7 Quick Takes about Super-Authentic Jewelry, Possessing Catlike Reflexes, and Fine Dining on Mother's Day

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

—1—

You know that scene from I Love Lucy where she’s trying to keep up with the bon bons on the assembly line but it keeps going faster and faster until she panics and randomly starts stuffing chocolates in her mouth, hat, and bra? 

The entire month of May is like that. 

The squares on the calendar are not big enough for all the activities. This past Saturday we collectively had two soccer games, a birthday party, two church activities, two music rehearsals, a shift at work, and a bat mitzvah.

It gets worse when Phillip goes out of town, so the night he was gone for a short work trip I had to get creative. I was helping my 13-year-old practice a duet at the church, but had to skip out for a few minutes to (1) go home and pick up my older daughter and her friend, (2) drive them to play practice, (3) pick up my son at soccer practice, and (4) come back to the church.

It would've worked, too, if I hadn't come home to see the three younger kids in the yard ROLLING AROUND IN POISON IVY. After stripping them down and giving them the fastest head-to-toe scrubdown you've ever seen, everyone was late to practice and my 13-year-old thought she'd have to live the rest of her life at the church after being abandoned by her mother.

So, yeah. May has been like that. See this article if you can relate.

—2—

My daughter's best friend turned 13 and invited us to her bat mitzvah. Because of our crazy schedule I had to arrive at the service late and slip out early, leaving my daughter to attend the party afterward with her friends, but I loved the portion I did get to attend.

I'm so used to feeling God's presence during my own regular patterns of worship in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but there's also something very magical about witnessing an unfamiliar religious tradition.

Obviously, you don't understand everything that's going on, but you also don't take any of the details for granted. It gives you the chance to experience God from another angle, and come away with an understanding of and reverence for Him that is somehow more 3-dimensional than it was before.

Though I'm sure I stick out like a sore thumb, I love being able to observe other people's religious worship as respectfully as I can.

As a bat mitvah gift for her friend, my daughter picked out these earrings on Etsy:

The writing inside is "chai," the Hebrew word for "life," which I only know how to pronounce from Fiddler on the Roof.

We ordered the earrings almost a month beforehand and when we realized last week they hadn't arrived yet, I contacted the seller.

Turns out we'd neglected to notice that the Etsy store was called "Holy Land Jewelry" and we'd ordered the earrings FROM JERUSALEM.

Luckily, the good old Israel Post got them to the USPS who got them to us with a few days to spare.

—3—

Even thought she had fun at the party after the bat mitvah, my daughter is an introvert so it really wore her out.

As much as she wanted to go home and/or lock herself in a sensory deprivation tank afterward, we had to go straight from the party to a talent show at our church.

This picture of my daughter about sums up her energy level at that point:

She's somewhere under the grey coat.

Luckily she revived, at least enough to play her violin in the show.

—4—

At preschool several weeks ago, they did an interview with each of the kids using a fill-in-the-blank "About Me" worksheet. We weren't there that day (no good reason, I just totally spaced on what day of the week it was) so they sent home a blank one in case we wanted it.

I figured we could fill it out and it would make a cute keepsake, kind of a written snapshot of my 5-year-old at this moment in time, and since we had all the time we wanted I'd have him write it out doing just a few lines a day.

The results were hilarious.

I love that he completed the prompt "I always say ________" with the words "random things."

Other favorites include:

• "I am curious and full of wonder. I like to ask questions. I always wonder what jellybeans are made of" (I had no idea this was the #1 pressing concern in his life!) 
• "Many people love me. I am loved by Jesus. My mom is always washing the dishes and she always says 'Go to bed.' My dad is always at work every day and he always says 'Time to do scriptures.'" 

I tried to be offended at the 'always washing dishes' part, but seeing as I had literally just finished washing yet another load of dishes before helping him write this, he has a point.

—5—

We've survived 15 years and 6 children by stealing smart ideas from other parents whenever we can, and one such idea that I came upon early in our marriage was designating a floor-level cabinet in the kitchen for "kid dishes."

All the plastic plates, cups, and bowls are located within easy reach of the youngest members of the family, so it's handy for them to get stuff out and handy for them to (theoretically) put it away after being washed.

Of course, when you ask your 3-year-old to unload the dishwasher it means your "kid dishes" cabinet actually ends up looking like this.

Still better than nothing.

What other smart kid tricks do I need to know? I've got over a decade left at this so it's not like I can't still use them.

—6—

So I dropped my phone in the toilet.

In a miraculous turn of events, the phone appears to be completely fine even though my case isn't waterproof.

I attribute it to the fact that it was only submerged in the water for about 0.3 seconds, because I reflexively plunged my hand into the toilet bowl and snatched it out of there quicker than you'd yank your child from the path of a speeding bus.

Gross? Yes. But it wasn't a conscious decision. It happened so fast I didn't even know I was doing it. And I regret nothing.

—7—

I almost forgot to tell you about my Mother's Day! It feels like it happened years ago, probably because this time of year the days are so full of things to be late for (see Take #1.)

I started out the morning with a light breakfast in bed provided by Phillip and cards from the kids. Here are pictures of a few of them:

Watercolor and hand lettering from my 15-year-old.

Origami envelope for my 13-year-old's card, who was apparently inspired when last week I showed her some of the folding techniques I used in 1994 to pass notes to my friends in class. We were so rad back then.

Homemade wrapping paper from my 7-year-old's gift.

Notwithstanding cute cards, I have to mention what happened at church.

On Sundays, we have a 1-hour sacrament meeting followed by another hour of Sunday School classes, both for adults and children.

But in honor of Mother's Day, all the women were excused to attend a sit-down brunch in the cultural hall. A few men substituted for me in the nursery so I could attend. There were tables with real tablecloths and at each place there was a form to request an omelette made to order:

You know I love church. But being waited on like this (by people who weren't even being paid to wait on me) was above and beyond.

Everyone in our congregation more or less knows each other, so I noticed right away there were two new families visiting with us that particular Sunday. Introducing myself to one of them during brunch, I was really hoping that if they come back next week they're not too disappointed at the lack of free sit-down restaurant afterward. It was kind of a high bar, after all.

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