Seven Quick Takes (Vol. 11)

1. Fact: If you put a laundry basket of clean clothes right next to a laundry basket of dirty clothes, the cat will sit in the clean ones every time.

2. We were at the store last night, and picked up our first thing for the new baby!  A pack of adorable little hair bows!  Thinking back to Sly, I know it will probably be awhile before she has enough hair to hold one, but...we couldn't resist!  It was cute to see Tom so excited about them.

3. Speaking of the new baby, we've been trying to prepare Sly.  He's only 19 months old, so I know his understanding of the whole thing is very limited.  We're to the point now where when we ask, "Where's the baby?" he smiles and points to my stomach half the time (the other half the time, he points to his own stomach!).  But I know he's going to be totally taken by surprise the day he finally sees her, and has to accept that he's not the baby anymore.

4. Recently, Sly has been crazy about wanting books read to him.  I know I should be thinking of this as a positive thing.  But I'll be honest - it's getting really tiring!  He would be perfectly happy to sit for HOURS being read to (the same books over and over, of course).  Always, at the most inconvenient times, he indicates that he wants me to read to him, and has a tantrum when I don't.  I understand that a big part of it is probably just the closeness and attention that he's looking for.  I try to give this to him in other ways, but sometimes it just won't cut it.  I think he's just destined to be a book lover, like his parents.  A good thing...but...how many more times do we have to read "My First Word Book" before he can read it himself? ;-)

5. One of the things I'm supposed to be doing during Lent is "going for a walk every day, even if it's short."  Well, with the recent return of colder weather, I've really been stretching this one.  I might go to the grocery store one day and consider my stroll through the aisles sufficient for a "walk" that day.  I'm being too wimpy!  I really need to just get outside!

6. I finally bought a new camera!  For the past two years, I have been saving up every bit of money that I received as a birthday or Christmas gift - because gift money is really the only money that is "mine" instead of "ours"...and "our" money needs to be kept under a very strict budget!  The intention was that I'd keep saving up until I had several hundred dollars, and could buy a nice SLR camera with a huge zoom.  But after reaching $180 the first year, people stopped giving me gifts of cash.  And I began to realize the impracticalities of such a fancy camera.  First of all, I'd have to learn to use it properly.  No more relying on the "auto setting" to take decent pictures for me.  Also, I wouldn't want to lug it around with me.  Since it wouldn't fit into the little pocket in my purse, I'd end up never having it when I wanted it.  I realized it made the most sense to just replace my crappy point-and-shoot with a better point-and-shoot.  So the other day, I took my $180 and bought a Canon Powershot Elph - basically the same camera I used through most of college, and loved (until it died on me eventually).  I'd eagerly awaiting its arrival in the mail!

7. Some friends of ours are getting married in a few months, and want to do pie instead of cake for the reception.  She's asking some of us to bake a pie, and I waited too long to choose a type, so I'm left with peach pie.  I've never made a peach pie before, so I don't have any reliable recipes to use.  I'd like to test out a couple before the wedding, so I know I won't be bringing her a dud!  If anyone has a good recipe, I'd appreciate if you could send it along!

This is exactly how good I look when I'm baking

Quick Takes is hosted at Conversion Diary