Random Stuff

May 11, 2010

--I'm pretty excited that I'm going to be chaperoning Grad Nite this year. It's been a long time since I've signed on for that duty, mainly because when the kids were younger it was harder to get away over night. This year, though, they're having such a hard time getting people to sign up that there are extra spaces on the bus. If my sister can get away, she gets to join me, which would be so much fun! We've been to Disneyland together with our kids before, but never just the two of us. It will be a blast!

--Bree had AP Psych testing today and AP Comp testing tomorrow. I'm sure she'll be all kinds of relieved once she's done with all of that.

--Nicholas has grown like a weed this school year. I wouldn't doubt if he'd sprouted up five inches or so. He surpassed me at the beginning of the school year, and I think right now he's got at least an inch on his dad. He's definitely not done yet, either, since he's only in 7th grade.

--Danielle wants to attend Young Chef's Academy this summer. It's kind of expensive, but I think if we can swing it, we'll let her go. I think she'll get a lot out of it, and we'll get to be her taste-testers at home, too.

--I was reminded again today of one of my big pet peeves while in the drive-through at McDonald's. Danielle and I stopped there on our way to the Parent Club meeting at school this evening. She ordered a kids' meal, as she usually does, and the young man taking our order asked me if I wanted the "Boy Toy" or the "Girl Toy" to go with it. Why do they have to perpetuate stereotypes like that? Why can't they just ask if the kid wants a car or a doll? I spoke back to the speaker box and said, "SHE wants a car." "She wants the Boy Toy?" "She wants the CAR. Thank you!" Seriously, it makes me crazy. When Danielle was little, it really used to confuse her and make her cry, because she thought that if she wanted the "Boy Toy," people would think she was a boy .Now she's just amused that it annoys me.


--I read a headline today that said there was a Korean woman who took 960 tries to pass her driver's test. 960? Shouldn't there be a limit on that sort of thing? At some point, shouldn't someone take the girl aside and help her focus on picking up a different hobby? "Listen, Sweetie, maybe driving's not your thing. Have you thought about taking up knitting or cooking or fencing? Let's maybe leave the driving to the people who pass within, oh, say, the first five or six tries, huh?"

--Yesterday I found out that Mia Michaels is going to replace Mary Murphy as a permanent judge on So You Think You Can Dance this season. Finally! Mia isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I love her. Mary will be back for the audition rounds and will appear now and then as guest judge, but we won't have to endure her every single week. Honestly, once you've become a caricature of yourself, it's time to move on. She was beginning to turn the show into a punchline.


--Doug has wistfully mentioned many times that all of his co-workers' wives make their lunches for them each day. I think it's only a little tongue in cheek when he says he wishes his wife loved him enough to make his lunch for him. I could, I guess, but my goodness--I don't even make the kids' lunches for school. I give them lunch money. Does that make me a bad mother? A bad wife? In the fifties, perhaps, but c'mon! It's not like I don't do lots of other things to take care of all of them. Why is that the one thing that seems to be stuck in old-school gender roles? I don't expect someone else to make my lunch for me when I go to work; I'm a grown-up and I know where the kitchen is. Doug's pretty handy in the kitchen, too. It doesn't mean I don't love him if he goes in and makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for himself to put in his lunch pail.