7 Quick Takes about Career Paths That Aren't To Be, Seeing Your Craziness as an Asset, and Trying Not To Kill Anything

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

—1—

For those of you who've been waiting in suspense since the last 7QT, I owe you an update on my face.

My third biopsy came back and the results were encouraging. Sort of.

It appears I have lupus, but the type I have is probably the least bad kind.

The bad kind is called systemic lupus, and it can attack your kidneys, brain, heart, and lungs. But the type I have is cutaneous lupus, which can cause rashes or sores on sun-exposed areas of the body.

Cutaneous lupus doesn't sound fantastic, but if I had the choice between damaging my vital organs or giving up the dream of ever playing beach volleyball professionally, I'd go with the cutaneous lupus. Hands down.

That said, having one type of lupus puts me at increased risk for developing others at some point in the future, so prayers are always appreciated.

—2—

We finished two weeks of 9 AM swimming lessons, and I'm really enjoying our unhurried mornings.

What I didn't like about the morning swim lessons is that I'd jump out of bed feeling like I got shot out of a canon scrambling to get everyone up, fed, dressed, and ready to go on time... and for all that rushing around, our day still didn't start until we got home at 10:15.

Not saying we get a whole lot more done now, but at least I don't feel as stressed.

—3—

There's a pretty posh restaurant near us that I've wanted to take Phillip to for a while, since fancy food is kind of his thing.

Either I mentioned this to his mom at some point or she has amazing ESP, because for my birthday she gave me a gift card to this restaurant and we finally got to go on a date there this weekend.

Fancy cheeses and berries and edible flowers and stuff looking amazing.

It was the kind of place that values presentation and quality over quantity, and as a result you are served extremely beautiful dishes that a normal homo sapien can actually finish in one sitting.

The food was delicious, but the best part was when Phillip picked up the bill and looked at it he said, "Oh, you're going to love this."

It was exactly 49 cents less than the value of our gift card. As a perfectionist who really appreciates that kind of thing, it was the gift that kept on giving.

—4—

I've been on the hunt for a new organized activity for my 7-year-old to try.

She was doing gymnastics for a while and said she liked it, but I could tell she didn't love it so we took a year off. (I'll pay for an activity my kids love, but not one they just see as a way to pass the time.)

There's a horse farm just down the road from us, and maybe it's because of the book series about horses she's been reading lately, but every time we drive past she asks, "Can I take horse riding lessons?"

For the first 20 times, I responded with a pleasant "Hmm! That sounds... expensive and involved. Hey look! A squirrel!"

But she kept asking. And asking. And asking.

So I figured if this is something she really wants to try then we will give it a shot. If she loves it, great! If not, we'll keep looking until we find her thing.

—5—

I tried to contact the barn several times about lessons but got no response to my emails.

There were other barns, but this one was literally less than 5 minutes from my house and it just had to work.

I can't do through with this crazy riding lessons scheme if it's going to be expensive and inconvenient.

After weeks went by with no response to my emails, I just decided to stop by one day and wander around until I found someone to ask about lessons. Turns out that it was super-easy once I just talked to the woman in person, and we scheduled a first lesson for later that week.

"You just walked in?" Phillip asked.

"Yep."

"Even after they ignored all your emails?"

"Yep."

"See? That's why you're a good mom: you're crazy."

—6—

Crazy I might be, but the 7-year-old loved her first horseback riding lesson.

I loved watching her, too, even though I was slightly worried someone was going to find out we didn't belong there and kick us out.

We're not cool enough to be cowboys or sophisticated enough to be English riders.

—7—

We're currently pet sitting for a friend's fish and guinea pig.

So far, it's been two days and every waking moment the guinea pig has 6 kids fighting over who gets to hold him. It seems to be making him grumpy.

I think we need to schedule some alone time every day for Cocoa. He looks like he's about to snap.

The award for "beadiest and craziest eyes" goes to...

When I told my 15-year-old we were pet sitting, she gave me a confused look and said "I thought you hated watching other people's pets because you're afraid they're going to die while you're in charge."

I DO.

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