7 Quick Takes about Sleeping In, French Toast, and Lying Down

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

—1—

Phillip and I have been hanging on to a restaurant gift card for months, unable to use it because there's no stretch of time long enough where at least one of us doesn't need to be at home driving taxi for the kids.

But my mom came into town, and offered to stay with the kids so we could go out. Overnight, even!

In the morning, I still woke up at 6 AM when I usually get up with the kids, but because I was off-duty I went back to sleep UNTIL 10:45. 

It was glorious.

Taking a walk along the river with Phillip.

—2—

The french toast I had for brunch the next day definitely deserves its own take. It was the most delicious thing I've ever eaten. 

Bread so thick and delicious I suspect it might actually be a fat slice of pound cake.

I barely have words to describe the fusion of flavors and textures that was happening on this plate. The creaminess of the ricotta paired with the crunch of the sliced almonds, the sweetness of the raspberry jam balanced with the tanginess of the ricotta. Every single bite needed to have each ingredient because they went so perfectly together.

It's one of those things I'd like to try recreating at home, but I also don't want to because it's a memory so perfect I don't want to spoil it.

—3—

During our getaway, Phillip and I also did some mattress shopping. It was long overdue. As in, our college freshman daughter was a year old when we purchased the one we're currently sleeping on.

Mattress shopping was actually kind of fun. I liked going to a store with a salesperson that came over and encouraged me to lie down, and whenever I got up he encouraged me to go lie down somewhere else.

The new mattress was delivered on Tuesday. Of course it's infinitely better than our old one, but it's a lot softer and that takes some getting used to. My back feels great, but sometimes I wake up at night confused because I'm too comfortable, and actually wishing the bed was a little firmer. I think it will just take some getting used to. 

—4—

My mom and I took my 17-year-old daughter to a science and technology museum for a homeschool field trip. 

The most interesting exhibit to me was on artificial intelligence. Did you know that there's a device called AlterEgo that you can basically order around with your mind? Sort of. You talk silently to yourself, and it picks up the vibrations and does what you've mentally ordered it to do. Making you look sort of like a cyborg, I guess.

Pretty cool, huh?

We also played with a slightly older version of ChatGPT on display. It offered to write a poem with us: we supplied the subject ("feral cats with IBS") and it supplied the mood of the poem ("delightful") and about 2/3 of the lines. The lines in thicker, more typewriter-y font are ChatGPT's:

I knew this museum trip would be educational for my homeschooler, but it turned out to be a two-fer: science and poetry. We are killing it in the education department.

—5—

Recently as a family, we reviewed President Nelson's most recent general conference talk. It was piercing and straight to the point: improve how you're getting along with others in your life. And since Latter-day Saints regard the president of the church as a prophet who talks to God, we all thought it would be a good idea to make a specific plan to incorporate his counsel into our own lives.

The older kids made their own plans mostly independently, but I helped the 6- and 9-year-olds with theirs. We printed out a dot-to-dot puzzle for each of them, and every time they do something that promotes happiness, peace, and general goodwill they get to add a new line segment.

I think the 6-year-old found a loophole, though. We were listing all the ways that he could earn a line for his dot-to-dot: sharing, letting someone else go first, being a good sport, giving a compliment, or saying "sorry" when you do something that wasn't nice.

"So... I can just do lots of mean stuff and then say sorry?"

I think he was joking. 

—6—

This is going to be a pretty busy weekend. For one, our oldest daughter comes home from college for the summer. 

For another, the men's organization at church is having a BBQ activity. And this is apparently how men design flyers to advertise an event:

—7—

The third thing going on this weekend is the 17-year-old's junior violin recital. It will be her first solo recital, with a full concerto and everything.

She's been working on this repertoire for 6 months, but in the last week she's been practicing even harder than usual. 

Obviously.

Wish her luck!
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7 Quick Takes about Social Media Content I Do Not Care About, Dressing Like Your Favorite Condiments for Church, and Finding Travel Agents in Unexpected Places

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

—1—

Spring is here! Earlier this week it was in the 70s and 80s, and I threw all the windows in the house open for the first time. Of course, that euphoria is always closely followed by the despair of seeing all the work that needs to be done in your yard and hoping it just snows again and covers it all up.

And then, inexplicably the temperature dipped back into the 40s, we turned the heat on again, and I'm not sure what happened.

But I did at least put some mulch on the flowerbeds.

—2—

Why does Facebook keep showing me side-by-side photos of a celebrity at a young age and at an old age looking basically identical?

First of all, what is telling the algorithm that I'm interested in receiving this content?

Second of all, what is the purpose? To suggest that it's normal (or even desirable) to look like you're 27 for the last 50 years of your life? 

I don't get it. Unsubscribe. I want my wrinkles.

—3—

I've been looking for a specific style of jacket for years, and I finally found it! (I always get my coats on clearance after the winter is over, because coats are expensive.) 

I asked my 16-year-old to take this picture on the way home from church, and after handing the phone back to me she said, "You look like a hot dog. In a good way."

When it was clear I had no idea what she was talking about, she explained that the skirt and jacket together were giving her strong ketchup and mustard vibes.

"But like a classy gourmet hot dog, right?" I asked.

—4—

We hike a lot in the forests around where we live, but Phillip had a day off work and wanted to see something really different, so we took a day trip to hike a through a marshland on the coast of the ocean.

I wasn't really sure what "hiking through a marshland" entailed. It sounded like it could be ugly, boring, and carried the possibility that one of us would get sucked under like Atreyu's horse in The Neverending Story. But Phillip assured me it would be fine.

There were fiddler crabs here that we all stopped and watched for a while.  

It was actually more than fine. It was amazing. The overcast, misty day plus the unfamiliar landscape made it feel like we were exploring an alien planet.

When we got to the ocean, we stopped for granola bars and then walked home along the beach.

I was really impressed with my kids for walking all 6.8 miles without too much complaining, especially after the little ones loaded their pockets with about half their body weight in cool-looking rocks and shells at the beach.

—5—

Did I mention that our entire day from the last Take was planned by ChatGPT? 

Phillip is obsessed with A.I. technology, so he naturally turned to it for help planning a family day out.  He explained to it exactly the kind of hiking experience we wanted (difficulty, length, the overall atmosphere and purpose of the hike,) and this is what ChatGPT recommended. I'm fairly certain we never would've found it on our own, even after hours of Googling.

After the hike, Phillip asked ChatGPT what authentic local food we could try before we went home. It suggested a New England colonial dish called Indian pudding so we went to a nearby restaurant and did that, too.

Basically we let artificial intelligence tell us what to do for an entire day and it was an amazing time. What even is life in the 21st century??

—6—

The next day made up for the previous day's lack of annoyance. On the way to the 16-year-old's violin lesson, I dropped the 14-year-old off at work and then he called me five minutes later saying that he wasn't actually on the schedule and we had to go back and get him. Which made us late for violin.

Then on the way home from the lesson, we got stuck behind a massive accident on the freeway. We sat at a dead stop in traffic for a while (you know it's bad when people get out of their cars and just start wandering around) and after watching about 10 other cars do it, we illegally exited the freeway by making a U-turn on the grass median because I desperately needed to pee.

The next 10 miles home took 45 minutes to drive because of all the other cars avoiding the freeway, so we were all late to everything for the rest of the day. I never wanted to drive again.

—7—

To my dismay, Phillip doesn't share my love of lists. He has a digital to-do list that he avoids like the plague, and every once in a while I'll ask him to power through a few items — which he dutifully does even though I can tell he hates every minute of it.

The other night he was working through a few items on his list, when he suddenly ran to the bathroom and started vomiting with a pretty violent (although brief) case of food poisoning.

And I didn't make the joke, I swear it. I was sensitive and understanding. But for real, that man will do anything to get out of his to-do list.

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7 Quick Takes about Failed Roll Recipes, Games for Ages 3+ That Are Too Hard for Me, and A Warm Welcome

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

—1—

I make special rolls for Easter, the ones where you wrap marshmallows inside that dissolve in the oven so the rolls come out hollow, like Jesus' empty tomb on Easter morning. I've made them every year since 2017.

I think I've been successful one time.

Every year they turn out weird, but never the same sort of weird as the year before. 

2023: the year of the exploding marshmallow

The worst thing is, these weren't even for my family's own personal consumption. They were being delivered to other people for a youth activity at church. 

We salvaged the least messed-up ones and delivered those, which I'm trying to think of as a public service: when people fail they can remember those wonky-looking rolls and know that they're not the only ones.

Also, I'm still relatively new working with the youth at my church and it's probably best that everyone knows up front that I should never be asked to cook or bake anything.

—2—

The night before Easter, there was a ward activity for our church congregation. We had dinner and then the kids were brought around to different rooms around the building where they learned about the meaning of Easter.

I actually didn't know about the part for the kids, I thought it was just a dinner. Apparently the other parents didn't, either. 

So when all the kids were unexpectedly led out of the room, it was dead silent for about 20 seconds and then there was a collective gasp/sigh/titter of laughter from every parent in the room. It took us about that long to process the fact that we weren't on call for the next 10 minutes or so.

—3—

My brain is not what it used to be. I can tell that as I've been trying to learn a new language. But am I really losing brain cells, or is it just that language is complex?

Maybe it could be both, but I know now that I'm definitely losing brain cells. My kids got a memory matching game in their Easter baskets, and it was a real struggle not to instantly forget what was where after it got flipped over again. I got second place, but only because I guessed lucky.

Matching Latter-day Saint temples around the world.

It was a fun game, though. Maybe I'll just cheat next time.

—4—

Fashion keeps getting stranger. I took my daughter shopping for a pair of sneakers and was pretty confused at what's popular now. It was multiple brands, too, so I know it wasn't just one corporate CEO who's gone totally off his rocker and started making crazy stuff.

When did bulky shoes become cool? The entire athletic shoe department looked like it was filled with my grandpa's orthopedics. I was trying not to laugh picturing kids actually wearing these things around, as if these weren't the same exact ones your dad wore to mow the lawn when you were a kid (although possibly more colorful.)

Actually, that was probably only half the shoes. The other half reminded me of what people in the '80s thought the future was going to look like. Actually, Google "Back to the Future shoes" and I'm pretty sure I saw those for sale. 

—5—

The 16-year-old did end up finding a pair to buy, even though she hated the chunky shoes fad and was pretty frustrated at her lack of options. She wore her new shoes the next day and I asked how she liked them.

"They're okay," she said. "A little thicker than I'm used to."

"Hmm."

"I guess I'm a cool kid now."

"Yep."

"And I'm not happy about it."

That's how I felt about skinny jeans for so many years. You just have to wait it out. Everyone realizes sooner or later it was a bad idea.

—6—

Almost right on time after shoe shopping, I saw this hilarious music video parody about Millenials finally becoming "old people": 

As one of the oldest Millenials, I've felt this way for quite some time now (I also think having kids young accelerated the process) but it's nice to know I'm finally right where I belong.

—7—

I got a text from a friend of mine who was driving our kids to a dance. The sun was setting and she said that several times he stopped the conversation to point out the sky, and made everybody look at it.

As someone who frequently does the same thing, both in person and on my blog (Take #4 here), that made me laugh.

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7 Quick Takes about Not-So-Worrisome Selfies, Learning Not to Be Scared of Spain, and Kids Who Might Need Slight Attitude Adjustments

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! And I remind you that Friday lasts until 11:59 PM. 

My kids had a school vacation day today, which meant it was a crazy monkey zoo house here and it's 9:30PM and this is the first time I've sat down all day. 

—1—

My 11-year-old daughter sneaked my phone into the backseat while I was driving and was playing with it. I finally noticed she was taking a bunch of selfies and made her give it back. 

My first thought was: "Oh no! I'm raising one of those girls!" Obsessed with appearance and popularity. Destined to a life of seeking approval from others and deriving her self-worth from their evaluations of her looks.

Then I looked at the camera roll and said  "On second thought, never mind."

She'd been experimenting with ridiculous filters.

—2—

Did any of you watch general conference last weekend? Because of the kid's activities I did listen to parts of it in the car as I was driving them here, there, and everywhere, but I enjoyed what I heard.

This talk was probably my favorite. It reminded me that literally everyone is important to God, and that "regardless of how insignificant our efforts may seem, if we are sincere, the Savior will use us to accomplish His work."

—3—

On my language exchange app, it's really hard to find people who are available during the weekday to talk. Most everyone only has time on evenings and weekends, which are precisely the peak hours for chaos here. When all the kids are home I can't even concentrate enough to have a phone conversation in English, letalone in another language.

I've previously avoided talking to anyone from Spain, because I'm using and learning Latin American Spanish. (If you don't know, there are some significant differences between Latin American Spanish and Spain Spanish.) But I recently came to the conclusion that the only way to find a daytime practice partner was to look in a time zone 6 hours ahead of me. Which meant Spain.

Luckily, on Thursday I had my first conversation with a Spaniard and not only was she one of the nicest people I've spoken to in any language, her Spanish was also extremely clear and easy to understand.

We talked for an hour and at the end of the conversation, she confessed that she almost didn't respond at first when I said hello to her, because I was American and she was learning British English. The sword cuts both ways, I see.

—4—

It's true, the last kid gets away with EVERYTHING. 

First of all, there is no newer, cuter model to replace your youngest child so they remain your baby basically forever and you indulge them in all sorts of ways you never did your older kids. 

Second of all, you're so exhausted by their older siblings' problems that you're more likely to just roll your eyes at their shenanigans when you probably should be disciplining them for it. Possibly, you even think it's a little cute because, as has already been pointed out, they're the baby.

But I've got to start doing something about my 6-year-old's attitude.

A few weeks ago he told me he didn't like what we were having for dinner and I shrugged and told him, "Then I guess you should've made something else." (Implying that since he didn't make anything, he can't complain.) He just looked right at me and said, "Well that's your fault for not buying me the ingredients!"

And the other day when I needed a chore done, I asked "Do you know if there are any big strong men around here?" He somehow knew what I was getting at and chirped "No, thanks!" and kept on reading his book.

—5—

I spent part of the day on Wednesday helping a friend from church move. I'm going to miss them. We didn't spend very much time together, but our kids were similar ages and really did hang out a lot. 

And I think she and I could have been good friends, had we not been so similar in that we were always busy with a million things (and possibly were both too introverted to mind that very much.)

—6—

My 16-year-old was annoyed with her younger brother and said to me jokingly "Why did you have him?"

Smiling, I shrugged and said, "I don't know. Maybe if you'd been a better kid we wouldn't have felt the need to keep going."

Instantly she replied with "Well, I couldn't have been that bad or you would have stopped."

So she's probably where the 6-year-old has been getting it from, to be honest.

—7—

The last thing I wanted to post here was this Easter challenge from the prophet of my church. It's a short video, like 5 minutes:

It's pretty bold for us Latter-day Saints to claim that our church is led by a living prophet, one who's like Moses and Noah and all those guys in the Bible. But I stand by it. The prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is for real, and I feel so strongly that confidently following his counsel is hands down the best way to live a fulfilled, purposeful life. It points me to the Savior every time. 

Whether you're a member of my church or not, I hope you try out the advice in this video and just see if it improves things for you. I'm willing to bet that it does.

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