More Arbitrary Chatter

So the other day my five-year-old asked me if I wanted to hear a story. Sure, I said. OK. The title of this story is "Calamity at the Castle." What? What did you say?

FYO: Do you know what calamity means?
Me: Well, yes, I do. But do you?
FYO: Yes. Calamity means when something very bad happens.
Me: Wow. That's a great word, buddy.
FYO: I know. So do you want to hear the story now?

Apparently my son has been picking up all kinds of new words while playing on the online Noggin website. Recently he has been using some pretty big words and is able to recite the definitions to the following (now remember we're talking a five-year-old): exhilarating, calamity, commotion, ferocious, labyrinth and enthusiastic.

Seriously, when he used the word exhilarating the other day he made my sister feel bad because she now thinks he has a better vocabulary than she does. I guess it just goes to show you (again) that kids' brains ARE like sponges (I wish mine was these days!) so be careful what you say!!

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OK it's been disgustingly hot since yesterday - Mid-90's and VERY humid. So we went and got ice cream yesterday. My kids went with the good, old reliables chocolate and vanilla. My husband got a chocolate soft serve and I got a flavor known as cake batter. Yes, cake batter and let me tell you that it was phenomenal!!

It really tasted just like licking the cake beaters when you bake a cake. It was so good! It was a yellow cake base with some chocolate cake batter chunks mixed in. I just had to share that. If you're looking for something a little new, and really, really good - go for the cake batter ice cream.

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I am reading a CRAZY book right now. (A lot of capital letters today. Don't know why.) It's called "It Can't Happen Here," and it was written by Sinclair Lewis. Published back in 1935 it's the story of fascism oozing it's way into U.S. democracy. Now it doesn't creep in like some quiet cat that sneaks up on you. Oh, no. In this tale fascism comes right down Main Street with bands playing and politicians endorsing its tenets without, of course, calling it fascism.

The greatest part of this book though is that although it was written more than 70 years ago, the world Lewis describes VERY MUCH resembles the United States of 2007. That's right. He might as well be writing about the Bush Administration and the liberties that they are taking like extending the rights of executive privilege (to the status of king) and promising people they'll have more money in their pockets if citizens vote for a particular candidate. (Remember those tax cuts a few years back?)

Like I said I'm only about 100 pages in, but the similarities are already freaking me out. I promise a full review when I'm finished. (A shout out to my husband for peaking my interest and suggesting the book. We're both reading it right now and I'm hoping to have some great discussions.)

All right. It's getting late. Have a great Monday everybody!