—1—
The kids have been obsessed lately with getting baguettes from the grocery store. Maybe because Phillip and I hardly every buy true treats like cookies or ice cream, the kids have taken to straight-out begging for bread like orphans in a Charles Dickens novel. But anyway, they're good kids and baguettes aren't the worst thing, so we get one almost every week.
I think it's funny because in movies, there's always the token "baguette sticking out of the grocery bag" when a character comes home from the store, but. But no one's grocery bags really look like that!
Well, ours do.
—2—
A few months ago we had a tree cut down in our yard, and our arborist took his sweet time (and several follow-up emails) to schedule the stump removal.
I still didn't have a firm date, only a vague "I'll schedule that ASAP," but when a guy in a neon shirt came down the driveway with a remote controlled stump grinder following him, and I knew today was the day.
"Hey, come here and look at this guy walking his weird dog!" I yelled to the kids, and then we watched him work for a while from the window. It was pretty interesting, seeing him do all the work from a distance, controlling the stump grinder with a remote control.
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| I guess you really can play video games for a living. |
We've never had a stump ground before, so I had no idea it was going to leave so much mulch behind. There was a gigantic pile of at least two cubic yards. Maybe three.
—3—
I was going to spread the mulch in our garden beds the next day, but we decided to go to the amusement park instead, and then we got a heat wave, so there will definitely be a huge dead spot in the grass now. Oh, well.
The amusement park was super-fun, and I've got no regrets. My favorite ride: imagine the Disney teacups, but the teacups are on a small roller-coaster track, so you can sit opposite your 10-year-old and watch him the whole time making the most terrified faces you've ever seen in your life.
In the restrooms, I saw an ad for having your corporate events at the park. Nothing unusual, but perhaps it was a poor placement choice to put it on the inside of the stall doors.
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| Just what women hope will be staring at them in the privacy of their own bathroom stall. |
Honestly, if these two guys were watching me in the bathroom, I can't tell which expression would be worse. Checkers kind of offends me (like, come on, I'm not that bad), and Stripes makes me uncomfortable.
—4—
The next day, I got a text from one of the youth leaders at church.
"Our weeknight activity is going to be a service scavenger hunt. Do you have something for a group of 4-5 teenagers to come over and do for 15 minutes?"
Looking at the mountain of mulch in the yard, I typed back "YES."
They came that evening, worked hard and made a big dent in the pile, and frankly motivated me to get to work on it myself.
They also left behind this message in my driveway:
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| I think this was another "service" item that they checked off their list, but I appreciated it anyway. |
—5—
The 18-year-old got a two-year pin from the grocery store he works at. He said he was confused when the manager handed it to him, thinking, "Two years? I haven't been here for two years."
"I guess time flies when you're having fun," I suggested.
He laughed and said, "No, time flies when all the responsible adults go home at 5!" (It does sound like he has way too much fun closing up the store at night with his friends.)
"Wait!" I said, "You're an adult."
"I said 'responsible' adult."
A few minutes later he left to feed a cat that's he's pet-sitting, but but first he spent 30 minutes looking for their house key that he'd lost, so he wasn't kidding.
—6—
This video popped up and hit on my worst insecurities as a mom, making me worry that I haven't raised my kids right:
I want my kids to be the leaders, the kids who don't let anyone sit alone, the kids who notice others and invite them into their circle. But I'm not sure how to encourage that, since my kids are introverts. Expecting them them to walk up to someone sitting alone and strike up a conversation is like expecting them to grow wings and fly over the rainbow. So how can I encourage them to notice and act?
I was wrestling with that question in my mind, when my 12-year-old came in and saw me staring contemplatively off into space.
"Are you thinking about your life choices?" he asked.
"Actually, I'm thinking about yours," I told him.
Furrowing his brow, he said, "I haven't made very many."
—7—
I bought new socks for Phillip and didn't notice until he started wearing them that there's a tiny 'L' and 'R' on each foot.
WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT??
Right and left socks are completely identical, there's no point or benefit in labeling them! The only thing it accomplishes is driving me crazy if two lefts and two rights get together after going through the laundry, and that is a stressor I do not need in my life.
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