Friday, March 2, 2018

7 Quick Takes about Making a Name for Yourself, Fun Things to Play With that Aren't Toys, and Humorous Bathroom Break Requests

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

1


I've been known to tape a torn page or two back in a library book in my day, but what the heck am I supposed to do with this?

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

I have no idea what could've possessed my 1-year-old to decimate a book like this. Let's just hope he doesn't make it a habit.

When I went in to the library to pay for a replacement, the librarian laughed and said, "Remember when your daughter destroyed a book with Play-Do a few years ago? We still talk about that."

So I don't mean to brag, but I'm kind of a local celebrity.

2


We're in the middle of a medical insurance mess right now, and let me tell you that spending a billion hours on the phone trying to get it sorted out is not my idea of a good time.

Just trying to figure out what was going on in the first place took forever. I seriously spent over two hours in front of the computer looking over our insurance claims on Tuesday trying to wrap my brain around what was happening.

This is worse than when we changed insurance two days before my oldest was born and all of our claims were denied because they sent them to the wrong insurance company! And I thought that was pretty annoying.

3


Anyone who blogs understands the feeling of really pouring your heart and soul into a personal essay, and then nobody reads it. It's like when you make a good dinner and your kids won't even try it.

Well, I wrote something like that on Wednesday. It was very personal to me and for whatever reason, the Facebook gods only showed it to about 8 people.

So I would love it if any of you would click over and read "Are We Failing Our Boys?" I spent all day slaving over a hot stove keyboard to make it for you. It's the least you could do.

4


I've said before how much I love having a big family. I know the size and spacing of our kids isn't always in our hands, but I'm grateful every day that my 6 kids have each other because it's so good for them.

I loved this writing prompt my kindergartner brought home from school:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
From the handwriting and the drawing, it looks like she was rushed.

Forgive the spelling, but the question says, "Who makes me feel great?" She wrote in, "my baby brother."

I thought it was so sweet, assuming the picture is the baby holding his bottle, and not a three-fingered man in footie pajamas playing the recorder.

5


To help heat our house, we have a pellet stove in our living room (it's like a wood-burning stove but fueled with sawdust pellets instead of logs.) Usually the 40-pound bags of pellets go in the garage, but the last 5 bags Phillip bought and dumped them on the floor right next to the stove.

And oh my goodness, it's like Mardi Gras in here now according to my little kids. I've had to break up a ridiculous number of fights over who gets to sit on the bags of pellets.

I finally took put them out in the garage myself this morning just to put an end to the bickering, and by their reactions you would have thought I'd told them there was no Santa and then backed over the family pet in the driveway.

6


I went to a special "curriculum night" that explained how things are going to work when my 8th grader goes to high school next year.

When the principal stood up to welcome us, the first thing he started talking about was graduation and I had kind of an out-of-body experience.

You guys, grown men and women are going to be wearing those caps and gowns and that is going to be my baby in a little over 4 years and holy crap what is going on??

Also, when did I become such a walking cliche? It's just a matter of time before I'm approaching strange moms in the grocery store with completely unsolicited advice and wailing things like "they grow up so fast!" and "enjoy every minute!" to anyone who will listen.

7


As a mom, I'm pretty accustomed to strange requests while I'm in the bathroom.

"Mommy?" Came my 6-year-old's voice through the closed bathroom door. "Can you cut some cheese for my snack?"

"No, I'm in the bathroom."

"You could do it in there."

"No, we don't take food in the bathroom. That's gross."

"I meant the other kind of cutting the cheese."

"No! I said"

And then I realized she'd actually just made a pretty clever fart joke for a 6-year-old on the fly and there were a few moments of stunned silence.

She giggled and then said, "But I do want some cheese for real after you come out of there."


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10 comments:

Unknown said...

Some days I worry about how I am going to deal with the younger kids as teens. Right now when a teen is having a super crappy teenager-problems day, a sweet little toddler crawls up and hugs and kisses them and says, "Wuv, wuv." That is the best way to make a teenager feel great and I don't know how I will replace that.

Jenny Albertson said...

Ha! “I meant the other kind of cheese” awesome.

I feel like not many read my blog even if Facebook tries to share it with 100 or more people ha! So don’t feel too bad.

Kimberly said...

So, here’s the thing. They DO grow up too fast. And- if I’d had time I really would’ve read that post. I promise. Maybe tomorrow?

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

I really enjoyed your post. But you said everything so well I couldn’t come up with a comment. I read So Sexy, So Soon on your recommendation and it gave me a lot of things to think about.

AnneMarie said...

Oh man, that book is a piece of work! That makes me feel a bit better about my toddler partially destroying a library board book the other day (and somehow, magically, they seem to have mostly fixed it and didn't charge me for a replacement). That pellet stove sounds interesting! And of course kids would fight over who gets to sit on them-it's always the new and exciting things that get kids interested, you know? Today we were at a friend's house and they are semi-urban homesteaders, so of course my toddler and his friend just had to sit in the raised beds and start trying to dig out the seedlings, because it was new and exciting and something we don't have at our house ;)

Kelly M. said...

I think insurance companies make things super complicated (as do most large medical establishments) in order to force people to give up the fight. It really is a part time job (sometimes a full time one) and I often think of struggling single parents, the elderly, or those for whom English is a second language. ...and that's probably the most downer of a comment I've ever left here.

AiringMyLaundry said...

Eek, that poor book!

I would think having lots of siblings would be a good thing. I'm an only child and trust me, I LOVED my space and quiet time, but sometimes I did wish for a sibling.

PurpleSlob said...

Jenny, everything is just funny today! (Unlike usual, when everything is hilarious!)
That 6 yo joke was on point!! She has a career ahead of her as a stand- up!
The Kg drawing is so adorable.
WHAT?? You'll have a hi schooler?? No way!!

Jenny Evans said...

I thought about that when I was talking to my insurance on the phone. It's really sad.

Jenny Evans said...

I do get sad thinking how unfair it is that the littlest one doesn't get any younger siblings. I guess that's what nieces and nephews are for, although it's not quite the same.