Seven Quick Takes--- In Which I Rely too Much on Convenience Food

I'm joining the "Seven Quick Takes" posts over at This Ain't the Lycium by Kelly Mantoan. Check out her blog, she's been writing a lot longer than I have, and her writing is awesome. :)

1.) Solo Parenting and Time Distortion

Ok, so technically it wasn't 'solo' parenting because I'm, you know, still married, but Chris was coaching at a debate tournament in Milwaukee for most of the week. So I had the kids by myself at home.

It...actually went ok, though weirdly our schedule jumped ahead by about an hour while he was gone. So the kids woke up an hour earlier, we had meals an hour earlier, and they went to bed an hour earlier.

 It was very strange, but I wasn't complaining. 

2.) Frozen Pre-cooked Stuff

Because I was flying mostly solo this week, we stocked the fridge with frozen corn dogs, pizza, and meatballs. Usually I'm more of a 'make it all from scratch because it's cheaper' kind of person, so this was actually a pretty big departure for us. I actually found it kind of disruptive to our routine-- usually it takes me about an hour to make dinner, so having something I literally just throw on a pan and toss in the oven for fifteen minutes was...weird. And probably part of the reason we ended up so far ahead of schedule, to be honest.

I freely and honestly admit that I ate WAY more corn dogs than I should have too. Those things are addictive, especially with mustard.  

3.) My Porch Garden Is Actually Pretty (!!) 

I'm actually not that great at gardening, so this is kind of a big deal for me. :)

I have some oregano, mint, basil, parsley, some pepper plants, and a couple baby fig trees out there. The previous owners planted a grapevine underneath the porch for some reason, so that's all grown up into the trellising too, and just makes the whole area green and pretty. It's a nice place to just go and breathe when I need a moment. 

The kids like being out there too. Sometimes we'll go out there and they'll help me water the plants, or they'll dig in the dirt in a couple of the plant-less buckets. Which leads me to my next take...

4.) Mud and Other Educational Substances 

My youngest child is absolutely enamored with digging in the dirt and playing with mud. Every time we go outside, she makes a beeline for whatever loose dirt, rocks, or dog food she can find. The other day, we poured water into the dirt buckets in the porch garden and she proceeded to liberally paint the resulting mud all over her tummy. She also tried several times to taste it. 

It's very cute and very messy. I'm thankful it's warm enough that I can just spray her off with the hose before I bring her back inside. And I can tell myself she's learning about textures...or something. 

5.) Scavenging Life 

Continuing our trend of furnishing our house with stuff we found on the side of the road, I recently re-organized some toys in the kid's room using a plastic set of drawers (minus all but one of the drawers). I cleaned it off with warm soapy water, and then used the one remaining drawer as a pattern to make two shelves out of a thick cardboard box that had originally been used to ship eggs. 

The resulting product was a very handy storage space that we used to store all the small Hot Wheel type cars, peg dolls, and small plastic animals that up until then had been waging a persistent battle to take over the bedroom.

 I had been storing the miscellaneous small toys in a huge clear plastic bowl that had originally held a huge amount of sliced fruit for a high school prom, but the kids would dump out the ENTIRE THING whenever they wanted to play with anything in there. Hopefully this will keep things more under control (a girl can hope). 

6.) The Aquarium 

My family was gifted a year long pass to the Texas State Aquarium last Christmas, and I've finally been able to get some use out of it lately. 

The 'gulf shore' exhibit. That tank behind the kids has baby alligators in it. 

The aquarium is more than just fish: it has exhibits including flamingos, vampire bats, a giant alligator, and a couple otters, so there's more than enough there to fill up an afternoon. A few years ago, they also replaced their playground with a zero-depth splash park (which, given the fact that our area of Texas is regularly prone to weather well above 95 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, was a very welcome change), so there's also an opportunity for the kiddos to just go burn energy for awhile. 

It's a crab, Momma! 

Very pleasant afternoon, and it was really exciting to see that both of my little ones are actually at an age where they're interested in seeing the animals too. 

7.) Chickens, Water, and Weird Breakdowns

It is a truth universally acknowledged that when my husband leaves home, SOMETHING will break down. This time it was the chicken waterer, of all things. The part of it that was attached to the water spigot decided to form a crack and flood the run, then break off in my hand when I tried to take it off to inspect it.

All in all not TOO bad...in the past I've had pipes break on me and have had to shut down our well and tote water from the house out to the birds (the house is on city water, our animals and garden are watered with well water). This time, I just had to go out twice a day and fill up a bucket while the rooster decided to take a few pot shots at me. Not great, but still better than lugging it all the way from the house.

HEY!! You lookin' at my women?!

And that's it! Husband is finally home from Wisconsin and we just finished the school year, so new adjustments and adventures are on the horizon. Tune in next week for the next exciting installment.

Be sure and head over to Kelly's blog to see all the other Quick Takes for this week. :)