Friday, June 4, 2021

7 Quick Takes about Hometown Heroes, Legitimate Reasons to Be Feel Melancholy, and Two Scheming 9-Year-Olds

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

1


So why does the Tesla logo look like a T-shirt?

My 13-year-old has become a Tesla detector and I'm not convinced about the logo.

2


To put this take in context, you need to know that 
  1. I come from a small town in Minnesota, and 
  2. I currently live in an even smaller town in New England.
My son started playing with another kid at the local playground, so I started chatting with his mom who said they are just traveling through the area. 

Over the course of small talk, we learned that we were both from Minnesota. (It actually wasn't hard to guess that part because accents.) But on further questioning, we realized we were both from the same small town in Minnesota.

I guess it would've been a slightly better story if she'd removed her sunglasses and suddenly revealed herself as my best friend from junior high. But even though that didn't happen, it was still such a bizarre coincidence.

In reality, I had graduated one year ahead of her so our paths never really crossed. "Your grade was SO cool," she told me, laughing.

Actually, I can tell you for a fact that we were not. But thanks.

3


A website called www.BillionGraves.com sounds creepy, but it's actually a non-creepy site for researching your genealogy. Volunteers take pictures of headstones and transcribe them, and you can search for your ancestors by just typing their names and whatever other information you might know about them.

As a service project, I headed out to a local cemetery this week with the group of teenage girls I lead at church to offer some volunteer power.

As we took pictures, it was reinforced to me how COOL it is to live in New England. The cemetery was so old... there's an entire plaque at the entrance dedicated to the American Revolution veterans buried there. I'll say it again for those in the back: the American Revolution.

I pass this place every day on my way to the library.

I'm not the biggest history buff in the world, but even I know that I'm incredibly lucky to live here.

4


My 9-year-old and 7-year-old lost teeth on the same day. It was really efficient, especially since I have two teenagers with much better memories than me who I asked to play tooth fairy that night.

Fun fact: if you ask a teenager to be the tooth fairy they'll fashion a pair of wings out of paper and wear it while they tiptoe into the room to sneak some money under the pillow. It's actually pretty fun to watch.

5


Often when he's bored, my 5-year-old will sit down at the computer desk and draw something. You never know what it's going to be.

I saw him working on this picture, and not having a clue what was going on I asked him to tell me about it.


"This guy is sad because he's in a tornado," he explained.

I guess that's understandable. He does look awfully put out while he's flying off the paper sideways.

6


I once heard that when you buy a pineapple, the sugar goes up the fruit and you can get it to ripen more evenly by turning it upside down. I'm pretty sure there's no scientific truth behind that, but when I buy pineapple I still put it upside down on the counter to ripen, anyway.

"Why's that pineapple upside down?" Phillip asked when he came home from work.

I waved my hand dismissively and said, "It would take too long to explain. It's an old wive's tale."

There was a silence, then Phillip pointed out the obvious. "Well... you are  an old wife."

7


My 9-year-old and her friend from school have been saving up for a set of BFF necklaces. You know the kind: each one has half of a heart and you can fit them together if you're standing right next to each other.

My daughter scrubbed down the inside of the fridge and vacuumed the van, and her friend did 20 smaller chores for a quarter each. 

It was so cute picturing them each working away at home to earn their half, and also cute when my daughter brought home her friend's $5 in quarters. Right away after school, she opened up Amazon (with my permission) and bought the necklace; it should be here on Thursday.

This is the necklace they chose, and honestly I couldn't imagine one more appropriate:


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3 comments:

Ann-Marie Ulczynski said...

That necklace is hilarious! I've never heard that about pineapples, but now I will question myself every time I put it on the counter.

Angela Caswell said...

My trouble is remembering to cut and serve the pineapple...
Great necklace!
Do you get many tornadoes in New England? We've been blessed to be missed by several, but some pretty close already this season.

Jenny Evans said...

Angela: tornadoes are a rare enough occurrence here that we don't worry about them. Here, the main danger is ticks!