7 Quick Takes Friday, #22

1. Last week I wrote about the short trip to the lake we'd be taking for the holiday weekend. I was worried about the kids' sleeping arrangements and carsickness among other things, but it all went really well. We had a great time - boat rides, lake swimming, sparklers, and lots and lots of cousin-on-cousin play time.

The only glitch was the sharing of the bedroom. Lauren kept trying to talk to Mia over the edge of the pack n' play, so neither one fell asleep easily. Oh well. This is what family vacations are all about, huh? Now maybe in the next few years we can manage a trip that's longer than 40 hours. I like to set reasonable goals.

2. I've felt kinda yuck all week, but I just attributed it to leftover dizziness from the rocking of the dock and boat. I'm no good when it comes to motion sickness, and my 'sea legs' have taken a while to revert to their landlubber selves. But when Mia woke up yesterday complaining that she felt sick, I started wondering if maybe I'd actually had some bug that made me feel nauseous and dizzy, and that I'd passed it on to her.

One of the first things she said to me about how she felt was, "I don't feel very good, mama. I just think I have the chicken pops."

I have no idea where she heard about chicken pox (a cartoon, maybe?), but I hee-hawed over her interpretation of it.

3. I started trying to redesign my blog a bit yesterday at naptime, and it was so far beyond my technical abilities that I kept fiddling with it for quite some time after the girls were awake and needing my supervision.

Somewhere around the time I accidentally wiped out my entire blogger template and background and was frantically trying to remedy the situation, I heard a vague crinkling sound. It didn't register as anything worth stealing my attention away from things like widgets and html code, so I failed to check it out. The next sound I heard snapped me out of my web-trance. It was the cheery sound of my 15 month old emptying an entire box of cheerios onto the living room carpet. She was so happy with her windfall that she tromped right into the middle of the pile and started snacking before I could stop her.

What a mess. This is why I should follow my own rules about blogging being limited to naptimes and bedtimes.

4. As I was cooking dinner earlier this week, both girls wanted to try frozen corn. They both loved it, so later this week I gave them frozen peas, too. What a snack. It is sweltering hot right now outside, and a nice cold handful of peas sure does sound refreshing.

Oddly enough, I can hardly get them to eat those vegetables if they're cooked. Broccoli and Green beans? Absolutely, not a problem - they're both good with those. But cooked sweet peas and corn? It's a struggle. So if frozen is the only way I can get them past their lips, I'll do it.

5. I got a new kitchen sponge this week too. Try to contain your excitement. I know this isn't a big deal AT ALL, but it was something so sorely needed that it made my day. Each time I'd use the old one, I'd think 'this has got to be the last time I use this.' It was discolored, ripped, mangled, and probably so full of bacteria that it's a wonder we've survived this long. But I'd tell myself, 'just this one more pan...it's so burned and greasy that I'd hate to ruin a brand new sponge on it...just one more time.'

When I finally broke down and threw the sucker away, the new one that replaced it was easily 1/3 larger than the old. Same brand, same package, but larger. It feels stiff and unwieldy in my soapy hands. I'd used the old one so badly that had it actually begun disintegrating, begging to be let loose into the giant sink in the sky.

The lesson? I need to use washcloths.

6. Justin was riding his bike last night and came to an intersection across from an old beat-up Chevy truck with three guys in the cab. He waved to thank them for letting him pass, and they yelled at him, "Gyit outta the road, HIPPIE!" Justin laughed at being called a hippie - he's about as far from that as I am from being an Olympic athlete.

I guess those gentlemen assumed that bikes are only for those who can't manage to own a rusty old gas guzzler.

7. I discovered yet another time-sucker this week. When I started making my fake band album covers, I used Picnik (as suggested by Heather of the EO) for my photo editing for the first time. And now I'm hooked. It's so easy to manipulate a photo, that even I might be able to make some pretty pictures. Assuming I can figure out all the ins and outs of Picnik, being famous for my blurry, over-exposed, misaligned photos will have to fall by the wayside.

If I can manage finding the time to use the program...without worrying about cereal being ground into my carpet at the same time.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a beautiful, relaxing summer weekend, and head over to Conversion Diary for more Quick Takes.