accidental feminist

Overheard in Bassie and Dina’s Room

Rachel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 01:24:57 +0000

Presumably this conversation occurred while the girls were playing some sort of vampire role-playing game:

Dina: You know Rosa Parks? I knew her.

Bassie: I knew George Washington. I was his Prom date.

Dina: I was his cat.

etcetera…

CSI: Brookline

Rachel — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 21:31:04 +0000

Dina has recently expressed an interest in dead bodies. To be precise, she has reiterated her interest.

“Why do dead bodies interest you, Dina?”
“You know, because you can look at the bones, and the blood and stuff. I’d like to study dead bodies some day.”
“They do that in medical school.”
Excited face.
“And I could figure out how they died by testing their blood.”
“Oh, you want to do toxicology. Like, figure out if they were poisoned or something?”
Very excited face.
“Yeah. And what it was and how much there was.”
“There are some tv shows you should probably watch, Dina.”

it’s official

Rachel — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 16:21:24 +0000

hibough

verdict: smaland

Rachel — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:09:34 +0000

Dina: “I made a friend, but I forgot her name.”

Bassie: “I’m not going in there. It smells like sweaty feet.”

tweet feed

Rachel — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:59:53 +0000

Just in case you don’t follow my twitter…

Quite often, the girls say or do something that is just so pithy and timely that it can only be captured in 140 characters or less.

Exhibit A: “Bassie told me that yesterday she “hiboughed”. She explained that it’s when you hiccup, burp, and cough at the same time. Awesome.” (approval by urban dictionary pending)

Exhibit B:“My daughters are walking around the house saying, ‘I was inside you! Razzmatazz!’”

See what I mean?

a nice afternoon with dina*

Rachel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:31:03 +0000

Highlights included:

* Dina asking why you need to have a turn signal in the back of your car. “That’s a good question, Dina.” “Yeah…I’m a good question maker.”

* Open house at ballet class:

The Little Ballerina

look at that form, that concentration, that girl behind her who’s clearly got her arms in the wrong position.

*This conversation, from the trip home:

Me: Wanna listen to Taylor Swift?

Dina: Do you have any David Bowie?

Me: Yup.

Dina: Cool!

Hope your Tuesday was as nice!

* Bassie chose a playdate; her loss.

dreamweaver

Rachel — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 19:42:08 +0000

Me: Hey, Dina, did you have any dreams last night?

Dina: Nah…

Me: Okay. Hey, Bassie, did you have any dreams last night?

Dina: Oh, wait. I had a dream that I went on a field trip…

Me: Oh?

Dina…To 1993.

Me: You mean the year?

Dina: Yeah.

Me: Why 1993?

Dina: (with a bit of irritation) I don’t know.

let’s go to the movies!

Rachel — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 01:19:44 +0000

My awesome brother and sister-in-law got us 4 movie tickets for Hannukah. How to use them? Here are our family friendly options, along with my “worth the price of popcorn”, “netflix instant queue”, or “watch it at your friend’s house, kids” ratings.

Tooth Fairy: proof that Dwayne Johnson will never give up a chance to cross-dress. Also, not sure if the PG rating is because it may crush small children’s belief in the existence of fairies or because you can see The Rock’s rocks in those tights.

Verdict: Watch it at your friend’s house, kids! Anyway, it just depresses me to see Julie Andrews acting when I know that she can no longer sing. The hills are alive, with the sound of irony!

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Got an “Is this a sign of the Apocalyse?” positive review in the New Yorker. Stars Zachary Levi, of Chuck (whom Dina thinks is “cuuuuuuuute”). David Cross, aka Tobias Funke, is back from the first one.

Verdict: Netflix Instant Queue. I am presuming that yosefblog would rather poke his eyes out and wander the wilderness of Thebes than see this movie. Moving on…

The Spy Next Door: Jackie Chan as a spy who gets a babysitting gig with his next door neighbor’s kids? Although I am guessing that his aging body might preclude his performing stunts to the level of awesomeness of, let’s say, Super Cop, I imagine it will still be awesome. Also, Dina thinks he is “cuuuuuuuute”. Bassie finds the concept of the use of spy paraphernalia for babysitting purposes rather humorous. And, as Dina said when she first saw the trailer: “Mom! Jackie Chan is the spy next door! And it’s not like Firelight! It’s real!”

Verdict: Worth the Price of Popcorn. No Fear. No Stunt Double. No Equal. No Contest.

things the klein family likes to do on road trips

Rachel — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:46:01 +0000

1. Listen to podcasts of “Philosophy Today!”
2. Play “guess the famous novel from its famous first line” (“It was the best of time, it was the…blerst of times?! Stupid monkey!”)*
3. Have Dina once again ask if she can get a modeling agent after looking at herself in the rear view mirror and remarking, “I’m pretty, aren’t I?”
4. Listen to Stephen Hawking “A Short History of the Universe” lectures
5. Play “name that famous jazz song from its first few bars”
6. Get McDonalds
7. Do Math workbooks (Dina)
8. Re-read Harry Potter books (Bassie)
9. Get really bad coffee at local rest stops (Rachel), every time thinking that “this coffee can’t be worse than the stuff I had at the last rest stop”. (Note: There are shockingly myriad ways for coffee to be bad.)
10. Taunting Rachel for getting shitty coffee once again, as though she were a mouse in a maze in a lab whose ability to learn from mistakes has been chemically blocked for the sake of an experiment about the learning process in animals. (Yosef)
11. Eat Swedish Fish.

*Note: this is not one of them

the rule of threes

Rachel — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:24:41 +0000

I tried to explain to Bassie the comedy rule of threes the other day in the car. The example I gave was pretty pathetic, though. Something like, “Pack your bags for the trip, kids! You’ll need bug spray, snacks, and a ten foot garden hose!”

Meh.

Bassie’s response: “Oh, okay, I get it. Like, ‘This restaurant has horrible service! The fish is underseasoned, the meat is raw, and they don’t serve their hamster heads with garlic ketchup!’”

And so, the student has surpassed the teacher…