Quick Takes Volume 5

1. I'm coming to realize that I'm awful at writing up quick takes on Fridays.  Since I started this however long ago I have struggled to remember to even write them.  I think about it on Thursday and then out of nowhere Friday sneaks up on me and then scurries away before I have a chance to act.  But not this week.

2. I'm going to lose my mind because of all the incessant bickering and whining I keep hearing from the girls.  For some reason they feel the need to try and bring me into every little argument.  I don't think either child is happy unless she is bothering her sister.  I've had to settle arguments that deal with the number of legs a particular child has (they both have two) and others about whether or not a child was wet or covered in mud.  I'm pretty sure this is all a conspiracy to nudge me over the edge.

3. After two months of very limited eating out, I think it's all catching up to me.  For the past week I have found myself daydreaming and carving a crappy Dominos pizza.  Why do I suddenly think this is the ultimate lunch idea?  I haven't caved in an ordered one yet, but I suspect I'll be sinking my teeth into a plain cheese pizza with none of that new and improved garlic stuff added.  Maybe I'll burn my mouth on the pizza and I'll wake up and realize it's not worth craving.

4. I think everyone is finally feeling better, and I'm hoping that Ellie will not wind up sick.  I made what I believed were possibly poisonous zucchini muffins on Sunday night.  Monday at 6AM I woke up and felt very sick.  I remained sick for several hours.  The rest of the day I was cautious about eating.  Monday night I asked Bryan to eat another poisonous zucchini muffin (we each had two the night before) and the following day he was feeling unwell.  Tuesday I tossed all the glorious smelling poisonous muffins and it's sister loaf of bread.  On Wednesday, Madeline began to complain of stomach discomfort and Bryan's coworkers mentioned having similar symptoms.  Last night saw poor Madeline vomiting into the porcelain throne.  She's feeling better now and I'm lamenting the fact that I threw away what was probably a perfectly good batch of zucchini muffins and bread.

5. Bryan and I are gearing up to do some demolition in the basement.  We're going to knock out part of the stairwell wall to make it easier to move furniture in and out of the basement.  Presently the wall is configured in  such a way that you need to damage the surrounding walls and furniture if you are going put something in the basement.  How do it know this?  The day after we moved in this house Bryan and my father-in-law "made" a sofa bed "fit" around the sharp angle at the bottom of the basement steps.  We're also going to utilize the dead space under the stairs and turn it into a storage closet for the kids' games and toys.  I can't wait for  this closet to be built.

6. Ellie's kindergarten welcome letter from the teacher arrived in the mail yesterday.  I can't believe my baby is really going to be going to full day kindergarten next year.  I'm going to feel lost with the kids gone all day, but on a positive note, I will have a very clean house and I may even regain some of my sanity temporarily.

7. With only two and a half weeks until school starts I'm trying to figure out how we can best utilize the Summer vacation days we still have left.  I toyed with the idea of going to the Philadelphia Museum of Art today but it was almost noon when the girls and I were finally dressed and ready to leave the house.  It's not worth it to me to get there after noon and then have to potentially sit in shore traffic on our ride home.  Maybe one day next week.  Madeline was hoping that I'd take her to the Cleopatra exhibit at the Franklin Institute.  I had to explain that we don't have an annual pass for the Franklin yet.  Soccer season is only going to eat up Sunday afternoons so we'll probably look into going to the Cleopatra exhibit sometime this fall.

While you're here, be sure to enter my EcoSmart giveaway that ends this Monday.