7 Quick Takes Sunday

Better late than never, right?

1.

Yesterday David and I went with some friends to a concert called Winter Jam. It was fantastic.

We spent almost 12 hours without kids, eating uninterrupted meals, having entire conversations that didn't involve anyone having to go potty or tattling on someone, getting to know some new (to me) friends better, and watching some of my favorite bands perform some awesome music.

Other than having to stand in line outside for two hours when it was only like five degrees, it was perfect.

2.

I was doing laundry this morning and noticed a peculiar thing about my washing machine. I'm assuming the people who made it must have been childless or delusional or tripping on too much fabric softener. Because they gave the water level dial more than one setting.

Yeah, for real. Did you know that there are settings for small and medium loads? Do people really do small and medium loads? Is there such a thing? Are there people out there who wash fewer than 30 items of clothing per load?

Nah, I'm sure it's just a manufacturing defect.

3.

I must add yet another fact about myself to my list of shockingly appalling attributes.

Not only do I have a mini-nervous breakdown if I hear someone brushing his/her teeth, fall down stairs on a regular basis, and talk waaaay too much . . . I'm also corkscrew challenged.

I'm pretty sure there is not a person on the face of the earth who is worse at using a corkscrew than I am. Okay, maybe a blind four year-old with only one arm . . . but I doubt it.

4.

Oh, also I'm pathetically unobservant.

David and I are in the process of having our office redecorated. For several weeks we've been waiting to see how it would look once the walls were done. Once the hideous old wallpaper was taken down and our beautiful new paint colors applied.

So, last week I walked into David's office - after having walked through the waiting room, down the hall, and into and out of my own office.

He said, "So, what do you think?"

"About what?"

"The paint. The walls. The lobby. Your office. What do you mean, 'About what?!'"

The whole office was finished, and I hadn't even noticed. My office had been a pale off-white, and now it is chocolate brown. And I didn't notice. How is that even possible?

5.

I taught the kids how to play spoons last week. You know, the card game where you try to grab a spoon when someone gets four-of-a-kind, and if you don't get a spoon, you get a letter?

It was fun to play with the kids and observe their natures at work.

Joshua, always quick, competitive, and coordinated was very good. He flipped the cards quickly, paid attention to the spoons, and ended up going head to head with me for the final few rounds after Ethan and Lauren were eliminated.

Ethan, on the other hand, is not quick. His response time has never been comparable to Joshua's. If I give Ethan a task, I know that I must give him a minute to process what I said before I expect him to go accomplish it. So, he was not very good at deciding quickly whether to pass or hold a card or at noticing when someone was grabbing a spoon and reacting in a hurry.

However, he has skills of his own.

When it got down to me and Josh, Josh said, "I guess whoever gets four of a kind first will win since they'll grab the spoon first." I told him about the last time Daddy and I played spoons with some friends, and it ended up me against Mr. Steve, and even though I was the one with four of a kind, Mr. Steve ended up with the spoon because he was watching for me to grab it, and he has waaaay longer arms than I do.

Ethan, always thinking when everyone else is acting, said, "Mom, you should reach for the spoon and then when the other person starts to grab it, put your hands up like you were just pretending to have four, then they'll let go, and you can grab it . . . would that be cheating?"

No, but it's awfully smart for a five year-old.

6.

It has taken me hours to do these "Quick" Takes because I'm also watching Planet Earth: Predators and Prey on the Discovery channel. It doesn't bother me to watch a great white shark eat a seal or a pride of lions attack an elephant (okay, that one bothers me a little), but eeeewwww, I don't like the segments about ants with parasites in their brains or cockroaches feeding on mites in bat dung. Come on, get back to the grizzly bears already.

Aren't you glad I shared that with you?

7.

Heading to Georgia very soon. Sarah, be sure to hook me up with some good songs in church. :)


Check out more - and less disgusting, I'm sure - QT's over at Conversion Diary.