Seewalds 20 - Fashionably Modest and Baby Curls

[freshlemonade]

OMG!  Thank you so much for all of these BSC references!  I read them religiously back in elem/middle school.  Hadn't though about them in years.  Remember the special vacation books that they'd put out in between the regulars?     Also what were Mallory and Jessi called?  Something like babysitters in training?  

The author should do an adult series for all of us fans that have grown up.  It could be about the parents in Stoneybrook and a lot more juicier.

Were any of the babysitters religious?  I can't remember.   I'm sure those books were off limits for fundies, but what about my other fav Anne of Green Gables?

[Screamapillar]

2 minutes ago, freshlemonade said:

OMG!  Thank you so much for all of these BSC references!  I read them religiously back in elem/middle school.  Hadn't though about them in years.  Remember the special vacation books that they'd put out in between the regulars?     Also what were Mallory and Jessi called?  Something like babysitters in training?  

The author should do an adult series for all of us fans that have grown up.  It could be about the parents in Stoneybrook and a lot more juicier.

Were any of the babysitters religious?  I can't remember.   I'm sure those books were off limits for fundies, but what about my other fav Anne of Green Gables?

I lived for the "Super Specials." The Mystery Books rocked as well.

I think they called Mallory and Jessi "Jr. Babysitters." When I had a sinus infection in middle school, I told my mom that I should really be checked for mono, because "Mallory had it"....

[PennySycamore]

13 hours ago, BadMammaJana said:

BSC?? I never owned the collection, but I used to read them when I was little, watched the tv show, and was so excited when the movie came out. I wonder if they would even have any books at the libraries nearby. I used to read Sweet Valley High, and of course, Goosebumps. 

I didn't read them as a kid, but I read my daughters' copies as an adult.  I watched the TV shows, too.   I'm pretty sure I still have a few BSC books hanging around.  Now my granddaughters can read them, if they want to.

[MsSaylor]

I dont remember the child with Autism in the BSC. What was the story there and how did they treat it? 

And im not ok with Claudias parents being disappointed with her because she was artistic and had learning differences. Especially when i dont remember them getting her help for any learning struggles. 

[sta_sha]

I was definitely team Stacey. I wasn't happy when she and the other girls had a falling out and she left the club. I was also an Abby fan...I think she was introduced after Stacey left? I remember being super excited that she was a twin (I went through a period where I thought twins were super cool ans all my Barbies etc. had a "twin").

[send*the*ferrets]

2 hours ago, Screamapillar said:

I lived for the "Super Specials." The Mystery Books rocked as well.

I think they called Mallory and Jessi "Jr. Babysitters." When I had a sinus infection in middle school, I told my mom that I should really be checked for mono, because "Mallory had it"....

I kind of always wanted mono, because laying in bed and reading/napping for a month sounded kind of awesome. My inner sloth was revealed at a young age. 

1 hour ago, MsSaylor said:

I dont remember the child with Autism in the BSC. What was the story there and how did they treat it? 

And im not ok with Claudias parents being disappointed with her because she was artistic and had learning differences. Especially when i dont remember them getting her help for any learning struggles. 

It was book 6 I think- I can't believe I remember that- and I think they sent her away to a special school. 

[VineHeart137]

6 minutes ago, send*the*ferrets said:

It was book 6 I think- I can't believe I remember that- and I think they sent her away to a special school. 

Oh wow, I remember that one! Her name was Susie or Susan. She was home for one month because she was switching schools and her mom asked the BSC to watch her a few times a week so she (the mom) could get a break. Kristy tried to help her fit in so she wouldn't get sent away again, but the other kids in the neighborhood treated her like  sideshow act. I think I'm remembering that right. Thinking about it now, it actually sounds pretty sad.

[send*the*ferrets]

Yup, she was basically institutionalized. Very sad  

[Maggie Mae]

It was #32, Kristy and the Secret of Susan. At the end she is sent to a special school and her parents get pregnant again. 

Very sad. 

I thought Claudia HAD help and was tested for learning disabilities, and they all decided she just wasn't trying hard enough. Even Claudia said she just wanted to get through her other assignments and get back to painting or whatever. Then in the Super Special New York New York, the art teacher is like "Claudia, you need more discipline" and was super critical (of a 13 year old) while praising Mallory for existing. 

Stacey was my favorite, followed by Jessi and Kristy was my least favorite (so bossy!). I wished we could have learned more about Shannon's life, it seems more interesting than, say, Mallory. 

[Carm_88]

I loved the BSC books and the Sweet Valley High ones. Although the Sweet Valley High ones took some pretty dark turns. I liked Dawn and wanted to have a cool friends like Stacey and Claudia. They were soo good. 

[Exposed Collarbone]

I remember in one of the first few books Claudia did poorly on a spelling test because she wrote "Ocober" instead of "October." When she was reflecting on it she heard her parents "telling" her to pay attention. I think that was the first book I read where a character struggled in school.

[send*the*ferrets]

I still say "Wed-nes-day" when I write Wednesday and "feb-ru-ary" when I write February bc those words make no fucking sense, so I can see myself getting in a hurry and leaving out letters somewhere. 

 

I totally spell checked those. 

[twinmama]

10 hours ago, Flossie said:

Reminds me of when I did daycare.  I provided breakfast and tried to vary what I served, but sometimes I had to reach for a box of cereal.  One day while dropping off their son, a father told me I'd scared the crap out of him.  The evening before he'd changed the boy's diaper and found neon colored poop!  I'd fed the kids a cheap version of Fruit Loops the day before.  The kids loved it, being as it was all sweet and brightly colored, but it did do interesting things to their stools.

LOL I was giving my under weight child strawberry Pediasure for a while and realized his diapers were turning pink from the food coloring. Switched him to vanilla after that!

Then there was the time one was eating a bit of tissue paper from a gift bag and the next day there was a bit of rainbow glitter in his poop. Very fancy.

On 3/29/2017 at 1:27 PM, Gobbles said:

Am I the only one who eats what she wants and doesn't care about anything at all? I feel so weird.  

 

Same. I lucked into being naturally skinny and really until I got on the internet I didn't realize the extent to which tons of people have body image issues and eating issues. My body seems to want to be a particular weight and for the last 20 years I've been that weight, regardless of what I eat pretty much. Though, I am much more educated about food choices and health than I was so I try to eat healthy enough now. And I know from my parents, who were the same, that around 50 or so the food choices start to effect the body! They both used to be able to eat anything and not see the evidence on their bodies, but no more.

[nastyhobbitses]

Team Claudia 5ever, and Karen is the worst. Even when I was her age I thought she was an insufferable little shit.

[BabyBottlePop]

1 hour ago, nastyhobbitses said:

Team Claudia 5ever, and Karen is the worst. Even when I was her age I thought she was an insufferable little shit.

I loved the BSC Little Sister books but looking back now Karen was so, so spoiled. I remember Karen's Pilgrim where Karen went to see a pilgrim reenactment and wanted to show her class at school the little pilgrim doll she got as a souvenir. But some girl at Karen's school who she didn't like got the doll too and was going to show the class. So Karen got her rich dad to pay for a pilgrim reenactor to come to her school to upstage her classmates' doll. Like, what? 

Also, Karen's parents had a half birthday party for her with half a cake and half presents and I waited excitedly for my half birthday and nothing happened.

Was Karen's dad her mom's sugar daddy or something? Cause I remember her mom being young (like under 30) and her dad Warren being old.

Sorry I'm so weird and remember all this! 

[Maggie Mae]

 

5 minutes ago, BabyBottlePop said:

Was Karen's dad her mom's sugar daddy or something? Cause I remember her mom being young (like under 30) and her dad Warren being old.

Karen's dad, Watson, divorced Karen's mother "Lisa" and married Kristy's mother "Elizabeth."  Lisa went on to marry "Seth" so Karen had two sets of married parents. I remember that Kristy thought Watson was "old' in Kristy's Great Idea #1, but it could have been bias, because Kristy did not like Watson. 

I'm really not sure what led to the divorce between Watson and Lisa, but for some reason a wealthy man decided to marry a single woman with four kids from other side of the tracks. 

Why do I know these things and not how to do my taxes? 

[BabyBottlePop]

@Maggie Mae reading your post I just realized that Karen was 6 so Watson could have been fairly young and of course she thought he was old. 

And Watson, not Warren! I'm impressed your memory of names. I remembered stepdad Seth but not Karen's mom. And I remember she went to Stonybrook Day School.

[karen77]

I never read the jr books, but read most of the BSC books, I remember relating to Dawn them most though. I'd have to do some wikipedia to remember all of it, but I'm sure that would trigger some memories! Never read much SVH though.

[Fluffy14]

On March 27, 2017 at 6:16 PM, FJismyheadship said:

From Jessica Seewald's Facebook. Is that Spurge and Wilbur behind her "healthy meal"?

Gotta watch the Kombucha. too much and it will give you a nice itchy yeast infection. Especially if she keeps eating fruit.

[PennySycamore]

I think this is the right thread for this,  but I'm watching a rerun of an old Johnny Carson Show from 1982 on Antenna TV.  Dick Cavett was talking about the time that a guest died on his talk show.  JI Rodale, the founder of Prevention and Organic Garden magazines, was going on about how great he felt and how he was going to live to be 100 years old.  And then he got very quiet.  He started to breather strangely, Dick tried to feel for the pulse,  and paramedics came over from the fire house across the street from the studio.  Rodale was dying right there on camera.

Here's what Dick wrote in the New York Times about Rodale's on-camera death:

Quote

I brought out the next guest, Pete Hamill, whose column ran in The New York Post. Rodale moved "down one" to the couch. As Pete and I began to chat, Mr. Rodale suddenly made a snoring sound, which got a laugh. Comics would sometimes do that for a laugh while another comic was talking, pretending boredom. His head tilted to the side as Pete, in closeup as it happened, whispered audibly, “This looks bad.” The audience laughed at that. I didn't, because I knew Rodale was dead. To this day, I don't know how I knew. I thought, “Good God, I'm in charge here. What do I do?” Next thing I knew I was holding his wrist, thinking, I don't know anything about what a wrist is supposed to feel like." 

ABC showed a rerun of Dick's show that night and that episode was never aired.

JI Rodale died 28 years short of 100.

[nastyhobbitses]

7 hours ago, BabyBottlePop said:

I loved the BSC Little Sister books but looking back now Karen was so, so spoiled. I remember Karen's Pilgrim where Karen went to see a pilgrim reenactment and wanted to show her class at school the little pilgrim doll she got as a souvenir. But some girl at Karen's school who she didn't like got the doll too and was going to show the class. So Karen got her rich dad to pay for a pilgrim reenactor to come to her school to upstage her classmates' doll. Like, what? 

Also, Karen's parents had a half birthday party for her with half a cake and half presents and I waited excitedly for my half birthday and nothing happened.

Was Karen's dad her mom's sugar daddy or something? Cause I remember her mom being young (like under 30) and her dad Warren being old.

Sorry I'm so weird and remember all this! 

Karen also got pissed that Watson (her old and uninterested-in-parenting dad who remarried as soon as he divorced Karen's mom -- seriously, I want a book about all the family drama in the Brewer household) gave Kristy an heirloom brooch, so she tells Kristy TO HER FACE that she (Karen) should have gotten the brooch because she's Watson's "real" daughter and Kristy is "only" his stepdaughter. Then Karen steals the brooch, loses it, and then writes an apology letter to Kristy saying that she should have let Karen borrow it.

Karen is the worst. In the Where Are They Now fanfic of Babysitter's Club I want to write, Kristy becomes a women's rugby coach at Mt. Holyoke, Dawn starts an organic beet farm in Oregon, and Karen becomes an intern for Kellyanne Conway. Because she's the worst.

[BabyBottlePop]

@nastyhobbitses, I never read that one but that is awful! Is that a BSC book or a Little Sister?

I also was super into Sweet Valley Twins and Friends. I read them in the early to mid 2000's, so they were already going out of print. My library had a selection and I used to search thrift stores and library sales for them. My aunt bought me a huge box of them off eBay. I was going to collect them all! I got to about 75% probably. I still have them. 

I liked Elizabeth cause she was nerdy like me and couldn't stand Jessica (or her friend Lila!) I was also jealous what a social life these 6th graders had. I was in 6th grade and never got to go anywhere!

My local public library had a huge selection of BSC and BSC Little Sister. Eventually, they got rid of most of them, I believe to library book sales. I get inventory changes but it always upset me that they didn't keep them for future readers. I get that some of the books have been reprinted but obviously not all of them!

[nst]

1 hour ago, BabyBottlePop said:

@nastyhobbitses, I never read that one but that is awful! Is that a BSC book or a Little Sister?

I also was super into Sweet Valley Twins and Friends. I read them in the early to mid 2000's, so they were already going out of print. My library had a selection and I used to search thrift stores and library sales for them. My aunt bought me a huge box of them off eBay. I was going to collect them all! I got to about 75% probably. I still have them. 

I liked Elizabeth cause she was nerdy like me and couldn't stand Jessica (or her friend Lila!) I was also jealous what a social life these 6th graders had. I was in 6th grade and never got to go anywhere!

 

If we are talking the 80's I was into Judy Blume and Sweet Valley twins as well  My library was filled with it. 

I liked Elizabeth and not Jessica 

in the 90's when I was older and the show was on - I even watched it as a secret pleasure aka Miranda putting her hands in that thing in SITC 

[VelociRapture]

I'm just sitting here like, "Redwall anyone?" 

[singsingsing]

15 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

I'm just sitting here like, "Redwall anyone?" 

I was a Redwall fanatic!