Painting, sister outings, a diaper cake, and pre-birthday fun (7 Quick Takes)

~1~

Our younger son told me he wanted to do some painting, so I got some paints and a couple of canvases. Even as I brought them home, I was thinking maybe our teens wouldn’t actually do much with them. The allure of video games can be hard to resist. But almost immediately they cleared space on the table and sat down to create their own landscape scenes.

When the children are younger, you struggle with how to display their artwork because it’s all so personal and sweet. Then when they get older, it can be even harder to know what to do because their work is so beautiful.

Naturally, it’s a great problem to have, and we will figure this out.

~2~

My sister Treasa and I decided to set everything else aside and spend a Saturday shopping together. That might not sound like a big deal, but we never go anywhere—just the two of us.

We had a wonderful time buying things we may or may not have needed, catching up on many things, and eating Mexican food.

Our last stop was a grocery store to pick up ingredients for dinner, of course.

~3~

There was a time in my life when I made diaper cakes fairly regularly, but I haven’t made many in recent years. So, when I realized we were celebrating one of my colleagues with a baby shower, I decided I would treat her to a diaper cake—and treat myself to the fun of making one.

The baby’s nursery has a Winnie the Pooh theme, and I knew they had found a bumblebee rug for the room.

I looked at three different stores before I found some bumblebee ribbon to decorate the cake. Surprisingly, the dollar store had some, while the two craft stores didn’t.

There is something so satisfying about the hunt and the discovery of just what you are looking for.

~4~

I went to McDonald’s the other day to pick up a breakfast treat for our younger son. On my way out the door, he asked me to get him a McFlurry.

“Sure,” I said. There was no chance the ice cream machine would be operating, especially at that time of day.

But it was working! I hadn’t even asked my son what flavor he wanted because I was so sure they wouldn’t be serving ice cream for breakfast—so I got him one of each. It was a bit extravagant, but sometimes you have to embrace the little miracles of daily life.

Apparently, I’m not the only person who believes in having ice cream for breakfast.

~5~

My college friend Annie has been featured in this blog a few times, including in A Surprise Package from a Friend, I Can’t Tell You What Happened at the Spy Museum, and One Way to Get Tickets to Visit Alcatraz. A few weeks ago, she reached out to let me know she would be in town and asked whether I’d like to go for snowballs with her and her sister, Abby.

I have known about Abby for 25 years, but we had never met. Right away, I said yes, and we made plans to meet. But the night of our snowball date it started to thunder and then pour. We had to move to a backup plan.

John and I met Annie and Abby instead at a diner for desserts. It was marvelous, and the time flew by so quickly. Even though I was sorry to miss out on snowballs, I was just happy we had been able to get together.

As we walked out of the diner, we were thrilled to see the most vivid double rainbow. It was a beautiful memory to go with a wonderful visit. And next time there will be snowballs.

~6~

My sister Maureen sent me two lovely kitchen towels as an early birthday gift. They’re watercolor paintings of the sites in Charlotte’s Web and Little Women. They make me smile every time I look at them.

Isn’t it wonderful how some books become part of us, and we carry them through our lives?

Those are two of the ones that are important to me.

~7~

My birthday is this Wednesday. I’m so excited. I have nothing in particular planned, but it doesn’t matter. Birthdays are an incredible gift, even if you do nothing special to celebrate.

Last week I ran into an acquaintance I haven’t seen in a while. I asked him how he was doing, and he said he had turned 84 in June. He works out five days a week, which is, frankly, amazing.

“I don’t want to get old, but I want to get older,” he said.

Same, I thought. But whatever comes, I am grateful for every day.

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