7 Quick Takes about Tempting Offers from the Zoo, Bizarre Inventions, and How to Cover the Price of Gas If You're Writing for the News

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

—1—

No one in our family is very flexible (I was once stretching in an exercise class and someone leaned over and laughed, "Come on, you can go further than that" when sadly, I could not) but Phillip is the least flexible of us all. 

So I was pretty surprised when he started talking about how a coworker was encouraging him to try yoga.

"They even recommended a YouTube channel. It's called 'Yoga with Adriene'."

Since I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say, I chose to go with annoying and said, "Hmm. So what's her name?"

"Yoga," Phillip replied.

As he did his first video and was trying his best to follow along, the 10-year-old stood nearby offering not-so-helpful critiques: "That's not very good, Daddy. I think you should be in the 4-year-old class. Or maybe the 90-year-old class."

"Maybe I will join the 90-year-old class," Phillip muttered as he struggled to get into pigeon pose. "I think I already have rigor mortis."

—2—

On a completely unrelated note, that night I had a dream that Phillip and I went on a weeklong yoga retreat and it ended after two days with the lady in charge of the retreat literally screaming at us to pack up our stuff and leave because we were utterly unteachable.

—3—

We're in the process of planning a Miami family vacation and I've been doing a little research on activities we might do there. I heard the Miami Zoo is huge and amazing, so I decided to hop online and check it out.

Somehow, I ended up on this page and I don't even know what is happening.

I get that people use animal waste for compost for their gardens, but this page makes such a big deal about the compost coming from exotic animals. Do vegetables fertilized with rhinoceros dung taste better or something? 

I don't know much about gardening, but I'm really confused right now.

—4—

I repainted our kitchen ceiling. It looks amazing, but like all home improvement projects, it took a lot longer than I estimated it would. The kitchen was still a mess at dinnertime, so instead of cooking Phillip ordered a pizza.

The next day, I was making dinner and my 4th grader asked, "Why did we have pizza last night?"

"Because I was painting and didn't have time to make dinner."

Looking at my cooking, she bit her lip and asked delicately, "...Can you paint something again?"

—5—

During our family dopamine fast a few weeks ago, my 10-year-old was bored and looking for something to do, so we suggested that she make something.

"Like what?" she wanted to know.

"Anything you want," I said. "It could be a craft, or a new toy for our pets, or—"

"I know! I'm going to make a whipped cream launcher."

"A what?"

"You put whipped cream in it and it launches it at your face," she explained.

"I see."

Far be it from me to stifle her budding creative genius, so she got unrestricted access to the recycling bin to start working on a launcher prototype. I promised her I'd buy her real whipped cream if she made a successful prototype and then created a real one.

And she did.

Not the most accurate aim but it got the job done.

The thing is, moms can encourage their kids to pursue their passions but they can't dictate what those passions are. My daughter's is apparently pranking herself like The Three Stooges.

—6—

Our school's mask mandate ended on Friday, and it took a whole two days before my kindergartner came home sick on Monday. 

Not with COVID, just with a cold.

He fell asleep at 4:30 on Monday and slept straight through until 7:30 the next morning. I kept him home on Tuesday just in case he'd get worn out and need a nap later in the day, but he ended up feeling just fine so we had a fantastic day together.

We played with his piano mat, cleaned a bathroom, folded some laundry, read stories, and took a bike ride. It was an amazing day.

Having littles at home all the time can be stressful because you feel like you're never going to get anything done (spoiler alert: you aren't.) But when they're all at school, one day of having them home is like, "Oh, well, I'll get to it tomorrow" and you feel more free to just enjoy them. At least I do. 

I wouldn't trade all those years with babies and toddlers for anything. But being a grandma is going to be the best.

—7—

Gas prices are going up again, exceeding even the prices in 2008 when it was rocketing skyward (remember that scene from I Am Legend where gas in the zombie apocalypse was like $8/gallon?)

Well, the reason gas prices are currently high isn't funny, but this YouTube video about it is.

Stay safe, pray for peace for those who need it most, and probably don't do a lot of unnecessary driving right now. Good luck, friends!

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