Three Things I Learned This Week

How To Trim A Bird’s Beak

In what is known around our house as an “of course you did, Sharon” moment, it turns out I have bought a lazy bird. My cute little Skittles who keeps me company during the day is supposed trim his beak by rubbing it on rough surfaces to prevent overgrowth. But there are some birds that aren’t the best at personal hygiene so they don’t do this. Skittles lacks personal hygiene.

Yes, people. I bought a dirty bird.

Which means I had to learn how to catch a six-inch bird, cradle him in the palm of my hand, gently hold his teeny tiny little head between two fingers and clip his beak with a pair of nail clippers. But not clip too much because then it will bleed and if you can’t stop the bleeding, your bird will die. No pressure.

How To Untangle A Newton’s Cradle

My younger son bought a Newton’s Cradle at a garage sale on Saturday. In a matter of 15 seconds, it was tangled beyond repair, as if he were trying to make a fishing net with the string and balls.

The money he spent gone and all he had left was a tangled mass not unlike my hair after swimming. It was wrecked beyond repair! Nobody would ever be able to fix it!

*I* felt it could be untangled.

“It’s impossible,” they said.
“We may as well throw it out,” they said.
“Nobody will ever be able to untangle it,” they said.

30 minutes and a glass of wine later. Ta da!

Also, by ‘they’ I mean my family.

Kids are Resilient

The place we booked our summer vacation for the last four years went into receivership. We had paid in full so basically all our money is gone (although we’re working with our credit card company to see if we can get anything back, so all is not lost!) and our summer vacation getaway is not going to happen.

When I told the boys, they were upset—my youngest especially. He had been going to the resort since he was four, it’s the only vacation he even remembers. My older son asked if the resort had a mailing address so he could send money to help. In my head I responded, “That’s okay, Sweetie. They already have enough of our money.” My outside my head voice told him there would be nobody there to receive his mail.

But you know what? Both boys bounced back pretty quickly. It is what it is, I explained. And if us not having one summer vacation out of all the summer vacations we’ll ever have is the biggest problem we have, life is pretty good.

And you know what? Life is pretty good.

I can trim a bird’s beak and untangle a Newton’s Cradle.

If you need me on your carry an egg on a spoon relay team, I’m your gal.