Friday, March 17, 2017

7 Quick Takes about Standing On Principle Where Chocolate Is Concerned, Tissue Paper Madness, and the Results of the Vote

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

1


We've had several nice days in the 60s and 70s. I thought spring had arrived, but then:

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

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

It's my fault, I tried to put the kids' snowpants away for the season. My apologies if you also live in New England.

2



The day before the storm was scheduled to hit, the lines at the grocery store were ridiculously long.

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

With my heaping cart full of stuff it looked like I was in there stocking up for snowmageddon, but really I was just doing my regular Monday grocery shopping. That's what shopping for a family of 8 looks like.

3


When I got home, my daughter announced she was baking a cake for a dessert auction in a few months and needed to test out her idea (the cake was an invention of her own mind and she didn't have a recipe.)

Figuring she'd be home from school the next day because of the snow, I texted Phillip at work:

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

I had no idea, but apparently chocolate chips are a hot commodity during a snowstorm. When Phillip got home, he reported that the baking aisle looked like it had been looted, and every single brand of chocolate chips  even the weird dairy-free organic ones  were all gone.

"The only thing left was the sugar-free kind," Phillip said, setting a grocery bag on the counter.

"So you got sugar-free chocolate chips?" I asked.

"Of course not!" Phillip snorted at the suggestion. "I went to a different grocery store."

The Evans family might be willing to compromise on a lot of things, but we draw the line at sugar-free desserts.

4


The following day, snowstorm day, everyone was home from work and school. The younger kids and I sat at the dining room table making dozens of tissue paper flowers for a church event, and Phillip and my daughter baked a test cake in the kitchen.

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

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

Those two are two peas in a pod when it comes to fancy baking. My eyes just about roll out of my head at the mere suggestion of using something as superfluous as a flour sifter, but they love stuff like that.

With the cake in the oven and 22 minutes to go, we suddenly lost power. When we called the electric company to let them know our power was out, we got a message saying there was no one in the office and urgent calls should go to the police.

We thought about it. Our cake was getting ruined. Does that qualify as an emergency?

5


About those tissue paper flowers. They were for an activity celebrating the "birthday" of our church's women's organization, called Relief Society. For the foreseeable future, I've been asked to oversee and execute activities like this at church.

If you know me personally, you are definitely laughing right now, because I'm the worst event planner ever.

Luckily I got help from a more Pinterest-y woman in the ward and our conversation about decorations went something like this:

Her: "Do you have a theme?"

Me: "Huh? Yeah, teal and yellow and orange."

Her: "Besides colors, I mean."

Oh. You need that?

So it's definitely ironic that I've been asked to do this. In my church that happens a lot. We're given assignments (called "callings") to do all kinds of things we may or may not be particularly good at.

Theoretically, I like that my calling forces me to develop new skills outside of my comfort zone. Maybe one day, I'll even be marginally less incompetent at planning parties in my life outside church.

6


The event turned out beautifully, thanks to the intervention in Take #6. It was a nice night with a good turnout. There were spiritually uplifting messages and strawberry shortcake. I really don't know what else you could ask for.

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

One funny thing, though: when we showed up to decorate the gym on the morning of, it was filled with skis.

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

Someone showed up to take them away while we were setting up, but you can still see some against the walls in this picture.

7


Last week, I asked all of you to vote on a very important issue: how to dispose of the defunct printer that's been driving us nuts. We asked if we should:

A) Drop it out a second-story window
B) Stone it
C) Use it for BB gun target practice
D) Shoot it with a bow and arrow
E) Destroy it with a sledgehammer

The vote was close, but the voice of the people chose E, the sledgehammer. Sentencing will be carried out this weekend, because we are but humble servants of the public. Pictures to follow next week.

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14 comments:

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

I'm so glad you and your husband are on the same page regarding essentials like chocolate chips. That's so disappointing for the power to go out. I'm glad your event went well.

Carolyn Astfalk said...

I also stand with you on the chocolate chips. Better no dessert at all than a sugar-free one.

Ellen said...

I think i voted for e. If not, I'm changing my vote. Definitely the best option on behalf of all the printers that plague us.

Jenny Evans said...

Phillip is extremely excited about it.

Robyn said...

We also have a printer that has recently been "retired" following a multi-layered paper jam incident during the printing of my son's book report.

Let me know if you want to try out whatever came in second in your poll. 😉

O'Babies said...

Dear Summer Friend,
Do you want to know what I was doing during the snow storm? I was laying face down on my couch. The. Whole. Day. And I might have been crying.
Glad to see that you were more productive. See you in the summer!
Love,
Me

Jenny Evans said...

I think there's an article about that...
http://www.unremarkablefiles.com/2016/02/20-indoor-activities-with-kids-when.html

Jenny Evans said...

Stoning and BB gun were tied for second, and either sound fun!

PurpleSlob said...

You left out the most important thing: What happened to the cake?? Did you nuke it when the power came back on?? Did Phillip try to grill it???

Jenny Evans said...

You're right, I didn't say! Luckily our power wasn't out for long so we still finished baking the cake, but we overcooked it a little because we weren't sure exactly how much time to leave it in for. They're testing out another one this week so hopefully no power outages this time!

Kathy said...

church party planning nightmares are my specialty. Like the time that we were having international night and wanted "flags" of all the countries represented. Instead of real flags we wanted balloons with the colors of their flags. One "flag" each table. So USA a red, white and blue flag. I go to pick up the carefully planned order to find 3 of the white balloons deflated. Told the guy at the counter about it and he told me "yeah, saw that, there are no white balloons in the bin" I TRIED not to be sharp when I pointed out the next isle had about 1000 bags of white balloons and maybe he could open a new bag to complete my order. Then there was the potlock fun. When you tried to give the single men an easy task like a bagged salad mixes. Easy right? Well, he bought it the day I asked and FROZE it. Ever see defrosted lettuce? haha.

Jenny Evans said...

Ew! Reading about defrosted lettuce makes me throw up in my mouth a little.

Anna said...

Our power went out before church one morning while I had muffins in the oven. They were a new recipe and I really really wanted them, so we put them on the bbq. It actually worked surprisingly well.

Jenny Evans said...

That's good to know! I'll file that one away for reference in case of another emergency.