7 Quick Takes about Watching the Eclipse, an Exciting Development in the Search for a Dentist, and Couch Cushion Forts

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

The biggest news around here this week was the eclipse on Monday.

My son got this sticker at school.

We were not exactly in the path of totality, but it was enough that my kids got special eclipse glasses and we stood out in the driveway to watch. 

I think my 12-year-old best described it when she said: "It's kind of cool... but kind of not." What she meant was, it's a pretty unique experience to see the path of the moon moving across the sun over 45 minutes, and it's neat to tell yourself afterward that you saw it, but it's not super-duper exciting in the moment because you're just standing in the driveway looking at it periodically through cardboard glasses. I get it.

Looks like the moon but it's actually the sun.

There was a lot of fuss about the eclipse here ahead of time. I know several people who drove two or three hours to go see it in totality and even one person who owns a plane and flew across the shadow during the eclipse. 

After hearing them talk about how awesome totality was, maybe I'll consider making a little more effort to see the next U.S. one in 2044.

—2—

This past weekend was general conference, a broadcast with inspired talks prepared and given by leaders of my church. 

There were insights from a lot of the talks that were personally applicable and helpful to me, but one talk I particularly wanted to share here was this one which so beautifully laid out some of the poignant symbolism in our faith:

I also liked the following talk, which was addressed directly to the children watching and focused on three simple phrases: pray to know, pray to grow, and pray to show (she explains what each one means in her talk.) 

Afterward, my 7-year-old exclaimed unprompted, "Well, that  was my favorite talk!" When I asked why, he said "Because I knew what she was saying!" 

The next day, I asked if the 7-year-old remembered the 3 things Sister Porter said. He squinted his eyes, twisted up his face, and tried to remember. "Uhhhh... pray to show, pray to grow, and pray to... throw??"

So  close.

—3—

One of my kids' schools has standardized testing this week, and the principal sent out a precursory email outlining the high standards our students will be held to. Here's an excerpt:

Things like this immediately makes me think of our Spanish exchange student Paula, who was blown away by the casual way people dress in American school. Wearing jeans to her school in Spain would get her sent home to change, but here, we bribe our students with free snacks so they don't bring their entire beds to class with them.

—4—

My 12-year-old went to a birthday party... at an aerial yoga studio. From the pictures, it looks like Cirque du Soleil was going on, but with children.

This is nothing like birthday parties when I was a kid.

In the late 80s and early 90s, you celebrated at the picnic table in your backyard and MAYBE if you were lucky, your parents rented out Hardee's where some employee led you and your closest friends in rousing party games like "drop the clothespin in the bucket" (yes, that is an actual memory and yes, it was an awesome birthday.)

—5—

I finally found a dentist I think I love! I don't want to bore you with all the backstory but I always have trouble finding a good dentist, and in January we switched insurance providers and needed to find a new dentist. 

Since then I've taken various children to two different offices, both of which were slightly scary in their own ways. 

I just had a dentist appointment with a third office and actually felt like the dentist took her time and gave me plenty of information to make informed decisions about my teeth. She seemed like she knew what she was talking about and I trusted her, and I have trust issues with dentists. 

I'm cautiously optimistic and plan to book appointments there for my next two kids who are due for a cleaning and see if I continue to feel good about her. Because like I said, trust issues.

—6—

This week I was talking to a language exchange friend and he, in English, referred to something as B.S. Then he stopped and said, "You know, I say that all the time but now I am talking to you and I don't know what is the more... polite way to say it?"

I don't know what it is about me, but I must give off serious baby fawn vibes. I just met this guy a month ago, and I've never even hinted to him that swearing bothers me (although he's right that I don't do it.)

One time in my senior year of high school when I was working at Pizza Hut, I was taking my break with a few other employees. This was back when you could smoke in restaurants so the manager lit a cigarette, then looked at me and said "It feels wrong to do this — like smoking around a baby."

—7—

If I needed proof that my 10-year-old is an introvert, this is it. 

He came down one morning, built himself a sofa fort, hung a sheet up over the front, and wedged a flashlight in between the two cushions forming the roof so that he could read undisturbed in there.

Not going to lie, I kind of want one of those forts.

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7 Quick Takes about Getting Older, Looking the Other Way During Homework Time, and Singing Somewhere Out There

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

In Spanish, caballo means "horse" and caballero means "gentleman," and long story short I was talking to one of my Spanish language exchange partners and accidentally called him a very polite horse. 

When I told my daughter about it, I added "He was so nice about it, too! He told me my mistake and didn't even laugh until he saw me laughing first so I wouldn't feel bad."

She told me "That's because he's such a polite horse."

—2—

Two parenting clips that showed up in my YouTube shorts feed this week accurately sum up parenting in two different phases of my life. 

Which one can you relate to? Toddlers or teens:

—3—

Getting older is weird, because I don't feel  like I'm getting older. Everyone else is just getting younger.

We recently took my son to an orthopedist who looked like Doogie Howser, and the other day a guy came over to clean our A/C units and my first thought when he came to the door was "Aww, did you drive here all by yourself today?"

I mean, they don't literally look like babies. But it's weird when you've internalized the idea that authority figures are by definition much older and wiser than you, and then all of a sudden, a lot of them aren't. In fact, sometimes the appropriate age to date your daughter... which means that you're the right age to play pickleball with their moms.

—4—

I often talk to myself out loud when I have a problem, and my 10-year-old faithfully answers me almost every time. It cracks me up.

For example, I was shopping online for some clothes and after doing a few price comparisons and wondered out loud, "Why is underwear so expensive?"

Even though the 10-year-old was in the other room, he still answered, "I don't know. Because no one likes making underwear?"

Later, we were driving in the car and my heated seat was getting to be a little too much. I grumbled "I can't figure out how to exit the map screen while I'm driving to turn off my seatwarmer, and my butt is getting hot!"

From the backseat came a small voice going "Womp, womp."

—5—

Do you know what you're looking at here? This is a picture of a 10-year-old doing his 12-year-old sister's homework.

"Wait, why is he doing your homework?" I demanded to know once I found out what was happening. "And how is he doing your homework?"

"It's just a word search and it's not going to teach me anything!" she wailed.

And since she was sort of right and he really does like word searches, I made the executive decision to let it slide and pretend I never saw anything.

—6—

Both Phillip and our 12-year-old daughter take voice lessons from the same teacher, and sometimes they sing duets at recitals. It's so wholesome, everyone in the room just falls over dead.

Anyway, for their next recital they wanted to sing the duet "Somewhere Out There" from An American Tail but weren't having much luck finding sheet music. There was music for a single voice, for choral groups, for piano, and even a clarinet duet. Yes, a clarinet duet, but not a voice duet. I know, it doesn't make sense to me, either.

Phillip was ready to give up and find something else to sing, but I dug deeper to make it happen. Knowing that anything can happen on the Internet, I sent a Facebook message to Mat and Savanna Shaw, famous daddy-daughter collaborators that I've seen singing "Somewhere Out There" on YouTube.

I was totally shocked when they responded.

After I sent this message, by the way, I had a brief moment of panic. Wait, are they LDS? Everything about them positively screams it so I had just assumed they were because, but I'd never actually verified. (Update: I just Googled it, and my spidey-sense was correct. Phew.)

Even though the Shaws weren't able to get music to  me, Phillip did eventually find some, so I'm sure he and our daughter will sound exactly like this at their recital.

—7—

It's approaching the first weekend in April, and you know what that means! General conference, the twice-a-year broadcast from my church that I so look forward to, is coming up on Saturday and Sunday. 

You don't have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to get something out of it, though, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone who thinks about living a purposeful and happy life, is currently struggling with something, or is interested in following Jesus (or all three). 

My family will most likely be watching general conference on YouTube and you're all invited to join us from your own couches!

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7 Quick Takes about Mantel Decor, How to Dance Like a Not-Mom, and Bumper Stickers that Give Me Vertigo

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links, so if you don't want me to make a few cents' commission than don't buy anything using these links and we'll be good.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

Okay, so here's my grand mantel reveal. 

Still a work in progress, actually.

I bought the pot at Home Goods because it looks so Bible-y, but I plan to replace the plant with olive branches that are a bit shorter and match the ones on the other side of the picture. 

For the picture, I printed this high-resolution photo of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem and ordered this frame from Michael's on sale, with a total cost of under $50. The little grapevine wreath was on clearance at JoAnn and if it ever stops raining, I'm going to go outside to look for some branches I can add to make it look more like a crown of thorns.

This was my inspiration on Amazon.

The basket with the crosses is the part I'm most proud of. I found a centerpiece I liked on Amazon but it was too big and too expensive, so I made my own imitation using some clearance olive branch sprigs from JoAnn, 99¢ wooden crosses from Michael's, and this 10" planter from Amazon.

With some old paint I found in the basement that definitely needs to be thrown out now that I'm done with it, I painted the crosses, and now it's propped up against the wall and ready to glue together for real to look a little nicer.

—2—

The only thing that wasn't a complete bargain was this pretty creche from Etsy that is in our dining room. (I tried getting something like it for cheaper from Amazon but it was absolutely a case of getting what you paid for and I returned it.) 

The little stone actually rolls, it's pretty cool.

It looked a little small for the place I wanted it, but once I added some plastic palm leaves it fills the space just fine.

—3—

My 17-year-old picked my 7-year-old up from gymnastics and he was doing a goofy walk out to the car.

"Did you make that up yourself?" she asked.

"No," he answered immediately, "It's a famous dance and all the kids at my school know it."

"Really?" 

"No."

The sass is strong with this one.

—4—

Speaking of dancing, a video popped up on my YouTube feed entitled How to DANCE and not embarrass your kids as a MOM. 

The YouTube algorithm can be hurtful sometimes.

The video wasn't terribly helpful, but I loved how she said, "Don't wiggle your hips because that's so embarrassing for your kids" and then she spends 9 minutes showing you how to do that. 

—5—

Does this bumper sticker work? I don't think it works.

After trying to read this, I think I know how a dyslexic person feels.

I understand that they're proud of their high school senior but you can't just replace any letter with a number and have it still make sense.

—6—

I have a new vacuum that Phillip bought me for Christmas (he got me a vacuum and I got him a special pillow for his acid reflux; tell me you've been married for 20 years without telling me you've been married for 20 years) and I like it a lot.

My favorite feature is that it makes me feel like a Ghostbuster when I pull out the canister to empty it.

Probably a poltergeist in there.

I just hit the red "eject" button on the top, and the bottom opens up and everything falls into the trash. Everytime I do housework I feel like this.

—7—

I came across this video and it is too cute for words. Enjoy this video called "Married Life", a real-life take on the montage from Up.

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7 Quick Takes about Stain Removal Hacks, Studying Spanish with the Former President, and Vanishing Beauty Marks

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

As a mom, you deal with more blood than a mob boss. You know how to get blood out of everything, from carpet to clothes to bedding. 

My main trick is quickly soaking whatever article of clothes my kids last bled on, or at least blotting the carpet right away. But when I discovered a set-in blood stain on my son's pillow from a bloody nose he got in his sleep and forgot to tell me about, before throwing it out and buying a new pillow I went hunting on the Internet for solutions.

I learned an amazing trick, and all I needed was a spray bottle of hydrogen peroxide, an iron, and a lot of free time. All that's left on the pillow is a faint stain, and considering that it previously looked like someone had been murdered on it, I was really impressed. 

I wish I'd taken a picture, but on the other hand I don't because it was really gross-looking.

—2—

My 7-year-old had a food challenge this week, which is allergy-speak for "went into the office to do a controlled test of him eating peanuts to see if he's outgrown his allergy yet". He would taste a small amount, and if everything looked okay after 20 minutes, they would give him increasingly larger doses until he could be declared No Longer Allergic.

He failed the food challenge almost immediately. Within 30 seconds of having the smallest dose (⅛ teaspoon,) he turned to me and said "My throat is itchy." It went away after 15 minutes without Benadryl which I guess is something, but he's still allergic.

My 12-year-old used to be allergic to peanuts and grew out of it, so I've held on to the hope that the same thing would happen with him. But if he hasn't outgrown it by this age it's pretty unlikely that he ever will.

—3—

I can't tell whether I'm an introvert or an extrovert. At first glance, I seem like an obvious introvert. I prefer small groups or one-on-one interactions, and it rarely occurs to me to get together with people, even friends who I like.

However, I don't feel drained after spending time with people like a true introvert. (I know, because I'm married to an introvert who has to basically take a nap after sustained small talk.) The opposite, actually. I almost always feel energized afterward, even if I didn't feel very good beforehand. 

In the end, though, it doesn't really matter if I know whether I'm an innie or and outie. I'll just continue being a hybrid weirdo who has to continually remind herself to talk to other human beings and runs on a social high all day afterward.

—4—

Some people I meet on my language exchange app like to just shoot the breeze, but lately I've been talking to this one guy who's sort of a drill sergeant about learning languages.

In a way it's good, because talking to him is improving my Spanish a lot. He forces me to use grammatical structures I usually avoid, won't let me use English when I get stuck, and he corrects my errors thoroughly (politely, but thoroughly). It's not exactly a self-esteem booster, but I guess I'm not there to feel good about myself, I'm there to learn to speak passable Spanish.

Eduardo recently pointed out an area of the language that I need to study more, and I'm trying... it's just so BORING. How could I study this concept without my mind wandering after just a few seconds?

So one day, I decided to ask ChatGPT to explain it to me in Donald Trump's voice, thinking that it might be just entertaining enough to hold my attention. I was not disappointed.

Chat Donald went on and his explanation was hilarious and very informative. When I asked him to, he even included some example sentences like:

• "We're going to build a wall, a big beautiful wall."
• "They were crying, like babies."
• "You're going golfing again? Sad."

I did notice a few errors in the translations, though, so I'm not going to rely on ChatGPT too much as I continue to study Spanish grammar. But it's helpful to know that if I ever find anything too dry and boring, I can have it explained to me virtually by Gordon Ramsey, Forrest Gump, or Gollum if I want to.

—5—

After all the Spanish studying I've been doing, I'm getting increasingly annoyed by people who suggest that Spanish is "easy" because it's "so similar to English." 

The only people who say this, by the way, are people who don't actually speak Spanish. They know about 100 words and memorized how to say "My name is ______" and think that qualifies them to say the entire language is simple.

That's like claiming parenting is easy because you babysat a couple of times and it went fine; it doesn't come from a malicious place, people who say that just honestly don't know how much they don't know... and I'm beginning to find out that there's a LOT to know.

—6—

Decorating my living room mantel for Easter is still a work in progress. I was hoping to have a picture today to share but it's not ready yet. I'm excited about it, though. 

In the center of the mantel I have a large picture of the garden tomb in Jerusalem in a nice frame, and that's all done. To the left, there is a plant in a Biblical-looking pot, but I'm going to rip out the plant and replace it with faux olive branches when they arrive (I ordered them online). And to the left will be a DIY version of this centerpiece, but smaller to fit the space and for one-third of the price. I'm still buying materials and figuring out how I'm going to do that. Pictures will be forthcoming.

In keeping with my desire to keep Jesus at the center of Easter, I was happy to come across a blog post with a collection of answers to the question "How is your life different because you believe in Jesus Christ?" I love the one that says "I strive to see the best in everything and everyone because I know He would." My faith in Christ shapes my entire worldview, and that in turn determines everything about where and how I spend my time and energy.

—7—

Did you know that skin moles only have a 30-year life cycle? It's true. My dermatologist told me that once, and over the past few years I've noticed that this mole I have just below my eyebrow is fading. Now, it's so light that you can barely see it unless you know it used to be there and you're looking for it.

I've had it my whole life and I feel like it's been a big part of my appearance since it's on my face (when I mentioned it recently even Phillip said, "Oh, yeah, I remember that mole" and if a man took note of it you know it must've been significant.) So it's pretty weird that it's basically gone now.

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7 Quick Takes about Easter Decor, Having It All Together at the Dentist's Office, and Just Being Yourself

This post contains affiliate links. If you buy something using these links, I may receive a referral commission at no extra cost to you.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

Ever since this talk in general conference last year, I have been thinking that I'd like to revamp the way our family looks forward to and celebrates Easter. 

I spend at least a month gearing up for Christmas talking about Jesus with my kids, but usually Easter sneaks up on us and we're lucky to have a few days. I have three big tubs of Christmas decorations, a lot of them nativity-themed in some way, but a grand total of zero Easter decorations. Seems backward, since Easter is the whole point of Christianity, doesn't it? So this week I've been intentionally trying to take baby steps toward celebrating Easter with as much as (if not more) anticipation and enthusiasm as Christmas in a meaningful way.

The first thing I did was go online and get a few inexpensive Easter decorations for around the house that will help us remember what we're celebrating.

I hung this 8x8" wooden pallet sign in our powder room, and I know it's working because several times a day, I hear people exiting the bathroom humming the Easter hymn "He is Risen." I just cackle and continue writing my screenplay Inception: An Easter Story.

I also hung this wreath on the living room wall next to a picture of Jesus that was already there.

Amazon sells this as a door wreath but unless you live in a hobbit hole it will be too small for that, better as part of a wall collage of some sort.

This small tabletop empty tomb decoration may not get here until after Easter, but that's fine. I'll have it for next year:

Lastly, I found a high-resolution image of the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem, the place popularly shown to tourists as the tomb where Jesus was buried (probably not really, but it's the symbolism we're after here,) and got it printed as a 16x20 (with a coupon!) on Snapfish. I've been to Michael's to scope out 16x20 frames, and I think I found a beautiful one that I can order online with a coupon. I'm really excited to put it together and display it on the mantel when everything gets here.

And this is not really related... but it sort of is. When I was poking around Amazon looking for Easter decor, I came across this super-cute shirt that made me smile.

—2—

Apparently I'm not the only one who's been thinking this way, because when I went to this month's Relief Society (the women's organization of my church) activity, we made an Easter "advent calendar" to help our families focus on Easter. 

We filled 12 plastic eggs with Christ-focused Easter activities, scriptures, and QR codes leading to Easter-themed videos or songs. Yes, some of them also have chocolates. 

We put the filled eggs in egg cartons, but for next year I plan to do what the woman teaching does with hers. She displays them on the wall in an empty picture frame with wire strung across it horizontally, the eggs hanging from the wires on ornament hooks. I wish I'd taken a picture but I didn't think of it until after I'd already gone home.

—3—

While I've been getting my act together in one department, it's been falling apart in others. I was running around trying to get out of the house for a 10AM dentist appointment (my kids helped by missing the bus so I had to give them rides to school as well as get myself ready.)

I dashed up to the front desk at the dentist's office just a few minutes after 10 and said I was there for my appointment, which the receptionist informed me had actually been at 9.

"Well, can I reschedule right now?" I asked.

"Have you filled out your paperwork?"

"Huh?" I asked, clearly on top of everything that is going on in my life.

"We sent you some paperwork and it needs to be filled out before we can book your next appointment. Do you have your insurance card?"

Well, NO because I'd left my purse at home in my hurry to get out the door an hour late to my appointment but THANKS FOR ASKING! 

In my defense, we discovered that she'd sent the forms to the wrong email address so it wasn't completely my fault that I looked like an idiot. It was only mostly my fault that I looked like an idiot.

—4—

My 10-year-old celebrated a birthday with some friends, and wow. The only thing louder than a 10 year old girl is a 10-year-old boy. And the only thing louder than a 10-year-old boy is a group of 10-year-old boys. I know it's not how it works, but I think we broke the sound barrier.

And my son was given a ton of candy.

—5—

I've been using a fun website called lyricstraining.com. It's a game where you listen to foreign-language music videos and type in the missing lyrics, helping you to "hear" them better. I use it for Spanish but I think they have all kinds of languages.

The amazing little girl in the video "Soy Yo" was killing me, and I don't think you even need to understand Spanish to appreciate it. (Here is a translation of the lyrics, but the gist of the song is that haters gonna hate and it's okay if no one gets you, just be yourself.) "Soy yo" means "it's me."

—6—

I have an autoimmune disease called discoid lupus, and there are a few different medications you can take to manage it. 

For a while, I was on the immunosuppressants that organ transplant patients take to keep their bodies from rejecting their new organ, and while it worked for the lupus it meant I was constantly feeling crappy from the 8 billion germs that my 6 kids brought home from school every day that my immune system couldn't fight off.

So I begged my rheumatologist to put me on something else, and he prescribed an anti-malarial drug. The problem is that my dosage is too high, permanent eye damage is a side effect (especially on a high dose), and it's not working as well to manage the lupus. So as of this week I'm back on the immunosuppressants.

It's been four days, and one of my kids is home sick from school already so I'm certainly going to be next. I'm not sure I can do this.

—7—

We aren't a tennis-playing family, but we do have rackets and balls and go out once or twice a year to act like we know what we're doing. 

One nice afternoon I loaded the kids in the van with the promise of playing tennis and this is what we saw when we got there:

The tennis courts were literally being demolished with excavators before our eyes.

Pretty ironic, but it gets better. There's another court not too faraway that is definitely in poor shape (cracked pavement, etc) but the kids really wanted to play tennis, so we drove there... and THAT one was torn out, too! After that we just gave up and went for a walk.

There is one other tennis court in town that I know of and I'm willing to go there next time, but if that one is also bulldozed then I'm hanging up my racket and considering our tennis days over.

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7 Quick Takes about Moose Safety, Shades of White, and Worship Songs about the House Burning Down

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

I said to Phillip one morning, "You know what's ironic?"

Like any reasonable person who was a teenager in the 90s, he replied, "10,000 spoons when all you need is a knife?"

"No," I said. "I finally decided it was time to clean my dirty phone. I couldn't find the cleaner so I had to go get some from the upstairs bathroom. Then there were no paper towels so I had to go down to the basement to get another roll. I cleaned off the phone, put everything away, and then set it down on the counter in a big glob of peanut butter."

"Well, at least you have paper towels now," was his response.

—2—

My 15-year-old learned in his driver's ed class what to do if a moose "jumps out" in front of your car. (I've never seen a moose jump, but that's how my son described it to me.)

Apparently, they covered all sorts of scenarios and if you can't avoid the moose altogether, you should try to swerve so the corner of your car takes the impact and the moose doesn't go through the windshield.

I don't remember ever talking about anything like that in driver's ed and wondered if this was a routine thing or if maybe my son just got the rogue driving instructor who was obsessed with moose safety. I decided to text his older sister to ask:

Har, har. Look who got their dad's sense of humor.

—3—

Since I got back from my Mexico trip I've been more determined to practice my Spanish conversational skills (they're even worse than my English conversational skills, and that's saying something). So I've been back on my language exchange app, meeting Spanish speakers who are trying to learn English so we can help each other.

I always realize things about English when I'm talking to them. One guy was asking me about the difference between "I will" and "I'm going to." We talked about it and then I told him that most English speakers pronounce "I'm going to" like "I'm gunna" in case he ever hears that in conversation.

Then I realized we actually only do that before verbs, but never nouns. Like, we would say "I'm gunna eat" but we wouldn't say "I'm gunna the store." What in the actual heck? 

It's almost as bad as when another Spanish-speaker asked me to explain the difference between see, look, and watch. Just try to do it. You can't. Every time you think you've found a rule to explain when to use each one, you think of a sentence that proves your rule wrong.

—4—

After washing a load of white laundry, I was hanging some clothes on the backs of our dining room chairs to dry. My teenage son was there and I commented on how all the shades of white looked hanging next to each other. 

He just gave me a blank stare until I remembered that he's a male, and males only register like 8 distinct colors. Within any given letter of ROY G. BIV it's pretty much all the same to them, and even that's being generous because if you go ask the average man on the street the difference between "indigo" and "violet" he'll have exactly zero idea.

—5—

This week Phillip brought home a free fire blanket from work (much more useful than the whiskey glasses last week), so we thought it was a good time to do a general overview of fire safety for the kids. 

We took them on a room-by-room tour of all the fire hazards, showed them how to use the fire blanket to put out a stovetop fire, then set off the fire alarm and had everyone practice running out of the house to our agreed-upon meeting place in case of a fire.

This was actually part of a weekly devotional called Family Home Evening that members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints do. A typical Family Home Evening consists of: 

• an opening song/hymn
• a prayer
• a lesson (usually we pick a spiritual topic, but emergency preparedness is important, too)  

At the beginning of FHE this week, we told the kids the lesson topic and asked for suggestions on the opening song. This is what the 7-year-old said we should sing (I'll give you 10 seconds to guess why):

—6—

My three youngest kids were discussing the differences between basses, tenors, altos, and sopranos. I listened to their conversation and asked if they'd ever heard of a contralto.

The first I'd ever heard of or seen one was when Phillip and I went to see Handel's Messiah performed professionally. I typed 'contralto' into YouTube and this video came up:

My 12-year-old's reaction? "That was infinitely better than Fergie."

—7—

Phillip laughed one morning while checking his work emails at the breakfast table so I asked him what it was.

Apparently there was a meeting invite sent to 400 people, and someone had accidentally hit "Reply All" with the message "Nub hub bb bbbbbb."

Some people might think that was an unfortunate and embarrassing butt dial (or child playing with their phone), but I see it another way. That guy made 400 other people start their morning with a chuckle. How cool is that? 

That's why I try to see my own stupid moments as a public service. Because they usually are! It takes the pressure off everyone else to be perfect all the time, and maybe it even makes them laugh a little, too.

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7 Quick Takes about Blueberry Cobbler, Toilet Paper Roll Holders, and High Standards for the Drivers of Tomorrow

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?

—1—

Yay, we got this really cool gift from Phillip's work!

Just kidding, it's a set of matching whiskey glasses which are completely useless to us. I appreciate the presentation, though. Really nice box.

—2—

My 7-year-old's gymnastics practice ends at 8 PM, so it's always a real rush to get him fed (he's always starving after practice), home, and in bed at a decent hour. So I bring him dinner in the car and have him eat on the way home to expedite the process.

One night while I was driving him home he paused and asked out of nowhere, "Mom, what even is  life?"

How do you begin to address that kind of a question? I mean, what I happened to say on that particular night was "I don't know, eat your dinner" because I was exhausted. But honestly. 

—3—

On Tuesday I took a friend out to lunch for her birthday, and my 12-year-old made her a blueberry cobbler. 

For the rest of the week, my daughter was craving cobbler so she made a second one just for us last night. It looked great coming out of the oven, but when we cut into it, we discovered that it was not baked through on the inside, not even a little bit. We ended up having to put it back in the oven for more than twice the time the recipe called for, so I'm pretty sure we gave my friend a raw cobbler goulash for her birthday and I feel pretty bad about that.

I'll have to call her to apologize this weekend. It's the thought that counts, right?

—4—

A while ago we replaced our toilet paper and instead of the old spring-loaded kind, I opted for the sort that is just a bar sticking out of the wall. Changing the roll now is a simple slide-off, slide-on operation you can do with one hand. It's super-easy to do, and yet:

I'm so confused.

What the heck is even going on here? At first glance, this appears to be the laziest display of laziness I've ever seen. They couldn't even slide off the old roll, they just plunked a new one down on top of it.

But then I looked at it a second time and got confused. If a person was truly lazy, why wouldn't they have used up all the toilet paper on the old roll first instead of going all the way across the room to the cabinet to get a new one?

The ways of people living in my house mystify me.

—5—

It was nearing 5 pm, so I asked the kids "What should we have for dinner?" 

I saw my 16-year-old open his mouth and then close it, so I asked what he was going to say.

Turns out he was going to sarcastically answer "Food," but stopped because he knew that if anyone in the house does that THEY GET THE HONOR OF COOKING DINNER THAT NIGHT. I have trained him well.

But anyway, my 17-year-old suggested grilled cheese but we'd just had it recently, so I asked if maybe there was some way we could spice it up. She Googled recipe ideas and this is what Google predicted she was going to ask:

One  of these things is not like the other.

—6—

Sometimes I just don't think I'm equipped to handle the level of bizarre things on the Internet. So there we were, looking up recipe ideas for ways to fancy up your grilled cheese, and an article claimed that "out-of-the-box ingredients like peanut butter can spice up your grilled cheese sandwich." 

Okay, but you do know that some things are out of the box because they just don't belong in the box, right? I then Googled "peanut butter grilled cheese" to see if that was a real thing multiple people did or just one serial killer on Reddit, and apparently it is a thing. I even saw one guy claiming to like grilled cheese with peanut butter and Granny Smith apple slices (but that really was on Reddit so you be the judge.)

Then again, I did come across an article called 50 Insanely Good Grilled Cheese Recipes that made me want to try almost every one of them, so what do I know?

 

—7—

My 16-year-old is taking online driver's ed next week, and I got this email from his auto school outlining the class rules: 

When I showed it to his older sister, she said that when she took online drivers' ed she used to play the piano during class with the microphone off and the webcam trained on just her face. Which it doesn't say is against the rules exactly, but somehow I think it's not what they meant.

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