Four Fun Things

Ten-year-old Toby has a new obsession: The Babysitters Club. First, he devoured the TV series (it’s excellent), and now he’s tearing through the graphic novels. The middle school characters are super smart, funny and kind, and Toby says, “I’d want them to be my friends.” — Joanna

Tired of staring through your own window day after day? I love Window Swap, where you can instantly see the view through someone else’s window around the world, from India to Chile to Austria (above). — Joanna

All the clothes I want to wear right now are loose and breezy, so this (perfect fitting) chambray shirt and drawstring linen pants feel like the ideal outfit. You could wear it all day — talking on zoom, walking around the neighborhood, and sitting on the stoop having an Aperol Spritz. — Joanna

Phoebe Robinson — of 2 Dope Queens fame — is launching an interview-advice hybrid podcast called Black Frasier on August 11th. Phoebe (who has never seen an episode of Frasier) will interview a new celebrity guest every week and dole out helpful, hilarious life advice. Hear a sneak peek here! – Kim

P.S. More fun things, and TV shows to watch as a couple.

(Window swap via Swissmiss.)

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Tags: fun things

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Carrie

July 31, 2020 1:03pm 1:03 pm

The Baby Sitters Club is the best thing about 2020.

Cheryl

July 29, 2020 7:52pm 7:52 pm

The Babysitter’s Club was the first book series I ever read. I was six and I loved Stacey and Claudia (who had me at telephone earrings).
Now I have a seven year old daughter, Zoey, who is a Type 1 Diabetic, like Stacey. She was in awe to see a character like her depicted on a TV show and would watch the episodes on the edge of her seat with excitement. I thought my heart would burst.
The absolute best part is recently, when a girl Zoey’s age was swimming at the pool asked her about her insulin pump, my daughter replied she’s Type 1. Usually this explanation is met with a vacant stare because it’s a pretty rare disease and not easy for kids to grasp.
“Oh,” the girl replied, with a big smile. “Like Stacey from the Babysitter’s Club! Cool!”
Zoey was overjoyed.
Needless to say, Stacey is her favorite character too.

Judith Read

Reply to Cheryl

July 30, 2020 5:03am 5:03 am

Thank you for this. I am storing this knowledge for when my 4 yr old type 1 diabetic granddaughter starts to read. So important to find characters you can identify with.

Kristian Olson

Reply to Cheryl

August 9, 2020 4:46pm 4:46 pm

As a fellow Type 1 this made me smile so much!

Jodie

July 29, 2020 1:30pm 1:30 pm

Just looked at Window Swap during my lunch break. Wonderful. Even saw a cute big black cat staring back at me in Kansas. LOVE!

Sherrelle

July 29, 2020 11:41am 11:41 am

I didn’t read the books, but my 18-year-old and I have been watching and it’s so cute and calming and just what we need right now. Very well done and all the accolades are well deserved.

Nicole

July 29, 2020 10:10am 10:10 am

I cannot wait for Black Frasier!! 2 Dope Queens is my all-time favorite podcast, and I am so excited to hear Phoebe again. 2020 is looking up! (Ever, ever so slightly.)

Diana K

July 29, 2020 12:22am 12:22 am

I’ve been a Claudia since 1998.

Jennifer

July 28, 2020 10:47pm 10:47 pm

Has Toby tried, “The Inbestigators” on Netflix? It’s an Australia TV show and my son loves loves loves it.

Alissa M

Reply to Jennifer

August 3, 2020 9:13am 9:13 am

Thank you for this recommendation I saw your comment last week and my nine-year-old twins and I have watched most of season one of The InBESTigators” since then. What a sweet, funny, and kind show! We completely love it.

Jennifer

Reply to Jennifer

August 3, 2020 5:09pm 5:09 pm

Alyssa M- oh I’m so glad! My son and I probably say the phrase, “aloe Vera, how you doing, Vera” every few days, we’ve watched certain episodes more than once!

July 28, 2020 9:30pm 9:30 pm

I’ve been looking out my window so much this quarantine, it’s so soothing and replenishing! Definitely lots of stuff going on out there, Definitely took lots of video, feels like my own little Sofia Coppola movie. I can’t remember people hanging out on their roofs so often during pre-covid summers!

July 28, 2020 9:27pm 9:27 pm

i loved babysitters club! it is bittersweet to enjoy a show about middle schoolers, what a special time! I love how they portray it with such purity, the girls are down to be friends with nearly everyone without self-consciousness or judgement, that often creeps in in just a couple years. Whereas usually high school shows are a guilty pleasure in a different way, since they usually still revolve around romance plots or “adult” issues, just with teenage protagonists.

It reminded me of of being that age sooooo long ago and yes having crushes but having so many more innocent interests. Enough independence to be a big kid to little kids, but still innocent enough to simply wanna craft and play in the backyard.

Made me think of the kids I used to babysit who are just slightly younger than the BSC girls, and how much they would enjoy the show!

Kristy Lin

July 28, 2020 9:15pm 9:15 pm

i actually usually don’t like that kind of thing (except as a kid in the 90s obsessed with adidas!) but thought it was a nice touch on these!

Kat O

July 28, 2020 7:22pm 7:22 pm

Oh man, for anyone who grew up with the original Baby-Sitters Club – the new series is AMAZING! I know I’m way too old but I watched the entire thing, and it really blew me away how well done it is. It stays true to the important parts of the series but it’s updated in really seamless, meaningful ways. Highly recommend.

Julia

July 28, 2020 7:11pm 7:11 pm

I read all the babysitter clubs books growing up and was so excited for the TV show! It was so great and I loved it! Glad to see a new generation of children enjoying the books and I cannot wait to share them with my future children.

Angel

July 28, 2020 5:45pm 5:45 pm

Window Swap is so fun! I especially like when there are cats in the window!

July 28, 2020 5:24pm 5:24 pm

I always love the 4 fun things post.
Love the Babysitters and the window thing is kind of a wonder.
Those are v. cute pants too- they are out of my size but I will check back and maybe luck out.
My four fun things this week are a ghost key ring from Laurien Stern, Derry Girls on Netflix, re-reading Tiny Beautiful Things, and smoothies made with lots of berries and almond butter.

Agnès

Reply to C.

July 29, 2020 5:02am 5:02 am

Nice that you’re sharing your 4 things. It’s a good exercise! for me, it would be: watching “les vacances de monsieur Hulot” by Jacques Tati, with my 6 y-old -he found it hilarious and weird; summer fruits (strawberries, cantaloupe); “La tête dans les nuages” an amazing book by a french cow-boy Brice Delsouiller -probably not translated but for the french readers-, and going to the pool every morning and watch my boy be excited about swimming (we are in Paris, France, not confined anymore).

Reply to C.

July 29, 2020 11:42am 11:42 am

Hi, Agnes- the pool! oh, I so want to be at the pool swimming laps! Pools are all shut down here. Enjoy – I am sending happy swimming vibes from Austin, Tx.
I will look for the book and see if there is an English translation.

Agnès

Reply to C.

July 30, 2020 2:18am 2:18 am

C. here is a link to a documentary about this french cowboy, Brice Delsouiller, the images are beautiful. Thanks for the good vibes, I’m off to the pool now, I will be thinking of you in Texas, I promise. You’re brave and strong!

Olivia

Reply to C.

July 31, 2020 10:13pm 10:13 pm

Derry girls is on my top 3 of all time shows list, I come back to it again and again, it’s brilliant!

Maria

July 28, 2020 5:17pm 5:17 pm

Oh, I love Window Swap! Thanks for sharing ?

July 28, 2020 5:01pm 5:01 pm

I will check out the Black Frasier podcast. Thank you

Lia

Reply to TM

July 30, 2020 2:30am 2:30 am

I was so nervous about the BSC show on Netflix being terrible because I was a huge fan of the books for pretty much my entire childhood – I had the whole collection and still remember the thrill of rolling up to a Waldenbooks to get the latest book or mystery or super special or whatever. But! I have been watching it with my daughter who is, at 7, roughly the same age as I was when I started reading the books in the 90’s, and I LOVE IT. It is so well done. I think I have cried in almost every episode and in general I am not big on nostalgic resurrections of things and crying. It is just THAT good and so well adapted to modern issues! My daughter loves it, too, and it is a nice thing to bond over. She is also obsessed with Raina Telgemeier’s books so the fact that she did the graphic novels has her hugely excited and she has started devouring them. Glad to see this has aged well! Now I just need to figure out what my parents did with all my old books. TREASURE!!!

Jen

July 28, 2020 2:54pm 2:54 pm

Slooowly getting used to the phrase ’10-year-old Toby’.

Ashley

Reply to Jen

July 28, 2020 3:23pm 3:23 pm

Came here to comment the same thing.

Feels like a typo, Jo. He was just born.

Joanna Goddard(@joanna)

Admin

Reply to Jen

July 28, 2020 3:38pm 3:38 pm

haha me too!

Lisa

July 28, 2020 2:42pm 2:42 pm

Love the link to the graphic novels. My daughter has been watching the show on Netflix and didn’t seem too interested in the novels, but she has loved Raina Telgemeier’s other graphic novels. Adding this to our library wishlist now!

jane

July 28, 2020 2:40pm 2:40 pm

Welp I just invested an hour into window-swap: it’s genius. Loved the Rochester NY one where we hear the woman tell her partner:
“I need you to do two things for me: write down that we need boullion.
Response: “done”
“and subtract 80grams from the red lentils”.
Response: “ok”.
“Thank you.”
I don’t know why that exchange was so sweet, I guess because we got two windows into their world for the price of one : )

Tania

Reply to jane

July 28, 2020 4:06pm 4:06 pm

It’s truly wonderful (both windowswap, and that exchange!) I didn’t hear anyone talking in my 20 minutes of scrolling, but it was a wonderful to
“see” the world when I can’t otherwise go anywhere!

Joyce

Reply to jane

July 29, 2020 8:57pm 8:57 pm

I am loving Window Swap!! That exchange is precious. I am obsessed with all the cats!

Emily L

July 28, 2020 2:32pm 2:32 pm

I love that outfit, BUT I really hate stripes down the side of pants! It reminds me of the late 90s trend and I just can’t see any instance where I think it looks good outside of running pants. So I guess I mostly love the outfit!

Tania

Reply to Emily L

July 28, 2020 4:07pm 4:07 pm

Agree! I thought maybe it was a trick of light but nope, they’re stripes. I actually kind dug it in the 90s, but you know, I’m almost 40 now…

July 28, 2020 1:33pm 1:33 pm

Toby, I love the new Baby-sitters club show too!

Such a sweet nostalgic show – good for these times. :)

Lauren E.

July 28, 2020 1:31pm 1:31 pm

The window view made me crack up, as my current window view is out my apartment which is at eye level with the elevated subway tracks where construction workers regularly pee off the edge of the platform! So fun, right?! I wonder if anybody wants to see that view?

Joanna Goddard(@joanna)

Admin

Reply to Lauren E.

July 28, 2020 1:48pm 1:48 pm

hahaha I kind of do!

liz

Reply to Lauren E.

July 28, 2020 2:11pm 2:11 pm

me too (kinda)! lol

Brooke

Reply to Lauren E.

July 28, 2020 3:54pm 3:54 pm

hahaha, that’s hilarious, Lauren!! ;p

Ana D

July 28, 2020 1:29pm 1:29 pm

I’m so so so so so glad Phoebe Robinson has a new podcast, and that you were kind enough to tell us about it! Shudder to think I could’ve missed it. Can’t wait to listen to her new podcast episodes before all the other episodes in my podcast queue again.

Maryn

July 28, 2020 1:27pm 1:27 pm

SO SO SO happy to see the Baby-Sitters Club on Netflix featured here! I watched it way too fast—something about it was so healing for me (and I didn’t read the books growing up). I love how they included complex themes in a kid-appropriate way.

Susan

Reply to Maryn

July 28, 2020 2:47pm 2:47 pm

As a 34 year old, I DEEPLY enjoyed this show. It is so pure hearted. I love love loved the books growing up and they followed the storylines pretty well, while making it a little more up to date. I love/hate that Alicia Silverstone is the mom, while she’s lovely, it makes me feel even more like the mom that I am. LOL

Brooke

Reply to Maryn

July 28, 2020 3:54pm 3:54 pm

Susan and Maryn, I devoured the show too and am so ready for the next season. I found it really healing! Something about seeing girls in that pre-highschool stage, full of life, strength, courage, opinions, insight, tenderness, and tackling tough real personal and social and political things felt really validating. I felt my 12 year old me inside shoulders relax and feel seen. What a gift this show is and how dear that 10 year old Toby is soaking it in, that makes me so happy to think of him interested in these girls’ complexity and wanting to know them and be friends.

Ellen

July 28, 2020 1:23pm 1:23 pm

Okay, Window Swap is awesome! I just spent some time looking out at snippets of Copenhagen, Glasgow, and Istanbul! :) thanks for sharing the link, I never would’ve found it otherwise.

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