I took the day off from work today. You see, I found out on Thursday that I had not taken enough days off from work and if I didn't start slacking off, I'd lose the vacation days I had on my account for last year. So, I kicked my sloth into high gear and decided to sit around the house doing nothing today. Of course, everything wasn't entirely solitary since Sarah hasn't been in school for the past two days. (Parent Teacher Conferences, doncha' know) If I was working, we would have her in daycare for the day, but since I decided to "take the day off" I could save a bit of extra money that we would pay for Sarah to be at daycare. So, Sarah was with me. But wait, Grace wouldn't take kindly to being at daycare slaving away over The Letter G and The Number 12 while Sarah messed about all day with her layabout dad. So, to keep the overall peace, my "day off" now the kids. And that's mostly okay.
Ah, but what to do with them? Well, when I woke up, a bit later than normal, Lynda was already set to head out the door. So, I hit the shower while the girls got up and about. When I was done, the question was what to do for breakfast. Since this was a bit of special day, I decided to drive them over to Krispy Kreme for delicious doughnuts.
Since life is all about choices, the next one was what doughnuts should we get? As we were selecting them, the dude behind the counter pointed out that it would become more economical if we bought a dozen. And, given that we were already at half a dozen, he was quite right. As we sat by the windows eating our fresh doughnuts and sipping coffee or milk, I explained to them why it made more sense to buy 12 doughnuts for 6.99 than 6 doughnuts for $0.99 each. This might have been reinforced by the ever-moving conveyor belt in the kitchen where hundred of donuts were rolling out every few minutes. I don't think they quite the exact voodoo that is Economy of Scale, but it might make a bit of sense to them one day?
Sarah said she wanted to sell doughnuts when she gets older(presumably when she's not working on the farm that she's been talking about a lot lately). The only problem was, she wanted to sell her doughnuts for $5 each. I told her that her doughnuts had to be pretty big to justify a price that large, reemphasizing the pricing structure on display behind the Krispy Kreme counter.
So, as you can see, our trip to Krispy Kreme, while not exactly nutritious, was certain educational. Hopefully they gained more than pounds for the experience.
On the way home, blood boiling with economic knowledge, we decided to pop into Meijer, in the hopes of finding a larger piggy bank for Grace. Her current one does not provide suitable space for her financial largesse. Sadly, piggy banks are not commonly purchased anymore since the habit of saving is discouraged in our current culture. While there however, another economic opportunity presented itself when I explained to the children why there were Christmas decorations everywhere before it was even Thanksgiving. So, the kids were able to understand that the potential for profits at this time of year is such that not a day goes by between the removal of Halloween costumes and the arrival of Christmas ornaments.
After this we went home and got our lunch out of the way--leftovers of pizza and homemade chili.
Then the kids watched a bit of TV and played while I finished watching Oceans Twelve, which I began last night. You know, I don't see why everyone was so down on this movie when it was out a few years ago. I found it to be fun and frothy with lots of enjoyability. Come on, just look at how fun the trailer looks.
The plot is one big knot of Christmas ribbon--pretty and mostly inconsequential--and the dialogue doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but the overall experience is lighthearted and very entertaining.
After an afternoon of fun inside and out, Lynda came home. We then had dinner and the kids watched Mary Poppins, so the economics lessons of the day came full circle as the kids went to bed with song of tuppence in their heads and hearts.
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