Through The Looking-GlassThrough The Looking-Glass

My Little Supers

2013-06-18T15:49:41Z

Sam: I did it, Mom! I ran really fast.

Me: You’re my Wally West.

Grace: And you look like the Flash, too!

(I didn’t mention that he actually looks like Wally West but not like The Flash, because I was so goddamn proud of her for knowing who Wally West is.)

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Hey, can you google that for me?

2013-06-17T05:03:55Z

Internet, I need you to do me a favor. It’s a little one, and I’ll be super-grateful.

You know how Mary goes to Misselthwaite Manor, and it’s wintertime, and everything is grey? And then the spring comes and the moors come to life and it’s all a big magical metaphor? (And then the book becomes about Colin instead of Mary and as a kid I didn’t mind but when I re-read it more recently it made me really angry?)

So, I have a picture in my head of what the moors look like. It’s been there since I was about five. And I’ve seen pictures since then of what the moors look like in spring and summer (omg heather is so pretty). But none of what they look like in the wintertime when they are grey and lifeless.

My google-fu is weak today and I can’t find a good one. I know some of you are in northern England, or have been there, or are good at finding things on the internet. Can you help?

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I just fell asleep in my chair.

2013-06-11T20:35:06Z

So, a thing that I cannot really recommend doing, and yet wholeheartedly recommend doing, is officiating a three day roller derby tournament.

I worked six games over the three days, and I kind of feel like I am going to die.

I also have not had that much fun, like, ever.

I missed my family like crazy, though that was slightly lessened on the final day when I had the bright idea to have Will bring Sam and Grace to watch. They came with me in the morning and we watched the Juniors championship together. Then they went home for lunch and I got ready for my last bout of the weekend. When it was over and I exited the track, a little voice called, “Mom!” and a little arm went around me and there was Sam! It was the best.

Grace wants to “roller skate like the derby dolls.” She says, “I skate and I skate and I skate and I fall down and I get up and I skate.” So, you know, she totally gets it! Of course it’s basically impossible to find any real skates that are small enough for her. I mean, for less than like $200. I found those in her size. Sigh.

Anyway. Roller derby! Yay!

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Swing!

2013-06-02T21:04:18Z

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Advice needed!

2013-06-01T00:41:12Z

My supremely clever (and super-adorable) knitting/designing buddy, Annie Watts, designed these mittens:

(The palms look like this.)

I am going to use these charts on a sweater for Sam. I’ve done the math and it works perfectly with the yarn I plan to use at the gauge I get with said yarn. YAY!

My concern is how to distribute colors. I was planning to do navy blue (Lake) and light grey (Beluga), but Sam would really like his sweater to have some yellow (Firefly) as well because his favorite colors are yellow and blue.

I’m thinking navy for the hem, skyline, and robots; grey for the background; and yellow for the sky/rest of sweater. What do you think? Creepy or awesome?

And once we’ve worked THAT out, where should the robots be placed? I was originally going to do a cardigan, which would be easy: a robot on each front. But then I realized I don’t have any interest in stranded knitting flat, so fuck that. It will be a short-sleeved pullover. Robots on the front? Back? One on each?

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Sam at Seven

2013-05-29T19:46:06Z

So, Sam turned seven. I don’t really understand how that’s possible–but I also can’t really imagine how he’s still just a little kid, when I have known him forever.

Sam is a consumer.

I don’t mean that in the sense of purchasing merchandise, but he also does that. He’s been getting an allowance for several months and he saves it for the things he wants.

What I mean, though, is that he consumes television, video games, books…he watches, plays, and lives in other worlds. He recreates ideas from media with his toys–his many, many Imaginext toys become not only Batman and friends but Transformers (Hal Jordan is Optimus Prime; Kilowog is Bumblebee; Catwoman is Arcee) or whatever else Sam is interested in.

His favorite colors are blue and yellow. He always chooses the blue or yellow game piece when we play a board game. Oh, how he loves board games! For his birthday we gave him Catan Junior, which is not only a super-fun game but is also pirate-themed! Pirates are one of his longest-running interests, after Star Wars and Superheroes.

He loves to run in circles, play ball, and ride any and all wheeled conveyances. He has totally mastered his wheel shoes, can ride his freewheeel scooter in circles around you, and is ready for us to put the pedals on his bike. He plays tag and red light green light and an assortment of other playground games that as far as I can tell no one ever actually taught him.

He loves to play with his sister. He loves Calvin and Hobbes. He loves Mario, Luigi, and everyone else in Nintendoland. He likes ice cream and cookies but is still fairly unimpressed by cake and all other sweets. (He had an ice cream cake for his birthday.)

He has BIG emotions. Very big. As happens every year, I have had to remind myself that his period of disequilibrium happens in the months surrounding his birthday every year. (Remember 23 months? I don’t, but I guess that happens when you’re sleep deprived.)

I don’t always understand him, but I love him so, so much.

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This is amazing.

2013-05-28T02:18:16Z

A high school in Spokane is treating its students like people and asking what’s wrong instead of punishing immediately.

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Twitter Poetry (Twittertry? Poetwit?)

2013-05-25T16:44:33Z

I wrote this little poem on Twitter last night, and I like it so much that I am copying it over here for posterity.

The children asked me
To play Hide and Seek.
So I hid.
But they forgot to look for me.
It was the most peaceful
Five minutes of my day.

I could maybe get into poetry if it’s limited to 140 characters.

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Sexist reporting on sexism! Yay!

2013-05-17T16:41:08Z

In this otherwise factual article about the NYPD being reminded that women may legally be topless, I was struck by this ridiculously sexist sentence: “One man even said he would encourage his wife to join them.” HOW NICE OF HIM.

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Star Wars fans are crazypants.

2013-05-15T23:40:12Z

In 2010 a photographer sought out and photographed decaying Star Wars sets in Tunisia. In 2012, a group of fans traveled to one of the sets and fully restored it.

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