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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