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Post by annieb on Dec 11, 2008 19:42:13 GMT -5
Karen was a complete brat in this one. Even though this is one of my faves, I don't understand why Karen could not do simple chores that she usually did without being told to. She just does not like being told what to do. Karen was wrong to give Elizabeth a dead bouquet of flowers. Karen and Andrew should have spent the day with Lisa.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on May 10, 2010 22:30:25 GMT -5
I felt bad for both Karen and Elizabeth in this one. It was the first month of the new arrangement, and there were definitely adjustments on both sides. Elizabeth is probably used to doing more of her work during the week and being able to spend more time with Andrew and Karen on weekends when they're there. Now she's got Karen interrupting her phone calls every two minutes and leaving things a mess. Karen was used to being treated a little differently than the rest of the kids, since she was only there four days a month. I agreed with Elizabeth when she explained to Karen that it wouldn't work to have two sets of rules in the same house for an entire month. Oh, and I laugh every time when Karen is being a brat and trying to ruin Mother's Day, even though I still feel bad for her and Elizabeth both.
Watson and Lisa weren't thinking very far ahead when they came up with the every other month thing if the first Mother's Day caught them by surprise. Having the kids trade it off every other year doesn't make sense on mother's day, father's day, or things like Watson or Lisa's birthdays. [Side note: If you read the whole series you'll notice that Karen and Andrew spend December and January at the same house, which is why the months switch "year to year" and you don't have all the Halloween books taking place at the little house, say, or all the Thanksgiving ones at the big house.]
Elizabeth was really bossy in this one. I can't remember any other books where she seemed to care so much whether Karen's socks matched or her hair bow was in a big bow or matched her shirt. If I had as many kids around as she does, I think I'd settle for them just wearing socks and shirts, matching or not, once they were old enough to pick their own clothes.
Subplot discussion! I found it interesting that when Karen and Andrew are competing with the bigger kids in the go-kart race, she is not nearly as sure as usual that she's going to win. She keeps reminding Andrew that the other kids are older and the real point is to have fun. I was actually cheering for them in the race, and it was so cute when she was telling Andrew, "At least we did not come in last!" and Charlie had to say, "You won!" Way nicer to read about than her usual thing where she's convinced she's the greatest thing since sliced bread.
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Post by booboobrewer on May 29, 2010 13:46:03 GMT -5
Before reading this book, these posts made me think that Watson didn't let Karen and Andrew see Lisa at all on Mother's Day weekend, but they did get to spend Saturday with her. He wanted his children to be with him on Sunday to celebrate Elizabeth and Nannie, which, I mean, makes sense. Lisa didn't seem hurt by it, and besides, Karen's intent was to insult Elizabeth rather than spend extra time with her mother.
I think Elizabeth was really patient the whole book through. She also looks really pretty in her illustrations. I laughed when David Michael is knocking on Karen's door when she wouldn't come out and says "I know you are in there. I can smell you." And I liked when Karen is playing with Maria Kilbourne. I don't think I've seen other mentions of Karen playing with her...
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oldhickory
Sitting For The Arnolds
Heather Loves Boys and Gym
Posts: 3,263
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Post by oldhickory on May 29, 2010 14:04:45 GMT -5
i think the reason elizabeth was all over karen (when normally she isn't that kind of parent) is because she didn't know how to express that she cares about karen. and we all know that she does. even though she has five kids of her own, she took time out of her busy schedule to talk with karen every night. i think she just wanted karen to know that she treats her the same as her other five kids, and that goes both ways -- she cares about them the same, but she expects the same rules to apply to all of them.
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Post by booboobrewer on May 29, 2010 14:38:31 GMT -5
The story Elizabeth made up for Karen, and continued each night, was super sweet. I also liked when Karen said she liked to listen to the big kids talk at the table, because they talked about fun stuff like "dates and dances and driving cars," and she was like "just wait until I'M big."
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Post by sparklymouse on May 31, 2010 18:37:49 GMT -5
I thought Lisa was a weepy mess at a few points, which didn't help the situation. Karen probably would have been fine with the situation if Lisa had a better poker face. I can never be Team Watson in this one just because of how he says they'll "work something out" the next month when Father's Day falls on a little house month. It makes me think that either he'll demand to see the kids on Father's Day or he doesn't care if he doesn't see them on Father's Day. Both options suck. She already got married. What more did she want?
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Lila
Sitter-In-Training
Posts: 293
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Post by Lila on Aug 25, 2010 4:17:35 GMT -5
the reason Watson told Karen she coudlnt' go to her mothers was because Karen purposely said "I want to spend mothers day with ym REAL MOTHER I dont want to spend it w Elizabeth" it was the purposely intended viciousness Karen was being punished for.
I kind of don't see why Elizabeth was being a b*tch in this series. I don't blame Karen for being upset about the allowance thing. if Elizabeth had tried to say "Karen could you do the recyclebles?" and reminded her, she might of remembered better. i dont know, i think Karen's annoyance was justifiable.
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Post by anzuhana on Dec 23, 2010 15:01:26 GMT -5
I did feel bad for Karen and Elizabeth because they were adjusting to the new arrangement. However, I did think Karen was being a brat and that Elizabeth really did try to make it work.
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u4me
Sitting For The Papadakis's
Posts: 1,655
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Post by u4me on Jan 17, 2011 17:42:24 GMT -5
Did Karen and Andrew get to spend every other weekend at the house they weren't living at for a month? I can't imagine a parent would go the entire month without spending any time with their child. I think Karen should have been able to spend Mother's Day with Lisa, but I also think she was a brat in this one. I like Elizabeth much more as Kristy's mom than as Karen's stepmother! I think Elizabeth expected a little too much out of a 7 year old. I think a 7 year old can have chores, but I also think a 7 year old is going to need to be reminded.
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Post by sparklymouse on Jan 17, 2011 18:16:20 GMT -5
I agree about having to remind Karen about some of her chores that she wasn't used to doing. Didn't she have to help with recycling or something like that? But I'd bet that making her bed every day was already expected during the previous custody arrangement.
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Post by anzuhana on Jan 17, 2011 18:22:46 GMT -5
^ Karen did have to help with the recycling.
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scrounge
Sitter-In-Training
Boo and bullfrogs!
Posts: 414
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Post by scrounge on Jan 18, 2011 2:12:27 GMT -5
Did Karen and Andrew get to spend every other weekend at the house they weren't living at for a month? I can't imagine a parent would go the entire month without spending any time with their child. I think Karen should have been able to spend Mother's Day with Lisa, but I also think she was a brat in this one. I like Elizabeth much more as Kristy's mom than as Karen's stepmother! I think Elizabeth expected a little too much out of a 7 year old. I think a 7 year old can have chores, but I also think a 7 year old is going to need to be reminded. They did not spend any weekends or extra time at the house they weren't living at, although they would sometimes call and talk to the other parent or Karen would call Kristy when she was living at her mom's. It was a very odd arrangement that works a lot better for plot purposes than it ever would for real live children. I don't know if I agree that Elizabeth was expecting too much from a 7 year old. She didn't seem to be asking more of Karen than she did of David Michael who was only a little older. It's just that Karen wasn't used to remembering chores, and based on the way later-series Elizabeth was portrayed as having dumped a ton of chores onto her kids after the divorce, I'm sure David Michael had been feeding all the pets and scrubbing toilets since he was a toddler.
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jul 16, 2011 18:14:57 GMT -5
Watson made me grumpy in this one. Karen and Andrew should have been able to spend actual Mother's Day with their mother even if it was "Big House" month. I haven't read this book yet but it would be interesting to see what happened the NEXT month on Father's Day when Karen and Andrew would be at the little house.... ... would Lisa make the kids stay home too?!
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Post by virgoscorpio on Jul 16, 2011 18:53:29 GMT -5
If I was Watson, I would have let Karen and Andrew visit Lisa for the entire weekend on M.D. weekend. They also could have had their own special M.D. celebration (just the 3 of them) with Elizabeth on the Friday or something...
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Post by booboobrewer on Jul 17, 2011 0:53:52 GMT -5
^You can click "modify" on your posts to edit them instead of double posting
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