Friday, March 30, 2018

7 Quick Takes about Keeping Things Clean, Destroying All the Music I Like, and Truth in Advertising on My Front Doorstep

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

1


Happy Good Friday! I am really looking forward to this weekend, and not just because Phillip was out of town this week and is finally home to fix everything the kids broke while he was gone.

Later today I plan to make these Easter rolls with the kids. You put a marshmallow in the middle and bake, then the marshmallow disintegrates in the oven so the roll is empty like Christ's tomb on Easter morning. Plus, it tastes really yummy because marshmallows.


Do you have any traditional Easter foods or special Easter traditions that help your family focus on Jesus (even if they are eating Reese's Eggs while they're doing it?)

2


In spite of what I said about spring cleaning, we did, in fact, do some deep cleaning. I put the little kids down for a nap, wrangled the older ones into helping me with the promise of a movie and a treat afterward, and together we tackled a list of chores that needed to be done in the kitchen.

They organized cabinets, washed walls, and wiped down all the appliances while I worked on scrubbing what was probably 15 years of dust cemented to the tops of the cabinets with grease. Super-fun.

My arms were sore for days afterward, but I look forward to not stirring up allergies when we put the Christmas garlands up there this December.

When we finished the kitchen was sparkling, and my kids got to experience first-hand the feeling of utter rage that consumes you when you bust your butt cleaning and then somebody wanders in to get a snack, leaves fingerprints all over the fridge, scatters dirty utensils everywhere, and spills a tub of yogurt on the floor. 

I think that's the best way to prepare them for life in the real world, honestly.

3


As a reward for spring cleaning well done, we watched Coco. It was a visually beautiful movie and I enjoyed the family-positive theme. I'd recommend it to anyone, but probably especially if you're Mormon since Mormons will love the tie-in with family history and knowing your ancestors.

We were planning to have a treat with the movie but it was the end of the grocery-shopping week and there wasn't much in the fridge, so we had to work with what we had. Which, in this case, meant gluten-free brownies with a flaxseed egg substitute.

I genuinely hesitate to hit "publish" on that for fear that questions will be raised about how humanely we're treating our kids.

4


My toddler moved into a front-facing car seat. Like everything he's ever had, the seat belonged to his older siblings before him and was a little dusty from being in the attic, so I took the whole thing apart, washed the seat cover, and mused about how good he had it because his mom was literally scrubbing the belt buckles of his "new" car seat with a toothbrush for him.

Once everything was washed and put back together, I couldn't believe how nice it looked!

For about 20 seconds, until he instantly spilled his snack all over it. Just in case I was harboring any illusions about having nice things.

5


My kids were messing around after dinner one night and put on one of my swing dance CDs from college. 

(It's a little-known fact that I was an avid swing dancer in college, and I think I was actually pretty good. Which you would never in a million years guess, based on the fact that when I go to my friend's Zumba class I look like I'm trying to get a spider out of my shirt.)

The cover of "Jump, Jive, an' Wail" by The Brian Setzer Orchestra came on, and after a while one of my kids asked, "Is this song really about drunk driving?"


I was so confused until I actually listened to the chorus, and lo and behold, she was right: when they sing "jump, jive and" it does sound remarkably like "drunk driving." Now I can't unhear it.

6


I saw the best welcome mat on the Facebook page of my friend So-So Mom (okay, her real name is Crystal). She's got 7 kids and knows exactly where I'm coming from.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?   {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Awesome doormat product image from Hi, I'm Mat

Our welcome mat is getting a little threadbare and I've already requested this for my birthday.

Maybe then I'll get fewer shocked comments from the random utility guy who can't fix our furnace without saying, "Woah! Another one!" every time a child rounds the corner.

7


In addition to Easter being this weekend, we're also going to be spending most of Saturday and Sunday camped out in our living room watching General Conference on the Internet.

That's our twice-a-year opportunity to hear directly from the prophet and apostles of my church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a.k.a. Mormons.) You are all officially welcome to join me if you'd like.

Conference only occasionally falls on Easter weekend, but I love when it does. I generally find it harder to focus on Jesus at Eastertime than I do at, say, Christmas, so I appreciate the help of General Conference. After all, we are literally listening to 8 hours of one person after another talking about the Savior and aspects of His gospel.

Yes, the kids will get a little antsy and trash the house, but there will also be snacks and spiritual uplift  and I can't wait.

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11 comments:

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

Are you doing the cool snack a thon thing again? I love that idea!

PurpleSlob said...

Yep, the trashing the "clean" thing is why I never put much effort into cleaning. A lick and a promise is good enough. Eh.

Jenny Evans said...

Of course! My kids would get out their pitchforks if we didn't.

jen said...

Easter is easier when you commemorate the individual days of Lent and Holy Week instead of just celebrating on Easter Sunday. There's something to be said about parading around the church waving palms on Sunday, washing feet on Thursday, doing the 7 last "words" on Friday, and reading all the stories for Easter Vigil.

Then again, I'm one of those weirdos who loves Lent and Holy Week.

Rachel said...

I've gone swing dancing to that song many a time, and never did I make the drunk driving connection, so thanks for that. :P
My aunt used to make those Resurrection Rolls for Easter for her kids. I remember eating like six of them one year because they were so delicious. I was in college. Good times.

AiringMyLaundry said...

That's a funny mat!

I hope you had a great Easter. We aren't religious, so our main things are having ham, dyeing eggs, and eating lots of chocolate.

The Lady Okie said...

I saw someone on Instagram I follow who made those tomb rolls but for some reason the marshmallow expanded and spilled out and it was definitely not an empty tomb. Haha! I need to try it sometime.

Lisa said...

Well said! ❤️ I absolutely love the Triduum.

Jenny Evans said...

You have such a good point, Jen! I am notoriously bad at planning ahead but I'm going to try harder to start building up to Easter the month before so it's more of an anticipatory event we can prepare for ahead of time. You Catholics have the advantage in that it's built in to your liturgical calendar.

Jenny Evans said...

They're pretty much glorified cinnamon rolls that require less prep work, so you really can't lose.

Jenny Evans said...

I think they always do, the trick is to tightly seal the dough so the marshmallow goo doesn't escape. You should have seen my pans after we made rolls... cemented marshmallow everywhere. But they looked okay once we put them on a tray.