The blame game, Sex in the City style

J.'s not allowed to take her friends with us to see movies anymore if they are R-rated.

Not after the fiasco this weekend. J. and Gary were going to to go up and watch a soccer match this Saturday, after frankly, I wish they had.

They decided to go to Sex in the City instead, so I tagged along, as did one of J's closest friends, Ashley. Now I remember asking the mom "you've seen sex in the city, right? You know what the episodes, and probably, the movie will be like, right? And you're okay with this?" She was.

We met the dad, getting ready to pick up the kids for the weekend on the way out. We told him where we were going, and invited him to come along. Dismissing it as a chick flick, he declined.

So off we went. And I admit, some parts were pretty risque, even for me. But overall, I thought the messaging of the movie was pretty tame (stick by your man, remain in a committed relationship, etc.)

Three hours later, we arrive to drop off friend, and there is dad waiting on the porch, saying he didn't realize we were taking her to an R movie or one that is was so "morally bankrupt." Gary and I were so shocked, we didn't say anything, which is probably just as well. We want to keep the friendship intact between the girls. We did a slow burn on the way home.

I resisted pointing out that said friend had just been to a horror movie(not with us, we hate those films). Did he realize his daughter had seen Juno? I'm not sure if it's R or not, but it does have some pretty revealing scenes, not to mention the long-distance guys jogging by in closeup. And no, the camera is not on their faces.

Even my mom, who doesn't like the fact I take J to R-rated movies was annoyed we seemed to be given the roles at the bad guys in this little episode.

But, at any rate, to keep peace with all parties involved, the friends are banned from R movies from now on. We'll try to keep the moral bankruptness to ourselves.

A Great Day Balancing the Budget, Then the Day Goes to Heck

Went as a chaperon to Junior Achievement with J. middle school class (only field trip this year by my count) and the kids were supposed to balance out a budget given a profile they received (married, 2 kids; single, 3 kids, married, no kids) and salaries ranging from $21,000 to $50,000 a year.

And darned if the kids didn't make a good go if it, finding room to pay the mortgage, rent, car payments, food, insurance, vacation, med. insurance, down to savings and donations. J. ended up as a single woman with a salary of $51,000. So she lived on the beach and drove a sports car. She had $7 left over at the end of the month.

I think some adults, moi included, could use this rundown.

But then things went haywire from there. Her best friend wouldn't "wait for her" a faux pas in friendship etiquette. Wouldn't save her a seat and one of the girls put a sticker on her back and no one would tell her about it.

Then the coach got mad at some girl mouthing off, and made them run lines until they were in tears. Ahem. This isn't the 1980 Olympics team (see Miracle if want to know what I'm talking about) or the Marines.

So I picked up a tearful J. in the back of the gym.