different personalities, and I love and respect that. But as a “once in a while for a photo shoot” kinda thing, I’m all over it like gravy on a biscuit.

First I tried to do it myself.

Then, I decided to take the dresses to the States and pay to have it done. Since everything is cheaper in the States, I figured it would be better to do it there.

We made an appointment at Olan Mills, but after waiting well over an hour past our appointment time and being continuously ignored, we left and went to Sears. Thank you, Olan Mills, for sucking so severely. I could not have possibly been happier with whatever you would have done, especially since I would have been really pissed off by the time you saw me, and probably not as photogenic.

It’s a good thing we went to the States when we did, because Maggie’s already outgrown the smaller dress. Pretty soon, she and Dagmar will be wearing the same size.

It’s purely coincidence that Transatlantic Blonde mentioned Mickey Mouse Clubhouse when I was already planning to rant about it for today’s Feminist Friday. I had no idea she would! But as it happens, I’ve been steaming about it for a few days.

It’s just one little scene in one little episode, but I can’t seem to stop thinking about it. The gang is getting on a boat. Mickey hops on. Pete offers his hand to Minnie and Daisy. Then Donald reaches for Pete’s hand, and Pete gives Donald a dirty look. There’s enough pause and sound effects and whatnot to make it clear that this is supposed to be a joke.

Seriously? In 2011, people still make this junk? What is so ridiculous about a man needing or wanting help onto a boat? Do we seriously need to teach our kids that women need help onto boats but men can’t possibly need help onto boats? It really baffles me that enough people involved in the production of this cartoon think this is a valid use of their animation time. It isn’t as if Donald is known as a very physically strong character, and that’s what made it funny. The only context I can come up with is men vs. women.

My new site idea is taking a lot longer to implement than I want, because of a lot of other junk going on, so I’m just gonna hop back in here and make a new post. Melaina over at Transatlantic Blonde has been nagging me to join her Feminist Friday. And I say nagging in the most loving way possible, because I know she knows that I actually do want to participate and actually do need some prodding to get around to doing it.

Forgive me, as I’m using an app on my iPad to blog this, and I have never used it before, so I might not figure out how to add links and pretty stuff just yet, but here we go.

This week’s topic is on raising feminist children. I want to address something I’ve read many times that really bugs me. I’m talking about comments that go something like this, “I don’t want to stay home with my children because I don’t want them to think that women NEED to stay home.”

If you don’t want to or can’t stay home with your children, then fair enough. But if this is really your only reason for not doing it, I kinda have to WTF for a minute here. If you are a doctor, will your kids think women NEED to be doctors? Or that women NEED to work outside the home? OF COURSE NOT. Surely you do not honestly believe that your career choice (or non-career choice) is the deciding factor in what your children will believe is possible for women. Whether you stay home or not, there are many other things you’ll be doing to show your kids what is possible.

At the present time, I’m a SAHM. I don’t know how long that will last, due to many reasons, but anyway, it’s true now. But my girls see their aunts who have jobs, their grandmothers who are retired from jobs, their friends’ mothers, some of whom have jobs, had jobs, are looking for jobs…. We go out to museums, amusement parks, restaurants, doctors’ offices, supermarkets, and shops where women are visibly employed. I have to say, I do not stress at all that my girls will think they have no choice but to stay home with their children in the years to come.

Actually, I am more worried that if they WANT to stay home, it won’t be an option. But perhaps that’s a topic for another day.

(There is something I do find myself having to work at, though, and that’s keeping other bias out of my parenting. I mean little things like, when we were at a zoo, and my gut reaction was to say “ew!” at an ugly insect. But I realized I don’t want my daughter saying “ew!” just because I think it’s nasty. She might like insects, and that’s ok. So I try to remember to say “look at this!” instead. She can decide if it’s nasty for herself.)

I’m bouncing around some ideas to makeover the site. I may be low on new content for a while but hopefully it will pay off in the long run.

When I was pregnant with Dagmar, but still didn’t know if I was pregnant with Dagmar or with Ridley, I saw a little girls’ dress at H&M and fell in love. A part of me wanted to buy it, but then I thought I would feel foolish if it were a boy, so I kept walking.

In retrospect, I should have bought it. It’s not like I don’t know moms who would love a present. Someone would have loved that dress. But I kept walking, and I thought, we’ll find out the sex soon and I can come back. Only we didn’t find out soon, because we had the evil ultrasound tech. By the time we found out, H&M wasn’t carrying the dress anymore, and I was so sad. I didn’t lose sleep over it or anything, but I had been looking forward to buying the dress, and I couldn’t.

Then one day, when Dagmar was about a year old, I saw the dress. For sale. At my local H&M. There was a whole rack of them, but in the back of the store where I just happened upon them by accident. Angels started to sing and clouds parted to let down a magical, eerie whisp of light. (Yes, there are clouds in H&M. At least at the one here.)

I was not about to make the same mistake twice. I bought the dress twice, at once. That is, I bought it in two sizes, because I knew I’d be upset when she outgrew it. It might sound silly, but I am totally patting myself on the back now, because I still love this dress. I love it so, so much, and I love it even more now that Dagmar can point to all the things on it and name them in Dagmarish. Like the fie (flower), raf (giraffe), fun (elephant), twee (tree), and abe (monkey… and don’t laugh because it’s actually spot on pronunciation in Danish!).

Well, Dagmar had picked out the dress to wear herself (*beam*) and was running around being cute, when I realized something would make it even cuter. Pigtails. I knew it was a long shot, but if she could just keep them in for one little evening….

Well Iiiiii’ll beeee! She did it!

It comes up often enough, I thought it was high time I made something I could link people to, so I don’t have to repeat myself.

If you use the message boards on The Knot, The Nest, or The Bump, this is how to make a signature, or siggy for short. Most of the directions will be useful for any message board that has HTML signatures, but I’ll be specifically talking about and taking screenshots of The Nest when it’s site-specific. And my other screenshots will be on a Mac computer using a Chrome browser, but it will work fine on any computer, so ignore any subtle differences. K? K.

1. Find a picture. You need a digital picture (ending in .jpg or .jpeg or .gif or .png) somewhere on your computer. It can be scanned in or fresh off your digital camera, or it can be something you edited beyond recognition. It doesn’t matter. It just needs to end in one of those extensions and you need to know where it is on your computer.
   
   Personally, I like to mess with my pics. I’ll teach you that later in another lesson maybe. Anyway, here is my pic in Finder (Explorer, in Windows-ese).
2. Get it online. There are several sites out there that will let you do this, but let’s use tinypic. Go there, and fill in the form like so:
   
   You want to make sure you set the “resize” option so you don’t get a crazy big siggy. Hit “Upload now!” and prove you’re a human.
3. Copy the HTML. Click on that very first box under “HTML for Websites” and copy it.
   
4. Paste it into your siggy. Go to your profile.
   
   Sometimes it makes you log in again for some reason.
   
   Click to edit your avatar & sig.
   
   Go down a bit to your forum signature and paste it in.
   
   Then hit save below that box and you’re done! Enjoy!
5. Extra stuff! This is optional stuff you can add to your siggy now that you have a picture in there.
   • Want some text too? No problem! If you want it above your picture, start typing it before that code you just pasted in. If you want it below your picture, start typing it below that code. There’s a catch, though! You’ll want to put a line break between the picture and your text. The way to do that in HTML is by typing <br />. Observe:
     
   • How about a link? Tinypic puts a link around your picture for you, so you can kinda copy what they did to make your own. See that “<a href=” stuff? That’s the link. Here’s an example where I make the text above my pic link to my blog. You need <a href=” WEB ADDY!! “> before what you want the link to be, and </a> after.
     

(If you’re already familiar with Eurovision, feel free to submit your fave ESC moments in a comment!)

North Americans are totally missing out. No one over there knows anything about Eurovision. If you are new to Europe, or haven’t made it over here yet, you need to be educated! Good thing I am here to help you. You’ll get a vey brief rundown of the history and excitement of the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in enough time for you to get excited about it before this year’s airs in May.

a song that became successful after ESC

In the early days, there were few counties and it was all about the songs, but as time has gone on, the number of participating countries climbs, as does the use of wind machines, interpretive dance, and sequins. Each country submits a performance, and there’s a big vote off to determine the winner. Despite the name “Eurovision” having “Euro” right in it, being European is not a requirement. The participating counties must be active members of the European Broadcasting Union, which includes some decidedly non-Euro countries like Israel, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. Furthermore, each country can send whatever performance they want, whether the performer(s) are from that county, sing in (or even know) that country’s language, or have any relation at all to the country, or not. Indeed, Celine Dion brought Switzerland a victory in the 80s, despite being Canadian instead of Swiss. Then again, sometimes the songs are really laughably stereotypical of whatever country they’re from. It’s a good mix!

another famous ESC moment

Also despite the words “Song Contest,” many people feel it has less to do with songs and more to do with politics, stage performance, sex appeal, etc. It’s a popularity contest. Anything involving voting is going to be subject to human beings voting for whatever stupid reasons they want. Some people find this irritating, but I choose to find it wacky and exciting. I’m horrible at guessing what people will like, it seems. I’m always surprised by the results. Some songs are soon forgotten and others achieve some level of success. Notably, Sweden’s 1974 entry was the start of considerable success, but usually it’s not quite that much.

can you believe this didn’t win it all in ’82?!

Eurovision songs range from folky to comical to heavy metal to blues, but they’re rarely ever boring, even if not your style and even if not very good. Sometimes you’re wondering how that could have possibly been the best the whole country had to offer. Sometimes you’re left speechless. Sometimes the comedy is unintentional, and sometimes it’s not.

such a well-deserved #2 spot in 2007

Each country can pick their entry pretty much however they want. In Denmark, there’s a mini song contest called the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. For 2011, Denmark is sending A Friend in London with their song, “New Tomorrow.” I didn’t vote for it. I think it’s the worst of the ten songs from this year’s contest. I think it’s kinda funny that some guys with funky hair and animal skin vests make such airy fairy music, but that’s about all it’s got going for it. Even though my three votes didn’t end up pushing this crappy song out of the winning slot, I am still glad I paid a few kroner to show my disapproval. I did my part. I’m not even going to link you to it. You can see it live in May! Yes, even if you’re stuck in some non-Eurovision country, you can watch it streaming online from the Eurovision website. So put it in your calendars for May 10, 12 and 14. It’ll make you wish you grew up with this stuff!

Bonus: Eurovision was also the inspiration for the best episode of Father Ted ever.

Hedgehogs are found all over Europe, Asia, and Africa, and are an introduced species in New Zealand. There are no native hedgehogs in North America, so the readers from my homeland probably know vey little about them other than they look kinda like tiny porcupines, and there was a video game featuring a blue one that rolled around a lot.

They’re very common in Denmark, so I’m told. They are nocturnal, though, so I don’t stumble across them all the time or anything, and have never actually seen one in person in this country. I know they’re vey cute, but aren’t particularly exciting pets. Some people care quite a bit about animals, even ones that don’t make good pets.

Kirstin Fournais is one such person. After a successful career designing jewelry for the famous Danish designer, Georg Jensen, she retired to devote her life to animals full-time. She runs Pindsvinevennerne (Friends of Hedgehogs). The site is in Danish, but if you can’t read it, it’s still worth clicking “Galleri” and checking out the cute pics and video. They really are quite cute. She has 92 hedgehogs in her home. Yes, really. And another couple hundred people working for her also caring for more hedgehogs in need. She has learned enough about hedgehogs through her rescue efforts that she can educate her own vet on how to care for them. In addition to her many hedgehogs, she’ll also take in other animals who need some extra TLC, or even who just need a new home.

Such as my Lidja. As luck would have it, she had recently told her vet she had space for an elderly cat if anyone came in looking to put one down. A friend of hers, who found out about Lidja via my email plea to LINK members, approached her asking if she knew anyone who would take an older cat. Not only did she know someone, but she was that someone! Tomorrow, Lidja will be moved to her new home with a kind, loving woman who lives for animals. I can’t imagine a better place for her.

My Danish readers can support Pindsvinevennerne by becoming a member for only 80 DKK a year. There is also a nice selection of postcards with cute pictures, should any of you be of the Postcrossing persuasion. I will definitely be lending my support to the woman who is taking on the cat who has been such a good friend and companion to me for these past nearly 10 years.

Enjoy your new life, Lidja Fach-Pedersen!

I have nothing to complain about today.

Um, at least the sookie and the diaper match.