Seven Quick Takes

7 Quick Takes

Stuff We’ve Been Up To Edition

As summer vacation winds to hot, muggy close, I’ve lost the ability to create a cohesive theme. This is stuff we’ve been doing, things pulling me in different directions as we try to savor summer.

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The Mobile Drive-In

Our township has been doing these drive-in movies at the park for several summers. Until last week, the timing and the chosen movie never worked for us. Friday night, I took my kids and one of their friends to see The Peanuts Movie (truly a great little movie) at our park. Our arrival was somewhat delayed by our inability to find where my husband hid our camp chairs, but arrive we did. The whole atmosphere was fun. The park at night, the families, the free Twizzlers handed out. Just as the movie was about to begin, the entire screen deflated. It was a full hour and several attempts at re-inflating and restarting the movie until we began. By 9:30 p.m., most of the little kids present were probably ordinarily asleep, but here we were just getting started. All in my party agreed we’d do it again IF it started on time.

mobile drive-in

Moments before the epic deflation.

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Seven Quick Takes

7 Quick Takes

Gettysburg Edition

We spent several hours last weekend in Gettysburg. It’s one of my favorite places, so much so that I set my novel Stay With Me there. As many times as we’ve visited, I know I haven’t scratched the surface of the many things to see and do there. A quaint town, steeped in history and tragedy, it’s blanketed in a palpable gravitas that is hard to describe. And yet, it’s also fun. Here are seven of my favorite places to go, things to do if  you visit Gettysburg – and I recommend that you do. Continue reading

Seven Quick Takes

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Child-Wrangling Olympics Edition

Promotions for the upcoming Summer Olympics are beginning to appear, and while some may be excited for the return of golf to the worldwide sporting events, I’ve noted the gaping chasm where parental competition should be. Let’s face it, most of us slogging through day jobs, home maintenance, and child rearing have little time or energy left for Olympic-caliber competition. Schlepping through the grocery store and scrubbing the toilet are taxing enough. Sadly, our society ignores the skills honed during those years when mothers and fathers nurture and safeguard their wily, wiry offspring on minimal sleep and some combination of coffee, wine, and adrenaline bursts. Should parenting be incorporated into the next Olympics, these are my recommended events. (This post enhanced by simultaneously listening to the Chariots of Fire theme music.) Continue reading

Seven Quick Takes

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Surviving Busy Sports Seasons Edition

This may be the most advice-y thing I’ve written, which is funny considering how we scramble to keep things together this time of year. These are things I’ve noticed work for our family when I do them. They may or may not be of any use to you. You may sit down to a gourmet meal together with ample time for travel and arrive at your activities on time. (And if so, I may wonder if you possess alien DNA.) Continue reading

Seven Quick Takes

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Useful Free iPhone Apps Edition

I still feel like a neophyte with my iPhone since I only upgraded from a flip phone last summer. I love my phone and use it most heavily for social media: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and Goodreads are used multiple times daily. Aside from social media and email, these are my best-loved apps. (You may also want to check out this list of top free apps for 2016.)

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Feedly

Feedly is my go-to source for keeping up with blogs, websites, and news I track. When our local daily newspaper switched to publishing only three times a week, I eventually lost interest. I don’t watch local news or TV. (Typing that actually makes me cringe being that I studied broadcast journalism, but it’s the truth.) That leaves the Internet as my main news source. (Yikes!) With Feedly, I can follow the feeds of national or local publications, magazines and blogs. I can easily see the latest news sorted by category, scroll through headlines, save for later reading, or share.

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

Seven Quick Takes Friday

The Force Goes Overboard Edition

If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen my sporadic posts of increasingly bizarre Star Wars promotions. Mostly these are random products with Star Wars packaging and absolutely no tie-in to the movies.

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Apples

This one really got me. No connection here. None. And then I considered that my bananas often have Minion stickers on them. But Minions eat bananas. I’ve never noticed Darth Vader slipping an apple slice through his mask.

There are apparently other fruit tie-ins not carried by my local supermarkets. (language warning)

Star Wars Apples

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Quirky Christmas Tree Ornament Edition

Our tree is filled with a mishmash of unrelated ornaments from different families, different eras, and different interests. Somehow they’ve all found a home with us.

 

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Chili Pepper Santa Claus

Chili Pepper Santa Claus ornament

A memento from a trip my husband and I took to San Antonio, Texas in 2001.

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Seven Quick Takes Friday

Seven Quick Takes Friday

Kitchen Desperation Edition

People say their kitchens are awful, but I don’t think they know what awful means. Around the country, families are remodeling kitchens that, from my perspective, are already quite serviceable.

Give me your tired, your worn, your avocado appliances. Your vinyl floor yearning to be wiped clean. The sparkling product of your gleaming double sink. Replace my crumbling kitchen from a bygone era.

Which era, I’m not certain. Continue reading