Like a Simile of a Racist Metaphor

Lizzy and I are reading the Encyclopedia Brown books, because I dug out my old one and she loved it. They're great books that help her learn problem solving and critical thinking, and lead to lots of good discussions about things that don't really apply anymore (they were mostly written in the 1960's), except for one thing.

I'm okay with explaining that 25 cents is a reasonable price for a day's work (for a brainy ten-year-old) in 1965. I can even deal with explaining (ad nauseum) that yes, we call the people who were here before us Native Americans now, but that they didn't back then and that's okay as long as we look at it in the historical sense.

But the constant stream of phrases like, "Encyclopedia leapt to his feet faster than Sitting Bull on a branding iron," and, "More feathers than a powwow," make me want to shake the author of the book, even back in the 1960s.

Lizzy accepts them with equanimity, except for the, "Native Americans, right, mom?" She says it almost every time.

She's a good kid, and I'm proud of her.

I'm also proud of the company I work for; I work as a tech support rep at AT&T Mobility. And right now they're canceling the charges for all calls and texts to Nepal.

That's a very cool thing to do.

And I'm glad I work there.

The Stones Knew

When Abby was little, maybe three, not long after Laston and I met, he made her cry by singing the Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You Want.

He likes to suggest that she was spoiled - and she may have been, a bit - but she was also only three, and thus, had no real concept of not getting what she wanted, immediately and at once.

Lizzy is seven though, and is having the same problem right now; at this time it's because a show she and Abby have been watching all through spring break is not available for free streaming after season one.

Alex has been kidnapped and is in dire peril.

Lil' Liz has never had to deal with the concept of waiting for a new episode of anything (where Abby has, because Abby is both almost five years her senior and a New Doctor Who fan; waiting for the BBC to do anything over here in Seattleish is bound to teach anyone not to be Veruca Salt).

But Alex is still in peril, neither Netflix nor Comcast On Demand has season two, and Amazon does not carry Totally Spies in  their Prime Free Streaming.

Daddy is not willing to pay two bucks per episode of something like this.

Lizzy wants an Oompa Loompa, and she wants it now.

It's just as well I go back to work tomorrow; spring break is getting... angsty.

A Not So Lazy Day

Yesterday was lazy.

Today not so much.

Oh, we're still hanging around home, doing a little housework, like laundry and dishes and such.

And we still have the TV on.

But the difference today is that I got at least two of the Wii remotes to sync (our Wii is pretty old; I got it when Lizzy was a tiny thing, and she's now seven and a half. That's a long time in the life of a video game platform). One of those remotes I got synced is the Wii Fit Balance Board.

I am the Hula Hoop Champion, and I also have the best score in Ski Jump.

Lizzy is not terribly coordinated; she has trouble getting arms (or fingers) and legs moving in concert, and we have to keep reminding her not to actually jump on the Balance Board.. However, even as much of a whirling dervish that she is, she's actually quite good at several of the Yoga poses.

Abby is the best of us in everything except the aforementioned, but prefers Rhythm Kung Fu and and Rhythm Parade (where you get to be the drum major and twirl the baton - she has achieved the Advanced course where I am still on Basic).

We're none of us very fit (although Lizzy more than the rest) so even though we're exercising a lot here, we're playing it safe so as not to incur injury. The Wii suggests a break to rest and drink water every half hour, which seems reasonable. And what we're doing is taking turns, where each of us has three of the events while the others rest. So our muscles might be sore tomorrow, but not actually injured.

A Lazy Day

Today is the first day of Spring Break, and the girls and I (with some participation by Laston) have spent it doing, well... nothing much. I mean, some dishes, some laundry, and Abby did some weeding of the lawn before I even got up this morning, but mostly... just hanging out.

Abby and I seem to have caught Lizzy's cold (or maybe the one that was going around my work like wildfire), so we didn't have a lot of energy anyway. We did have sniffles, coughing, scratchy throat, and general lethargy.

And it was a hugely troperiffic day.

First I made brunch (bacon, eggs, a toaster waffle, asparagus (may as well get it while it's in season and cheap), and strawberries).

We watched Into the Woods, which I have already mentioned here.

We watched Madeline (from 1998).

We watched Jumanji (although we needed to take a break at dinnertime, partly because dinner and partly because the girls haven't had a lot of time today that was not sitting-on-the-couch, and were getting fractious).

And now we're watching Mouse Hunt (at Laston's suggestion, because Netflix reminded him that if-you-liked-Jumanji-you-may-also-like).

I haven't seen that last since it was first released.

And this is all after last night's Game Night, wherein grownups did a little character tweaking and then played Cards Against Humanity whilst Abby did Lizzy up (away from the CaH) in what I hope they continue to realize is stage makeup (Abby says it's "the pop star look"), rather than - say - the stuff she can wear to school when she is in junior high this fall.

Aside from Lizzy's trouble sitting still all the way through Into the Woods (it's over two hours long), and that moment just before dinner when they poked at one another enough for me to send them to their respective rooms until the meal was made, we've had an excellent - if lazy - day.