Nothing To Do

When I was little I had a book called Nothing To Do (I hope it's still at my mother's house, because a quick Amazon and Abebooks scan indicates it's both out of print and obscure). It was about a family of--I suppose they were badgers or something--and the father and mother have a lot of chores to get done, they tell the kids to stay outside, and their son complains he has nothing to do. So the father gives him a smooth pebble and tells him it's a nothing-to-do stone and when you hold it in your hand it helps you think of something to do. So first the boy says he's going to play with his erector set and the father says "That's an inside thing to do; you were standing too close to the house. Try again." Then "You could give me a dollar and I could go downtown...." "That's a 'costs money' thing to do. You were standing too close to my wallet." Eventually he finds something to do and later helps his little sister occupy herself.

I think that's the kind of day we're going to have around here. I need to do laundry, bake bread, toast granola (we went through two huge pans in one week), and eight zillion other things I haven't thought of yet. Better find a couple of smooth pebbles.