Friday, August 26, 2022

7 Quick Takes about Yak Facts, Household Rules I Wish We Didn't Have to Have, and College Move-In Day

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

1


You know those people who would rather be freezing that even a little bit warm? I gave birth to a few of them, and I honestly don't understand it. It's like they wilt in the sun. I've never seen anything like it.

I mentioned to my 16-year-old as we were studying Nepal for The Educational Summer Vacation this week that yaks go into heat exhaustion when it's above 60 degrees.

At first she laughed and said, "That's pathetic." But then she paused and said, "Actually, I do the same thing." 


2


I overheard my kids doing a Mad Lib, and my daughter was the one soliciting nouns, verbs, and adjectives from her siblings. 

When she asked the 6-year-old and for a noun, his answer (predictably) was "butt." She wrote it down and moved on.

When it came around to him the second time, he said "Toilet."

Shaking her head, she told him, "You already picked a potty word. Pick another one."

Looks like we need to institute a formal per-round one-toilet-humor-word policy in our family, which is actually one more than I'd ideally like to see.

3


I was telling my daughter about a study on dementia I'd read about on the Internet. Apparently older adults who use their leisure time for mentally active things like using a computer or reading are less at-risk for developing dementia than people who do passive things like watching TV.

"What's interesting is that people's overall activity level didn't matter," I told her. "It only mattered what they chose to do with their brains during their non-active hours."

"So what you're saying is... I don't have to exercise."

"Actually, you do, because heart disease is the #1 killer of women."

"I thought it was Ted Bundy."

Well, that took an unexpected turn.

4


The big event this week was moving my 18-year-old into her dorm room at college. It was stressful doing all the shopping, and we still forgot some things I'm going to have to drop off this weekend, but all in all it went fine.

While we were unpacking her stuff, she was telling me about one of her high school friends who went to a school with some very wealthy classmates, some of whom hired interior designers to do their dorm rooms.

If I was an interior designer, I'd feel ethically obligated to say no to any college kid who wanted to hire me for this purpose. College students aren't supposed to have professional decorators. They're supposed to have bookshelves made from cinderblocks and a 2X4. It's good for the constitution.

5

My kids and I had the opportunity to visit the Lego Store, and I thought it was pretty much the coolest place ever.

There were some awesome murals, cityscapes, and life-sized famous figures made out of Legos, and I also really liked this "Build the World" display of flags. 


Because of The Educational Summer Vacation, we were able to identify at least half of the flags, and it's always fun to feel like you know stuff.

6


The Internet sometimes infuriates me and I wish I could throw it all out the window, but when I'm not exasperated by it I'm amazed by the level of ingenuity that comes from it.

I just learned about this site called Swimply, and it does for pools what Airbnb does for lodging and Turo does for car rentals. 

Being an efficient cheapskate, I really support the idea of renting out your pool, which even under the best of circumstances is sitting there unused for most of the day.

We may or may not have tried Swimply this week and it may or may not have ended after 10 minutes when there was a freak thunderstorm that rolled in out of absolutely nowhere, but that might or might not be relevant.

7

I asked Phillip to buy some Pull-ups while he was out, and he came home with these:

You are looking at a pair of Incredible Hulk themed training pants.

Can we all please take a moment to appreciate the delicious irony of what is essentially a diaper plastered with radioactive symbols??

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4 comments:

PurpleSlob said...

Congratulations to 18 yo!! Ted Bundy, yes lol
Nuclear waste is no joke!!

ka-lyn said...

The pull ups are too funny. Right after my daughter was officially potty-trained I bought her a pack of big girl underwear that were decorated with all sorts of rainbow designs. One pair had yellow "raindrops" on it. Seriously, yellow liquid droplets printed all over the 3T sized panties.....Who designs these things?!?!?!?

Ann-Marie said...

Our entertainment center is still cinder blocks and plywood. And we've been out of college for 20 years! We learned about the pool rental on Sharktank!

Terra Heck said...

First I've heard of the pool app, but I think it's a genius idea!