Friday, June 22, 2018

7 Quick Takes about Confusing Uses of Quotation Marks, Dubious 14th Century Medical Knowledge, and Flowers You've Probably Never Heard Of

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

1


A while ago I convinced Phillip to take singing lessons (odd choice for an engineer, but it's something he's interested in) and his first recital was last weekend.

He sounded nice and I think on the whole, the rest of our family did pretty well, too: only one person misbehaved so badly they lost refreshment privileges and only one peed their pants in the car on the way home.

Not too bad, if you ask me.

2


I bought a violin accessory for my daughter, and this was the packaging on the product when it arrived:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
"You keep using quotation marks. I do not think they mean what you think they mean." -Inigo Montoya

I'm a little confused by the quotes. Are they saying that this a crappy product or is it, like, actually professional and comfortable? I really don't know what I'm spending my money on here.

I have a similar problem at my pediatrician's office, where there's a sign on the garbage can that says PLEASE DISPOSE OF YOUR TRASH HERE  BUT "NO DIAPERS." I don't think it's meant to be sarcastic, but I can't help imagining a guy reading the sign out loud with finger quotes, then finishing up with a conspiratorial wink.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Probably what they were going for when they wrote the sign.

3


Father's Day in our house this year was a pretty low-key affair, partially thanks to Amazon who let me down by not delivering my gift in a timely manner. I ordered some basketball shorts Phillip wanted, and at the time of this writing they're STILL not here (maybe I should say "still" not here?? I don't know, I'm so confused now.)

But at least the kids' gift worked out.

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

We ordered a mega-pack of nice TP and the kids made a tag for it that said: "Thanks for putting up with all our crap." It was shaped like a poop emoji, naturally.

4


One day I was trying to convince my 14-year to go for a run after school, but she kept saying it was too hot outside.

Whipping out my most eye-rolling parental wisdom speech, I told her "Yes, but it's good to sweat out all those toxins and impurities."

Giving me the side-eye, she replied "That sounds like a bunch of Medieval hogwash."

And while I do recognize that it sounds kind of like pseudo-science, I think it's actually true that sweating helps cleanse your body. It's not like I wanted to bleed her with leeches or anything.

5


Probably some of you are raising your eyebrows at the last take and saying "School? What's that? My kids haven't been in school since May." Well, to that I blow a big, fat raspberry in your general direction. We're still in school and no, I don't want to talk about it.

We're almost done, though. In fact, my daughter's class is having a Final Five Countdown and I really love the idea.

On the 5th to last day, they gave high fives out to five people. On the 4th to last, four smiles. On the 3rd to last, three compliments. On the 2nd, play with two new kids. And on the last day, write one happy to note to one person. I hope it's a thank-you note to me for dragging her out of bed every weekday morning for the last nine months.

6


All year, I've wanted to volunteer in my kindergartner's class as the Mystery Reader, but the available time slots were always at the same time as I drove carpool to my son's preschool. But her teacher offered to squeeze me in at a different time this week, so I brought in my favorite picture book, What! Cried Granny.

What are some kids' books you love? You know, the ones you never mind reading when they request them? The ones you possibly like even more than your children do? I might just write a blog post about it if I get a few more good recommendations.

7


Lately I've been keeping lists and making notes for myself on a little memo pad I found in the junk drawer, and although it's been handy my favorite part is randomly coming across pages of preschool art.
It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
A collage of works from my 6-year-old's Botanical Series.

I really liked how familiar floral motifs like tulip and rose were followed by lesser-known specimens like the lollipop flower and of course, the extremely rare 'pokey flower.' I may try to grow those in my garden this year but first I need to look up our gardening hardiness zone to see if it'll work out.

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9 comments:

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

The Day the Crayons Quit is my favorite if I want to laugh. The Library by Sarah Stewart (if I want to cry in a good, good way). I mean "cry."

me said...

The original Pete the Cat books, and the Pigeon books by Moe Willems. You can have a lot of fun reading them.

Jenny Evans said...

Good choices, I like both of those.

Jenny Evans said...

We currently have Pete the Cat and the Missing Cupcake (library book) and my 2-year-old insists I read it to him 347 times a day. My kindergartner loves the Pigeon and the Elephant & Piggy books, too.

Smileyhappychan said...

I love the Hungry Lion, or A Dwindling Assortment of animals

Rachel said...

I've never heard of that book! I probably like reading Dr. Seuss aloud a bit too much...they're just so classic and weird. I've been reading "I can read with my eye shut!" and the Spanish version of "One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish" to Cyrus a lot lately. But the most surprisingly hilarious book I read to Cyrus recently was "The Composer is Dead" by Lemony Snicket. I'm entirely sure it was not written for a 3-month-old audience but it was so clever and had so many interesting musical and classical references. I had just grabbed it off of my parents' bookshelf, it was a picture book I'd never read before, and a nice surprise!

Jenny Evans said...

Have not read either of those, thanks for the recommendations!

Jenny Evans said...

LOVE that one! I picked up the audiobook randomly at the library and popped it in while we were driving one day and I was laughing so hard. That is a great one.

Peggy said...

I love to read kids books with rhythm
Like Mem Fox's The Magic Hat or Shake Dem Halloween Bones by Nikols-lisa or Is Your Mama a Llama by Trinka Nobel.
They make great read alouds.