7 Quick Takes about Not Conserving Electricity, Shoveling All Day Long, and Dinner Reviews Put to Music

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

Phillip and I had a great time watching our 9-year-old's gymnastics meet on Saturday, but we did not enjoy getting up at 5:30 to be there. Neither did our son, and whatever you imagine that means, it was worse than that.

However, once we got there it was fine. I can't imagine being upside down nine feet in the air on the still rings at 8 in the morning, but that's what he did.

He placed first on pommel (his favorite event), and that's a great accomplishment but I really wish they would calm down with the awards. They divide the kids up into way too many age categories and give out a bazillion medals down to 5^th, 6^th, and sometimes even 7^th place, so the room sounds like a herd of sheep romping around with bells on by the end of the awards ceremony.

It's a little ridiculous, in my opinion. But I don't think a campaign to give less medals to our kids is going to gain much traction so I will just continue to clap and be happy that they're happy.

—2—

At home, we’ve started calling the kids “environmental terrorists” when they walk out of a room and leave the lights on. 

It makes no difference in their behavior.

—3—

It snowed a ton this weekend, and we thought that snowblower was not working so our whole family kicked butt and cleared our big driveway of 15" inches of snow with nothing but muscles and shovels.

Front walkway.

We did three passes throughout the storm to clear the driveway, and then Phillip raked the snow off the roof and we had to shovel that, too. It made excellent heaps on the side of the driveway for forts.

You might have noticed that I said we thought the snowblower was broken, which I don't want to answer any follow-up questions about or talk about ever again.

On the plus side, it turns out that weight training has been good for something, after all. I don't notice a difference in my strength on a day-to-day basis: heavy things still feel heavy and I still struggle to open a new jar of spaghetti sauce. But my endurance is 500% better than it used to be. I think I shoveled for a total of about 6 hours, and I wasn't even sore the next day.

—4—

On the long car rides to and from the gym four days a week, my 9-year-old and I have started listening to a podcast called But Why? It's an educational podcast for kids and even though their target demographic is age 4-10, I think I love listening to it as much as he does.

I learned that Icelandic horses have a special kind of gait called tölt that other horses can't do. I learned that emoji were invented in Japan (e = picture, moji = letter) and that a nonprofit organization called Unicode approves new emoji and decides how they appear on different devices. I learned that horseshoe crab blood is blue and is used in the biomedical field for its antibacterial properties. I even learned how space toilets work.

Anyway, this is not a sponsored post but I love But Why? and recommend that you check it out, especially if you spend a lot of time in the car with your kids.

—5—

While driving, I saw a license plate with an American flag on it and the plate number was "GG 76". 

After some discussion with my 17-year-old who was in the car with me, we decided that it was a reference to the Declaration of Independence and meant "Good game. 1776. We won."

—6—

To everything there is a season, including reading. I regularly get really busy and don't read anything for 6 months, then pile a stack of books on my nightstand and plow through them in quick succession, then go back to another half-year of illiteracy. 

Right now I'm in a reading phase.

I just finished Reina Roja, my first for-adults novel in Spanish. I definitely used the Internet a lot to help me understand complicated grammar and unfamiliar Spanish colloquialisms (apparently slamming the door on someone in Spain is "closing the door in the noses"), but I did it! While I was looking online for the name of the sequel, I also learned it was adapted into an Amazon Prime series but I'll probably skip it. The book didn't usually dwell too much on the gory details of the murder mystery, but I imagine it might be a pretty graphic watch that I might not enjoy as much. 

I also just finished an oldie from the '70s called Love Comes Softly. It was recommended to me as a easy read that's not too complex and not too riveting, so I checked it out as my bedtime book. It delivered on all those promises, and what I loved mostwas being able to hand it to my 14-year-old daughter afterward. It was hands-down the most lovely representation of a healthy romantic relationship I've ever read, with absolutely no spice. It's apparently the first in a series of nine books, so I also checked out the next few for both of us to read.

—7—

First there was a viral video of a kid reacting to a new food he tried, and then some guy composed a song around it because the kid's voice had this slightly melodic quality to it. The Facebook algorithm decided that it was something I would want to see, and it was 100% right because I love it.

Catchy, isn't it?

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7 Quick Takes about Snow, Not Having Dementia (Yet), and Pigs with a Sense of Humor

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

Well, it's been a regular winter wonderland in New England this year. For the last few years, we've had brown Christmases and barely any snow, but this winter has been really different.

Taken on my drive to the high school.

Up until now, we have had several snowfalls under 4" or so, but this weekend we're supposed to get a foot of snow or more. It takes me right back to January 2015 (take #4 here).

—2—

With all of the new snow, we took advantage of the kids having Martin Luther King Day off and met some of their friends for sledding.

 

I was planning to go down the hill at least a couple of times with the kids, I really was. But there was a lot of powder flying up in everyone's face on the way down, and I just didn't feel like that was something I needed in my life. 

Besides, it was a little entertaining to stand at the bottom watching one kid after another flying past me with a literal facefull of snow.

—3—

Phillip came sledding, too. He was sick with some kind of sinus thing, but he just loaded up on Benadryl and went to make memories with his family whether he felt good or not. (Don't worry, I drove.)

He wanted to come because he'd had a grueling week at work during which he barely saw the kids, and he and I were just two garbage barges passing in the night. Then over the weekend he got sick - really sick - and spent all day Saturday and Sunday in bed. 

Now that he's feeling a little better (but honestly, he's still not 100%) I suggested that we do something together.

"Maybe we can sit down and buy new tires for the van," he said.

Not exactly what I was thinking of, but I'll take it.

—4—

My 11-year-old asked me to play a card game with him, and I chose a game called spit. I picked it because it's an extremely fast-paced game (here's how to play) and I know I'm not that old, but I've been thinking lately about keeping my brain active as I age.

After we were finished, I was Googling other ways to exercise my brain and read an article that said bilingual people develop dementia at a later age. I showed it to my 17-year-old who snorted, "Mom, you showed me this article 6 times already!"

Ha, ha.

We'll all know when I start to develop dementia for real, because the kids will finally be able beat me at Bananagrams.

—5—

We took the kids skiing for their Christmas experience gift, and ever since they've been asking when we can go again.

WHAT HAVE WE DONE?

Why we introduced our kids to one of the most time-consuming, expensive, faraway hobbies we could think of is a complete mystery to me. We certainly did not think this through.

—6—

Lately I've been taking a while to get to sleep and sometimes waking up in the middle of the night and sleeping poorly after that. Any tips for sleeping better? I mean, besides drinking enough water and not exposing myself to blue light at night and having a stable bedtime routine, because I don't like doing any of those things. 

For now, I'm managing by regularly taking power naps in the parking lot of my son's gym before turning around and driving home a few times a week. Luckily he's not old enough to be embarrassed yet, but I have a feeling there will come a day when he no longer wants me passed out and drooling in plain sight of all his friends and their parents.

—7—

Apparently my kids still read my blog, because after I indirectly called them pigs a few weeks ago (see take #7 here), this mysteriously appeared as our screensaver the next day and I kind of love it. Even though no one will admit to being the one who changed it.

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7 Quick Takes about Gratitude for Groceries, Texts for the Elderly, and What It's Like to Watch Sports When You're Me

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

Phillip has taken over all food-related duties at home, which is turning out great because he likes cooking and I hate it. He's also doing the grocery shopping.

The rule in our house is that when someone comes home from grocery shopping, everybody has to drop what they're doing and come help put it away, so we were all in the kitchen unloading groceries. Pulling out a bottle of the hand soap I'd asked him to buy, I said, "Oh, this is the wrong soap. It's orange, and we always use clear soap."

My 9-year-old son looked at me disapprovingly and said, "I think you meant 'Thank you, Dad, for buying all the food.'"

This moment is brought to you by my 4th grader, Miss Manners.

Wait, does this mean that my 9-year-old is actually listening to me when I say that to him?? I mean, I'm thrilled, I just didn’t expect him to use my own words against me so perfectly.

—2—

I've spent a lot of time this week planning this year's bulletin board in our Primary room at church. Bulletin boards are like birthday party decorations: as a general rule, kids don't care or notice them at all, so unless they're involved in it somehow you're just doing it to impress other adults. So I wanted it to be something interactive.

Since we're studying the Old Testament at church this year, I had the idea to make a path where we stop once a month and add a picture of a Bible story to the path. We'll take a few minutes to talk about how we can be brave like Esther, or whatever the story is, and if they actually do it they can add a footprint sticker to the path the next week.

The part I'm proudest of is that I made this board without buying anything. I repurposed the burlap background that was already there, used lettering I found in the Primary closet, and made the border with tissue paper (also found in the closet.) I think I want my family to put on my tombstone: "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without." That's what makes me happy.

—3—

We keep getting severe-sounding letters from our auto insurance company. Ones that come in official cardboard envelopes you have to sign for at delivery. Our car was totaled in October, and they keep pestering us to mail them the title. Which we already did, a month ago.

I finally got around to calling them about it, but they wouldn't tell me anything because I wasn't on the title of that vehicle. So Phillip had to call them. After he explained the situation they said to ignore it, they'll take care of it and we won't get any more letters.

We got another one by certified mail the next day.

—4—

I liked this article about 5 conversation-starters that might lead to gospel conversations with other people. These are ways to ask people about how they answer life's Big Questions in a non-denominational way. Kind of a guide to go beyond small talk. If you need that kind of thing. Which I do.

I really like to share my faith and talk about what's important to me, but most of my friends and acquaintances outside church aren't religious or particularly interested in talking about it, so it doesn't happen often. (My life is basically the opposite of my son's friend's missionary experience in Brazil, where he would just board a city bus and say "Who wants to hear a message about Jesus Christ?" and people would raise their hands.)

—5—

I recently got a phishing text that read: "Hey old man, how's it been going lately?" I laughed briefly and then deleted it.

Later in the week, I read a New York Times piece on a scam center in Myanmar where workers were punished for a low response rate to their "hi" texts, which made me wonder... did I just tank a stranger's performance review?

—6—

My 21-year-old daughter got a Pimsleur subscription for Christmas to learn the basics of Japanese before she does a research internship in Japan this summer, and you're allowed to add other users to your account so guess who's using it to practice her Spanish?

Seriously, my Spanish is so weird. I've been studying for almost four years so at this point, I can read anything and get the gist of it. I know the words for 'overbite,' 'stunned,' 'flint,' and 'kidnapper,' but I still struggle to verbally put together simple sentences without hesitation, so this is the perfect thing for me.

My daughter (who researches everything, which is probably why she got the internship) tells me that Pimsleur was developed to optimize the intervals at which you review a concept in order to commit it to memory. After a few weeks on Pimsleur, I can totally see that.

—7—

A few months ago, some football player sucker punched another player in a Bears-Saints game, started a big fight, and got kicked out of the game. Not giving one flying fig about any type of sport, I naturally didn't know any of this until my 17-year-old son showed me a video with a hilarious voiceover that put a whole new spin on things:

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I thought it was funny, but probably for a different reason than my son did. I understand so little about sports that every time I watch it, it could have commentary that doesn't match at all and 9 times out of 10, I would have no idea.

I could detect the sarcasm in this one, but barely.

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7 Quick Takes about CAPTCHAs from Hades, Unplanned Kitchen Renovations, and Broken Appliances that Call You Out on Your Social Life

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

Last weekend we took down all the Christmas decorations, and Phillip removed the tree and propped it up on the deck until we could dispose of it properly.

Since then, it's tipped over and then we got some freezing rain. I haven't gone out to check yet, but I'm pretty sure we have a Christmas tree frozen to our deck until spring now.

—2—

Our 21-year-old daughter went back to college. While she was here she caught up with her high school friends, went to her sibling's sporting events, and even checked some secretarial to-dos off her list — including renewing her expired driver's license.

During the two weeks she was home, we drove her everywhere because she didn't have a valid license. Which I didn't really mind, until her very last day home when she took another look at her license and said, "Oh... this actually expires next year."

In any case, she'd already renewed it so this won't be a problem again until 2031.

—3—

Did you know that CAPTCHA stands for Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart? 

I can deal with the ones where you have to transcribe some wobbly numbers and letters, or click all the fire hydrants on a 9-square grid. But this week I ran across the most insane one ever designed. I may or may not have taken a break halfway through to Google "How to become Amish." It was that bad.

Now, I'd like to think I'm a person of average to above-average intelligence, but I had to re-read the directions three times to even understand what I was supposed to do.

Basically, you look at the number on the left and then scroll through the twelve different pictures of dice on the right until you find the picture with the matching total. In every picture, the dice are a jumble of dots and numbers, with some sideways just to be mean, so you're simultaneously adding in your head and trying to figure out out "Is that a sideways 9 or a sideways 6?" without forgetting what number you're at so you don't have to start over.

And to top it all off, this is only screen 2 of 3. You have to perform this same task THREE TIMES to prove you're not a bot.

Sir, I'm trying to access my online photo album, not the nation's nuclear launch codes. Settle down.

—4—

Over the winter break, our kitchen got a little out of control. No one cleaned out the fridge so it was jam packed with scary leftovers in the back, everything in the freezer was a chaotic heap, and the cabinets were stuffed because Phillip took over the household food shopping (and the man makes sure his family will never go hungry.)

It was driving me so crazy that when everyone went back to school on Monday I immediately started tidying the kitchen and it accidentally turned into a 3-day project. It was unplanned so I didn't take any before pictures, but I did take some afters:

I'm proudest of the shelves I found for the top left above the microwave. They are the exact right height for what I needed to put in them, like, to the millimeter.

I even did the freezer!

My kids came home from school after the first day and nothing was in the same place as it used to be. Opening all the cabinets, my 14-year-old murmured, "It's like the Upside Down!"

—5—

Speaking of Stranger Things, I’m growing out my hair from a pixie cut and right now it's at this really awkward length that makes me look like Jonathan Byers. 

 

—6—

Someone from the power company rang the front doorbell and it got stuck. So after they left I tested the doorbell and realized that it sticks every time it gets pressed. We must have gotten a broken one when we did a front porch upgrade in the fall!

Which means that apparently this is the first time anyone has rung our doorbell since October. I guess not being voted "most outgoing" in high school wasn't a mistake, after all. (To be fair, we've had people over in the last 120 days but they've come in at the other door or we just opened it when we saw them in the driveway.)

Thinking about next steps now. I'm embarrassed to take it back and explain to the guy at Home Depot how long it took us to realize the doorbell was broken, and if you think about it, the doorbell fits in perfectly with our lifestyle so maybe it's not even that big a deal. 

—7—

I pulled up behind this car at a stop sign, looked at the bumper sticker, and thought, "Me, too, lady. Me, too."

Then I noticed the stuffed animals in the rear window and realized she was probably talking about an actual pet pig. Oops. 

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7 Quick Takes about Picking My Battles, Going Skiing the Hard Way, and How to Be Ultra-Wealthy

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

This week was a complete and total blur. That week between Christmas and New Years, when the kids have no school and Phillip is home from work, it's always a little like "What day of the week is it?" But this time we also had the flu, so it was even more disorienting than usual. 

Everyone's sleep schedule was all messed up, and it was the kind of sick where you'd pass out and wake up without a sense of whether you'd been asleep for 15 minutes or 10 hours. Forget about figuring out whether it's Wednesday or Saturday; I was thrilled when I knew if it was morning or evening.

—2—

We were worried, actually, that our kids' Christmas experience gift was even going to work out. (This is our fourth year of giving the kids experience gifts instead of physical gifts and I recommend it 1,000%. See here if you're interested in how it works for us.) 

Usually we get a separate experience gift for each child and invite whatever siblings would be able/interested in the activity, but this year we rolled all their experience gifts into one and booked a 2-day ski trip for the whole family.

It was non-refundable so we were counting down the days wondering if some of us weren't going to be able to go, but by the day of the trip everyone was feeling good enough to at least go and enjoy the trip. There was some coughing and I lost my voice, but at least no one had to stay home chugging cough syrup while everyone else was on the ski slope.

—3—

Just a note about losing my voice: I HATE IT. I can only squeak out so many words per day, so every time there is a stupid argument, every time someone is slacking off instead of doing their chores, I have to decide: is this what I want to use one of my words on? It's the very definition of "pick your battles."

The kids keep forgetting I don't have a voice and yelling questions to me from across the house, and then going "Mom? Mom?? MOM!!!" when I don't answer them.

And forget about calling to someone in another room. They might as well be overseas, as far as I'm concerned. I'll just have to talk to them in a few days when I have a voice again.

—4—

We had never been skiing before our trip this week. If you're going skiing for the first time and don't really know what you're doing, I recommend not taking along 5 other people who also have no idea what they're doing. It's really stressful when your group takes up half the room and gets in everyone else's way while you're taking a million years renting enough gear to clothe a mariachi band. 

As I was sweating to death in my winter coat trying to jam my 9-year-old's foot into a pair of ski boots, half an hour late for the lessons that had cost us an arm and a leg, I'm not going to lie: I was pretty sure that this trip was a terrible decision. 

But once we actually got out there, the rest of the day was great. Our instructor was nice and gave us some extra time. The little kids learning around us were so cute, especially the preschooler sliding down the slope on her teeny skis with a hula hoop under her arms (her parents were behind her holding the other end of the hula hoop.) 

By lunchtime, we'd graduated from the bunny hill and went to the smallest hill that had a ski lift and spent the rest of the day there. The kids had a great time and want to go back. 

I would consider it.

—5—

As is our New Year's Day tradition, the kids each took turns smashing the gingerbread houses they made over Christmas break. 

When my 11-year-old made a Nativity scene I thought it was so cool... but I didn't think about how sacrilegious this second part was going to be until he had the meat tenderizer raised over his head.

And... 

We are so sorry.

—6—

Phillip was trying to make a point with the kids about the sort of habits that lead to success in life, and asked the kids, "What's something that really wealthy people do?"

One kid said, "Golf!"

Another yelled, "Tax evasion!"

I didn't hear the rest of the lesson, but I'm guessing from that little sliver I overheard that it went really well.

—7—

This week I've been re-watching the first season of Stranger Things with my 14-year-old daughter (first time for her.) And even though I know what's going to happen, it's still suspenseful and scary and all-around amazing. 

The first season was basically TV perfection, so it made a lot of sense when I read that the original idea for Stranger Things was for every season to follow a completely different story. Unfortunately season 1 was too perfect, so they kept going with the same story. I liked season 2 okay, but it felt to me like the well had run dry by season 3 and I stopped watching a few episodes in.

Phillip and I also watched the movie Wake Up Dead Man with our 21-year-old, and I was wary at first. It's a murder mystery in a church where one of the main characters is a priest, and anyone who's watched a movie in the last 15 years knows that there are only three kinds of religious characters in Hollywood:

1. zealot/nutjob (if you're a parishioner)
2. power-hungry hypocrite (if you're clergy)
3. superstitious fool (can be either)

But I found this movie's treatment of religion to be so refreshingly fair. The priest was motivated by a genuine desire to help people come to Christ, and he stayed that way from beginning to end. There was no shocking reveal ⅔ of the way through where he turned out to be a serial puppy murderer. He was just... inspiring. Note: I did not say the entire movie was inspiring, so don't watch it expecting an episode of Veggie Tales. I'm just saying it was definitely deeper than I expected from a whodunit movie.

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7 Quick Takes about Holiday Zombie Apocalypses, Life Skills for New Adults, and All the Things You Can Make With Graham Crackers

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

Our Christmas morning was underwhelming. The two youngest kids were suffering from a flu or flu-like illness and the two oldest were super-tired and one couldn't get out of bed to even join us until later in the day (not sick, just a teenager.) 

I always station myself in the living room to record them running out of their room and pouncing on their presents, but this year's video looked more like I'd caught a zombie invasion on film with everyone stumbling joylessly down the hall.

Most of the day looked like this, except when I was trying to convince one of the kids that you could not, in fact, die from swallowing a pill.

—2—

There were some Dove chocolates in my stocking and usually the wrappers have cheesy, inspirational sayings on the inside like "Live every moment to the fullest." But this one seemed oddly judgmental in a passive-aggressive kind of way:

I wasn't, actually, but even if I was it's really no one's business.

—3—

I was a little late getting everything together for Christmas, but we more or less did it. 

My parents' gifts will be there next week, but they'll be there. 

Our neighbor's cookie plates are going to have to be delivered to them after Christmas, but they're assembled and waiting on the counter so it's just a matter of time. 

And our Christmas letter went out later than I wanted, and I discovered a typo after I'd already printed all of them and we had half of the envelopes stuffed, but that is okay because done is better than perfect.

Allegedly.

—4—

I found an online list of 100 things an 18-year-old should be able to do, and I thought it was one of the best lists of its kind that I've seen. One of my biggest focuses as a parent has been raising kids who are independent and competent at life, so believe me when I say I've thought about it a lot.

We printed it out so we can start teaching the ones the 17-year-old hasn't yet mastered, with a few small adjustments. We crossed off "consume alcohol safely" (#68)  because we're members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and don't drink, and we also crossed off one more item (#63) that we were morally opposed to, as well:

Seriously, this list has everything. Every time I think of a life skill, I scan the list and there it is. I highly recommend it for anyone who has teenagers.

—5—

Here's another snowflake craft that takes minimal materials and skill. I haven't done it with my kids yet, but I absolutely will be. 

According to the comments below the video, if you make the very last attachment with a paper clip instead of glue, you can fold flat and store them easily for next year. That's the only downfall of the other snowflake craft that we usually make, so I'm pretty excited about these.

—6—

Every year our family makes gingerbread houses, and that's a loose term because we don't even use gingerbread, we use graham crackers. And the term is getting looser every year because now most of them aren't houses or even buildings.

There was a castle:

The 9-year-old.

A Nativity scene:

The 11-year-old. (Jesus is on a manger of mini Reese's cups with Mary and Joseph, and the pink gummy bear is a wise man riding on a yellow gummy camel.)

A drag racer drifting around the corner with spectators:

The 17-year-old.

A UFO coming to abduct the gummy bears in a forest:

The 14-year-old.

And Batman chasing The Joker up a clock tower in Gotham City (see the bat-signal spotlight on right):

The 21-year-old.

—7—

Because the 19-year-old is away on her mission, and because the kids are getting old enough that they don't really need our help very much any more, Phillip and I collaborated on this gingerbread unicorn:

I think we made a good team. Phillip first assembled a small, oddly-shaped shed, which I pointed out looked like a horse head, so he added a unicorn horn and I decorated most of it. (Our daughter added the gummy bear ears, though.)

As is our tradition, we'll smash and eat them on New Year's Day.

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7 Quick Takes about Taking a Moment to Thank the Envelope People, Shortcomings of Artifical Intelligence, and DIY Car Detailing

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If it would really upset you if I earned a commission of several cents on something you purchased, then I advise you not to click on anything here! 

It's 7 Quick Takes Friday! How was your week? 

—1—

There are two student pickup areas at my son's school, so when I'm on my way I text to let him know which spot I'm in. Except the day I forgot my phone.

I went to one pickup area and then when no more students were coming out, I went to the other one, but I didn't see him at either place. I started to wonder if maybe he'd had to stay after school to talk to a teacher or make up a test (he'd just been out sick for a few days) and I just didn't see the text because my phone was sitting at home.

So I drove home, where I checked my phone and had a bunch of texts from my son asking where I was. Apparently he'd gone to the second area first, waited for me, and then went around to the first area while I traded places with him. It was like when you get stuck in a hallway doing a stupid dance trying to get past someone, but this time one of the dance steps was me making an additional 15-minute round trip home and back to school.

I was pretty annoyed, but I cheered up a little when I got home and saw the Christmas cards that had come in the mail that day. Especially when I turned this one over to open it:

Giving credit where credit is due.

—2—

I did it! I took my high school senior's graduation photos myself. I didn't use any equipment beyond my smartphone and whatever light was available to us at the time. But with Google Photo's editing tools, they actually turned out pretty good!

On my favorite picture, taken at the head of a hiking trail, there was unfortunately a bright red sign in the background saying 'PICK UP AFTER YOUR DOG.' 

Phillip advised me to remove it with AI (Google Gemini) so I gave it a try. It did such a seamless job that I also asked it to remove a weird-looking weed in the foreground. It erased the weed and even added some leaves scattered on the ground in its place to match the rest of the grass. I was impressed.

—3—

I didn't stay impressed for too long, though. A few days later I was trying to remove a timestamp on the corner of a photo of my daughter from her mission so I tried Gemini again.

In fairness, AI did remove the timestamp. But it also messed up the letters on her missionary name tag at the same time, even though the two things were nowhere near each other.

I tried asking again: "Remove only the timestamp." It still turned her name tag into gobbledy gook. 

I tried being indirect to avoid bringing attention to her nametag: "Remove the timestamp but leave everything about the subject of the picture unchanged." 

I tried being direct: "Remove the timestamp but do not alter the subject's nametag in any way." I think you can guess what happened.

No matter what I did, her nametag would come out looking like: 

SŒSTER EVAƞS

ǁ||E CʜǙʕCㅞ OH

Jレ⥌Uζ  CHƦÆǤT 

O₣ LƋTTEƍ-ƕAY ŞȺIךTƼ

AI tries hard, it really does. But it's got a long way to go.

—4—

A friend told us about a local church that does a massive Nativity set showcase for the weekend. I only wish that my college daughter (an amateur artist) had been with us to see and appreciate them with us.

We walked in to a large room that was positively filled with nativity sets of all shapes, sizes, and materials. Most were labeled with the country they came from. 

This one was made with painted shells.

Oil drums beat into shapes with a hammer and chisel.

Made from recycled bike and auto parts. I spy a spark plug baby Jesus and a bicycle chain mane for the horse.

When a woman with a name tag who looked like she was in charge came by, I had one burning question for her: "Are these sets loaned by members of the congregation? Where do they all come from?"

"My garage!" she answered.

You guys, this was her personal collection. She'd been collecting for 32 years, and of course all her friends and family were also keeping their eyes peeled for interesting Nativity sets for her whenever they traveled.

My kids got bored quickly, but this trip did inspire the 11-year-old to make a Nativity in Minecraft so I guess that's something.

—5—

I drove behind this truck for a while and could not stop thinking of it as a face.

Two eyes and a cute little mouth.

Is it just me or do you see it, too?

—6—

Overheard the kids snapping at each other one grumpy afternoon.

14yo: Why is your underwear on the floor?! *stomping upstairs*

9yo: Are you bringing it up here?

14yo: Ew, why would I be bringing your underwear upstairs?

9yo: Because... I thought you were a good person.

First of all, way to deflect that burn. That is "I'm rubber, you're glue" level stuff. 

Second of all, if this is a preview of what Christmas break is going to be like, I think I have a pre-headache. An anticipatory headache.

—7—

We're doing a major cleanout of my teenager's new/used car. There is a faint cigarette smoke smell from the previous owners, so we rolled up our sleeves, did some research, and made a plan.

I bought (and probably overpaid for) a professional grade upholstery cleaner, a drill brush set (actually, I already had this, I use it to get the scuff marks out of my white dishes a few times a year), and extractor attachments for our Shop-Vac (oh my gosh, SO FUN to use these). We used this method to clean the seats, floor, and headliner (the ceiling of the car):

My son changed the cabin air filter and we hit the interior with an ozone machine I borrowed from my friend Melanie. After we were done, we put an activated charcoal bag in the car (I bought a 6-pack so we could use the other ones in the house) and I think we'll run a HEPA filter in there overnight just to be extra. 

If this doesn't work, I've got nothing. Actually, that's not true, I've got an extractor now and that thing is freaking fun to use.

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