7 quick takes, volume 021309

The "post length comments I could have left on other people's blogs edition, or the "How easy is it to spend an entire Friday reading the 7 quick takes round up?"

1.  one of the best Valentine's Days dinners my husband and I ever had was February 12th.  Like this year, the 14th was a Saturday and you just know that the restaurants were going to be nuts Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  We were living in Vancouver, BC, a great foodie town.  Thursday I had just a rotten day at work, don't remember why now.  My husband took one look at me and told me we were going out.  We headed up into downtown and landed at this incredible Tuscan place on the water--and had the entire restaurant to ourselves.  Okay, so maybe three other couples came through in the course of our entire dinner.  But we had it all--perfect atmosphere?  Check.  Best table next to the window over the water?  Check.  Head waiter with nothing to do, in a good mood, cracking jokes and educating us about the menu?  Check.  And oh, yeah.  This incredible crusted free-range chicken that I still remember as the best chicken I've ever eaten anywhere?  Yeah.   Jen's #7

2.  Things that should always get cleared from pockets before doing the laundry:  Kleenex, thumb drives, crayons, pay checks, earrings, handfuls of driveway gravel (courtesy the rock-obsessed toddler).  Lerin, #7

3.  The "Why I love My Husband" Edition--what a great idea!  Why I love my husband:  he's endlessly encouraging and appreciative of whatever I'm putting my hand to, and endlessly encouraging about the fact that life is in process.  If I've managed to clean, he appreciates it.  If I haven't, he rolls with it.  Whatever I cook, he loves it (even if he doesn't love the new recipe, he loves trying new foods, so he loves that I made something new--and only the ones he actually likes get repeat appearances).  And if I all of a sudden realize that it's 5:15 and I haven't gotten any farther with dinner than having a package of still-frozen meat sitting on the counter, and all that I want for dinner anyway is a chocolate milkshake, he's happy to go out for hamburgers and milkshakes.

4.  I've seen several people noting that today is a Friday the 13th.  I've always had good associations with these--my parents got married on a Friday the 13th in 1969.  They're coming up on 40 years this year.  Happy anniversary, Mom and Dad!

5.  I sort of wish that there was some Protestant equivalent of Daily Mass.  

6.  Project for this week:  taxes.  I'm somewhat inspired and somewhat initimidated by all those people bragging about how they've finished theirs already.  And I know that doing them won't be all that bad once I get started . . . but like a lot of other things, it hasn't happened this week.  It seems that I've got the mental/emotional energy to deal with one or two out-of-the-ordinary things in my week.  This week, it was a weekend road trip and getting the truck in to get checked against a recall notice.  Next week, maybe it'll be taxes.  And working on getting music practice integrated in as one of the ordinary things that I don't need to think about.  I think I need routine more than my kids do.

7.  and now for something different . . . have I mentioned the lolcats Bible translation project here before?  I'm quite sure the whole thing is seriously sputten, but it does have this--it can surprise you into paying attention to passage that you may have heard so many times before that you've paying attention to what it actually says.  So in honor of Valentine's day, take a look at the love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13.   Nao faithz an hoepz an luvz r hear, theses threes, but teh bestest iz teh luv. srsly.

Oh, yeah.  7 quick takes is posted by Jen at Conversion Diary.