Friday, January 30, 2015

7 Quick Takes about Juno, Writing Emails with a Crayon, and Keyboard Discoveries for the Seriously Oblivious

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1


How do you know when you've gotten old? I think a good test is to imagine that you've just heard a weather forecast for snow in your area. Do you:

a) shout "Yay!" and hope that it snows a whole lot, or
b) mutter "aww, crap" under your breath and wonder if it's even worth your effort bringing the garden hoses inside since they're already frozen anyway.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}


If you chose B, you're an adult now, my friend, and there's no going back.


2


We were hammered with 34" of snow here in New England on Tuesday. What I loved about it was the excuse to do absolutely nothing. Like, really nothing. The governor himself said I can't leave the house.

He declared a state of emergency (which frankly, I feel I've been living in since 2004) and banned all non-essential road travel during the storm.

Since I could've been fined $500 for going anywhere, it just made good financial sense to stay in my pajamas all day watching Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban with the kids.

3


Our school district likewise took full advantage of Winter Storm Juno, with two snow days and a two-hour delay on the third day. (Even I thought that was a little excessive, but I just kept to my pajamas and hoped nobody said anything.)

I may not get too excited about snow anymore, but I am much more excited about weather-related school cancellations than all 3 of my school-age children combined. No homework to supervise, no getting up at the crack of dawn, no morning schoolbus rush... what's not to like?

4


A few snapshots from the storm:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
The kids were salivating all day to go outside. Like, literally drooling on the window.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
The view from our front door (see the two rectangle door-marks in the snow?)

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
See you later, kids! Hope we've taught you everything you need to know about winter survival.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
I'm not even going to tell you how long this took.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Snowbanks were piled higher than the stop signs the next day.

5


In non-snow news, I had a friend over for lunch earlier in the week and wanted to do something fancy. I blame Pinterest.

On the plus side, my dessert did turn out really pretty:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}


But I had to clean up this and this:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
What happens when you try to multitask while taking roasted pecans out of the oven.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Kids playing in dishwater and rearranging the cupboards while I clean up the pecans.

All in all, it was a semi-successful attempt. I think I at least quenched the urge to be fancy again for another 6 months or so.

6

Growing up in the digital age, my 3-year-old is surrounded by tech words yet has no idea what they mean.

For example, one of her favorite things to do lately is write "emails" to Phillip and I:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
What "emails" are to a 3-year-old.

She also approached me yesterday as I was emptying the dishwasher to ask if she could help "download it."

7


Lastly, I've had my fair share of technophobe moments, but I think this one was the worst.

I was linking to a post called The Last Time, and I also wanted to mention that it was at my blog Unremarkable Files. So I wanted to do one of those vertical lines that you see like this: "The Last Time | Unremarkable Files" but I didn't know how to do that. I thought maybe the vertical line was some HTML tag I'd never learned.

So I Googled it and started reading a Q&A forum where a guy asked the same question. Someone responded, "Why can't you just use the one on your keyboard?"

I looked down, and lo and behold, there it was. Right above the "enter" key.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Has been there all 32 years of my entire life, never noticed it before.
After making that discovery, I had to just sit quietly for a minute, examining the rest of the keyboard. Because who knows what other crazy things could be on there.

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Unremarkable Files

20 comments:

normaleverydaylife said...

Haha! Love all of this. I do hate snow days though. One or two here or there is fine, but in the South they tend to go overboard and there have been times we've been out for a week. Always right after a Christmas vacation. After experiencing that you lose your stomach for snow days. :) I do the technology thing too. I'm always so proud of myself when I can find the answer on Google instead of having to ask my kids!

Jenny Evans said...

We used to live in Ohio, and they would cancel school for days after a light snowfall too. Mostly because they'd only plow the main roads, so the side streets would ice over and the buses couldn't get through. Don't know why no one but me ever figured that out. Guess I'm just a genius.

Megan said...

It's hard to believe all that snow! One of the first storms I've seen that school cancelation was justified! I'm with you though, I'll take any snow day :)

Jenny Evans (sister, not author) said...

I love the 3-yr-old's use of thech words, and your captions on your pictures are always so witty and entertaining!

Queen Mom Jen said...

Download your dishwasher, now that is cute! That snow is intense, wowza!!

Unknown said...

Gosh, I miss New England. I so wish I lived there again.

Jenny Evans said...

You should have been here when the Pats won the Superbowl. I think I heard people across town screaming from my house.

Anonymous said...

Great post. I am the odd one out as I'm old AND I love snow :) Also, I never knew what that key was above "enter." Thanks for the tutorial. I would bet there are dozens of things on this keyboard I have no clue about. I couldn't hear the screaming from your house over the mega screaming at my house. Phew! What a game.

Jenny Evans said...

Almost makes me wish I was a football fan.

mumturnedmom said...

Ah, this made me laugh (in a slightly hysterical way...). According to our Mayor we have had 50 inches in our town so far... Now, I'm only 5ft1, so that kind of scares me a little! And more on the way....!?! I'll definitely take the snow days, it means I don't have to drive anywhere :)

Mummy Tries said...

Being a Brit we don't see snow like that, but I'm not the hugest fan. That keyboard story is hilarious! Nice looking cakes :-) #SWM

Unknown said...

Haha loved reading this. Gosh that snow was horrendous but at least it was a chance to stay indoors in your pyjamas. I blame pinterest a loft for some of things I try. I mostly don't succeed #sharewithme

Unknown said...

He hee - love this Jenny! Especially that your 3 year old thinks you download the dishwasher :-) And yes, it's always good to look down at your keyboard every once in a while. I was taught to touch type on an old fashioned typewriter so I rarely pay any attention to those black things I'm bashing away on. Wow - that snow!! I actually thought you lived in Utah - like everyone who is of the Mormon faith had to live there by law or something :-) Clearly not the case! That really does make our snow look a bit like a pathetic sugar dusting in comparison. Hope none of you have gone into some sort of Shining-style cabin fever madness! X #sharewithme

Jenny Evans said...

Can't speak for all Mormons, but if I knew what was good for me I'd be living in Mexico. I hate the cold!

Anonymous said...

I love reading this post! So many things in one go! My fave is the keyboard entry. Now I am looking at what I am missing. Might fins some gold mine in there =)

#sharewithme

Jenny Evans said...

I could start a whole separate blog devoted to my personal Pinterest fails.

Unknown said...

Grace says - Now, that is a SERIOUS snow day!!! That looks nearly as tall as me!! Those desserts do look very yummy too :) #sharewithme

Wicked World of Lucas said...

I'm not going to show Lucas these pictures as he will get very jealous of all that snow. That photo of the snow up against your door is amazing. Hope you're all staying safe and warm x #sharewithme

Let's Talk Mommy said...

WOW I have heard so much about the snow storm it's bad and bless you I would have wanted to stay in the pjs and sleep in too. We had snow like this growing up so it was brilliant when there was a snow day. lol Great post. Thank you ever so much for linking up to Share With Me. #sharewithme

Jenny Evans said...

I don't know how much sleeping in was going on. The kids can usually sense when school is cancelled and those are the days they wake up an hour earlier than normal.