Friday, October 15, 2021

7 Quick Takes about How to Own a Job Interview, the Best Rabbit Picture You'll See Today, and Temple Walks

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

1


My 17-year-old is working on her college applications and told me one of her essay prompts is: "Write about a failure you've experienced and how you overcame it."

"Ooh, that's a tough one," I said. "It's kind of like the job interview question everyone hates: 'What is your biggest weakness?'"

Well, she had a ready answer for that one.

"I'd say 'I'm a serial killer.' And the when the interviewer looks at me surprised I'd go, 'Just kidding; it's actually my terrible sense of humor.'"

If I was doing that interview, I would hire her on the spot.

2


In a big family, cooking is exhausting. Not so much because you have to make a lot of food, but because it's impossible to please everyone. No matter what you make, at least one person is guaranteed to not like it. 

Our pickiest eater is actually our 15-year-old. Half the time, she either eats three bites of dinner or completely opts out of even coming to the table and, I don't know, goes to survive on dewdrops foraged from the woods or something.

Last night I was excited to finally be making one of her favorite meals, but when it was time to eat, she said she didn't want any. Apparently the last time we had it, she ate too much and felt sick afterward and now she's got a bad association with it.

For reference, this is me:


3


Over the weekend, we took the kids to the county fair. It's a fun thing to do every 6 or 7 years. 


The most anxiety-provoking part was going through the flower barn, where everything was breakable and there were DO NOT TOUCH signs everywhere. 

Taken just before the "hands in your pockets until we get out of here" rule was instituted.

At one point I looked over to see the 5-year-old picking up one of the DO NOT TOUCH signs and playing with it, and that tells you everything you need to know about 5-year-olds.

—4


The kids all liked watching the baby chicks under the incubators in the poultry barn at the fair, but my personal favorite was going to the rabbit barn and seeing this fine specimen:


Somehow it reminded me of Marlene Dietrich (photo for reference.)

Picture of Marlene courtesy of Isabel Santos Pilot.

Seriously. That is one chunky ball of fur.

At this angle, I'm reminded of how a leaf of kale becomes infinitely more wavy at the edges.

—5


At the CVS checkout the cover of a celebrity magazine caught my eye, purely because it was so mean. 

It had a picture of a male celebrity (I won't say his name, because someone here has to be a decent human being) with the headline: Why He Can't Find Love: Turning 60... ALONE!

Remember: he's a real person. Can you imagine someone saying that about you? And then writing an entire article about it to be displayed at eye level in every grocery store, drugstore, and convenience store in America?

I'm pretty sure that 20 years ago, the writer of that article was doing the exact same thing with a Sharpie on the walls of their junior high bathroom stalls. What a bully.

—6


Our roof is finished! The end product looks great, and the roofers were incredibly fast. In 12 hours, they'd completely torn down the old roof, tacked up the underlayment and new shingles, cleaned up all of their trash, and were out of there.

"They're finished already??" the kids kept repeating that evening in shock. 

It's understandable. They're so used to Phillip and I doing home improvements at our typical glacial pace that they probably assumed the roof was going to take five years.

Case in point, they've been unable to use the main floor bathroom for a week because I've been "getting ready to paint" and removed the light fixture but hadn't actually started yet.

—7


We often talk about Christian discipleship in metaphors such as "following Christ" or "walking in the covenant path." But I'm a youth leader for the teenage girls in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and on Monday, we decided to make it literal by physically trekking 12.5 miles to the nearest temple. 

(You can read more about the function of temples here, but for this take it's enough to say that temples represent the holiest place on earth to us.)

Was it a meaningful youth activity? I think so. The way we sacrificed our day off to make this walk happen, how we all did it by encouraging each other, and the way we made it to our eventual goal by simply continuing to put one foot in front of the other was a powerful object lesson to us and to the youth.

When we finally saw the temple come into view around Mile 12, everyone cheered and some of the girls even started running to get there. (It may have had something to do with the fact that we'd promised them donuts at the end, but still. It was a great youth activity that none of us will soon forget.)

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5 comments:

Britley said...

I always love these. So thanks. I am with you with the picky children. My 13-year-old is terrible and often won’t come to the dinner table because of smells. If anything gets knocked out of his diet, it’s pretty devastating.

JP2GiannaT said...

We don't have a county fair in my area, but the Junior Livestock show comes pretty close to one. I agree, it's a good every few years activity.

Joanne @ Our ABC Life said...

We had a kid this week boycott dinner on the basis that it was soup. It was chicken soup with white beans and kale but she wouldn't even sit down because it was soup! So at least it wasn't a wasted portion?

PurpleSlob said...

I'd hire her too! I love it when someone appreciates my sense of humor!! And I can let it out, as macabre!! Around most people, I have to keep it in!
Are you sure that bunny didn't have goiters?? Yep, I can see Marlene Dietrich!
We've had mac and cheese for 14 days straight. My counselor said better hot food in their tummies, than battles and tears!! My mental state is too important to waste over food battles!!

Ellen said...

My mom is here cooking for us as I recover from having a baby. As I was explaining the kids' food preferences her eyes got wider and wider. I realized then how crazy I had let them get and how compliant we were as kids. We were also poor so there was not any of room for pickiness. And my mom lives good good and was pretty clever at making simple things seem like a feast. I don't know how she did it but I will do slot to avoid meal time battles.