{SQT} Unsuccessful Storage and the Joys of Powerchair Ownership

The long grey days of January are here, and while I’m thankful that temperatures are out of the teens (for now) I’m stock piling pudding just in case we’re stuck inside for days on end. I’ve felt immense pressure to write ALL THE FUNNY THINGS, and take ALL THE RIDICULOUS PHOTOS, but frankly, school and personal hygiene had to happen at some point this week, so onto all the slightly ha-ha takes of quickery.  (Send in the minstrel now!)

seven quick takes friday 2

 

1. I planned to write about my “original” homeschool room storage ideas based on some of the ridiculous homeschool rooms that appear in my Pinterest feed. You know, milk crates vs Crate and Barrel, Craigslist vs Ikea and allowing my books and children’s work to collect in various piles vs anything else. But it became less funny and more of a nagging sense of inadequacy. Once I started wondering how hard it would be to stencil inspiring words over the dirty finger prints I knew I needed to just let. it. go.

homeschool storage solutions
Clockwise from top left: Thank you Fresh Direct for delivering these ‘In’ boxes; We’re practicing our knot tying skills by attempting to repair the school chairs; My books aren’t organized by color, don’t look at them!! ; Toss the rest in those drawers! Who needs to find the art supplies??

2. Since getting her Kindle, Addie is better about emailing friends and family. Like most tweens or, anyone with a smartphone who should know better, she loves using emoticons. She’ll even send me messages when I’m out that are 80% smilies, hand gestures, animal faces and 18% text. (2% punctuation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) While she always uses correct spelling and correct grammar, I told her she should layoff the emoticons, just a bit. To encourage her I started “talking with emoticons”. “Hey Addie, how’s that book you’re reading? Smiley face, thumbs up, lady dancing? I was thinking about chicken for dinner: puking face, cute puppy face, glass of wine?” It’s worked enough to make reading her texts less like deciphering hieroglyphs. (I almost shot a video of me doing this because I was cracking myself up but everyone else was just all thumbs down, bored face, pile of poop.)

3. Byron’s Creeper mask made its way downstairs much to the delight of Fulton. Despite having to readjust his headrest and the difficulty of seeing out of it, Fulton drove around hissing while Teddy repeatedly yelled at him to blow up. While I love seeing them playing together, this is why every corner of my house is smashed up. Even less successful was Fulton’s attempt at completing his reading lesson with the mask on, “No! We’re done with the sssssssss sound!”

4. In other fun wheelchair related news, Teddy’s wheelchair battery went caput while we were out running errands which meant I had to disengage his chair’s motors and manually push him in the house. This is the first time we’ve allowed this to happen so I was shocked to discover, upon pushing his chair, that it weighs a whole heck of a lot more than Fulton’s powerchair. So, on a ramp covered with wet slush, I attempted to push his 250+ pound chair into the house. If you listen to Addie’s retelling of this story, she’ll say I said some….choice… words, which I’m positive I didn’t utter out loud. I did manage to get the chair into the house and hooked up to the charger, and then I died. But no one wanted to help me and hook me up with some wine. With little effort I could easily create an entire workout around caring for the boys and their chairs. Not a lot of ab work mind you, but you’ll have arms and toes of steel for sure.

5. You’ve all been so great about book recommendations; maybe you could also recommend some great mixed drinks / cocktails? We got a cocktail shaker and some bar stuff(?) for Christmas and I’d love to try it out but I’ve never mixed drinks (except that one time) and I’m totally overwhelmed with all the drink websites out there. What alcohols do we need to have on hand? I can pair wine, but where can I learn to pair cocktails with food? Thank you in advance for helping me become the coolest book club host ever. 

6. Just in case you were wondering how that iPad gun I recommended worked out. (Vintage Crossbows and Catapults not required.)

7. We watched EWTN’s coverage of the March for Life on Thursday. My older kids are starting to understand more about abortion and the sad reality that less than perfect children, just like their brothers, are often aborted. The statistic was given that for every ten unborn babies found with some sort of disability, eight or nine are aborted. That means that my sons represent the ten or twenty percent of disabled babies that survive their time in the womb. There are at least 16 to 18 children NOT HERE because their parents learned said child might be disabled. A radiologist spoke about how babies with something as treatable as a cleft palate are aborted. In a society with the greatest medical advancements mankind has ever seen, capable of providing excellent care and quality of life, we are choosing to eliminate these special children rather than allow them to enrich our society. Parents, you don’t even know what you are throwing away. (I mean, did you see the above videos??) BE NOT AFRAID. 

How was your week? Type it out and link it up below! Be sure to use the url of your post, and not your blog’s url. I look forward to reading all your Takes!

 


23 Comments

  1. Believe it or not, your homeschool storage system is way better than mine. Says the mom who has re-ordered too many books or supplies because they’ve been lost.

  2. #5: depends on what you like to drink. My favorite is the classic martini:
    3 parts Gin (Bombay Sapphire is my go-to)
    1 part dry Vermouth (Noilly Prat Original Dry or Extra Dry)
    2-3 dashes Fee Bros. Orange bitters.
    Stir vigorously with crushed ice ’til very cold. (I keep all the fixings in the fridge and pre-chill the mixing glass in the fridge with icewater in it.)
    Strain into a pre-chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lemon twist.

    Second favorite is a Manhattan:
    3 parts rye or bourbon (I like Bulleit or Maker’s Mark, or to turn it into a Rob Roy, use Johnnie Walker Green)
    1 part sweet red Vermouth
    2-3 dashes angostura bitters.
    Mix the same way as the Martini and garnish with a maraschino cherry.

  3. Great post.
    I feel the same way about over-the-top craft rooms. Unfortunately my craft room is my school room. It’s ok. But there is always something we can do better. In the end, it doesn’t matter.
    I hope and pray you have a good weekend.
    Blessings,
    Em

  4. Well you could make my winning SOTG cocktail :crying with laughter face, confetti popper, winky face:

    * 1 shot vodka
    * Juice of half a medium pink grapefruit
    * Half shot triple sec or blue curacao
    * Fill with tonic
    * Add blue food coloring if needed

    More often though, we just go with a little more simple gin and tonic or vodka tonic, which is just a shot of your alcohol of choice, squeeze in at least half a lemon or lime, fill with tonic.

    I’m also partial to mojitos, but I rarely have fresh mint leaves on hand :sad face, crying face, little leaf:

    Frozen margaritas! A can of frozen limeade, ice, tequila in the blender. Geez, am I a lush or what??? :all the drinky emoticons:

  5. Three words: sweet tea martini. 2 parts lemonade (not the diet stuff!) and 1 part sweet tea vodka (we like Deep Eddy). Shake and Enjoy. It is seriously good.

  6. Thank you Kelly for hosting 7 QT again! Loved your videos in this post and I was at the March for Life this year, but I have seen it on EWTN too on my computer the years I couldn’t attend. Amazing, amazing, amazing how many people stand for life. My blog post is linked at #83 and it’s all about our March for Life experience. And you are so right how sad it is that children with disabilities or with no disabilities are being killed everyday legally! Heartbreaking! Have a blessed weekend!

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