Fall fun, fanciness, finches, and more (7 Quick Takes)

~1. Carving out our weekend~

The pumpkins on our porch are just waiting to be carved, and this is looking like the weekend to make it happen. I’m sure we will try to roast pumpkin seeds, and I will wonder, as I always do, why they don’t turn out as well as the ones you buy at the store.

I’m tempted to get some from the store and serve them and pretend they’re my own.

That would be a trick and a treat.

~2. Flexing in style~

I’ve heard stories of children who were embarrassed when their moms dropped them off at school in their pajama pants. One morning this week, I frantically logged my son onto a tutoring session and realized I was still in my nightgown.

It’s awful and yet…pandemic standards are so different.

Meanwhile, our fifth grader has been using one of my Waterford goblets to drink water during his online classes. If you don’t dust off the crystal for remote learning during a pandemic, will you ever use it?

~3. A fancy breakfast~

I admire people who are baking bread and taking up new crafty hobbies during this time. Using fun serving dishes is the best I can do.

The other morning, I was trying to figure out how to serve syrup on the side with the mini pancakes my son had requested, and I spotted our gravy boat.

Done. I served it up, and he was absolutely delighted.

Little things are the big things, you know.

~4. A pandemic birthday~

One of our little nieces turned 6 this week, and I dropped off her gift the night before. She and her 4-year-old sister bounced on the other side of the storm door and waved to me as I placed her gift bag on her porch.

I used a gift bag we had left over from one of our boys’ birthdays, and I used a pretty bare bones homemade birthday card. But, as I said to my sister and brother-in-law through the door, that’s not because of the pandemic. That’s how I always operate.

The girls ran to get encyclopedias to show me, and it was just so cute.

~5. Delinquent book clubber~

I’m participating in a book club through work, reading Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen, and I am so far behind in the reading. Everyone else in the group seems to be finished or almost finished, and I am determined to catch up before our last meeting next week.

You never think you’ll be that person in the book club who doesn’t do the reading—but here I am, showing up honestly, confessing my reading tardiness, and engaging in the conversation as much as I can.

I plan to be all caught up and full of insights next week. And I enthusiastically recommend the book, if you’re looking for a good read.

~6. Finch Rearing 201~

Our baby finches are five weeks old, and I am fascinated to watch their beaks turning from black to orange. Their beaks almost look like they’re turning a shiny copper.

I have also started to suspect that one is a boy and one is a girl. I’ve always known God had a sense of humor, but the fact that he would give this inexperienced finch-rearing family another male-female pair truly has me picturing Him chuckling away as He looks down on us from heaven.

In good news, we should be able to pair Ron, the dad, with the baby boy, and Hermione, the mom, with the baby girl. I just need to figure out the right timing for that transition. I’m hoping Ron and Hermione will be OK with this—but I think it might be our only choice if we aren’t going to have finches to infinity and beyond.

~7. Debate enthusiasts~

I turned on the presidential debate this week for what I thought would be a few minutes, and our children were fascinated. So, we stayed up and watched and watched until after 10:30 p.m., when I decided we really had to get some sleep before the next day.

Before we went to bed, though, I fielded many, many questions about a variety of topics—our relations with Korea and China, what illegal immigration is, why people are racist, and how debating works. I answered some better than others, but I loved their curiosity.

The next day, we watched the whole thing again.

Now, I’m especially excited to listen to the latest episode of my friend Julie’s podcast, More Than Politics, with Laura Kelly Fanucci, where they discuss Talking with Children about Politics and Current Events.

Find more quick takes on Kelly’s blog, This Ain’t the Lyceum, and have a great weekend!

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