7 Quick Takes about Cute Snacks that Don't Work, a Foray into Foraging, and Discovering New Playlists (Each One Weirder Than the Last)

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

—1—

While I was out doing errands, Phillip took the kids on a short hike in the woods. All except my 15-year-old, who decided not to go with them and instead take her own walk near the house.

When Phillip and the other kids got home, the 9-year-old was saying, "Poor you. I would hate to go on a walk all alone."

The 15-year-old shrugged and answered, "I like to think."

"Ugh," the 9-year-old grunted and shivered. I'm pretty sure she meant walking alone, but then again, I can't be sure it wasn't the thinking part that she found so distasteful. It was kind of ambiguous.

—2—

My teenagers have been such good sports this week. First they accompanied me and the little kids to a playground out of the goodness of their hearts, and later we went to a new spray park/pool I heard about that turned out to be a wading  pool, not a swimming pool (oops.)

In each case, they made the best of it, had fun playing with the little kids, and hung out with each other talking about whatever teenagers talk about.

There really is something great about having your youngest be 5 and your oldest be 17, though. The teens get to be kids for a little while longer and honestly, I'd have no idea what to do if we could only do big kid stuff all the time! 

—3—

I'm not a mom who does crafts or anything cute, but my underweight 7-year-old would always rather play than eat and I thought I'd try my hand at making some whimsical kid snacks for him.

You know the kind of stuff I'm talking about:

By the way, my kids would refuse all of this because the different types of foods are "touching."

So here's what I slapped together. What do you think?

Follow me on Pinterest.

I'll have you know it went just as well as I thought it would: he turned the banana into a frowny face and wouldn't eat it.

At least I didn't lose 20 minutes of my life sculpting an owl out of a rice cake.

—4—

Remember that hike in the woods Phillip took the kids on? Well, it's been really rainy lately and the mushrooms in the woods on that walk were crazy. They saw every size, shape, and color imaginable, and that got him interested in edible mushrooms. 

After a lot of research, he brought home some chantarelles to fry up with some butter and onion. (I agreed to go along with it after I texted pictures to a friend who knows all about mushroom foraging and got the green light, and after he promised to only eat one and if he wasn't dead by morning he could have the rest.)

I still haven't tried the mushrooms yet. I'm going to wait a week to see if he dies, just to be safe.

—5—

We're learning about Iceland this week for The Educational Summer Vacation. One of the reasons I really like doing this is because it's a way to discover new foods and activities we like that we never would've discovered otherwise.

We regularly eat food at home that I never would have known about, like al kabsa from Saudi Arabia or pastel de choclo from Chile. We also learned about batik egg dying while learning about Ukraine, and now that the kids are older we do the real thing every Easter. 

This week I learned about an Icelandic rock band called Sigur Rós, and I'm actually listening to them right now while writing this. It's really different from other music I've ever heard.


Is ethereal the right word to describe this? It sounds to me like the approved soundtrack for watching the Northern Lights or some equally breathtaking natural phenomenon. 

—6—

Speaking of music, the other night we invited some friends over for a bonfire and were looking for some music to listen to. I searched playlists on Spotify and found ones with the funniest and most specific names. 

Eventually I clicked on one called "Songs That Will Make You Feel Like the Main Character," although just out of curiosity I may have to go back and check out the one above it called "Foreign Relations Playlist."

It reminds me of a few days ago when my 15-year-old was helping peel potatoes for dinner. I said we needed some background music so she went on YouTube and found a playlist called, no joke, "Music to Peel Potatoes To." 

The moral of the story is that there's some weird stuff on the Internet.

—7—

If you get email notifications that Unremarkable Files has a new post, did you notice today's email looking any different? 

Recently I had to switch to a new service, because the old one changed their business model. (Rude.) I spent last night putting new 'subscribe' bars on the blog's sidebar and footer. How does it look? Does it work? 

And if you're like "You can get email notifications?!" then go ahead and sign up! No spam, you'll just get an email when there's a new post on Unremarkable Files.

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Have a good Friday, everybody. You've earned it.

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