Friday, July 24, 2015

7 Quick Takes about Looking Awesome, Highbrow Entertainment, and a New Addition to the Family

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! Summing up the last 7 days in 7 quick takes. How was your week?

1


Before the heat wave hit, we went to visit a nearby botanical garden. And by "we went to visit," I mean that our family of 7 walked in like a boss and owned the place.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Dominating like the Flying Angels in a V formation.

In my mind, we looked sort of like this:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
photo courtesy of Alan Wilson

Or this:



Other than parting crowds as we walked by, we loved the place and stayed all day. It was beautiful!

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

2


If you're looking for a good date night movie, I'd recommend Interstellar. We just rented it on Redbox. It's a little intense, but in a good way.


I like those deeply symbolic movies where things aren't really supposed to be understood all the way.

Probably because it allows me to feel very smart indeed when someone complains, "I didn't get that movie!" and I can just polish my monocle and sniff, "Oh, really? I rather enjoyed it."

3


Phillip, who's been on a smoothie kick lately, whipped up something inventive for our movie night.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Happy not to have to share with short people who backwash.

Strawberry, sugar, almonds, and coconut. Mmmmmm.

4


The following is a real conversation overheard between my kids at the store:

7-year-old: [looking at the checkout aisle candy] We should get some of this!

9-year-old: Since when do we ever get candy when we go to the store? Unless we're lucky and we go with Dad.

11-year-old: But he only buys it for us because he wants some himself.


I didn't realize that my children were so aware of the way things work in our house!


5


We're having our annual Great Camera Debate. We get a new digital camera just about every year, usually because it's been thrown, poked, played with, or dropped in the toilet one too many times by the kids.

I always say we should just get a cheap one because then when the kids inevitably break it, it's not the end of the world to replace. But then the picture quality isn't that great. Phillip says he's tired of cheap, crappy cameras and that we should get a nice(r) one. I usually restate my argument and we end up with another inexpensive and mediocre camera.

By the way, here are the reasons we need a new camera:
  1. Baby jammed the lens cover halfway open, now the lens has a permanent scratch
  2. Plastic rings around the zoomy thing have all started to fall off for some reason
  3. Cover over the battery and memory card pops open whenever it feels like it
  4. Half the time, pictures look like this one:
It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
This was a really bad sandwich that I burnt in the broiler, so the out-of-focus actually improves its appearance.

So what do you think? Does it make sense to spend some real money on a camera this time around? 

6


A momentous day for Phillip also came when this arrived in the mail:

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}

He's been longing for a new mountain bike for a long time, but with our "use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without" philosophy we couldn't (or at least, I couldn't) justify buying a new one until the old one was broken.

Well, he broke it, and a new one was ordered the next day.

He was so anxious for the bike to arrive, he's spent the last 5-7 business days at his computer looking up the tracking number and stalking the UPS guy.

"I don't think you understand how excited I am," he tried to explain to me when I sort of laughed at this behavior. "Aside from the day we got married"

I raised an eyebrow.

"and the day the kids were born"

I could see him trying to read in my eyes if there were some other really significant dates he should be including in his disclaimer.

"this will be, like, the best day of my life."

So after all that waiting, here she is.

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

Arrived on Tuesday at 10:07 AM, weighing 29 lbs 10 oz. Both dad and bike are doing fine. We can't say enough good things about the UPS guy who delivered her.

7


I was just minding my own business, wasting time on YouTube the other night, when confronted with this ad.


What.

Dancing at the party with the pee sample cups (1:26)?? As someone who's peed in a cup probably close to a hundred times at her OBs office for the better part of 10 years, I can assure you that it's nowhere near as fun as that video makes it look.

But go and get your kidneys checked, I guess.


Click to Share:
Unremarkable Files

15 comments:

Jenny said...

I hated interstellar. Not because I didn't understand it, I just ended up feeling like I'd wasted 3 hours of alone time on it.

A nice camera is a good investment. If you ask me, I like Nikon. They have some cameras that are nice but not super nice. My sister has one with triplets if that helps you make a decision at all. Granted her triplets don't try to "help" take pictures very often.

My almost 4 year old quite liked that video.

Unknown said...

What an eventful week! My cousin, who is a photographer, actually said that cameras on phones are as good or better than her fancy-schmancy professional camera in terms of quality images. That's supposing you have a fancy-schmancy smart phone and they kids don't treat it as terribly as the cameras. Phones seem to be a little tougher and you can always get an extra strength otter box...

Jenny Evans said...

We had no idea how long Interstellar was when we started. It didn't feel inordinately long to us, but we finished the movie, looked at the clock, and had a total Twilight Zone moment as we realized that while we were watching a movie about time dilation and spacetime... we were also experiencing it!

Jenny Evans said...

I've noticed that they're really good! I don't know if I'm quite ready to make the leap from my dumbphone just yet, but I'll keep that in mind...

Anonymous said...

samsung galaxy has 16MP phone - better than the other smartphones out there. we also have a really nice Canon that my husband keeps getting different types of zoom lenses for. but honestly, the bag is so big, I'd rather have a decent camera that fits in my pocket or purse easily.

btw, I just discovered your blog today and have really been enjoying it!

Jenny Evans said...

Glad to have you here! If you like the blog, check out the FB page too. There's lots more action over there. I do want something small for my next camera so it's easy to take along with us everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Interstellar is on our date night DVD list. Would you recommend it?

Happy camera shopping! :)

Rachel said...

We might be shopping for a digital camera before too long. Usually people just give me their old ones that they don't use anymore, but it might be time for a more grown-up approach to having a camera!

Jenny Evans said...

I definitely would - but it's like 3 hours long so plan accordingly!

Jenny Evans said...

If it works, I see no problem with that system!

Queen Mom Jen said...

Ha, your family is hilarious! We go lots of places like a boss, or like a car full of clowns. Not sure which one is the better description....

Buy a good camera, I did last year and it really has made a big difference. I found a good one on sale and took in a coupon and it was pretty reasonable.

Lynne at The Sweet Midlife said...

Get a good camera then report back here how you like it, because I have been having the same debate with myself. And also, you said "monocle". I love that word. Tally ho! I feel like if you have a monocle then you should say that phrase. Glad you guys had a wonderful week!!

Jenny Evans said...

Whether you look awesome or like a clown car completely depends on your perspective. I choose awesome.

Sarah said...

I loved Interstellar. I had to watch it about twice before everything fully sank in, but it was a good movie. We dropped about $400 on a camera three black Friday's ago (regular price $1,000) and purchased a tripod and case to go with it. It's super fancy and makes me feel like I know what I'm doing. :) So far it has been worth every penny.

Jenny Evans said...

I'd like to watch it again but knowing now that it's 3 hours long I don't think I'll ever find that big of a chunk of time to do it!

So far it seems like people are telling me to go for a decent camera that actually costs some money... I'll have to take this into consideration.