Friday, May 4, 2018

7 Quick Takes about Snide Remarks, Jobs I Would Like to Have in My Old Age, and Blurring the Line Between a Nap and a Coma

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

1


Hear ye, hear ye! I finally finished the monstrous bottle of pepper I've been teasing Phillip about buying since 2015 when I asked him to pick up pepper on his way home from work.

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

Honestly, it's kind of weird to have it gone. Throughout the last 3 years we've had babies, birthdays, job changes... but the one constant through it all has been this ridiculously enormous bottle of pepper in our pantry.

And what if I decide to open a restaurant now? I'll be hopelessly short on pepper.

That's it. I'm buying another one. (Seriously, I am. Pepper lasts forever.)

2


Phillip and I took our 12-year-old out for dinner, just the three of us, for a special treat. It was a really nice Chinese place with very pretty food.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Apologies for the poor composition of this picture and the crumpled napkin in the foreground. I'm better at eating food than photographing it.

The fortunes in our cookies at the end of the meal were kind of weird, though. The 12-year-old's was relatively normal, but mine was more like advice than a fortune.

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Easier said than done: I'm basically married to a snide remark. Phillip seems to enjoy giving me a hard time about everything. 

And Phillip's fortune was oddly specific:

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

I once got a ticket for parking on the wrong side of the street, which I didn't even know was illegal, and I definitely did not feel the faintest hint of civic pride so I guess that shows my true colors.

3


I've been suspecting it for a while now, but I read the book and it's official: I am a free-range parenting convert.

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

Free-range parenting is about not letting the fear of unlikely events keep us from allowing our kids to be kids and do things they are capable of doing.

After reading the book, I'm brainstorming ways my kids can use their bikes and their own two legs to get around more, especially this summer.

Also, there's a pizza place within walking distance of here and I'm really excited to send them out to bring home dinner on a semi-regular basis now.

4


The last time I logged into Amazon, I saw the "Echo for kids" advertised on the front page.

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


So... I'm intrigued. How is a kids' Echo different from a regular one?

My guess is that (1) it's more durable in case it's dropped and (2) only tells toilet jokes and plays Parry Gripp songs from YouTube. But I could be wrong.

5


Speaking of Parry Gripp, he's sort of my hero. I can't help but idolize him and his goofy techno dance mixes about hamsters.

You'd think he'd be some punky little YouTuber barely old enough to drive, but actually, he looks like a totally normal middle-aged guy you'd see mowing his lawn on your culdesac.

I only wish I could be a grown adult making a living out of songs like "It's Raining Tacos" (which is excellent, by the way.) #lifegoals

6


Question of the Day: is it bad to use children for cheap labor if they're enjoying it?

I taught co-op preschool at my house this week, and after asking them to clean up the toys they'd been playing with (never mind that said toys had been lying everywhere on the floor before they showed up,) I asked if they wanted to move the sand toys into the sandbox which has been on my to-do list forever but I never seem to get around to it.

Phillip says I'm evil but I think I'm a genius. But I suppose there are evil geniuses out there, which actually doesn't help my argument at all.

(And if any of the parents in our co-op is reading this, we totally did educational stuff, too.)

7


And lastly, this scene is brought to you by afternoon church:

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week?  {posted @ Unremarkable Files}
Looks like as good a place as any to take a nap.

I mostly love having church at 1 PM because it means I'm less rushed and crazy once we get there, but it does mean that by the time the toddler goes to nursery afterward, he's skipped his nap and is pretty tired.

This week he wasn't just tired, he laid down on the floor and slept like a log for two hours in the middle of a room full of a dozen other loud toddlers. Typical youngest child.

Click to Share:
Unremarkable Files

6 comments:

Rosie said...

I've totally used visiting kids for labor. They LOVE checking for eggs in our chicken coop, even though it requires carrying a large stick to fend off the evil rooster...

Unknown said...

One of my kids' friends sings "it's raining tacos" with some amount of consistency. Happy to have it put into context now (kids are not the best at telling you where they picked up silly songs, words, or random bits of information). I'm fairly free-range as well, but our street is actually connected to the business highway, so I don't think I'll be as willing to let them go down to the nearest convenience store. I've wanted to do exactly as your toddler after church. Usually I make it home first!

Rachel said...

I had never heard of "ParryGrip" but just yesterday night, my sisters played this Breakfast Burrito song for the family and I couldn't quite believe that such a song existed. I'm not sure I'm the target audience.

Jenny Evans said...

If you think that's something you should watch the video for it. It's like Sponge Bob on crack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prPjpwsGiws

Jenny Evans said...

Oh, mine are GREAT at showing me exactly where they got their weird songs and making me watch all the YouTube videos. How do you think I found out about Parry Gripp in the first place?

Jenny Evans said...

I can see how egg collecting would be super-fun, plus bragging rights for surviving the homicidal rooster! I would farm off that chore every chance I got if I were you, too.