Friday, June 30, 2017

7 Quick Takes about Unflattering Things To Smell Like, Ugly Pies, and Aging Like It's 1865

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

1


One thing I look forward to every summer is subjecting my children to free classical music in the park.

It's lovely, really. We listen to beautiful music while eating dinner on some picnic blankets and trying to stave off a boredom-induced riot from the younger kids for as long as we can.

Aside from the baby smashing food all over my camera, pouring water on the blanket, and somehow drawing all over his dad and himself with a pen he stole from my purse, it actually went pretty well this week.

And just between you and me, successfully removing the ink stains from Phillip's shirt and the baby's onesie without a trace when we got home was the highlight of the night.( But if you ask I will totally tell you it was the culture and stuff from the concert.)

2


After dealing with some mysterious welts on the baby's face off and on this summer, we've finally figured out that he's allergic to mosquito bites, of all things.

We basically live in the woods, so unless we never leave the house (which is tempting when you see how his eye swells shut for days after a bite on his eyebrow) we need to have him wear bug spray at all times.

I worry about putting a steady application of chemicals on his squishy little baby skin, so I found a DEET-free repellent that seems to be working okay so far.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Works by making you smell so awful that no one of any species wants to be within 100 feet of you.

The label claims to be "lemon eucalyptus" but should actually read "a million pine trees soaked in cat pee" because that is exactly what it smells like.

3


As an engineer, Phillip is great at doing mathematical problems with lots of Greek letters, but not so great at spelling with English ones. His spelling skills are often the butt of jokes at our house.

When he and my daughter were playing hangman, she outsmarted him with the word "blithe," which he claimed was spelled wrong until we looked it up in the dictionary. He went next, and she correctly guessed his word, "analysis."

Trying to be positive, she said "Hey, you spelled 'analysis' right! Good job, Dad!"

"Well, he can spell science words," I told her. "He writes about them in reports at work all the time."

"Exactly," he said. "I just don't know artsy-fartsy words like 'blithe.'"

4


Speaking of things that are not our strengths, I made a pie this weekend.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
There's a reason why Phillip is our special occasion cook.

I baked this pie for our belated Father's Day celebration at church. Traditionally, our congregation celebrates our men with pies, except we did it a week late this year because we met with other congregations at a different location instead of having regular church on Father's Day.

Phillip tells me it tasted better than it looked.

As luck would have it, I was also in charge of creating a "tablescape" for the event, which is probably the only thing I'm worse at than baking decent-looking pies.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Considering, it didn't turn out too bad.

Of course, the Mother's Day spread from May was still fresh in my mind and it didn't look so great in comparison.

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

FYI, the Mother's Day table was designed by a man. (Edit: this man happened to have worked in catering, so he cheated in the made-up contest I'm running in my head between the two of us.)

5


My kids saw graduation pictures of both me and my brother from our senior years of high school. One of them didn't even recognize me, and another asked "Were those taken at the same time??"

Looking back and forth between the two, my daughter commented, "Uncle Dan looks the same but that doesn't look like you AT ALL."

That's because he doesn't have any kids, and kids age you by 100 years almost instantly after birth. It's like looking at those pictures of Lincoln from before and after the Civil War.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Abraham Lincoln from 1860 and 1865.

(Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. I'm just making an observation. A really true one.)

6


Something that I've never done before is eaten guacamole. I never even tried it. It looks a little gross, and on top of that the name is just so off-putting. The first half of the word 'guacamole' sounds like you're hawking a loogie and the second half sounds like a furry little rodent which is the last thing I want to be thinking about when I'm just trying to enjoy my Tostitos.

However, Phillip wanted to make some guacamole so I decided to try some and it was a total Green Eggs and Ham moment. I loved it!

I'm definitely making more guacamole soon, and I will eat it in the rain and in the dark and on a train, too.

7


Our big plans for tomorrow include shoe shopping. I don't like shopping in general, but I especially dread shoe shopping.

I think it's time, though.

My 9-year-old informed me yesterday there's a hole in the bottom of his shoe, and when he lifted up his foot to show me I could see his bare toe.

"Why aren't you wearing socks with your tennis shoes??" I asked.

"I am. My sock has a hole in it, too."

Well, thanks for telling me. I guess we'll have to make a day of it and go sock shopping when we're done now.

Wish us luck.

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8 comments:

Jenny said...

You guys play some intense hang man at your house. I'm still using words like boat or grass.

Your table scape won in my opinion. The other looked a little over done.

Unknown said...

I LOVE Fridays because I get to read your seven quick takes and laugh out loud. Good luck with shoe shopping!

The Not So Perfect Catholic said...

At least it wasn't water on your camera and baby food all over the blanket!!!
Honestly, your pie table looks more appealing to me than the Mother's Day table. Impressive!!!
I agree with Chloe: I always have to read your 7QT for amusement!

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

Yup. I always look forward to Friday for your hilarious takes. Sorry about the shoe shopping. It is the worst. Good luck!

Michelle said...

Hahaha the Lincoln photos! I've never seen that comparison before, but that's exactly how I look only 2 years into motherhood with one child. I can't imagine having others, or what I'll look like in a few more years.

Rachel said...

How have you never eaten guacamole?? If I were rich, I think I'd live off of avocados. Sooo good. My youngest sister is allergic to mosquito bites--she still has scars from some of the bites she got as a toddler. Mom has some kind of cream now that she rub on if she ever does get a mosquito bite that helps with the swelling and scarring.

AuntSue said...

Oh guacamole! I had never eaten avocados, they looked gross to me. In my early thirties, a group of women from church went to a Mexican restaurant, and there was guacamole on the dish. It was amazing! Where had it been all my life!!

Unknown said...

Benadryl comes in a cream or a gel. It is wonderful to put on bug bites and contact rashes.