7 Quick Takes, Volume 57

7 things to make you laugh, think, and smile.  Visit the original.  Visit some others.  Leave some comments.  7 quick comments.  That's your goal.

And now:

~1~

Great TAL show on education and what kids really need to be learning.

~2~

Notwithstanding the profanity, this pretty much sums up my life's philosophy.  Now, what's interesting, is that I see no conflict at all between this sentiment and my Catholic faith.  So I don't think I need to convert to the Church of the Latter Day Dude.  The RC's have got me covered.

source: I originally saw this on Facebook,
but traced its roots to this site: http://dudeism.com/

~3~

Today is dress like a book character/donate a book day at school.  Which had me making stops at Target and Barnes and Noble last night far past dinnertime, with all five kids, spending too much cash to buy books to donate to the school and outfits for Atticus Finch, Ivy (of Ivy and Bean), Sally (of The Cat in the Hat), and some character from Percy Jackson I can't remember the name of.

Now, just a week or so ago, I passed on school pictures because we couldn't afford it.  But give me a cause like promoting a love of reading in my own kids and donating new books to others, and I'll apparently spend all kinds of money I don't actually have.  My altruism is fervent, if not wise.

And anyway, those school picture packages are a total racket.

~4~

My 10 year old daughter recently got 12 inches of her hair cut off.  And we learned just how easy it is to donate to Locks of Love.

We were out of town, at a soccer game about an hour away, and she decided she wanted to get her hair cut.  Ping!  I thought: what about Locks of Love?  She said sure.

So, after the game I searched for a Supercuts on my Intermittently Smart Phone, found one a few blocks away, googled Locks of Love, discovered that anyone can cut your hair as long as they know ahead of time to pony-tail it and not let it hit the floor, and an hour later, we were back in our car with a Supercuts bag containing a 12 inch pony tail and SuperCute 10 year old sporting a big ole smile.

Just so ya' know, in case you happen to have 10+ inches of hair you aren't using, this was the easiest good thing to do ever.

Before...

After...

For Locks of Love

~5~

I'm slipping, people.  Really, really slipping.  The other day, I took my 12 year old to Taco Bell.  While I do deserve some props for him getting to be 12 before Taco Bell fare ever passed his lips, I still feel, deeply, the Shame of Fast Food Consumer.

But it didn't stop there.  No, this morning, when I stopped for gas on the way to drop him at school, and because there wasn't much in the way of lunch food for him at the house, I actually assembled his lunch from a gas station convenience store.  Pa. Theh. Tic.

How do people who work full time manage to feed their children without compromising their ideals or dying of shame?  This is not a rhetorical question.  I need answers!

~6~

This is your teenager's brain.    This is your teenager's brain on plain old, developmentally normal hormones.  Watch and learn.

The Mysterious Workings of the Teenage Brain



This is all very interesting, but I have to admit, "synaptic pruning" scares the hell out of me.

Thank goodness the impressive Sarah-Jayne Blakemore also says this:  "This is a period of life where the brain is particularly adaptable and malleable.  It's a fantastic opportunity for learning and creativity.  So what's sometimes seen as the problem with adolescence--high risk taking, poor impulse control, self-consciousness--shouldn't be stigmatized.  It actually reflects changes in the brain that provide an excellent opportunity for education and social development."

Translation: no matter how many times my teenager loses his soccer ball, it's not too late!  YAY!

~7~

Do you yell at your kids too much?

Because I certainly do not, and I do not need this resource at all, but apparently, or so I've heard, there are parents out there who actually raise their voices sometimes (shocking!), and maybe perhaps could avail themselves of the concepts in this book.

Seriously, it's about so much more than not yelling.  It's about raising happy kids.  Even a non-yeller like me (font of serenity that I am) can use some help in that endeavor.  And you?

* * *

Happy Friday.  *Clink!*

* * * 

7 Quick Takes: Volume 56

 

It's Friday and I'm not at BlogHer '12.  I'm at BlobHer, on my couch.  But I've got a computer and an internet connection, so nothing's going to stop me from Quick Taking!

Please visit our host, visit some of the other posters, and grace them with a comment or two or seven.

~1~

A Ridiculous Take.  I got a new toothbrush today.  I then had an argument with my youngest child, because she was upset that I would not let her have my old one.  Really?

~2~

A Promotional Take.  I really want to see this movie, and I really hope it comes to a theater near me.

Doesn't it look great?  Today, I went on Facebook and posted on the FB walls of two local theaters to encourage them to screen this movie.  DO THE SAME.  Seriously: here's how.

~3~

A Cutie-Pie Take.  One of my daughters asked me the other day for a hug.  Then she said: "Do you ever run out of hugs?  Because I'm going to be needing lots of them."  I assured her that I will never run out, and then I buried my face in her tangly hair and hugged her forever and ever.

This is my lil hugger from a few yeas ago.  Can you stand it?  I cannot stand it.

  

~4~

An Olympic Take.  I feel bad for the swimmers when they are being interviewed by the commentators right after their races, because they are still so out of breath.

~5~

A Shakespearean Take.  My son said today: "To wear stage make-up at my performance tomorrow, right before going to my soccer game: that is the question.  Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer the idiots who think stage make-up is stupid, or face them and by opposing end them.  To wear make up on the pitch: that is the question."

Thus are the conflicts of a well-rounded actor-athlete.  :)

~6~

A Dissonance Take: Today is one of our big end-of-summer-camp days, with Shakespeare Camp and Art Camp both concluding with shows.  The good news is, we get to watch our son play Claudius in Hamlet and our daughter play Cordelia in King Lear.  (Note to HM: she is not impersonating your cat.  Or imfelineating.)  The bad news is that our young Picasso will miss his art show, due to a nasty case of strep throat.  That is just wrong and unfair.

Having two competing emotions -- excitement and disappointment -- ricocheting around in my head and heart?  Me no like.

~7~

A Twitterpated Take:  I joined Twitter.  I am unimpressed.

* * *

7 Quick Takes, Volume 55

Friday, I hardly know ya'.

Here are 7 Quick Takes for today; please visit the original and leave 7 Quick Comments for the posters participating today.

~1~

Happy brains work better!  Visit The Hawn Foundation to learn more about an excellent program designed to create optimistic classrooms, mindful children, and brighter futures.  This incredible organization is where I'm working now, and I'm very proud to be part of its efforts to help kids lead happier, healthier lives.

So much of what The Hawn Foundation does resonates with my aspirations for my own children and speaks to my ongoing search for ways to promote confidence and hope in them.  I feel very fortunate to be working on issues that are critical to the future of both our society and my own family.

 ~2~

Do you like Shakespeare?  And wineries?  And super cute kids?  Have I got an opportunity for you!

Sonoma Shakespeare and Avalon Players presents

A Midsummer Nights Dream

at Buena Vista Winery in lovely Sonoma

August 9th-12th, 16th-19th, and 23rd-26th • 7 pm

• • • a delightful Shakespeare under the start experience • • •

And three of my kids are in it.

For ticket information, go to Brown Paper Tickets.

 ~3~

One of the biggest challenges we will face with my return to work is feeding people.  Rick will of course do more of the shopping and cooking than he did before, but he is not quitting his job.  He has more flexibility than I do, but we will essentially both be working, leaving no one to be solely in charge of shopping and cooking.  

Plus, I'm in a serious cooking rut.  Can't ever think of anything new to make, and sort of tired of trying new things out on reluctant eaters anyway.  

We're going to have get very creative about what we eat and how we prepare it.  Cooking ahead of time...using the slow cooker...having enough stuff on hand for quick on the go meals.

So the goal is to provide three healthy meals per day, to seven people, that are as locally sourced and organically produced as possible, without breaking the bank or requiring more time than we actually have to give.  

Sounds impossible.  What else is new?  Everything is impossible.  But we do it anyway.

Ideas, people.  I need some good ideas.  Stat.

 ~4~

Evidence that this going back to work thing might be a tougher transition than we all thought.

1. My 7 year old mused recently: "It's like we don't even have a mom!"
2. My 10 year old looked at my last night, eyes blazing, and said, of my return to work: "You betrayed us!"
3. A member of this household has started peeing the bed every night, which we haven't dealt with around here for years.
4. Another member of this household has already succumbed to neglect.  Yup, one of our fire-bellied toads died this morning, after several hours of desperate last ditch life-saving attempts on my part.  I did not realize that we were out of the live crickets that constituted Bean's diet, nor did my son really clue in to the fact that we hadn't fed the poor little guy in too long.  As a result, as soon as I got home from work today, I presided over a little frog funeral in the backyard.  We buried our beloved pet and I said a few words.  At first, I felt ridiculous, but then I realized I was speaking primarily for my son, who was truly devastated, and it felt like the best and only thing I could do to ease his mind a little.  
5. We've been out to eat A LOT.  Not good.  See Quick Take #3. 

Let's just say we are still working out the kinks.  Not working out to The Kinks, although that would be fun, just slogging through the maze of our new life until we figure out where everything belongs.  Baby steps.

 ~5~

I recently discovered TED talks.  As usual, I'm late to the party.  I've listened to about 5 or 6 of them, one of which was called 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do.  We've already let our kids do 4 of them, one of which is to play with knives, as in Own a Pocketknife and Know How To Use It.

Notwithstanding the fact that we've already been to the emergency room for a mishap involving 5 stitches and a Leatherman blade, I completely agree with the premise: Kids can learn how to handle dangerous things and situations, and how to control them, and if they do, they will be stronger, more confident, more capable adults in the future.  If they don't learn how to use a knife at 9 or 10, they're much more likely to hurt themselves with one when they are finally allowed to touch one at age 14 or 15.  Or 37.

My kids recently went to Codornices Park with their dad, and enjoyed a nice long afternoon of hiking, climbing, and falling down.  That night, my son came to me distraught: "I think my Leatherman fell out of my pocket when I slide down the embankment at the Park!"  So bright and early the next morning, he and I ventured back to the park, hiked up behind the slide of death, and found the incredibly steep and slippery non-path that kids like to try to climb up.  My son's attempt ended with him scraping up his calf so badly it looked like he'd laid several strips of raw bacon up and down his leg.  Ick.

Anyway, based on the way he described how he fell, I went behind a tree and pondered the immense thicket of ivy in front of me, extending up the hill at least 10 feet to where his slide began.  I sighed, unhopeful.  And then I looked down, and right there near the bottom of the hill, not two feet from where I stood, was his knife, his very expensive Leatherman, neatly folded into its leather case.

So I guess this means we will continue to let him do dangerous thing #2.  All's well that ends with a big ole knife.

 ~6~

Given that I now have more time by myself in the car, I am becoming absolutely overwhelmed by the interesting things I'm hearing about on NPR and the desire to read or listen to a gazillion books, podcasts, lectures, etc.  Here's a few that are particularly intriguing to me:

• Why Women Still Can't Have it All, by Anne Marie Slaughter in the July/August edition of The Atlantic Monthly
• The Neuroscience of Zen, a talk given at City Arts and Lectures in San Francisco on May 21, 2012
• Bright Lights, No City: An African Adventure on Bad Raods with a Brother and a Very Weird Business Plan, by Max Alexander
• A Hologram for the King, by Dave Eggers

There are just too many fascinating people in the world doing too many fascinating things to keep up with.  Maybe I'll just go watch Good Luck Charlie with my kids instead.

 ~7~

And finally, three cheers for Pelada!

This engaging documentary replicates the premise of Endless Summer, in which some goofy surfers follow summer across the world in search of the perfect wave.  In Pelada, two likeable young soccer players travel the globe looking for the world's game: pickup soccer.  There is significantly less goofiness, but there are plenty of cultural exchanges and interesting moments, and this movie will truly appeal to any young soccer player in your household.  And probably older ones too.  And probably people who don't play soccer.  So, everyone.  I leave you with the trailer:

Happy Friday all!

* * *

7 Quick Words

THE

GARDEN

TOUR

IS

ON

SUNDAY:

YAHOO!

Humm babies in the Manzanita...
coffeeberry after rain...
an iris, a perfect iris

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 54

7 works of art, all made on this lovely Friday.

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 53

Let's be quick about this shall we?  Here are my 7 Quick Takes for today.  Actually 14, because today, I bring you 2 lists of seven things that reveal a little bit about me and my family.

List #1:

1. The other day, I was lying down on my bed with my daughter.  She looked down at my feet, looked back up at me, gave me a little sly smile and said:  "Look at you, wearing the matching socks!"
2. I organized my desk piles yesterday.  I found a Netflix DVD we have not returned.  From December.  Of 2010.
3. My kids sometimes lament: "We're the Heck's, aren't we?"  
4. Related: One of my kids, surveying the scene after we stayed at grandma and poppa's house for three days and were about to begin the process of putting it back together, said: "I know what happened here.  We Alatorre-ed up the place."
5. I had to dry a school uniform shirt with a hair blow-dryer this morning.
6. Every day, it takes about 3.4 seconds for the car ride home from school to reach epic levels of nastiness between my children.  When this happens, I worry that they are actually possessed by evil spirits.  Every day.
7. I finally found one of the three flash drives I've been looking for!  Outside, in a dirty bucket, partially submerged in rainwater.  Along with it, I also found one bottle of expensive facial sunscreen, a couple of necklaces, a soaked deck of cards, and my kitchen dish scrubber.  The dish scrubber did not survive.

List #2

1. My husband can simultaneously agree with my son, in the most emphatic way, that a kid we know is an absolute idiot (replace the word "idiot" with your preferred curse word; I couldn't bring myself to pull that trigger) while also telling him that even that kid deserves adults who will bring out the best in him, because "you never give up on a 13-year old kid."
2. A couple of times recently, when they had their choice of what movie to watch, my kids picked To Kill a Mockingbird and Guess Whose Coming To Dinner.  
3. Four out of my five children will be in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream this summer in Sonoma.  
4. My dining room table is covered with evidence that art takes places all the time in this house.  I could sand it all away any time I choose.  I do not choose.
5. The other day, someone asked me "how I do it," how do I handle 5 kids.  I replied quite sincerely that I yell a lot.  She, bless her, expressed disbelief: "No!  I don't believe that!  It seems like you laugh a lot!"  Well, both are true.  And I was grateful to her for pointing out to me that, yes, we laugh a lot.
6. Every  now and then, the stars line up correctly, everyone's moons are in the right aspect, our chakras jive with our karma, and the five kids all have fun playing together, from the 13 year old, all the way down to the 5 year old.  Not going somewhere fun, not for a special occasion, just because we get lucky.  When this happens, like it did last night on a warm and beautiful Spring evening, with children rolling on the lawn and the sounds of their merriment wafting down our street, I marvel that my children are kind, fun, creative, hilarious, and strong people.   (It didn't last very long...but it was glorious.)
7. Things I love about my family: that we are Barcelona fans...that we make paella...that we love the Beatles...that we talk ad nauseum about life...that we all give each other second chances every single morning (so, like, second chances times infinity, or something like that)...that we all possess very strong senses of humor...that we are here, in this place, with and for each other.  I never doubt that a small group of Alatorres can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that does it for me, day in and day out.  (Sorry 'bout the stealing, Ms. Mead!)

We give me whiplash.

:) Happy Friday everyone.  Go visit our host, Jen, and sample some of the other 7QT-ers.  

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 52

We're very very busy and we've got a lot to do

And we haven't got a minute to explain it all to you

For on Sunday Monday Tuesday there are people we must see

And on Wednesday Thursday Friday we're as busy as can be

With our most important meetings and our most important calls

And we have to do so many things and post them on the walls.

This song, Busy Busy Busy, by Sandra Boyton, sorta captures our lives of late.  Barely time to stop and breathe.  (Do you know Philadelphia Chickens?  Oh, you must!)

So for today's Quick Takes, I bring you the antidote to being too busy.  Here are seven things that have made me smile over the past week or so.   Please visit Jen, our 7QT Host, and sample the links of other QT-ers.

~1~

Fun with schoolwork!

~2~

Found one late night...

~3~

Close up of our 4th First Communion banner

~4~

Creativity.

~5~

More creativity.

~6~

Cousins playing music together

~7~

Um, hello?  Weren't you just born like five minutes ago?

Find the things that make you smile.  Never be too busy for that.

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 51

Welcome to today's 7 Quick Takes!

This one's got it all: the mafia, great music, politics, and a tried and true recipe for happiness.  Stick around.  Throw a comment my way.  Then go visit Jennifer at Conversion Diary, who hosts 7 Quick Takes when she's not fighting with scorpions and raising a whole bunch of kids.  Actually, she probably does all three at the same time.  Anyway, while you are there, click on the links to some other quick takers.

~1~

This American Life.  I love it almost unconditionally.  I would love it completely, if I didn't feel sharp pangs of envy every time I listen.  I want to work for that show.  I should be working for that show.  So they're gonna hafta uproot their entire operation and move out here to Cali so that I can do that.

I used to miss the show all the time because of my kids.  Either I was busy taking them somewhere or I couldn't hear the show over the cacophony of my house.  But lo and behold, there's an app for that.   I purchased the TAL app for my phone, and now I can listen whenever I want.  The other day, I listened to Held Hostage: it was a driveway moment for me if there ever was one.  Here is the link; I hope you click through and listen.

~2~

March Madness has nothing to do with basketball, you know.  It has everything to do with the St. Jerome Kindergarten classroom, the best teacher in the world, and the arrival of Leroy the leprechaun.  My youngest child is experiencing the joy of Leroy, just as all my other kids have done.

Every March, Leroy comes to visit the St. J Kindergarten.  He leaves the children notes and small gifts, and sets up a little house in the corner of their classroom.  He plays tricks on them, knocks on doors, leaves shamrocks behind for them when their backs are turned.  It's magical.  And I wish you could see my daughter when she's telling me about Leroy: eyebrows arching off of her head, eyes popping, mouth moving too slowly for the words that want to come out, she is utterly enchanted.  When she is excited, she lisps adorably.  So most of our conversations about Leroy go something like this:

Mom!  Leroy hath a little houth in our clathroom! And he left Mithus Powell a Thamrock when the turned around the anther the phone!  And we get to THEE him tomorrow!  Heth COMING tomorrow! Ithn't that tho awethumb?

I adore Leroy, and I adore Ms. Payne for giving him and a special kind of March Madness to my kids.

Leroy's house.
Isn't that the cutest thing?

~3~

The Madness of Leroy is, of course, all about St. Patrick's Day.  We do enjoy March 17th around here.  And to celebrate a wee bit early this year, today I took the kids out of school and we went to hear Danu perform at Zellerbach Hall at UC Berkeley.  They were fabulous!  Traditional irish music is near and dear to my heart.  Two trips to Ireland (the only place I've ever been outside the US), a live music Irish pub in the family for 15 years, a courtship with my now husband marked by Irish festivals, Guinness, bodhrans, and loads of music, and a lifelong wish that I could play the fiddle: these factors combine to make me an Irish music nut job.  Suffice to say, I was carried away today by the beautiful music.  I came away inspired to bring that joyous sound back into my life on a regular basis.  That's right kids: get ready for some fiddle, banjo, mandolin, flutes, penny whistles, accordions, and foot stomping!  Maybe even a didgeridoo!

If there is music playing in heaven, I'm certain there's a bodhran involved.

Today's recommended activity: Go listen to some live music.  Nothing beats live music.  Nothing.

~4~

It's the 40th Anniversary of The Godfather!  That movie and the second and third ones are favorites of ours.  They have been on TV lately to mark the anniversary, and we've been watching them like crazy.  Late at night, of course.  The last thing I need is Little T chopping the head off of her hobby horse and hiding it in my bed for kicks.  Our oldest wants to see them; we're holding off a little longer on that...but I do look forward to him being old enough.

And it occurred to me, while watching Part III the other night, that children are a lot like the Mafia.  You know that moment right after you put the kids to bed, and you've got a glass of wine waiting for you, and the house is finally, mercifully, quiet, and just as you sink onto the couch and curl your lips around the edge of the glass, a kid comes padding down from his or her room and needs something?  This is what I always think of:

~5~

Political commentary from my son:

Isn't a Newt a swamp lizard?

~6~

A recipe for happiness:

Take one child.  Add some late afternoon sunshine.  Mix with a field full of daisies.  Brew for, oh, about as long as it takes for the child's sister's soccer practice to be over.  The result: Total happiness, with a side of daisy chains.

~7~

Local folks: The Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour is coming up on May 6th!  Click through to register: it's free!  This year, there are 43 gardens from El Sobrante to Hayward, from Livermore to Antioch.  Ours is on the tour, as are two others that Rick designed and installed.  The day promises to inspire and motivate you to get out into your yard and mess around in the dirt.

These beautiful Spring days are practically screaming at you to plant something.  Come on the tour to see what's possible! 

7 Quick Takes: Volume 50

Happy Friday, happy day
Thanks for stopping here to play.

Read a post, or read a few
Won't you leave a comment, too?

Visit our host, the lovely Jen,
Click on some links, now and again.

Here are my 7 Quick Takes.
Thus endeth my turn at being Shakes.

~1~

I am totally prepared for Lent this year: I have created detailed, catalogued lists for my family members of all the ways they can be better people.

What, isn't that the whole point?

OK, OK, so that's not the point. It's a temptation, though, to pick things for my kids to do or to give up. It's pure fantasy to pick things for my husband to do or give up. But really, what I want is to mark the season, give it its due. So I will begin Lent 2012 with a few words from my spiritual mentor:

“To keep united to God through the suffering Humanity of His son–that is the aim of Lent. “— Dorothy Day

Suffering is unpleasant business. It's ugly, difficult, hurtful. Usually, we avoid such stuff. But we do suffer. Everyone does. Listen to the news each day, and you'll find a surfeit of suffering. Watch what happens on the school yard and you'll see some there, too. Consider your family, under your roof or far flung, and I think not one of us can do that without recognizing a painful experience or two or several.

It is around us. There is something about Lent that invites us to sit with the suffering, to acknowledge and maybe even embrace it, to pay attention to what it happening around us and to respond with our humanity. So perhaps the point of giving something up is to get rid of the distractions that keep us from really seeing things around us.

As vague as this is, and even though I'm not entirely sure how this will play out in the next 40 days, my Lenten goal is to weed out the distractions in my life so that I can see the people I love ever more clearly and can respond to them out of greater and greater love.

That's on page 7, highlighted in gold, of the catalogued list I made for the kids, too, right after Do Your Darn Chores The Way You Are Supposed To.

That wasn't a very quick Quick Take. Sorry.

~2~

I can't believe I'm going to admit to this, but here goes. I have posted before about how the latch on my washing machine broke. I even had a cute little quiz about it. I discovered a solution that did not require a repairman to come into my home.

Well, the other day, I decided I was tired of hoisting weights on and off the top of my washer just to make the damn thing run and I finally called a friend of ours who does "fix it" jobs. He's helped us before. He was here for maybe half and hour and charged me a measly $25 bucks, and now my washing machine works without the help of two large coffee table books and two extremely heavy landscaping rocks.

Now for the part I can't quite believe and don't want to face. I just looked up, on my blog, the post in which I wrote about the washer breaking in the first place. It was late May. I have been lifting weights for eight and half months, multiple times a day, just for clean socks and chonies. And all it took was a phone call and $25 to fix it.

When. Will. I. Learn. That 90% of the time, things are much easier than I fear they are going to be?

What have you waited far too long to take care of? Come on: public embarrassment loves company.

~3~

Another confession: I hate Target. I hate shopping at Target. I hate the lights, the smells, the noises, the endcaps, and the shoe department. And I want to know why I feel like the only woman in America who harbors such antipathy.

But I do need to go there today to buy a bunch of stuff. I need a Target mantra to get me through the experience. Any suggestions?

~4~

Two of my daughters got pink eye last week. It was gross. Pink eye has got to be one of the icky-est parenting things ever.

Did I give them the appropriate amount of love and sympathy? I don't think I did.

Here's how I know. I got it this week. And let me tell you, if I had known how utterly miserable pink eye is, I would have been a whole lot nicer to them.

This makes me wonder how many other things they go through that I don't fully empathize with. And it gives me a renewed sense of appreciation for how well they do under icky circumstances. AND it makes me feel like a very large wimp, because I just want to stamp my feet and whine about how unfair it is that I got this stupid ickiness in the first place. They are a lot more mature than I am!

~5~

Baby birdies update: A few days ago, I posted about discovering a hummingbird nest in our garden. Well, after we were gone all day on Monday, my son went out to the backyard to check on the babies, and they were gone. The nest was knocked down on the ground, but completely intact. 

So we are left to wonder. Is it more likely that the birds got big enough to fly, launched themselves out of the nest and knocked it to the ground in the process? Or is it more likely that a cat got to them? The nest did not look roughed up or harmed in any way. The kids were fearing the worst...but then we all used our brains and decided that perhaps this is just the way of nests and birds...because if the nests didn't fall out of the trees after they were no longer needed, there sure would be a lot of empty nests out there. 

Any bird experts out there who might shed some light on this issue for us?

~6~

Nothing makes me feel more like a cliche than parenting a teenager.

Am I really saying things like "You can stay in the band if you keep your grades up" and "This is the time in your life to learn how to do things you don't want to do, so that later on you have more choices about what you can do" and "It's a question of priorities. If you want to be treated like an older kid, you have to act like one, and not like a 6 year old."

Ai-yi-yi. Much as my teenager is trashing about with his newfound teenagerliness, I am kicking and screaming my way into being the parent of a teenager.

When do I get to stop speaking in platitudes?

~7~

Speaking of teenagers, I saw this gem on Facebook a few weeks ago. To this father, whoever you are, I salute you and I thank you and I want to be just like you when I finally grow up into my Big Parent Shoes.

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 49

It's Friday.
I'm frozen.
I'm frightful.

I'm free.

Please visit Jennifer, the host of 7QT, and visit the links to some of today's other Quick Takers.

~1~

Over a year ago, I decided to paint ceramic mugs for my kids as a gift for Christmas, 2010.  That December, I spent many hours painstakingly creating unique designs for each of them.  Christmas morning, they were delighted by the colorful, personalized cups...which were painted with the wrong paint.  In a few days, it was all rubbed off.

OK.  Lesson learned.  Get the right paint.  I promised the kids I would re-do them.  I never did.

Christmas 2011.  I bought more cups.  I bought some Ceramcoat paint, because I figured, based on the name, that this paint was good for ceramics.  I painted another couple of cups.  I realized quickly this was also the wrong paint.  I gave up in disgust.

OK. Lesson learned.  ASK QUESTIONS.  So this time, when I went to Joann Fabrics, I asked someone to direct me to the right paint for ceramic mugs.  BINGO!  I got the right kind of paint.  I still haven't painted cups for the kids...yet...but I did one for my nephew for his birthday last week:

This was a ton of fun to do, and reminded me how much I need a creative outlet in my life.  To the children I gave birth to: I promise yours will be done by Easter!  ♥

~2~

Son #2's observation regarding Little T:

Mom, it's the strangest thing, but whenever I see Tallulah at school, she's calm, she's behaving, she's doing everything her teacher tells her to do.  She's not screaming or kicking or being wacky at all!

Yeah, well, that tells you a little bit what she can be like at home. 

~3~

But then again, this is also the child who said to me the other day:

Mommy, I want to thank you for four things.  Thank you for taking me to the park.  Thank you for taking off this bandaid and for taking off the other bandaid.  And thank you for making my dinner.

And the next day she gazed at me with a little smile and said: "Why is my mother so wonderful?"

What's a little kicking and screaming when it comes with words like that??

~4~

She also recently asked me, upon seeing a work crew digging a large hole on a street corner: "Are they burying a dead body?"

Methinks it's time to monitor the 5-year old's media intake a little bit more closely.

~5~

In honor of Valentine's Day coming, I'd like to recommend a very little, but very lovely book for young children.  This is one of our favorites:

So sweet.  Plus, the little girl in the story has perhaps one of the greatest all time little girl story names ever: Cornelia Augusta.  Love that.

~6~

You know what I love about my 7 year old?  When she is yammering away and talking a blue streak and when I think I can't take it anymore, I can look at her and say: "OK, stop talking now."  And she laughs.  And she stops talking.  And she doesn't get upset.

My wish for every mother in the world is a child with a temperament like hers.

~7~

A friend of mine sent me a text last night with a bit of advice for getting through my day.  I was expressing my concern to her about how I was going to shepherd my kids through the process of doing homework, doing chores, making and eating dinner, and showering and getting ready for the morrow.  She sent me an Act of Faith from a book she has called Small Steps for Catholic Moms:

Instead of focusing on the outcomes of your activities today, focus simply on your state of soul as you do them.  As you work, don't sin.

Those few words shifted my perspective on what my family needed to do.  And since I'm not afraid of the word "sin" -- don't we all do things we wish we hadn't done, especially when it comes to our children? -- I was able to read those words and focus differently on the evening that lay ahead of me.

Let's hope I remember them again today.

* * *

7 Quick Takes: Volume 48, The "Thank You, Jesus!" Edition

Today's quick takes are brought to you by the Mad Dash Dance.  On the way to school this morning I needed to make sure we (my kids and I) had the following seven items:

~1~

One completed 4th Grade Mission project.  Did you know that the Mission San Antonio de Padua was the location of the very first Catholic wedding in California?  Or that it was the first Alta California mission to use fired tiles on its roof?  Or that this mission was particularly known for beautiful music?

I knew all that!  Thanks to my 4th grader, anyway.

~2~

One signed 7th Grade homework tally sheet.  Oh, and one 7th Grader, who has been home sick for two days, so it wasn't quite the slam dunk you'd think it would be not to leave him behind.

~3~

A small baggie with 6 homemade chocolate chip cookies in it, for the 2nd Grader to give to her teacher and the teacher's aide.  Because we made cookies last night, and Lady E wanted to share.  ♥

~4~

Art pieces for the 6th Grader to put up in his classroom.  Open House is this weekend, and since we haven't been back at school for very long, my kids don't have as many projects to display as their classmates.  So my son's 6th grade teacher told him he could bring in some of his art from home.  Here's one of the pieces we brought.

~5~

My computer, so I could squirrel away in a cafe and do some work while waiting for the kids Noontime Dismissal.  With my errands and such, it doesn't make much sense to go back home for a half day, so I had to make sure I had everything I needed to maximize my productivity while sipping a latte at Peets.  Hmmmm.  Maybe putting the kids back in school has some perks I hadn't figured on.  :)

~6~

One application to the Oakland School for the Arts, due today.  

~7~

And the one thing I didn't leave the house with: something that starts with the letter 'J'.  

Image Credit: http://www.printfection.com/shop/alphabet

Friday is Sharing Day in Kindergarten, which isn't quite a habit for us yet.    So of course, it occurs to me just as we enter the classroom. And there are all the other Kindergardeners, walking in with their seemingly unharried mothers, happily clutching their J items and snickering into their red school sweatshirts about Little T's scatter-brained mommy.   I swear, they were snickering.  Meanies.

Meanwhile, I'm helping the 4th grader schlep a two-part mission, while also carrying two large art projects, Little T's backpack, two Kindergarten readers that somehow came out of the backpack, and an errant sweatshirt, and I'm thinking to myself: "I remembered every other damn thing we needed, so why do I feel like such a loser for not having made sure Little T would have something to share?"  I told my daughter that when it was her turn to share, she could say:  "I brought Just Me."  

Lame.

I ran down to my car and started tossing things all over the place looking for the letter J.  An old wooden sandal...some stamps (oooo -- I needed stamps for those pesky bills I have to mail today! Score!)...dried up markers...an empty Rubio's cup...books, books, books...lots of drawing paper covered with very skinny girls with very large heads and Anime eyes...does any of this start with J???  And then I saw it, stuffed in the bottom of a dingy yellow bin, sitting in a little nest of crumbs and discarded wrappers: a very beat up Baby's Bible, with the spine weakly taped up with ineffectual scotch tape.  Bingo!  A book about JESUS!  We have our J item!  

I ran back up the stairs and into the Kinder class.  Breathlessly, I knelt down next to Little T and said:  "Here's your J item to share, honey!  It's a book about Jesus, and Jesus starts with J!"  She smiled a big wide grin, nodded her head vigorously, and said: "Oh!  Cool!"

THANK YOU, JESUS!

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Please visit our host, and click through to a few of the other Quick Takers.  

And I hope you have a jovial, jazzy, jocund, jaunty Friday!  May you be neither jaded nor jinxed nor jittery!

Signed,

Just Me