7 Quick Takes: Volume 24

Welcome to 7 Quick Takes Friday! Friday's child is loving and giving. May I deliver no less to my own children this Friday. Especially since Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were somewhat lacking in that department.

Please visit Jen at Conversion Diary, our lovely host and author of the original 7 Quick Takes; sample the links from other Quick Takers playing along this week.

~ 1 ~

My calendar is killing me. We are juggling: art class, theatre workshop, soccer clinics, soccer practices (the ones for my kids' teams and the ones for the team my husband is assistant coaching), guitar lessons, indoor soccer games, futsal games, plain old soccer games, girl scouts, and carpentry class and that's just the stuff I can remember off the top of my head. Chances are I'm leaving something, or someone, out. Last night, I spent FOUR HOURS in my car. I finally broke down and let the kids bring the portable DVD player with them, since the three who got to watch it were strictly along for the ride while we got the other two to the various places they needed to be and ran mundane errands.

I regret the DVD player, because as soon as it was off, the bickering was fast and furious; the dreaded screen-time virus hit hard, and with deleterious effect.

Yet another example of a quick fix biting me in the ass in the long run. So I think the lesson here is for me to let my calendar kill me. Then someone else will have to haul these kids all over kingdom come to the 12,000 extracurricular enrichment activities meant to ensure that they are well-rounded and frickin' exhausted at the end of each day.

~ 2 ~

The good part of driving around in my car was that I got to hear a little bit of President Obama's speech at the Tucson Memorial; the speech was Wednesday and I missed it, but heard coverage of it on NPR. The following quote brought tears to my eyes. I am grateful to President Obama -- and his speech writers -- for giving our nation these words about Christina Taylor Green:

"I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

~ 3 ~

As I've listened to the various responses to the Arizona shootings, I've mostly been disappointed by the media coverage and the talking heads of all political stripes. The one commentary that did speak to me, that gave me hope that we will rise above this tragedy, came from neither a politician nor a pundit. It did not come from a journalist or a prestigious news source. It came from a comedian. Please take 10 minutes to listen to his response; you may not enjoy the silly pajama bit at the beginning, but watch past that. I think you will be glad you did.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Arizona Shootings Reaction
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

~ 4 ~

The boys loved their field trip to the USS Hornet yesterday, and I learned something new when they got back. The USS Hornet is also called the Apollo 11 Rescue Ship because on July 24, 1969, the Hornet recovered astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, and their spacecraft Columbia from the Pacific Ocean after their historic walk on the moon. There. You learned some history today.

~ 5 ~

I am forever striving to figure out my life. I am forever repeating the Serenity Prayer. I am guilty of overanalyzing stuff, worrying too much, making grand plans to change things I'm dissatisfied with, trying to let go, trying to do what I can, longing for a little peace and stability. I think I have some good company with respect to these neuroses. Many of us spend oodles of time thinking of what we want to change and not enough time enjoying the goodness in front of us. So I am grateful to Nicole for this post. It's a good reminder for us all and it's my recommended reading for today.

~ 6 ~

My four year old really, really wants to be finished with her 5-point car seat. She knows this cannot happen until she is 40 pounds. At her last docter's appointment, in December, she weighed in at 39 little ones.

So close.

Now, she tells anyone who will listen that she is on a mission to "bulk up." Tonight, she came out of her room after bedtime to tell me what she wants for breakfast in the morning: a PB sandwich. An orange. Another orange. A cutie. Some toast. Some yogrut. (That is not a typo.) A big banana. Another sandwich. And some cherries. And a fried egg. "Because I need to BULK UP, MOM!"

~ 7 ~

I have a child who sleepwalks. As in, right now, as I type, a child of mine is wandering around the house doing all kinds of strange things and resisting my attempts to steer said child back to bed.

OK, better stop blogging to go figure out what's up.

I'm back. Child is finally back in bed. But not before I found a very large piece of poster paper in my kitchen sink. I discovered my child walking around wearing a pair of my pants that I had evidently left in the bathroom. Said child changed out of said child's own clothes for some unknown reason -- and not because of any nighttime accident: that was the first thing I checked. Said child talked sporadically about a "big project" that said child is working on. This is freaking me out. Let's hope it doesn't become a habit, or my already poor sleeping habits will only get worse, as I lie awake waiting for the Wanderer to make an appearance.

And with that, I bid you adieu.

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