Friday, December 9, 2016

7 Quick Takes about Driveway Angels, Turning a Cookie Fail into a Cookie Win, and the Scary World of Middle School Science Fairs

It's been such a busy week. It's been a "the trash is full but there's no time to take it out so tie a new garbage bag to the handle of the dishwasher" busy.

But busy or no, it's 7 Quick Takes Friday!

1


Finally, finally we got a dusting of snow. Despite it being the most pathetic snowfall in the history of snowfalls, my kids were so desperate they put on all their winter gear and made snow angels in the driveway anyway.

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

This is extra-sad considering these pictures (take #4) from just a few winters ago. These are lean times.

2


My 7th grader was in the school play, and the parents' job (other than driving their kids to and from one zillion after-school rehearsals) was to bring some concessions to sell at intermission.

So in my infinite wisdom, I thought I'd just whip something up at home even though baking is currently #50 on the list of things I don't have time to do right now.

Once I started, I also realized that grocery shopping must be #49 on the same list, because we were out of everything. After abandoning three separate recipes because we were missing an important ingredient, I used up the very last drop of butter in the house to make cookies and somehow this happened:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
This is supposed to be cookies. Plural. As in, more than one giant baking sheet sized cookie decorated like a soccer ball.

I called my confused husband at work in hysterics, but that didn't really help.

You know what did help? When my daughter came home from school, not only was she understanding, but she saw that I'd had a hard day and noticed I needed a hug. She totally made me feel better! Having older kids is so awesome.

She also came up with a great plan, and we were able to swing by the grocery store on the way to her curtain call, grab some bags of Oreos, and set up a last-minute Oreo rolling factory in the parking lot with some Saran wrap from home.

Epilogue: we crumbled the ruined cookies up in some ice cream later, so the night was actually a net win.

3


A few random observations from my kids:

I don't know why they were looking this up (clearly they need more chores to occupy their time) but they were Googling the ABC song. The predictive search results included this:

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

If you Google "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz now I know my abc's, next time won't you sing with me lyrics," doesn't that mean you already know the lyrics? You know, because you just typed them all into Google 2 seconds ago?

Also, my 10-year-old thinks it's hilarious that if Katniss and Peta from The Hunger Games named their baby by mashing their names together, their child would be called Kat Pee.

Just something to think about.

4


So this made me feel like I'm in a sitcom for sure.

My middle schooler is starting a science fair project and brought home this insane form for me to sign. I was speechless.

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

Fresh tissue? Radioactive materials? Nuclear energy? Recombinant DNA?

All I can say is, if you're 12 years old and your project idea involves molecular cloning to create new genome sequences, you've probably gotten all that you're going to get out of 7th grade science class.

5


My calling (or job) at church right now requires the planning of activities for the adult women, and let me tell you it's a challenge sometimes.

For our Christmas dinner I was desperately hoping someone else would take over the decorating, but it falls to me, and I'm just not a crafty person. I'm more likely to burn spare pallets for firewood than build a set of reclaimed bookshelves with them.

Anyway, I finally had an idea for some centerpieces and emailed out a request for mason jars. Someone responded, "I don't have mason jars, but I have ball jars."

My first thought was, There's a difference?

My second thought was, I'm screwed.


6


A friend called the other night because she ran out of gas just a few minutes from my house. Fortunately I was home and willing to help; unfortunately our gas can is for the lawnmower (not the car) and doesn't have a long enough nozzle.

I wasn't sure what to do but my friend MacGyvered a funnel out of a Cumberland Farms cup she had in her car... and I was like, "Can you design the centerpieces for the Christmas dinner?"

7


We're going to get family pictures taken, and since I pull from our closets rather than spend hundreds of dollars on matchy-matchy outfits, it gets tricky.

After gaining a new respect for people who lay out clothes for catalogues all pretty-like (because it's harder than it looks), I assembled two choices and I need your opinions.

I really like the first option, but even though I think it's more interesting I question whether it's wise to put orange and maroon together. But then again, what do I know? I can't tell a mason jar from a ball jar.

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

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Palette B
So what's your vote, A or B?

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24 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOVE your blog! It always brings a smile to my face! :) I vote clothes option A!

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

Definitely A :)

Jen said...

I vote A!

AnneMarie said...

Geez, that science fair form is intense! I would be so intimidates to do anything after going through that! And I must confess, the only reason why I know there's things called Ball jars is because I was at Wal Mart and saw them right next to the mason jars. But I still really can't figure out what the difference is, aside from the name.
On the clothing, I really like both options a lot! And I don't think you could go wrong with either. I think it's perfectly fine to put maroon and orange together. That being said, I typically ignore all fashion "rules," and I was the one traipsing around the apartment complex yesterday in flip flops and a Lord of the Rings cloak, so I may not be the one to ask.

me said...

I like B - greys and greens are lovely together. I think it's the big striped shirt in A that's distracting to me. You don't want to take the viewer's eyes away from your child's adorable face.
good luck with the decorations!

Megan said...

That science fair form!! What in the world? Made me laugh. I like both palettes, but maybe softly more A

Alicia @ Sweeping Up Joy said...

I vote B. Growing up my mom tried to coordinate all 6 of us kids for pictures. Looking back we've labeled years "the turquoise year," "the Neapolitan ice cream year, "the sherbet year," and so on. It was awesome.

PurpleSlob said...

I like B best, even tho I hate green. Go figure!
Poor kids! Maybe they'll get more snow in their stockings!

Anonymous said...

Love the science fair form. The one I had to sign was not nearly as exciting! I like option A. We just did family pictures and put everybody in a different solid colored shirt and for the second year in a row the photographer put my kids in a rainbow. Intentional or coincidence I don't know.

Anonymous said...

I have a feeling that there is something in three color wheel with complementary colors that makes #1 work. Cause I do like it. And I love how considerate and sensitive to others your 12 year old is!

Crystal Green from Sharing Life's Moments said...

I loved the Kat Pee name!!

Also, on my blog is a QUICK CHEAP simple centerpiece you can make if you're still looking for ideas for your women's events.

I feel your pain about the cookies turning into one big giant cookie. That happens to me often. My kids are used to it, and don't complain.

I'm glad I don't have to worry about Science Fair forms like that. It's a bit scary to think what kids can add to their projects now.

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

That's happened to me before with cookies! I told my husband that it was on purpose and I had just made an oddly shaped cookie cake.

Beth Cotell said...

I like B the best. And to make it more Christmasy you could take the burgundy shirt from A and replace the white shirt with it. I also think you should use the grey tie and not the striped one. Just my two cents worth.

And the cookies that look like a soccer ball had me rolling!

Michelle said...

Kat Pee! That's hilarious.

I vote option A. Orange and maroon totally work. I think.

Kendall said...

So glad I grabbed a moment to read this today. Made me laugh/smile and shake my head with understanding awareness! How's this, we haven't even begun to be ready for Christmas.lol As for the clothes, I'd go with a, but I'm not one who knows anything. I like colors and that palette would definitely stand out + be cute! :)

The Lady Okie said...

So I think you really can't go wrong with A or B. I like both! I don't think orange and maroon like bad together. And LOL to your cookies! Smashed into ice cream sounds like a brilliant solution.

Jenny Evans said...

They're both in one of the sweaters, so I figured that tied it together reasonably well.

Jenny Evans said...

I am STILL laughing about it.

Jenny Evans said...

She really is the best!

Jenny Evans said...

Fake it to make it, that's what I always say.

Jenny Evans said...

I still have no idea what happened with those cookies.

Jenny Evans said...

Glad I'm not the only one not on top of things for Christmas. It seems like the entire Internet had everything purchased and wrapped by August 15th this year.

Rachel said...

I'd go with B, but that's probably based on the fact that I'd never pick orange for family photos for my brunette, tanned, family. Your family seems significantly more blonde, which makes orange more appealing. I wonder how many things they've had to add to the science fair 'do not' list over the years just because some high achiever thought it was a good idea...

Jenny Evans said...

I was wondering what kinds of projects led to the formation of each one of those rules, too!