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However, none on my butt or the front, so I figured that if I sat still we could still hang out at the playground we'd just gotten to and we'd be fine. No need to rush home, I had pads with me, I'd be just as bloody there as here, right? (Oxyclean got it right out. I mean, if you really get close and stare you can see there's some kinda stain, but anybody's that close to my crotch I'm gonna assume at this point that my pants are OFF and I don't very much care.) Of course, I kinda wished I'd brought my kanga, or that it was a little colder and I had a sweater, so I could wrap it around my waist. My mom interjects as I'm telling her this amazing story of Oxyclean with "Yeah, right, like anybody doesn't know what THAT'S all about, every woman knows that one!" to which I can only say "Yeah, maybe it is like saying 'I'm bleeding through my crotch, wanna make sumthin' outta it?', but is that really any worse than potentially showing the world your massive bloodstain on your pants?" But then I got to wondering... do guys know what's up when somebody just randomly ties her jacket (or convenient kanga/sarong) around her waist? ( Poll inside!Collapse )Tags: period, polls
I'm feeling:  bouncy
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The girls are having fluffernutters for lunch. On wonderbread, no less! (Well, it's whole wheat....) This makes me...
What sort of aunt am I?
The best aunt ever!
18(90.0%)
The worst aunt ever!
0(0.0%)
If 10 is "spoiled rotten" and 1 is "very put-upon", how spoiled are my nieces?
Mean: 7.05 Median: 7 Std. Dev 1.67
Do you want a fluffernutter too?
They can't have seconds, though. Because I am STRICT. (And because I'm saving the rest to make fudge.)
What sort of fudge should I make? (It's a small jar after all.)
Mint! (Lizziey's option, no doubt)
5(31.2%)
Peanut butter! I mean, you already have it....
5(31.2%)
Tags: daily stuff, food, polls
I'm feeling:  hungry
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(I finally set up my wireless again, so I'm totally upstairs while typing. This either rocks or sucks depending on how much computer time you figure I'll have...!) Their mother hadn't sent Ana's vacation homework up with her, which meant I got stuck with it. That's all right, she just kinda plowed through it. (And yes, I *do* think vacation homework for kindergarten is silly, but I'm told that the other kids in her class have parents who want MORE homework. The mind boggles, let me tell you.) One of Ana's homeworks (she only has three left for the weekend - the daily "what the weather is" picture, her "my favorite thing I did this week" picture and two sentences, and a math set (they're working with coins) that she didn't want to finish) involved rhyming words. There were four words in each row (in four different rows), three of which rhymed. This was pretty badly done as the non-rhyming word always made a minimal pair with a rhyming word - bug, rug, and rag, for example. It would've been more challenging if they hadn't. But I digress. The final row had these four words: pin, pen, ten, hen. Can you see the problem with that? Say the list aloud. If you automatically figure out the problem, gold star! If not, go here. As it happens, I have the pin-pen merger. I think I must have gotten it from my dad, as neither my mother nor sister has it and they used to tease me about it. (Because I didn't get enough of that at school, guys?) I remember sitting in speech (therapy) lessons as a kid, the only year I had actual instruction in those, working it out in my head how weird it was that there was no short-e before n, even when it's written in that way! I literally don't hear it when other people say it unless I'm listening for it, and I feel as though I'm twisting my mouth unnaturally to produce it myself. So when I saw this I listened with great interest to see what Ana would do. She carefully read the words (didn't have to sound them out!), and as soon as she got to pin and pen she stopped. Read them again, the whole list. Frowned. Sounded each word out carefully. "Connie, they all rhyme!" So what do I do? Do I tell her to ignore her instincts and fill out the words that look like they rhyme? That's what she used to do when she was three. Do I let her fill out all of them and look like she didn't get it at all? I compromised by telling her that there's a good reason they put four rhyming words there, telling her to fill them all in, and writing a note to her teacher explaining this. Then, she she was done, I explained the pin-pen merger and talked her through the steps of a simple linguistic survey. We're totally stopping family members to see who has it and who doesn't today!
Do you have the pen-pin merger?
This isn't the first time I've had a language quibble with Ana's homework. Once she had to do "initial sounds that match" and one of the examples was a P word with a "pan". Except that I generally say skillet, and she generally says skillet, and when we don't say skillet we say frying pan. But she breezed right through that without a thought, proving that she understands very well how to do worksheets. Tags: 'cdotes, child development, education, language, polls
I'm feeling: bouncy
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Now that I've already snarked some Amazon reviews I have to continue, don't I? Here's one that just has me puzzled: Unless your child is taking advanced music classes, it is unlikely they know these tunes: "The Blue-Tail Fly," "Red River Valley," "The Mexican Hat Dance," "Alouette" and "America the Beautiful." And, without familiarity of these songs, the "silly dilly" gimmick falls flat. As a parent, I found the lyrics better described as gross instead of silly. (Judging from an earlier paragraph, "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" is probably in his list too.) Seriously? I remember very clearly singing America the Beautiful in every assembly ever in elementary school, and the rest of them certainly made their rounds in music class or kindergarten music/dance/free time somewhere. Are they really that unusual nowadays? This guy is in the US, so let's have a US only poll! ( Read more...Collapse )Tags: books, music, polls
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I'm baking! But what am I baking? I was going to bake mint chocolate brownies, so as to irritate Lizziey when I posted about it (yes, I'm a mean Connie), but they didn't have what I needed at the store. Now I am the one irritated. I'd blame karma, but I didn't even do anything yet, and it's just not fair! So my current list includes: Double chocolate chip cookies (definitely - must buy more chocolate chips probably) Possibilities: Pepper cookies (maybe. depends on how willing I am to shell out for almond paste or, alternatively, crack and grind my own almonds) Lavender cookies? (A half batch if I do.) Cinnamon refrigerator cookies? (Fridge smell is a worry) Oatmeal cookies? (They always scream "healthy", though, and who wants healthy?_ Blondies? Those'd be for me! Garlic cookies? (No, probably not, but I love mentioning them. If you forget that they're insane, they're not half bad.) Carrot cupcakes? (Mmm... I was gonna make them with ricotta, but I forget to get, and the buffalo milk ricotta guy isn't back at Union Square until FRIDAY, so I'd have to use cream cheese, and while that *is* more for me - that is, the school - it doesn't exactly scream fair, now does it?) Gingerbread letters (if I have all my letter cookie cutters, otherwise it'd be gingerbread something elses) And I'm getting my friend Kimberly to make marshmallows. If they make it to the school, it'll be a miracle. Those things are delicious. (I'm working hard to convince her to send her kids to the school next year and the year after. I have to call her and remind her that pre-k registration has a due date.) Clearly I'm not making four different types of cookies. That would be absurd. And barely do-able. (Okay, it's not so clear, because left to my own devices I'd probably drown the school in cookies!) Which ones should I make, though? Does anybody have any other ideas? I'm making the chocolate chip cookies to sell, and the other one more for fun, so it doesn't matter if it's a little weird because, dammit, I'm gonna enjoy myself! (If I really want to enjoy myself, I'd better get a second bag of chocolate chips. *sigh* I'll run out later tonight, get some freezer bags as well.) ( Poll!Collapse )Edit: I'm a dolt. When answering the poll, the second question? DO NOT PICK CHOCOLATE CHIP. They're a given. I'm too lazy to do a new poll, so just avoid that answer. Tags: food, polls, thoughts
I'm feeling:  hyper
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I've done it all my life It makes the peas taste funny But... It keeps them on my knife! I always thought this poem was strange as a kid - not because he eats his peas with a knife, but because if he's "done it all his life" surely he thinks that they taste normal that way? Anyway, I have a poll: ( Read more...Collapse )See, I've had this recipe for watermelon salad with feta and mint floating in my mind for a while (and we always have plenty of mint), so I picked up some feta at the store today. But then, when I was googling to figure out how *much* feta goes in that salad with a whole or half a watermelon, I saw THIS recipe, and this one as well.I grew up just grabbing a slice of (cold, refrigerated) watermelon and eating it on the fire escape in my room (did the same with gumbo. Everybody else ate in the kitchen, but for those meals I seem to remember eating them looking out over the backyard a lot, which normally I didn't do) and then coming back for more and more and more. And in the comments to one of those recipes somebody posted that they normally eat watermelon with salt (SO not how I ever did it) like it's a normal thing, and I remember reading that in some areas, that *is* how one usually does it. So - yeah, poll. Tags: food, polls, ramblings, recipes, thoughts
I'm feeling: bouncy
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I happen to love cilantro, but I understand that to some people, it doesn't taste like cilantro-y goodness, but like soapy soapness. Interestingly enough, a while back I was talking to somebody who is into healthy eating, and I mentioned guacamole, and she goes "I can't eat avocado, it tastes like soap to me!" This reminded me of cilantro, so I inquired, and she confirmed that yes, cilantro also tastes soapy to her. Then I explained that it's a genetic quirk, and that it doesn't taste that way to everybody, which probably caused her life to make sense again if she'd been going around thinking everybody tasted it the same, but only she didn't like the flavor. ( Poll!Collapse )Tags: food, polls
I'm feeling:  cheerful
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"
As an example, Bar-Hillel points to a conversation at the beginning of Book Seven, in which Mrs. Weasley orders her son, Ron (Harry’s good friend), to clean his room. Chafing at the order, Ron starts to say, “Why in the name of Merlin’s saggy left …” before he is interrupted by his father, who scolds him not to talk to his mother like that. We never find out what noun Ron was going to use at the end of the sentence. The omission creates a problem for Bar-Hillel because in Hebrew, adjectives are placed after the nouns they modify. Without knowing exactly what item or body part of Merlin’s was saggy and on the left, Bar-Hillel will be hard-pressed to translate Ron’s question without using judicious guesswork. “I’ll either have to decide on a noun or completely rearrange what he was going to say in some creative way,” Bar-Hillel predicted." Okay, now, come one now, everybody, 'fess up. I think we all know exactly what item or body part of Merlin's was saggy and on the left, don't we? Indeed, I do believe this is time for a ( well-placed poll!Collapse )Tags: harry potter, language, polls
I'm feeling:  amused
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Or I think it's a quirk, anyway. See, they insist that koopas, from Mario Brothers are really ducks, and they call them such. As in "I got killed by a duck" whenever somebody remembers how cool the original Marios were and re-downloads the old SNES emulator. (It seems, now that I think of it, that my mother was a real old school gamer. The computer, our old C64 was in my sister's room (which seems to have doubled as a family room, it was that big), and when my sister and I were going to bed, my mom would be playing on the computer, so it functioned as a nightlight for us, I guess.) If you've forgotten, or if you've never seen Mario, this is what Wikipedia says about Koopas.So, I promised them I'd put a poll up.
What is a koopa?
A koopa... but I can see why you call them turtles
16(36.4%)
A koopa... but I can see why one would call them ducks
1(2.3%)
A koopa, damnit!
9(20.5%)
I do not have enough knowledge of Mario to comment
3(6.8%)
I'm not getting involved in family fights
0(0.0%)
No, seriously, what do koopas look like to you?
Thank you. Please remember to answer all questions. Tags: family, language, polls
I'm feeling:  chipper
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Folks, let's just ask a simple question. Let's say that there's someplace you really want to be - a dog park, a playground, a classroom, a bathroom, a fenced yard... whatever. Point is, in order to get inside, you have to open some sort of gate or door. So you open it, and you go inside. Or maybe you're leaving, so you open it and go outside. When you've done this, do you...
Going in or out, you would...
Close the door/gate carefully behind me and latch it
43(89.6%)
Swing the door behind me so it isn't latched, it just looks closed
5(10.4%)
Swing the door behind me so that it stays open to some degree, or bounces back open
0(0.0%)
Leave the door/gate open, instead of in its normal closed position
0(0.0%)
Leave it open, and then for various reasons *keep opening it* so that other people have to keep jumping up and closing it for me
0(0.0%)
I'm hoping you all answer correctly! Now, let's say you're going in, and the place is just *full* of rambunctious critters who are liable to escape - and you have one too! Assuming you picked anything other than the correct answer before, can I assume that you at least care about your own critter's safety and will properly close the door/gate behind you? Because we all know that when doors and gates are left open, and dogs and children escape, it's never the fault of the people who kept walking in and out and in and out and re-opening that damn door or gate!!!!!What should I do when I see this going on?
I should....
Keep getting up and closing the door/gate
0(0.0%)
Keep getting up, but grumble every time
1(3.8%)
Go over to the person in question and ask them to show some fucking sense and common courtesy
7(26.9%)
Go over to the person and TELL them to show some fucking sense and common courtesy
7(26.9%)
Put a big-ass sign on the door/gate telling people not to be stupid
4(15.4%)
Encourage their kids/dogs to escape through the aforementioned open door/gate and wait to see how long until the responsible party notices
2(7.7%)
Passive-aggressively tell everybody nearby how evil Those People are
0(0.0%)
Not so passive-aggressively do that
1(3.8%)
Yell loudly every time it happens
2(7.7%)
Tags: childhood, daily stuff, polls, rants
I'm feeling:  predatory
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why am I always sick on b-day?
sleepy
bored
remembering the horror
horny
calm
depressed
curious