Small Successes

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Here are my small successes for the week! 

1. I did not scream, I did not yell, and I did not tell him to take it back when my 9 year old came in to tell me he got a free bike.  (Hmmm...he has a bike).  He told me the neighbor was throwing away a bike and he went and asked for it.  Apparently, when Mr. Neighbor told my son he wouldn't want it because it was quite broken, Henry said that's ok, he wanted it for parts for a go-cart.  Mr. Neighbor generously gave it to him.  Do you see what I'm up against here?  I try so hard to de-clutter.  But I live with a bunch of do it yourself creative children (and their dad).  Yes, it's good they do these sort of things.  Now please excuse me while I put together a fun box of parts for his 10 year old son (just kidding).
2. I cleaned the kitchen really well, every nook and cranny.  Ok...maybe not THAT well.  But I was pretty thorough.  Nothing like company coming to spurn that on!
3. I have managed to keep my 6 year old in the house for the last 5 days (except the trip to and from Mass).  She has had near constant headaches for weeks.   Our pediatrician put her on a some new allergy meds and ordered her to stay indoors for a week... to make sure her headaches were caused by allergies and not something else we needed to start searching for.  Seems to be working!  We've been playing a lot of hide and seek with her little brother while the other kids get some fresh air.

Keeping it real....

The moment has come, I am now officially parenting my parents. Not in a total care sort of way, but in the please do not make that decision without me sort of way. Dad is in his 80s and Mom is close to that. The children and I are planning an upcoming weekend at their home and I am planning to do all the cooking, a lot of cleaning and clearing up a lot of issues while I am there.

For those of you that know me, you know that my parents and I have always had a tough relationship. For them, parenting a daughter who has more than a fair share of independence has been more than difficult. For me, I am finding it tough to be involved on a daily basis with people who know they need help, but want to maintain the workable distance we have come to find worked for us in the past.

I think I will throw myself a Welcome to the Sandwich Generation party. Salami on rye anyone?

Conversations with a 3 year old

We're pretty big into trains at our house and have a really fun layout that we've built up over the years. 


Dad: "What do you call it when you can have two trains on the track at the same time."

Logan: "Command Control!"

Dad: "Right. What do you call it when you can only have one train on the track?"

Logan (after some contemplation): "Bad."

...well...actually it would be called conventional. But if you have more than one person trying to drive trains I guess it would be bad.

The book: All my friends are dead

I'm not recommending this book.  I really know absolutely nothing about it...other than at least some of the pages are pretty funny.  This is why we don't have any indoor plants :(

Mammatus clouds

AKA  Mammatocumulus or mammary cloud.

This is what we saw up in the sky last night - wish the pictures were better.  I have NEVER seen clouds like this before - with those directly above us, fast rolling sunlit cumulus clouds the our East and some crashing dark clouds to our West - we spent quite a bit of time cloud watching.

Once in rare while a song/video comes along that I find amazing...

Small Successes

For more small success stories click on the above link.  (even if you are not interested in the successes click on it anyway and spend a few minutes perusing the site!)

1.  Finally made a decision about our potential new house and we sent the final offer (or the acceptance with conditions or whatever it is called). 

2.  Finally made up a new chore chart after the kids asked for it.  No, they don't ask for chores.  We're raising them to BE saints, we aren't there yet.  I hadn't reprinted the chart because their chores have not changed in the last year and it's also written on the bottom of their school lists. But, one of the kids asked for it to be posted on the refrigerator again so it's easier to see.  I figured the least I could do was comply...and I updated it.

3.  I cleaned the master bathroom shower floor this morning and removed the stains that usually require some scrubbing.  Well, I dropped a big clean rag on the floor of the shower, added 1 cup of bleach, saturated the towel with water, and let it sit for 10 minutes.  Voila! 

My new game and my class

My new game is trying not to buy things. Sound fun? It is! Don't believe me, do ya? Really. I am liking it.

I have started to look at what we have differently. It needs to be working for me, not me working for it - as in me dusting, washing, providing space for it without getting anything in return.

Instead of buying an organizer I had my eye on at Bed, Bath and Beyond, the bowls Gran gave me are now holding my change, earrings and the odds and ends on my dresser. The bowls are not special except for the fact that they were in my Grandmother's kitchen for years. I had hidden them away waiting for ... I am not sure what. They are not perfect way to do the job, but they work. Savings $19.99 for the organizer. As an added bonus, each morning I am reminded of my Grandmother (who is 106 years old). I call her more often now and that is priceless.

With a growing family, the spring change of clothes always requires new tubs. Not this year. Instead of buying more, I went through the old ones and borrowed out or donated the clothes, except for a few the FEW special ones I loved. I have to say, a close by friend is having her first wee one in August so it was good to know they were not going far. Savings $30 in new tubs and a entire corner of the basement cleared out.

The cardboard boxes in the basement from our last became the centerpiece of fun for a rainy, cold afternoon last week. They are now spaceships, chariots and doll carriages. Savings $40 as the alternate activity I was considering was a trip to the movies.

It is working in the kitchen too. Instead of throwing out a half baguette that was too hard to eat whole, it got a slathering of garlic butter and became croutons.

Is there anything in your home you could use differently than you do now?

And on these same lines, I am taking a home improvement class. My teacher is terrific and I am learning a ton! Today a water pipe in the basement started leaking - ugh. It is going to cost me about $60 in tools and supplies to fix. BUT that is a lot less than a $200 house call from the plumber. Wish me luck!