7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 9)

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On Tuesday afternoon, Connor was intently reading a big book about Narnia he had checked out from the school library.

“Mom, this page has a ton of fonts!” he said.

Weird, I thought to myself. How does a six-year-old know about fonts?

“Let me see the fonts,” I replied, craning my neck.

“Not fonts. FAUNS!” he said.

Oh. That does make more sense.

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I decided this week that 2010 will be The Year Without A Real Calendar.

I just can’t find any wall calendars that I like enough to fork over $15.99. It will be weird to have a big blank spot on my fridge this year, and I will miss the incredible nature photography of Rodney Lough. But for now, the printable versions I’m finding online are working just fine.

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After I posted Tuesday’s recounting of The Day That Stank from Beginning to End, I had to fight a compulsive urge to apologize. My post was completely accurate, and hopefully, I relayed some of the humor of the day. Because if you can’t laugh at a day filled with poop, general malcontent and a Vikings loss, then you are a sad person indeed.

But I hate sounding even remotely negative or whiny. It’s the annoying optimist in me.

Pollyanna wanted to write a follow-up on Wednesday and say, “But at the end of the day, I still had a roof over my head and my kids were all relatively healthy and I had food and an episode of ‘Scrubs’ on the DVR. So really. No big deal.”

Sometimes I want the optimist to go take a nap and let me have a bad day.

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When my parents asked what to get Teyla for her birthday this year, I asked them to send “her” a Pottery Barn Kids gift card, so she could have some quality, adorable bedding for her soon-to-be-coming big girl bed. (That’s what happens when your birthday follows on the heels of Christmas.)

They followed my suggestion. I put their gift card with an old PBK credit I had, and I was able to buy the following quilt and sham on sale.

I love Pottery Barn Kids. Truly. It’s hideously expensive, but I cannot resist the cuteness. I wish I could live in their catalog.

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Like Teyla, I also got a bunch of gift cards for my birthday, which enabled me to finally order this.

I’ve been drooling after a cast iron Dutch oven for about a year. Normally, when I cook my usual assortment of winter stews, soups and braises, I use my stock pot. It works, but the metal is pretty thin. And it doesn’t fit in my oven without me removing a rack, which I always forget to do before I preheat. Yea for new kitchen bling!

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I need help with Teyla’s hair. It’s curly. And long. As a result, it tangles easier than Los Angeles traffic during a high-speed chase.

I can comb it out after her bath, before she goes to bed. But she tends to rub her head on her blanket as she’s going to sleep, which means the whole thing is a rat’s nest by the time she wakes up in the morning.

Ideas? Who has girls with curly hair?

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Talk about a shock. Wednesday, I sat down to check Twitter and saw, to my amazement, that I was the winner of two free tickets to Mark Driscoll’s Song of Solomon conference in St. Paul this weekend. I had unknowingly entered the contest the day before, by promoting the giveaway.

The material for this conference is taken from the same Song of Solomon series that I'm listening to online right now. Do you think God is trying to tell me something?

This is part of the 7 Quick Takes Friday Carnival at Conversion Diary. Have a great weekend! I think mine will be as radiant as the sweet pomegranates in the spring.

15 comments:

  1. The stinky day post just made me feel better about my family's day.

    My daughter had long curly hair at that age and didn't allow anyone to touch it without assaulting their ears with banshee wails. So, every couple days I'd rub conditioner on my hands and run my hands through her wet hair in the tub and not rinse it out. It tamed the tangles and because I used a tiny bit it didn't leave her hair feeling gunky at all.

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  2. I've got a curly girl and spent a lot of time and money into figuring out what to do with it.
    First, if you haven't heard of "Curly Girl" by Lorraine Massey it is the bible for dealing with curly hair. You can get all the info in the book from their web site.
    Next, overnight it MUST be in a ponytail or tied up somehow. It can be a loose ponytail way up on the tip top of her head but loose hair WILL knot up. If she cannot sleep with her hair up at least invest in a satin pillow case.
    This is getting long so if you want to hear more about what products we're using and such send me an email.

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  3. I totally second the satin pillowcase. I've been sleeping on one for years and it has saved all kinds of grief.
    My mom said that satin pillow cases were what saved her from shaving our heads when we were young.
    If you can't find one, they are beyond easy to make. And I do not sew much at all.

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  4. Cute bedding! When we moved we found a dry erase board calendar with a cork board strip at the bottom and a "notes" area as well that my husband had in his old office. It's not anything to look at but it's functional and I like it. And I am so jealous of your cast iron Dutch oven!

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  5. That bedding is SO CUTE!!
    Curly hair, curly hair. Extra leave in conditioner, detangling spray, and a cute short bob work for us!

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  6. First of all, hello! I've been reading you in google reader for some time now. I love your posts.

    My daughter has super long curly hair too. She is almost 8 and ever since she was small we have combed her hair out at night (thank God for detangling spray and leave-in conditioner) and braided it. In the mornings, we let the braid out, rub in a little smoothing product and that is that!

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  7. (I meant to add, the braid kind of tames the curls into manageable waves. Still quite pretty.)

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  8. Your fridge twittered me to say it is sad that you have no real calendar. ;)

    Maybe your kids could make you one. They'd just have to draw 12 pictures and you can print out the calendar part.

    Or you could use something like vistaprint to upload your own pictures (That's what we did and I have to say it's pretty cool). You can start the calendar with any month either way. The link is a referral link that's supposed to give you promo pricing and I get a bonus too (I think it will work even though you are American and I am not), but obviously you could just use the site directly - or even something else like snapfish.

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  9. my 5 year old daughter has long curls, curly curls. We wash it and put in extra conditioner and braid it. Take out the braid the next morning and TADA - no tangly hair and no tears.... for her or Mama:- )

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  10. what beautiful bedding...if the hair is long enoug braid it...thats what i do with my hair

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  11. The post about the day that stank amazed me because I wondered at your ability to laugh about it so soon afterwards. I expected your post to end with a description of you curled up in the fetal position, muttering nonsense. That sounded like a truly horrible day and you should tell Pollyanna to take a hike. :-) You know, not permanently. Just with regard to apologizing over that post.

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  12. Just want to second the braid(s) or high ponytail or bun on the top of her head at night- that way it shouldn't get in the way no matter how she lays her head. And you can tuck it under to keep the ends from getting tangled if she tosses and turns. And they say the best thing for curly hair is a wide toothed comb, never a brush (unless you're blow-drying).

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