Cowgrit loves craigslist.com. We’ll have an old piece of furniture or something to get rid of, and instead of me having to take it to Goodwill or the dump, Cowgrit will put it on craigslist and actually find someone who’ll come get it and give us cash for the privilege. It only takes a couple days, and poof, whatever it is is gone and out of our way.

We had an old bedside table from our boys’ room that no longer fit or matched their other furniture. The table sat in my office for several months — it was out of the way, and out of mind. But Cowgrit eventually got around to listing it on craigslist. It sold within 48 hours. The guy came and picked it up and gave Cowgrit money. Wonderful.

But Calfgrit7 was unhappy with that transaction. He “loved” that table, he said. Never mind that it was shoved in a corner of my office for months, and he had never said anything about in all that time (or before). He was upset that Cowgrit sold it.

Later, Cowgrit found a piece of notebook paper with the words, “For Sale” written big, lying on our bedroom dresser. CG7 had decided to, in turn, sell her “favorite furniture.” Fortunately he doesn’t know how to list anything on craigslist.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Cowgrit has been lamenting the lost summer. With Calfgrit7 in a new school, on a year-round school schedule, now, we all feel like we’re missing summer. CG7 went into 2nd grade three weeks after finishing 1st grade — that’s just weird.

At first, we just accepted the short time out of school. It was new and different, but we were holding judgment on it until we’d actually gone through some time with it. But now it’s August and we really didn’t have a summer break. At home, it’s been just Cowgrit and Calfgrit3 all day, and they are both sorely missing CG7.

To make the deal even worse, some of CG7’s friends from the previous school year didn’t get moved to the new school, so they are all on their vacations. And on top of that, most of his friends who did get moved with him are on a different track schedule (there’s four), so they’re in and out of school at different times than him. Even his best friend is on a different track. (We tried to get them on the same track, together, but the friend got bumped.)

He’ll get another three-week break in September, during which we’ll be going to Disney World. But getting a short break at the beginning of summer and at the end of summer is not a “Summer Vacation.” Cowgrit has mentioned that she feels like she’s missing summer completely. And I agree, even though I spend my summer days in an office, like I spend my spring, fall, and winter days.

So far, this year-round school schedule isn’t something we like. Maybe it’ll start feeling more normal come fall and winter. Maybe we’ll be used to it by next summer. But right now we feel like we’ve been robbed of a part of our life’s routine.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

“Pam it.”

The Calvesgrit were in their bedroom playing nicely, when Calfgrit3 started saying this.

“Pam it. Pam it.”

I stopped what I was doing and listened. What’s he saying?

“Pam it. Pam it. Pam it.”

Calfgrit7 asked, “Why are you saying that?”

“It’s a bad word,” the little one replied.

“No it’s not,” CG7 said.

“Pam it, pam it, pam it. It’s a bad word.”

Oh jeez. I stuck my head in the door, “Then don’t say it anymore.”

“Okay.”

Obviously, Cowgrit and I need to watch our language more carefully. But this one is probably Cowgrit’s fault — such words he would get from me would be a little worse. I’ll accept blame when he says “Puck it.”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

The boys and I were at a burger joint together, having fun. I told Calfgrit7 that I learned a new knock-knock joke. “Do you want to hear it?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“OK, you start it,” I said.

“Knock, knock,” he said.

“Who’s there?” I said, smiling big.

He paused for a moment and then got mad. He crossed his arms over his chest, pouted, and lowered his head to look at me through his eyebrows. He doesn’t like being made the target of jokes.

* * *

Later that night, sitting with Cowgrit because she wanted to show me some Disney World information for planning our vacation, I wanted to try again.

“I have a new knock-knock joke,” I said.

“That’s nice,” she said. “Now check this list of rides in the Magic Kingdom. . .”

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com