The Saturday Post: Shake it out edition

/

I love this woman's voice. After the hot and rough week that it was, I especially love this acoustic version of one of her most popular songs.

"It's hard to dance with a devil on your back, so shake him off."

Want to see the original version? Click the link for Florence and the Machine doing Shake it Out.

Shake it out today, my friends! Happy Saturday!

Music feeds the soul and more

/

I have pretty diverse taste in music. That said, I doubt I would have ever heard of Jay Sean if not for the ConAgra Foods Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. I'm delighted to have "met" him through the campaign, though, and would like to now introduce him to you.

Not only does Jay Sean have a good voice—I know that for a fact because I used the code from a can of Hunt's Pasta Sauce to download his version of Here's Hope—he has a good heart, too, and is passionate about helping end child hunger.

You can help end child hunger, too—without having to record a song. Here's how:

  • Purchase specially marked packages of select ConAgra Foods brands (see list below), then visit www.ChildHungerEndsHere.com to enter the eight-digit code.
  • For each code entered, the equivalent of one meal—up to three million meals*—will be donated to Feeding America.
  • You also can download one song per code. Jay Sean, Jewel, and Owl City have each recorded individually Here's Hope—the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign's original song, written by Hunter Hayes, Luke Laird and Barry Dean—and you can choose one download each time you enter a code.
  • Codes (from packages specially marked with the red push pin) can be redeemed through August 2012.
  • In addition to downloads and access to other content, you can also submit your zip code to enter your local Feeding America food bank into a competition for an 80,000-meal donation. At the end of the campaign, ten food banks in the zip codes with the most entries receive the donation courtesy of ConAgra Foods.

ConAgra Foods brands participating in Child Hunger Ends Here include:

  • Banquet
  • Chef Boyardee
  • Healthy Choice
  • Hunt’s
  • Marie Callendar’s
  • Manwich
  • Orville Redenbacher
  • Peter Pan
  • Snack Pack

*Enter the 8-digit code and a monetary donation will be made to help provide one meal through Feeding America's network of food banks, up to a maximum of 3 million meals for codes entered through 8/31/12. Valid in U.S. only. $1 donated = 8 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local food banks.

You can also participate in Child Hunger Ends Here discussions on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ConAgraFoods and tweet along on Twitter by following www.twitter.com/ConAgraFoods and using the #ChildHunger hashtag.

Of course, you are always welcome to record a song about child hunger, if you feel moved to do so. Just be sure to send me a link when you're done. I'd love to hear it.

Like I said, I have pretty diverse taste in music.

 

Disclosure: I have been compensated for my participation in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign and all posts, tweets and updates related to the campaign. That said, anecdotes and opinions are my own and not influenced by anyone.

Finding hope at the grocery store

/

I went grocery shopping last Friday, which is, I've mentioned before, my least favorite thing in the world to do. As I went up the snack-food aisle, I saw the Orville Redenbacher's popcorn packages marked with a big red push pin designating it as part of ConAgra Foods' Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. Which made me smile despite my grocery-shopping blues.

Then it made me feel like a numskull. Because it reminded me that I had intended to add to my grocery list some of the products included in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign but had completely forgotten to do so. Which isn't very Blogger Ambassador-like of me.

I did grab the Orville Redenbacher's, though, and I felt a little better knowing I'd make at least a small difference. Yesterday I used the code from the popcorn box to donate one meal to Feeding America and to download Jewel's version of Here's Hope, the song written especially for the campaign. It's a catchy song—and especially poignant sung by Jewel, who has faced food insecurity herself.

Here Jewel talks about her experience with child hunger, the song Here's Hope, and her participation in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign:

 

To download Here's Hope from Jewel—or from Owl City or Jay Sean—purchase any of these products specially marked as part of the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign:

  • Banquet
  • Chef Boyardee
  • Healthy Choice
  • Hunt’s
  • Marie Callendar’s
  • Manwich
  • Orville Redenbacher
  • Peter Pan
  • Snack Pack

Then, with your code in hand (from the specially marked box), head on over to www.childhungerendshere.com to download your song. You will enjoy a tune, and a child in need will enjoy a meal.*

It's as easy as that to make a difference. And to get a catchy tune—for free.

*Enter the 8-digit code and a monetary donation will be made to help provide one meal through Feeding America's network of food banks, up to a maximum of 3 million meals for codes entered through 8/31/12. Valid in U.S. only. $1 donated = 8 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local food banks.

Disclosure: I have been compensated for this post and my participation in the Child Hunger Ends Here campaign. That said, anecdotes and opinions are my own and not influenced by anyone.

The Saturday Post: Into The Mystic edition

/

I'm proud to say that I am indeed Irish and not just on St. Patrick's Day. In honor of the holiday, here's my favorite Irish musician, Van Morrison, singing one of my all-time favorite songs of his.

May the luck o' the Irish be with us all!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Now that I'm a grandma: Realization #47

/

I admit it: I am a prude. I use the word loosely here, not in a sexual sense. I simply mean I've become straight-laced. And I didn't used to be. I've done and said and been all kinds of things in the past that were not very prude and straight-laced at all. Some actually not so far in the past and some still presently going on.

For one, I've always considered myself a pretty rocking grandma. Hard rock is my music of choice more often than not. And I only recently quit going to rock concerts—because of economics, not age.

Plus, while I've never been a cigarette smoker, I sure as heck still enjoy alcohol on a fairly regular basis. I'm talking 7&7s, too, not some girly umbrella drink.

And swearing? I don't say the F-word myself—except when I poke myself in the eye with the mascara wand—but I have no qualms about others saying it. Well, unless, of course, it's mothers saying it in front of children, regardless of their children's age, or people who utter it only when they've downed two or ten too many margaritas, mojitos or Miller Lites. Same goes for GD when anyone says it, regardless of reason.

Yes, I admit that unless I'm around my grandkids, I show little restraint when it comes to spewing bad words, especially those that begin with S, H, D, B, or A. When writing blog posts I typically write <cuss> instead of writing the cuss word I have in mind, but in real life I can be a real potty mouth.

I'm not proud of that potty mouth nor of any other non-grandmotherly things I do. But there was always some twisted sense of pride in being able to say I'm not a prude.

Well, not anymore. Alas, I am indeed a prude.

I lately felt prudeness creeping up on me as I noticed more and more of my friends and family apologizing to me when they uttered certain utterances that typically make grandmas cringe—even if I hadn't cringed, hadn't even noticed the offense. Now, though, I know for a fact that I'm in full-blown prude status. At least when I'm in charge of my grandsons.

I realized I'd officially crossed over to Prudeville when I took Bubby to see The Adventures of TinTin. It's rated PG, so I figured it would be safe to see with my nearly four-year-old grandson. He had no problem with it but within the first five minutes, I did. I had a huge problem with it and actually considered leaving the theater. There were guns and fisticuffs and unsavory behavior from the moment the title sequence flashed across the stage. Guns, I tell you! Shooting! All being deliciously savored by my grandson, who is not allowed to have guns, not allowed to watch violence beyond what takes place in nature, like in, say, The Lion King and Jungle Book.

As Bubby smiled and swayed and reeled from gunfire and leaned over to me to say, "This is a great day and the movie is the best part, Gramma!" I sat there worrying that I was warping the sweet little boy beside me, that the gentle soul who had accompanied me into the theater would transform into the town bully when we walked out. Because of the violence I let him witness on screen.

And the drinking. Of alcohol. Oh my! One of the main characters in the movie was a drunk. A sweet drunk, but a drunk nonetheless.

I think there were actually a few swear words in the film, too. I don't remember for certain, though, as I was just too consumed watching for blood to spurt during the swashbuckling scenes (it didn't) or death to come to one or another of the bad guys who stood in TinTin's way (which it didn't). Or to the drunk, or, heaven forbid, to TinTin himself and his little dog, too. (Again, it didn't. Luckily.)

Bubby loved the movie, talked about it at length on the way home. And he didn't take aim at Baby Mac with imaginary guns or pretend to slice up Mom, Dad, or the dog with a fake sword. And he didn't chug his drink then slam down his glass as if a tankard and tell Mom "Hit me up again!" at dinner. Luckily.

Still, I felt bad, as if I'd tainted my grandchild. Which is ridiculous, I know. It was a PG movie, for heaven's sake. Megan and Preston drink alcohol. They watch violent shows on TV (after Bubby has gone to bed). They use swear words. I'd venture to say they've even let the F-word fly when little pitchers were unknowingly nearby.

It's their taste in music, though, that proved my ultimate saving grace, saved me from being the one who tainted Bubby. It also solidified for me my self-label of prude.

To wit: As Bubby and I drove home from the movie that fateful day, he shouted from the back seat "Turn it up, Gramma" when LMFAO (whom I later learned was the artist) came on the radio. He then proceeded to sing along.

And it was that very moment, as I watched Bubby in the rearview mirror popping about and singing, "Girl, look at that body...I work out!" then "Wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle, yeah!" that I knew I had crossed over. I had become a prude.

Bubby's wiggle dance was truly hilarious as <cuss>, but golly gee, it just seemed so wrong.

That right there, my bristling at a song that clearly made Bubby so happy, was the last straw, the final bit of proof that I've entered Prudeville.

And there's no turning back. Forget the Sexy and I Know It song. The only song this grandma will be doing the wiggle dance to is one a little more tame.

Well, at least in title. My song: I'm Prude and I Know It.

C'mon, fellow grandmas, join in! Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah! Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, wiggle, yeah! We're prude and we know it.

Maybe?

(One small confession: I'm not that much of a prude because I've actually had a weird affection for the LMFAO song ever since Bubby introduced it to me with his back-seat wiggle dance. Just don't tell anyone. And I won't tell anyone if you click on that link above and listen to it over and over and develop a wiggle song all of your very own.)

The voting continues: If you liked this post—or Grandma's Briefs in general—please vote for Grandma's Briefs in the About.com Favorite Grandparent Blog poll. Vote once per day through March 21. Thank you!

Today's question:

How much of a straight-laced prude are you?