funny

CB Radio

| patmcg

A cheap CB radio set has been laying around my house for a while.  I got it free somehow; I don’t even remember.

But I thought it would be useful for keeping touch with the kids when we’re at an amusement park or hiking or during a zombie apocalypse or something.  Plus I like the idea of non-digital, direct communication and just saying “Over and out” a lot.

Now living in a three-story house, I realized this radio may have a more practical use.  When the kids are up in their bedroom on the third floor while I’m downstairs cooking dinner, it would be nice to just “radio” them that dinner is ready rather than marching up two flights of stairs (#firstworldproblems).  I’m all for moderate exercise, but I go up and down these stairs enough already and would rather just “ping” them if I have a saucepan full of marinara sauce bubbling.

Finally, today I got enough AA batteries together to make this happen.  Molly was really into the idea of using the CB radio!  I always love her enthusiasm for things like this and going to see the goats down the street.  I gave Molly a handset, and she marched upstairs to test it out.

Beep.  “Red 2, the is Ranger 5.  Come in.”, I said.

Molly’s voice crackled (yes, crackled!) over the air.  “Red 2 here.”

I thought up these radio handles on the spot without a thought.  I think “Red 2” was a reference to Star Wars?  But Molly would eventually pick herself a new handle: “Alex 51244288”.

CB Radio.jpeg
Red 2, aka Alex 51244288, acknowledging the readiness of breakfast.

We practiced saying “Copy that” and “Over and out”.  Molly’s sweet little voice over the squealing over the radio was hilarious and sweet.

At dinner time, the true test came.  I radioed  Claire, who was upstairs doing ROBLOX (TODO).  “Little Bird, come in.  Are you there?”  Little Bird was Claire’s handle, again made up on the spot without thought.  Claire acknowledged the comm and came down to eat some slightly burned chicken wings and pizza.

At bedtime, the locations were reversed.  Molly was downstairs.  I radioed her from the third floor.  “Red 2, report for bed.”  “I’m on my way”, said Molly.  She gave me a status all the way up the stairs and reported no major obstacles or intruders.

I think we are well on our way to avoiding unnecessary stair climbing and also maybe a short-lived apocalypse.

 

Chocolate Reindeer Blueprint

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Molly became inspired to create a new holiday treat called a Chocolate Reindeer, inspired by a Chocolate Mousse.   Her vision is three layers of chocolatey goodness, one layer for each “official” Christmas color: red, green, and white.

Molly’s initial idea was for each layer to be melted, colored chocolate.  After some discussion and brainstorming , we decided to use a combination layers with heavier ingredient on the bottom and lighter on the top.

  1. Bottom layer: red-colored white chocolate
  2. Middle layer:  green-colored melted marshmallows
  3. Top layer: natural white-colored whipped cream

Here’s the blueprint.

choc-reindeer-blueprint.jpeg

 

 

Out for a Ride

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Molly and I had the morning together while Claire finished up a sleepover at a friend’s house.  I asked Molly what she wanted to do, and we ended up combining the top two things on her wishlist: going for a bike ride and going over the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge in downtown Austin.

In a hilarious turn of events not well captured in photographs, Molly ended up riding her bike right past an active film set on the bridge.  The crew yelled, “We’ve got a biker!  Heads up!”  Molly was not the only such biker, but she was the funniest by far.

Here is our route for Molly’s ride.

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Molly is really motivated to ride her bike but is so far frustrated with the process and thinks the training wheels aren’t working right.

Also, isn’t she adorable on that bike?

No Clouds, No Internet

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We were having trouble with our internet service for a while today, and not able to check the web.  Molly said she knew why we were having technical problems.  Pointing out the window at a clear blue sky, she said, “I know why the internet is not working.  Look, no clouds.”  She wasn’t kidding around, either.  She literally thought the internet lived in the clouds.  It’s nice to still see some innocence and mystery (and frankly some confusion) in her innocent little seven-year-old mind.

Mom’s Best Friends

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"What?"
“What?”

“Is she another one of Mom’s friends?”

That was Molly’s question about the babysitter scheduled for tomorrow.

With our summer nanny, Anna, out sick or on vacation for most of this week, we’ve had to hire random backup sitters from a service.  This was our fouth different sitter in as many days.

Molly’s question puzzled us all for a minute.  Why would Molly think all of these sitters were Kit’s friends?

Then Kit figured it out.  Mom’s Best Friend is the sitter service that we have been using to get quick sitters like this.  Molly heard us saying something like a “A Mom’s Best Friend sitter is coming tomorrow” and came to the very reasonable conclusion that all these sitters were her Mom’s best friends.  It really makes perfect sense.  But her Mom sure does seem to have a lot of BFF’s.

Minka

| patmcg
Minka
Minka

Over dinner, when Kit is not yet home from the hospital, Claire and I often find ourselves playing different fictional characters that we just make up as we eat.  Molly does not really join in, but she does seem to enjoy the amateur performance.

Our favorite characters recently are a father (me) with a heavy Russian accent.  I am simply known as “Papa”.  I speak of my time back in fatherland Russia, where “if you want to eat, you do not go to grocery store.  No.  You chase down dinner and eat it.  Or maybe if you’re not so fast, it eat you.”  I have no idea where this comes from.

I tend to carry on about dinner.  “I work and work and make good dinner, and you turn up nose!”

Cubbie
Cubbie

Claire is Minka.   Minka is my daughter, but she is not Russian.  By her accent, she seems to be from South America or maybe Southern Asia.  She grew up in America and is spoiled by things like grocery stores and chicken nuggets.  Something is not quite right with Minka, who is afraid of televisions, iPads, or really anything electronic.  And she gets confused by forks and spoons.

Minka loves her dog, Cubbie (Muffin).  I adopted Cubbie back in the fatherland, where she helped me survive on the tundra by hunting down dinner with me every night.  Cubbie joined me on my trek to America and is always kind and patient with Minka.

Molly is Minka’s little sister.  We tried to include Molly in this story, but she does not want to join in.  We tried to name her Pepe, but she insisted that she is Molly.  Molly is “normal American kid who loves chicken nuggets and television”.

We’re not sure what happened to Minka’s mom.  She may be back in Russia fighting her way through the frozen tundra.  Or maybe she’s stuck at the hospital.  We’re not sure which is worse.