Kiss My Knits!

These are the things in my day today which are of the good.

My daughter’s school webpage has provided a link to their school material list. Unfortunately, it looks like they neglected to actually make the link to the English language list active. All they have available online is the Spanish list. I do speak Spanish, but there are few things I’m mystified on. Help?
The list

Tonight, we brought out Victory at Sea, which is a generic Battleship game. In hindsight, I should have sprung for Battleship, because this was the travel version of the game, and it was poorly designed. The grid numbers were the same color as the background and difficult to read, the pegs were in a container that should have snapped open but didn’t, and the ships were difficult to get out of their case. However, a Sharpie fixed the grid issue, and the rest we can work around. But that’s not why I’m posting!

We showed her how to play it. “A hit!” we’d say, and put in a red peg, or “a miss!” and put in a white, explaining how we came to this conclusion. Steve helped her. They teamed up against me. We played until one ship was sunk, because she likes to take these things in small doses.

Then she wanted to play with the board on her own. After a few minutes, she came in to ask me what it was called when you put in a red peg. “A hit,” I replied, and she padded back. Curious, I went to see what she was up to. She was playing that the red pegs were boys and the white were girls.

What I found funny? The white pegs were girls for a reason. They were “misses.” Hee! Clever little monkey.

I got a call from my favorite hair stylist a couple of days ago saying that she was moving to California and asking if I wanted to get my hair cut. Yes! It had been since April that I got it cut. I had tried to get hold of her just before Simucon, but no luck. So I went to see her today. My hair was significantly longer than my usual “razored at the neck” cut, so she kept the length. My new cut looks… pretty much like my old cut. Hm. Well, it’s still better.

Went and saw my daughter’s dance recital today. It was all pretty princesses and tea parties. Not quite as horrifyingly stereotypical as last year, so that’s something. Bella Abzug probably isn’t so much spinning in her grave as gently rolling.

We stopped at Starbucks afterward, and on the way out of the parking lot, I got pulled for expired tags. Like, expired in May. Oops. I had pulled into a spot, so Emily started to get out of the car and walk back to the police car, so I got her back in. The officer was smiling at her. It was a minor ticket that I can go and get fixed without an insurance ding when my new tags come in. I don’t know if he overlooked the outdated inspection because of the pretty princess ballerina in the back or not, but it never hurts to have Emily in the car for this stuff. No one can resist her charms!

Tonight, more knitting on Emily’s sweater while watching disc 3 of “The Best of Larry Sanders” (from Netflix). The hubby will be going out for coffee with his friend, who is moving out of town next week. There’s a Browncoat gathering to go and watch a new Alan Tudyk movie, but I’d rather my man get in his last hurrahs with his friend.

Me: Look, Emily! What do you think?
Her: It’s nice. It’s soooo pretty.
Me: Thanks! You know, anytime you want me to knit you some socks, you can just tell me. We can pick out the yarn together.
Her: Aren’t you knitting me a shirt?
Me: … yes. Yes, I am.

Busted! Okay, back to the sweater. I’ve already had to lengthen the torso once to accomodate Tall Girl, I’d better finish it up if it’s going to get any wear this Autumn before she outgrows it. The original design is pictured left. The front is pictured right. Eh, close enough. I’ve just bound off a few stitches for the armholes, now it’s upward for another 40 rows. Besides, I have to finish this one off so I can make my dad’s Charlie Brown sweater. I’ll leave any “widen the torso” jokes until I can razz him on the phone. Love you, Dad!

It looks like several of my daughter’s toys are part of the Mattel toy recall. They’re not being recalled because they have lead paint, but because they have little magnets that younger kids could swallow. The chances of my daughter doing this are slim, but still. I knew I disliked Polly Pocket for a reason. DAMN YOU, MATTEL!

(Mom, the one you have seems to be unaffected. So that’s something.)

I just ran into a Dragonrealms Trailblazer on Ravelry. I remember her – she and her husband were quite well-known. It’s like I happened to run into a high school pal in a coffeeshop in Minsk or something. What are the odds? She and her husband are playing Gemstone now, which I’m glad to hear. It makes me smile to think of them and the old days.

I’m ramping up the amount of schoolwork I do with Emily to get her ready to return in a few weeks. She was rusty on some things, like subtracting with regrouping, but the mechanics of it came back. More troubling is that she still has to count sometimes to add simple numbers.
Her: “seven plus eight… that’s easy… seven plus eight is… three.” (this is just said to stall).
Me: “Is that your answer?”
Her: “No. Seven plus eight is… ten. Seven plus eight is four.”
At this point, I either wait until she stops randomly naming numbers and settles upon the correct one with a tone of confidence and finality, or I prompt her with something she can use to figure it out, but never thinks of on her own, like:
Me: “Seven plus eight. Isn’t that a double plus one?” (She knows all her doubles, like 7+7=14.)
Her: “15!” This is said quickly with a tone like, “I had it, Mom!”

When she subtracts, she’s almost always counting. She should have this stuff memorized. This is not a good foundation going into a year which will see the introduction of multiplication. I’m open to suggestion on other ways to work this, since I’m not experienced with pedagogy. For instance, no matter how many times I try to explain the whole trick about adding 9 to a number making it equal 1+one less than the number, like 9+5=14, it never ever sticks. This is exactly why I shouldn’t homeschool.

Anyway, we’ve been working on this intermittently all summer, but we’re laying into it harder now. Less playing Sims2 (which she’s understanding a little too much of now anyway) and more schoolwork! Diddy mao!

In honor of last night’s Trek showing (which was AWESOME), more Trek on You Tube. When TNG was still in first run, this was the audio slide sent at the head of the satellite feed to let the master control operators verify the audio settings. Rumor has it that the first version of this slate included Michael Dorn saying at the very end, “Don’t f___ it up.”

Towanda Trip, day 1, with many pics. Click me!

Woot! Ballantyne theater is showing Wrath of Khan tonight and tomorrow night at 9:40 and midnight.

ETA: We got a friend to babysit for tomorrow night! Yay!

Say it with me, now: KHAAAAAAAAAANNN!!!