Things I Learned in August + September

Once again I am linking up with Chatting at the Sky to share some miscellaneous things I've learned over the last two months--some silly, some simple, some meaningful and fascinating.

1. Misty Copeland is an incredibly talented ballet dancer who has found tremendous success despite all odds being against her. I love this kind of feel-good story. This video was going around Facebook--best commercial ever. I find it astounding that the human body can do that (and her calves! unreal!). Then a friend of a friend posted this article with a bit more background.

2. I figured this out a while back, but it occurred to me to share now as something YOU could learn: Store cut watermelon in a salad spinner. All the juice drains away from the cut pieces, so they stay fresh instead of the pieces at the bottom getting soggy and gross.

3. I learned a bunch of useless but interesting trivia about the evolution of cold cereal in America from this brief history.

4. The word "wheelhouse" is used to mean an area of expertise, or a "sweet spot."  I'd never in my life heard it before two friends used it separately in the space of a week. I thought the first one was a victim of autocorrect, since I had NO idea what she was talking about! Apparently it's an idiom derived from baseball jargon.

5. After seeing friends using it on Facebook, I finally installed the Timehop app. It's a neat way to revisit photos and old posts from social media--fun to see what I was doing on this day two or four or five years ago, without having to make the effort to go back and look it up. 

6. Taking kids to a wedding is both hugely undesirable and wildly fun. Our own wedding was not generally open to kids (though exceptions were made for older children of family members), so I was not surprised or offended when my brother and his fiance decided to have an adults-only celebration. They decided to invite my boys anyway, as the only nieces/nephews on either side. I couldn't believe how much whining and pushback they got from people who *were* offended and wanted to bring their kids. After taking my boys to the wedding (their first), I felt even more baffled. WHY, exactly, are you upset that you can't take your children to an event where they have to sit quietly for long periods of time, eat fancy food that comes in courses and takes forever, wear uncomfortable clothes and be up well past their bedtime? I mean, really?

Generally speaking, I'd much rather get a babysitter and enjoy a date with my husband. That said...I will say that it was sweet for my boys to be included in celebrating their uncle and new aunt (Elijah and Jude were very excited about it)...and, dancing with them at the reception was super fun.

7. In preparing my material for last weekend's women's retreat, I discovered "focus view" in Microsoft Word--by clicking the button, you can make the rest of the screen go black so you can only see the document you're working on. It won't help if you're toggling between multiple Word windows, but works great when you need to review and revise a single document without the temptation to click over to the internet. 

How about you...what have you learned lately?