7 Quick Takes about Mustaches at the Aquarium, Distasteful Jokes, and Lost Tooth Problems

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

—1—

My 17-year-old went on a band trip earlier this week (which meant I was in charge of  bringing her to the high school at 2:30 AM at the high school to bus to the airport and catch an early-morning flight!)

After she left I told my 15-year-old "Well, you're the woman of the house now." And then, remembering that I was the woman of the house, told her, "Or at least the woman of your room."

"It's not going to be that much different," the 15-year-old said. "There will just be no one napping in there."

—2—

It's hard to create friendships with someone in a totally different stage of life, but when it happens it's really neat. It brings a new perspective and you end up talking about things you ordinarily wouldn't in your own little peer bubble.

Through our town, we adopted a senior's driveway and are helping them with snow removal, and through that I've enjoyed getting to know the wife of the couple. (Honestly, I'm not that social so I've probably seen more of Bev this winter than most other people outside my immediate family.) 

Lately I've been helping her sort through a paperwork mess with Medicare, meaning that I first had to learn a lot about how Medicare works myself. Not something I would have done over the last few weeks if not for meeting Bev, but it's good to know!

—3—

My dad and stepmom are here for a visit so we took the kids to the aquarium while they're here. We were leaving during morning rush hour traffic so I budgeted plenty of extra time for traffic, only to find that there really was no extra traffic and we were going to be there way early, before the aquarium even opened.

"Man, I hate being early!" I said, looking at the GPS. Because sitting around trying to kill time with wiggly kids is the worst.

"Then drive slow," my dad suggested.

"I hate driving slow!" I said. And I do.

We ended up getting there quite a bit early, but we walked around and there were a few exhibits outside the aquarium to look at while we waited. I'd say the kids' boredom threshold never exceeded 4/10, so that wasn't bad at all. I guess having older kids has its perks.

My favorite thing at the aquarium was this crab, who most likely has an accent like Fabio and emerged from his cave to ask everyone if they like his mustache. 

—4—

My 5-year-old is deep in the throes of bathroom humor, and that has definitely got to be my least favorite childhood stage. I just can't stand potty jokes. I don't even like the word F-A-R-T. 

Unfortunately he thinks the mere mention of bodily functions are the height of hilarity and wit, so there we are. 

Recently, I heard him ask his brother, "What's something that starts with P besides the word 'pee'?"

How encouraging, I thought, maybe he's realizing there's more to life than jokes about urine.

"I don't know," his brother shrugged. "Popsicle?"

"POOP!" 

Frankly, we all should have seen that one coming.

—5—

Phillip sent me a link to this TED talk with no explanation (he later explained it was a QR code on the paper towel dispenser at work and he wanted to check it out in the future, so I think sending it to me was the adult version of toddlers putting all their stuff in their mom's purse to carry.)

Basically, I had the same reaction as everyone in the comments: my first thought was what did I just spend 4 minutes of my life watching? But as the days went by, I realized out of all the TED talks I've ever watched, this one was probably the most impactful in my everyday life. Shake and fold!

—6—

My 10-year-old just lost a tooth, and it was her second baby tooth that came out with a cavity in it. GROSS.

Seriously, if you've never had the opportunity to see or smell the inside of a tooth with a cavity in it, count yourself lucky. 

Last time, the tooth fairy waited four days to come get the infected tooth (I'll pretend that was intentional) and then left a note explaining she had to let it quarantine because of all the germs.

Leaving fair warning for the Tooth Fairy.

I think this time she might leave behind an electric toothbrush and some floss picks, too.

—7—

Speaking of lost teeth, our pet rat Piper's front tooth came out this week. That's not supposed to happen, but our rats are getting up there in years (for rats, anyway) and I guess dental problems happen sometimes when you're elderly. 

We've been watching Piper and she's doing okay compensating with the other front tooth to eat, but I'm just shaking my head at our poor toothless old lady rats. Never in my life did I think I'd be saying that.

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