Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Seven Quick Takes


1.      To everyone who prayed for a simple resolution to my parents' house: The reluctant seller moved out without further legal action, left the house in good repair, and paid for the extra days she had stayed.

Amazing and wonderful and I thank you.


2.      So John informs me that whitey tighties are sooo out and boxers are in. It's all over, folks. Just hand him the car keys and the shaving cream. Before I could pull out the Kleenex and enter full mourning, John came to me and asked that I not ditch all the Batman underwear. Clearly he's not a total slave to fashion and perhaps not quite ready to look for an apartment.


3.      As my Facebook friends know, Ainsley has been hard at work mass-producing fake potholders. I mentioned to Grandma that Ainsley has some fine motor work to do this summer. Grandma mentioned that back in the day, she used to weave potholder after potholder after potholder. As I zipped though Walmart the other day, I spied a potholder kit for five bucks. Sold! Turns out Ainsley is just as enthusiastic as Grandma.


Warning on box: Not intended for use as actual potholders.


4.      Potholders are about the extent of our productive endeavors thus far. Weeks ago I compiled a lengthy list of summer suggestions and strategies gleaned from a meeting of experienced moms. Fun activities, spiritual activities, ideas for personal fitness and personal growth -- it was detailed, it was inspiring.

Then, of course, life intervened, and we were well into summer and virtually nothing on that list was happening around my house and one day I realized I hadn't even set eyes on the kids' summer homework packets.

I always tell my kids the best way to find something is to clean. I'm fairly sure they think this is nothing but a nefarious plot to coax a little industry out of them. But it's a trick that invariably works for me. I cleaned and purged and lo and behold uncovered packets 'o summer work. The kids are thrilled.

I suggested a few books to Kolbe. He offered to read Call of Duty Black Op: Book of Cheats.

So that's about where we are with that.


5.     Tim is gone for a few weeks, and John has practically donned sackcloth and ashes to mark the absence of his favorite brother. I am without my coffee buddy and my go-to technical consultant.

Faithful readers are aware that I recently made the great plunge from Dumb Phone to Smart Phone. Among my many concerns was the fact that everyone I know seems to go over their data usage . Consequently they get smacked with annoying overage charges. Just before his departure, I consulted Techno Man and asked him to check my data usage.

"Mom, you've used one seven-hundreth of your monthly allotment," Tim gravely informed me. "Glad you've embraced the Brave New World of technology."

He's a smart alec, my boy, but I have to admire a seventeen-year-old who can allude to Aldous Huxley while gently insulting his mother.


6.     Kolbe, meanwhile, is thrilled to find a few lawn jobs coming his way. For better or for worse, he's all about money and lots of it. With this hundred degree weather, he's earning his pay. Forty bucks in two days. He's doing the happy dance.


7.     If the potholder enthusiasm should wan, I found a package of vintage jacks on Amazon. Looking forward to a trip down memory lane this afternoon with my girl.

How fun is this?

Fairly sure Seven Quick Takes closed a few days ago, but head over to Kelly's site and be inspired anyway.

3 comments:

Kris said...

The underwear situation is hilarious. All 4 of mine have very specific preferences in the underwear department (as does my husband). I've got two boxer boys, and two boxer brief boys. The boxer people also like a couple pairs of boxer briefs for when they are running or doing conditioning. I try and buy everyone a different brand, so I can tell them apart and mark everything with dots. The two youngest and the two oldest wear the same size respectively, so my laundry sorting is interesting, to say the least.

Anonymous said...

Underwear sorting at our house (Dad, Mom, teenage daughter) is mostly up to me, as my husband has no idea whose underwear is whose, apart from his own. I see now it could be far more complex! I stopped buying black tights for myself a few years ago, so that I could tell my daughters' tights apart from mine. She has to have black tights for school, so I wear dark grey now. I wonder if, once she's left home, I will remember that I can, if I like, buy black tights? Hmm...

I'm so pleased about the resolution to your parents' and sister's house situation. I was thinking about them just this morning and wondering how that was going.

Kelly@http:/inthesheepfold.blogspot.com said...

Who knew underwear could be so complicated? Christine, your comment reminds me of when Tim was baby. Baby boy clothes looked nearly identical to baby boy jammies. I think the flame retardant properties were really the main difference. Dave would hold something up and say, "Clothes or jammeis?" It seems by the time the other boys came around, jammies looked like jammies and clothes more like clothes.

Don't even get me started on socks. We seem to be in a nice season now. Dave, Tim, and Kolbe all wear men's socks, mostly in the same size. Now when they steal from each other's stash, that can cause troubles.

My older boys have scruples about wearing each other's underwear, thoroughly laundered though it may be. I may have to employ the dot system, Kris.