OT: (completely and totally) "Stuff"

The instructions for next week are to (1) not enlighten Matt about the "makeup" in the locker, and (2) tell her buddies that they either have to bring some stuff themselves or kick a few bucks into the "stuff fund." Otherwise, they're going to have to carry purses or go to the nurse. (Within reason, of course. I don't mind a little extra, but four packages a week is a little more than I plan to provide)>>>>

ROTFL yes -- I think you should give her a coffee can for the locker - and put a sign on it

- set a break even price - they'd pay in the bathroom machine too.

At least you are providing GIRL STUFF.... my aunt bought a box of the "boy stuff" for her two when they were in HS

-(she's a nurse - she knows what teen hormones are like...) She said she'd rather buy them those things than have them fathering children....] The box was in a drawer in the bathroom the boys shared....and she told them she would keep it stocked... After awhile - it started to disappear rather quickly (this was the 70's when you still had to ASK at the pharmacy for them).... Alarmed -- she had to inquire

and got a similar story-- things never change....

She just told them Cheryl of DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

hey, it's money...but at least they *do* have someone that they can go to. It is wonderful of your daughter to care for others like that...even though it's out of your pocket.

Just be glad the beads weren't going that way, LOL!

Mary

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kathy N-V :

]Then he said, "You ]girls shouldn't share makeup, it's not clean.""

ROTFLOL!

]The instructions for next week are to (1) not enlighten Matt about the ]"makeup" in the locker, and (2) tell her buddies that they either have to ]bring some stuff themselves or kick a few bucks into the "stuff fund." ]Otherwise, they're going to have to carry purses or go to the nurse. (Within ]reason, of course. I don't mind a little extra, but four packages a week is ]a little more than I plan to provide)

good for you! [AND for DD - her heart was in the right place, anyway!]

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

That is hilarious. It reminded me of a time when I was VP in my first husband's company. The business was in a house, and we provided a fairly well stocked kitchen - condiments, paper supplies, china, silverware, etc etc. Since the bathroom also had a medicine cabinet, I kept a box of stuff there for myself. I didn't mind if anyone else needed one, but I wasn't expecting to provide that particular service to everyone. One day I was running to the grocery store to restock the kitchen and an employee said, "and by the way, I don't really need the superplus size that you usually buy."

I said, "Really? Well I have an easy solution to your problem."

She said, "What? Stop complaining?"

I said, "No. Buy your own."

The chutzpah of some people is not to be believed!

Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

LOL! Well, it's awfully nice to know that your daughter has inherited your generous, helpful nature... but, um, that *is* a little much...

That reminds me of the song "You're so vain", except reworded "You're so vain, you probably think this tampon is for you".

Once upon a time, I had an 18-year-old housemate. I had gone to Planned Parenthood for my checkup/birth control, and as always, came home with about 5000 condoms (this was in the days when Planned Parenthood could still afford to pass them out like candy at Halloween) and decided to put them in a basket on the back of the toilet.

Before long, I noticed that the stock was greatly diminished. *I* hadn't been using them, and I couldn't *imagine* that Jeff had been able to use so many, so I asked him... and it turned out that I was supplying all his teenage friends! Well, I said, better safe than sorry... but you need to go to Planned Parenthood and get more, 'cause I don't feel like hoofing it down there once a week for your friends' sakes!

Kathy...

I was thinking...with the environment that you said some of the children come from, perhaps they can't afford to bring them, either, or would be too embarrassed to ask parent to get them for them for school.

Is there a female head of school (not necessarily the principal, just a person of power), that perhaps could be let known of the situation, and perhaps a couple of bucks could be swung that way? And what is purchased wouldn't have to be top notch...

or perhaps this would be the optimal time to bring up the possibility of the machine in the bathroom. Perhaps one of the wholesale companies would be willing to provide one free of charge (the machine, not the product). Does this school ever experience vandalism?

Some very good points were brought up here. but then again, somehow, it struck an "activist" chord in me...I have *ABSOLUTELY* no idea why!!!

mary

::wiping coffee off the monitor::

You need to warn me first! LOL! Cheri (Bubbee to Emily and Nathan)

That's what we call an "insta-filk", and it's a pretty good one!

Celine

That reminds me of the song "You're so vain", except reworded "You're so vain, you probably think this tampon is for you".>

OH MY GAWWDDD I nearly broke out in laughter in the middle of Landlord Tenant class....... bad bad bad!!!!

Cheryl of DRAGON BEADS Flameworked beads and glass

I thought they stopped making the wonder bread kind with tabs 15 years ago or so! Now, I like not needing a special pair of panties with that little tab thing that poked me in a most tender spot but I would like to know who decided that putting adhesive near a spot with hair was a good thing? Have you decided what youre going to do as an alternative to supplying all the friends for free? Diana

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 12:32:22 -0400, meijhana wrote (in message ):

Actually, I've decided what I'm going to do. It's DD's last year at this school, and in high school, all the girls seem to carry purses. (Apparently the time honored method of carrying stuff in your sock has gone by the wayside) I'll speak with the vice principal, who is female, new and thinks I'm whacked anyway, and see what to do about upgrading the stuff the the nurse gives out, and to see if they can put machines in the bathroom. Since the school budget for this year is already [over]spent, I'm sure that nothing can happen until next September.

So, for the rest of this year, I'll take care of the stuff problem. Tomorrow Bob and I will go to Costco, I'll buy a few of the big honkin' boxes, and replace them when necessary. Also, each term I give the principal a check to cover "miscellaneous expenses." This term, it paid for calculators for the eighth graders who cannot afford them (they're learning upper level math). I'll mention that "stuff" would be a good purchase for my second term check.

BTW, I compute my donation check by taking the tuition I was paying for DD's parochial school and giving that amount over the four terms. I had actually been saving money for DD to go to a really prestigious prep school, but she greatly prefers Sterling. So, I figure even with the donations, I'm way, way ahead.

Lastly, "boy stuff" is available for free to any student. It's in a basket in the health classroom, and can be taken without anyone seeing, as the health teacher leaves her room open when she's off teaching other classes around the building. I'm not sure where they get them - planned parenthood maybe, or maybe some of my miscellaneous money pays for them. I know for sure that it's not included in the school budget (I sit through every school committee meeting, and no way would they pay for that).

Kathy N-V, who would be happy to pay for "boy stuff" as well

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kathy N-V :

]Kathy N-V, who would be happy to pay for "boy stuff" as well

i love knowing you're doing this, and that you're available to DD and her friends!

{{{{{ KATHY }}}}}

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

Kathy, that school is tremendously lucky to have you around. Those kids are very lucky, and I am sure they know that. You're so freaking cool!

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 20:30:38 -0400, Kandice Seeber wrote (in message ):

Naaah, I just remember what it's like to be poor. Being a poor teenager is hideous - everyone around you knows that you're poor, and every aspect of your life is different than that of your peers, just because your folks have no money. It's much worse now, because your peers aren't just your schoolmates - they're the people you "know" on the internet, characters from teen-targetted television shows, and all that marketing.

My DD carries a cell phone. It used to be mine, but since I go nowhere, I changed the plan to a pay as you go account, and gave the phone to her. (I'm generous, not stupid, and when the phone tells you how much money you have left before Mom gets an email, you tend to be more responsible with cell phones) She told me that her cell phone is a major status symbol, and did I have any "dead" ones around. Well, of course I did, they came with all my old jobs. I asked her what use a dead cell phone would have beyond that of a paperweight.

Turns out that having even a dead cell phone is a major upgrade in teen status. The kids keep the phones charged and play the three or four silly games that come on it. They "keep it off" most of the time, so that they don't run up a bill. The only thing that keeps it from being a total prop is that in Massachusetts, even a cell phone with no service plan can call "911" and have it work.

So DD has given away all my prop cell phones away, except for the yellow one I keep in my glove compartment. That one is kept charged, just in case I have to call "911."

Stop reading here if you don't want to hear a sad stuff story:

After my father left my mother, we lived for well over a year on the $68/week that I earned as a sales clerk at a shoe store. Mom was cramming English and trying to get a job that would hire a German speaking woman. Finally, she got one as a cafeteria assistant at the school commissary. She learned English from all the elderly Italian ladies who themselves learned English on the job, a generation before.

While we were living on so little (and remember, this is Massachusetts, where heating bills are a significant expense for more than half the year), things like "stuff" were luxuries. Mom reverted back to survival mode in postwar Germany, and sewed up a bunch of supplies for herself, my sister and I. We had to make do with these homemade horrors until we could scrape together enough money for a box of real stuff. I remember my sister and I hoarding the bought things for when we were out, and wearing the homemade stuff at home (where no one could see us).

When I got a raise in pay, I kept $8/week for my own luxuries. You know what they were? A bus pass, a carton of milk every day at school ($0.06/day), $4 for savings and store bought stuff for the women in our house. I was determined to never have to do the homemade thing again.

I had to laugh a while back when people were discussing making their own in misc.consumers.frugal, to "break the stranglehold" being placed upon women by the product manufacturers. I'd bet a buck that they were only considering it because they had never been forced to wear a horrid, chafing, lumpy homemade pad. (they don't leak because there's a layer of plastic sewn into them)

Naah, I won't begrudge those kids the few bucks it costs to keep them in stuff. I did a bit of checking, and I can use coupons on the sale items at Brooks Pharmacy. This week, I can combine a coupon and a sale price and get "stuff" for $0.88/pack! My FIL grabbed all the coupon sections from the returned newspapers at the coffee shop, and I'll get as many packages as the coupons allow. If I can continue to get deals of that nature, the contribution will be totally painless.

Talking about all this made me remember one of the coolest things my mother did for me. She had an unplanned pregnancy, and was determined that none of us would have children before we were ready. My friends were openmouthed in shock as she would talk about birth control in her broken English, telling them that even though she wanted them to "stay pure," if they didn't, she wanted to make sure that they didn't wreck their lives over it. (Meanwhile her daughters cringed in horror that their mother was talking to people about this --- ewww. Moms aren't supposed to know about that)

In High School one afternoon, I got caught skipping school with a friend, and they called my mother. When she got ahold of me, she wanted to know what was going on. I told the truth: I had been taking many of my friends to the free clinic in town to get the pill. (Or worse, if it was too late for the pill) I had a car and could keep a secret, and knew the people at the clinic.

Mom gave me a hard look, sat down, and suddenly seemed to have aged ten years. I thought I was dead for cutting school. When she spoke, it was not at all what I expected. "You listened! All those years when I told you to practice birth control, so you wouldn't screw up your life you actually listened."

Then she started crying, and told me that she was proud of me. Later, she had a chance to be equally proud of my sister, who without knowing about my trips to the clinic, started taking all her friends to the clinic, too. I've shown Manda where the clinic is, and about these stories. I fully expect that she'll take care of her friends when the time comes, too.

Kathy N-V

Wow, I'm *impressed*. Any public high school around here that had "boy stuff" available for free on school property -- no matter who was paying for it -- would get PILLORIED by the RRR.

Celine

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@mindspring.com (Lee S. Billings) :

]Wow, I'm *impressed*. Any public high school around here that had "boy stuff" ]available for free on school property -- no matter who was paying for it -- ]would get PILLORIED by the RRR.

but it's Massachusetts.

BIG, BIG difference!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003 22:45:55 -0400, vj wrote (in message ):

It's also kept very, very quiet. This isn't a program that's announced in the newspaper, it's something with private funding as an adjunct to a health class. The teacher's not exactly forcing them on kids. There's a basket, and if the condoms disappear, more condoms magically reappear.

I believe that there's parental support for this, but not voter support. Our voter base is overwhelmingly elderly, and they knock down any program that doesn't directly benefit them. We seem to have few community minded old people here, which is really too bad.

Amusing Anecdote: Because I'm usually surrounded by kids, and because I'm small, many older adults mistake me for a teenager. Yesterday, while out at lunch with my mother, someone mistook me for a kid while I was with my mother, which was highly unusual. Mom pulled into the handicapped spot, I put the pass in place, and Mom pulled the wheelchair out of the trunk. Then I got out of the car and _walked_ to the wheelchair.

Within a nanosecond, I had my usual scenario of "old bat screaming venom at me because I don't look handicapped enough."

I didn't do anything. I didn't have to. My mother went into ferocious tiger mode and pulled a Siegfried and Roy on that lady. After a few moments of my mother, the woman apologized, saying that I appear to be healthy. I reminded her that a lot of ailments don't show on the outside, and that we are not yet required to wear T-shirts describing our infirmities.

Afterward, Mom was in shock. (She was silent for five whole minutes) She told me that she never dreamed people had enough balls to say such things, and had it ever happened before. It was almost incomprehensible to her to discover that I get that crap on a daily basis.

Kathy N-V