7 Quick Takes (Volume 158)

1) We had a great time celebrating my mom's birthday last Friday night. One of my faithful blog readers asked me to take some pictures and I happily obliged. Here is my mom with her four children. Yes, I, the black-haired, brown-eyed woman on the left, am a full blooded sister to the blond, blue-eyed woman on the right.


I am the oldest, my sister is two years younger than me and my brothers are twins, ten years younger than me.

Our spouses were complaining about not being in the picture, so we gave them one of their own. They were so happy with how it turned out, they're threatening to send it to all our relatives for a Merry Christmas from the Outlaws.


Then we put all of us together, so you can see who goes with who.


It was a great night. Hope you enjoyed it, Mom. We sure did.

2) We were talking of Ladies Man's early years, where we literally drug him to school kicking and screaming, and in one of those maybe-I-did-something-right moments which rarely come, he agreed with us.

Me: I'm glad you can see now how important it was to push you.

Ladies Man: Yeah, 'cause I wouldn't have any friends or ever talk to girls.

Kevin: And that's like . . .

Ladies Man (with a smirk and hint of pink on his cheeks): . . . the most important thing.

3) Part of our Christmas musical set includes a second story office. Kevin and his crew got busy constructing the thing last week. The structure wasn't finished for Sunday morning, but partially up and you wouldn't believe the number of people who told Kevin it wasn't sturdy. I can't tell you how many times he said, "I know. It's not finished." One actor who has to be on the platform a lot of the time, understandably voiced his concerns. To show him he didn't need to worry, Kevin planked on the unfinished platform.


Keep in mind, this thing is ten and half feet off the ground! He is such a stud. Don't worry, people. Rest assured, my CAM friends. He knows what he's doing. That thing will hold hundreds of pounds before they're done with it.

4) Kevin's set woes didn't end with the lack of confidence shown for his office platform. On Wednesday, while lifting a piece of plywood for sheeting it, a piece of wood went into his hand. I got a call on my cell phone.

Kevin: Hey, I'm on the way to the doctor's office. I got a sliver in my hand.

Me (always excited to dig weird things out of weird places and disappointed I wouldn't get a shot at it): A sliver? You're going to the doctor?

Kevin: Yeah, well Sam's with me. He wouldn't let me drive.

You see my concern? Obviously Kevin is the master of understatement. Who needs someone to drive them to the doctor for a sliver? Upon arrival I saw the problem. This picture doesn't do it justice. The "sliver" ends were literally pushing his skin out. All of the nurses in the clinic winced.


You can see the entry point. Just above that is a pen mark. Under the pen mark is a bulge. If you follow the pen mark up to the edge of his hand you can kind of make out the other bulge. They had to deaden it, make a little incision and go digging for the thing. It was no easy task. That puppy was stuck tight!


And here's the "sliver."


We're talking a hunk of wood at least an inch long and thicker than a toothpick.

I think I should get Supportive Wife of the Year, don't you? I mean I'm sure I was great help taking all those pictures. And I had one hand on his back the whole time. He's such a lucky man.

5) There are some distinct advantages to your children getting older. Miss Innocent One took it upon herself this week to clean out her drawers (dressers drawers, people, not pants). Never mind it was necessary in order for her to have drawers that were actually functional. She did it on her own accord. So can I count that as anti-hoarding if it happened in my house?

6) My Boesiger Bunch Family Fun Fridays on Facebook is not achieving my desired result. Drama Queen is the only one who participates and actually noticed when I didn't do it last Friday. What do I need to do to engage them? I've posed questions, posted pictures and added a Bible verse I'd been mulling over. We even posted an old picture with speech bubbles and asked them to fill in the bubbles.

Drama Queen's answered the call every time. Maybe I need to change the name to Me and Drama Queen Hashing Over Life Fridays. She gets the best kid award for the month! If the rest of you are upset about that, put up or shut up, my darling children.

7) Happy Birthday to Ladies Man who turns 16 tomorrow! This guy passed his driver's ed exam back in July and has been chomping at the bit ever since to be driving. Tomorrow, my son, tomorrow.

And don't worry, people. He's actually a very good driver. Dare I say, better than Drummer Boy and Drama Queen? (I know I'll hear about that one!) My only concern is his way of hollering out the window while leaving the school parking lot, his head hanging half way out.

Dude! Hey! Yeah, catch ya later. How ya doing? Hey man!

You get the picture. As long as you're not in the school parking lot, you should be okay with another Boesiger child driving.

And that's it for today, my lovely friends. Hope you have a terrific weekend. Catch more Quick Takes at Conversion Diary.