Cher shirt

My mom and dad came over yesterday to help us get some belated spring cleaning done. We got the picnic table moved off the porch, the deck furniture down from the garage attic and various other odds and ends that have kind of needed doing for a while but we just haven't been able to muster up the ambition to do them. Every time my mom comes over, she always brings a bit of my past with her, and yesterday was certainly no exception.

In 1990, she, my brother and I all went to see Cher's Heart of Stone tour in Ames. I remember my dad was going to go but he had to teach night class or something, so that's how my brother got in on it. If you know anything about that tour at all, you'll know that it was a little bit of a let down. It was a concert full of cover songs with just a few of Cher's current songs, despite have two full albums to pull songs from. Sure she sang an Eagles song and a Gregg Allman song and a Doobie Brothers song, but why didn't she sing more CHER songs? Isn't that what we paid money for? Clearly, she learned her lesson as the Believe tour was very hit heavy and the only cover was a kick-ass version of U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For." It was so kick-ass she did it again on the Farewell Tour.

At any rate, my mom found this shirt that we must have bought at the show 21 years ago, and naturally, she brought it to me.


I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do with a shirt with a 24" image of Cher on it (wear it to bed? Give it to Anna to use as a nightgown?) and then I decided, much like the Sticky & Sweet Tour shirt, if I can't wear a Cher tour shirt to Des Moines Pride, where the hell else can I wear it?

So if you stop by Heidi and Marie's booth the weekend of June 11th and 12th in downtown Des Moines, chances are you'll see me with a 2 foot image of Cher on my chest.

Like father, like daughter

This is one of my daughter's favorite shirts.

Can you read what it says? If not, click on the picture and you'll see it says "Candy Shop." We gave this to her as part of a Valentine's Day present this year. When I saw it at Target, I simply couldn't resist it.

It made my heart go pitter-patter when she got it and immediately got the reference. It shouldn't have surprised me, especially after her comments on "candy galore" and "Hey Dad, her sugar is raw." Yep, I must be doing something right.

Whenever she wears it (which is frequently), I always have to walk up to her and start singing "Say which flavor you like and I'll have it for you..." which immediately elicits a frustrated "Daaaaaad!" response - a foretaste of what is to come, no doubt. But I think that she secretly likes it. I have to be careful about what I say about clothes she wears. Back when she was 3 or 4, I made an offhand comment about how a shirt she had made her look like a jailbird (black and white stripes) and her response was to never wear it again. Needless to say, it was not one of my more stellar parenting moments, but I think I more than made up for it here.

Naturally, none of her friends get the reference. She just tells me that everyone keeps trying to pick the candy off of her shirt.

You Are Screwed

I totally want this shirt. Heidi, are you listening?

(a closer look at the design)

My favorite part is the "You Are Screwed" at the center of the shirt.

Real blogging soon, I promise. I have a bunch of stuff I want to write, but neither the time nor the brains to actually do it.