Monday, June 3, 2019

7 Quick Takes about Things That Don't Impress My 7-Year-Old, an Honest Mistake, and Basically a Lot of Cake

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

1


I have a thing for food photography. To me, there is something so pretty about the different colors and textures of foods, especially the raw ingredients in the pan or one the cutting board before cooking.

I was scrolling through my phone, hunting for some new recipes, and when I came to this picture I said out loud to my family, "I love looking at pictures of food. Look at this! Isn't it beautiful?"



Unimpressed, my 7-year-old glanced at it, shrugged her shoulders, and replied "I only like looking at pictures of cake."

2


Speaking of cake, one of our kids had a birthday party last Friday night. It was an evening party and by the time the last guest had gone home and our kids were all asleep, Phillip and I were so exhausted we cleaned up absolutely nothing and just went to bed.

When I got up on Saturday morning, I realized that the leftover cake was still sitting out on the dining room table, and all of the kids had eaten breakfast while staring at it. And the cake was still there.

(Full disclosure: it was about half the size it had been the night before. But it was there.)

3


At any given time, I'm usually working on at least a few read-aloud books with my older kids. Right now, I'm reading A Series of Unfortunate Events with my 13-year-old.

We recently finished book 7, which was a good story but unfortunately the copy we checked out from the library stank. Not an ordinary "musty old book from the library" smell, either. It was a kind of metallic, sour smell... kind of like if a robot had thrown up in it.

I laughed so hard at this week's 7 Quick Takes from Unremarkable Files. 7QT is the weekly recap of her crazy 8-person family, and there's always something hilarious going on at her house. #7qt #7quicktakes #funny #bigfamily
A Series of Unfortunate Smells.

What was worse, I couldn't pinpoint the source of the smell right away. In fact, for the first three-quarters of the book I thought it was my daughter, since she was always sitting right next to me whenever I smelled it!

I've since apologized for unjustly accusing her of stinking, and promised I won't do it again. I even did a thorough sniff test of book 8 before checking it out from the library, just in case.

4


Now that I've reached a certain age, it's time for the "random complaints about my health" portion of 7 Quick Takes.

I'm still recovering from the poison ivy from Hades. Steroids took the edge off, but a few times a day I still want to climb in a full-body scratching machine (and if that is a real thing, my family missed a birthday gift opportunity, big time.)

I've still got some unexplained pigmented spots near my jaw after a year of going around in circles with the dermatologist, and then for about four days a rash that looked like rosacea spread across my face, too.

My 7-year-old peered closely at me one morning before leaving for school and asked, "What's been going wrong with you? Lately you've never been perfectly fine."

Funny, because her dad was just asking me the same thing.

5


My 11-year-old came home and all he could talk about was a song called "Old Town Road." I didn't think much of it but then I saw some memes about it on Facebook and realized this was a widespread phenomenon.

I don't really get it, though.

Usually those viral kid songs are super-annoying, like "Daddy Finger" or "Baby Shark." But this just sounds like... a regular song. I wouldn't mind listening to it on repeat. I mean, it's not my favorite, but it's not really something that would drive me crazy, either. Am I missing something?


But not to worry, my son must have instinctively known "Old Town Road" wasn't annoying enough, so he used the computer to speed up the song to Alvin-and-the-Chipmunks levels and plays that version on repeat all day long.

Good times.

6


Along with the perfectly neutral-smelling Series of Unfortunate Events book, I randomly grabbed some picture books off the shelf and ended up with one called The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

It's the epic story of three warriors who finally meet an equal in each other, and it is completely hilarious.

I laughed so hard at this week's 7 Quick Takes from Unremarkable Files. 7QT is the weekly recap of her crazy 8-person family, and there's always something hilarious going on at her house. #7qt #7quicktakes #funny #bigfamily
So absurd...

I laughed so hard at this week's 7 Quick Takes from Unremarkable Files. 7QT is the weekly recap of her crazy 8-person family, and there's always something hilarious going on at her house. #7qt #7quicktakes #funny #bigfamily
...and yet so hilarious.

When I read it to my 3- and 5-year-old they instantly loved it (probably because it said "underwear") but I was the one who was laughing out loud. I think I liked it more than they did, actually.

If the idea of this book intrigues you, you should probably (1) check out my post about 10 kids' bedtime stories I have loved, and (2) consider buying a copy through my affiliate link here. You won't be sorry.

7


Okay, one more Quick Take about cake.

For my son's Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet, each boy was asked to bring a cake representing a word from the Scout Law.

His word was "helpful," so he decided to make a regular round cake and put a rope and pulley on the top. Because simple machines are helpful, get it?

I didn't buy a boxed mix at the store ahead of time, so I told him to find a cake recipe online. I needed to put someone down for a nap, so I told him to gather the ingredients and read all the instructions while I was gone to make sure he understood what to do.

When I came back downstairs, I clapped my hands together and said, "Okay, let's get started! What's first?"

"Sift the flour into a bowl"

"Skip that part. We don't need a flour sifter. We're not that fancy."

"...The recipe says 'yes, you have to sift.'"

I laughed so hard at this week's 7 Quick Takes from Unremarkable Files. 7QT is the weekly recap of her crazy 8-person family, and there's always something hilarious going on at her house. #7qt #7quicktakes #funny #bigfamily

FINE.

So we did, and the cake turned out great. My son did a really nice job, with minimal help from me, and he made homemade frosting, too.

Still not convinced that the sifting was absolutely necessary (as I'm not sure that any sifting is absolutely necessary,) but all's well that ends well.

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4 comments:

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

The rock, paper, scissors book is one of our favorites. I burst out laughing when he yells, “are you not entertained?!?!” And I think that wild rice soup picture is so very pretty.

Diana Dye said...

I never sift either. I figure that's for people in humid climates but I made that up.

Jenny Evans said...

Diana: I figure that's for people who don't think they have enough dirty dishes so hey, why not wash a flour sifter, too?

PurpleSlob said...

Now I gotta go get that book!
Alvin and Chipmunks version, lol!
Cake=yummy!!