7 Quick Takes about Pleated Nightmares, How Not to Spell Things, and Funny Ways to Announce that Your Child Is Driving Now

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

—1—

After 41 years on earth, I've finally found the most tedious and awful household chore there is: ironing a full-length pleated skirt.

I ordered this skirt from Amazon and loved it, but because of the way it was crammed in the package it arrived with horizontal creases going across the dress at three different levels that didn't come out even when I washed it.

So I looked up a tutorial and found that what you need to do is lay it out on an ironing board and painstakingly pin down every single pleat and gently press it with the iron. I worked in batches of 5 pleats, which took me hours. Possibly days, I lost track of time and space. 

—2—

When my high school senior got an email about ordering a graduation cap and gown, I suggested that we just reuse her older sister's who graduated two years ago. But when we dug them out, I noticed there was a metal 2022 charm dangling from the tassel of the mortarboard.

"Hmm," I said. "I think we could take it off... or do you want to order a new one that has 2024 on it?"

"Just leave it on," she shrugged. "I don't care."

My mind went right to the used #1 birthday candle that I've saved because it was used on top of all six kid's first birthday cakes. I think it would be quite fitting to do the same thing with their graduation, and also pretty funny to leave the 2022 on for every Evans kid. Including my youngest who will graduate in 2034. 

—3—

It drives my teenagers crazy when they see a place called Kidz Klub with a backwards K or something like that. Intentional misspellings of brand names or companies are pretty dumb, in my opinion, but it seems to bother them a lot more than the average person.

I was watching a video called "Hack Your To-Do List" that mentioned using "the to-do app" several times so I thought I'd go to the app store and check it out. 

The app is spelled "TeuxDeux."

When I told my kids, they started screeching like a troop of irate monkeys turning on the zookeeper. My 17-year-old, who actually speaks French, was wailing, "That makes no sense!! It doesn't even say 'to-do,' it says 'tuh-duh'! WHY?!?"

  

The spelling is pretty horrible and she does have a point, but the app itself has been useful so far so I think I'll keep using it. I'll just try not to let the kids see.

—4—

My 12-year-old got a new dress, but this one requires no pinning and ironing from me.

The product description calls it a "floral boho dress" but I overheard her accidentally calling it a 'hobo dress' when she forgot the name and I absolutely did not correct her.

—5—

In other news, the 7-year-old finally got new shoes. I hate in-store shoe shopping because they never have what you want, so I took to the Internet to find him a new pair. 

However, the process took FOREVER because we ended up having to buy and then return several pairs before landing on the correct size and style. In the meantime he's been wearing these to school:

I know, I'm just as surprised as you are that no one has called CPS.

—6—

Once a week, families in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have Family Home Evening (FHE). It's kind of like a family devotional at home and it usually includes a song, a prayer, some kind of activity or game, a lesson, and a dessert/treat at the end. 

Now, switching gears, I will tell you that for the last few days there has been... a smell in the van. And I can't figure out where it's coming from. So when it was time for FHE this week we had a song, a prayer, and then Phillip announced we were going to play a game called "Find That Smell."

I think you can guess where this is going.

Unfortunately, we found nothing that could be the source. The kids searched every inch of that van, under every seat and inside each cupholder. Phillip checked under the hood for any rodents that might have met an untimely demise in there. I ordered a new cabin air filter which will be here this weekend. We're stumped.

And the kids will almost definitely refuse to play next time we announce a game for Family Home Evening, so that trick only worked once.

—7—

My 15-year-old and I were driving when I noticed that the car in front of us had student driver stickers on the bumper. You know the ones, they usually something like "Student Driver: Please Be Patient." 

These ones were more entertaining, though. They said "Student Driver: Good Luck to Everyone" and "Student Driver: I'm Freaking Trying."

This sent me down the rabbit hole of funny student driver stickers and I found these gems online:

• Please Be Patient: My Daughter Is Learning How to Drive and There Is Already One Person Yelling At Her
• Caution: Student Driver [with a picture of the subject of the painting The Scream] 
• New Driver: I Brake for No Reason
• Student Driver: My Driving Scares Me Too
• Caution: Student Driver (and screaming parent)
• or my personal favorite, a simple Sorry, Student Driver

Having taught two teenage daughters how to drive an automatic transmission, I also highly appreciated the one that said I'm Learning to Drive Stick Shift: If You Honk, I Will Cry.

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