Laundry Loot

Growing up, I always wondered why my mom "wasted" time going through any and and all pockets before doing laundry. I suppose it would do me some good to do the same, but I never have extra laundry time to waste. So...I just deal with the surprises that immediately drop out of the dryer at my feet as if the little trinkets are anxiously awaiting their escape from the tumbling madness. A couple of weeks ago, I opened the door to have what seemed like an entire beach rain down over my bare feet. "Boys," I asked, "did you put sand in your pockets this morning?" "No," one of them replied, "it fell in."

Today when I opened the dryer, I discovered 3 of those suction cup balls stuck to the guts of the dryer. All I could think was, They may paint my children's toys with lead paint, but, thankfully, they at least use plastic of the quality that can sustain high heat. The suction cup balls kept company with a paper clip, a popsicle stick, a Polly Pocket shoe, an article of clothing for Barbie, a Happy Birthday cupcake insert thingy, a couple of legos, and a hair clip.

What really makes me smile on laundry day, though, is not what I find when I open the dryer door but what is often nestled in the laundry in Audrey's bathroom. Her little puppy wears a girlie pink dress, and every couple of weeks or so, the Princess's homemaking instincts kick in and she deems it necessary to give the dress a wash. So, while I've never actually seen this happen, I imagine she gently removes the clothing from her puppy and tosses it in the laundry basket, standing on her tiptoes to peer in and witness its safe landing. Then with a satisfied giggle, she trots off with a naked puppy in her clutches. And, upon discovering the dress yet again, I can't keep from giggling myself.

Katy Who?

I've started watching a new sit-com entitled Samantha Who?. In it, Sam, played by Cristina Applegate, awakens from a coma. She is subsequently diagnosed with amnesia and thus begins her quest to discover who she was and now is. As she attempts to go back to her old life as described by the few who knew her and liked her, she realizes what a selfish and immoral person she was. She doesn't like that old person at all: she was rude and self-seeking, hadn't talked to her mother in 2 years, had only one true friend, and was cheating on her boyfriend. Now she wants to change for the better but is trapped by a high-pressure job which she must keep in order to pay off the huge pile of debt she accumulated buying shoes and other material items which matter little to her now.

Although I'm a fan of Cristina Applegate and what's-his-name from 7th Heaven and What About Brian (he plays Sam's boyfriend), admittedly, the acting is pretty bad on this show--lots of corny one-liners. So I'm guessing this comedy will not live a very long life; however, it got me thinking: How would I react if I woke up from a coma with no memory? What if, at the moment of my awakening, my loving husband walked into the hospital room with my beautiful, adorable, amazing children and took me home to a house I can't believe is mine where my extended family and a bunch of caring friends were waiting to greet me. And what if he told me these people and things were all a part of my life? Yet I was seeing all of this for the first time. What changes would I make?

I think the first change I would probably make is that I would spend more quality time with my kids getting to really know them. Yes, I'm ALWAYS here with the kids, for the kids, but I don't spend nearly enough intentional time with them. I think in general such an experience would certainly force me to stop taking all of the many, many blessings I have for granted.

How about you? If you had the opportunity to view yourself from the outside looking in, what changes would you make?

A Little Rain

We've had a drought here in Georgia this summer. It hasn't become life-threatening, but it is affecting life to some extent. At the risk of sounding a bit corny, allow me to compare this past week to the drought. It wasn't a horrible week by any means, but it wasn't one to go down in the history books either. Regarding our world of academia, school went well, but I hadn't planned as well as usual so there were no giant murals to create, no extraordinary outings, no amusing projects. It was just school.

Thankfully, mid-week my dear husband returned from having been out of town for an extended period of time. And last night came a bit of refreshing rain to combat this life drought: our niece and her college roommate are spending their Fall Break with us, so they were kind enough to watch the kids for us. Mark planned a wonderful evening beginning with a lovely dinner at Bones Steakhouse. From there, we visited one of our old haunts, Cafe Intermezzo. I don't believe we have been there since BC, so it kind of took me back to a life world's away. Not that I would ever want to go back to that life, but the little visit back in time provided a much needed break.

There's nothing better than a little refreshing rain, and I think the drought just may be gone...next week looks alive and promising!

 

 

 

Push Buttons and Goody Bags

Sometimes--and especially with kids this young--there are those field trips that are just far more fascinating for me than for my children. Our homeschool group visited the area Christian radio station this morning. While I thrive on hearing the details of the hustle and bustle of advertising, production, and broadcasting, there was a substantial blank look on my kids' faces. However, the day was saved when the children each got a turn to choose a button to push. The look of delight on their faces when the room filled with the station's various jingles was enough to put value on the tour.  And...of course there were the goody bags filled with a station pen, magnet, sticker, flashlight, and various other trinkets.

Perhaps it was the goody bags that caused the kids to zone on the way home when I heard the DJ shout out her greetings to the homeschool group that had just visited. "Guys!" I exclaim.  "Did you hear that? She just said hi to us on the radio!" "Huh?" they all say. Zoned. Although this field trip may not go down in history as the pivotal moment when my children grasped the concepts of marketing and radio waves, pushing the buttons and receiving goody bags made the day well worthwhile.

MSM Seeking MNR

Married Single Mom seeking Much Needed Rest. Married for 12 1/2 blissful years. Single for too many days in a row this time around. Mom to 4 amazing, energetic children. Seeking a day at the spa or the beach. Or a day locked in my bedroom. Even the bathroom or closet would do.

 

FLYlady.net for Kids

If I were to pick one family battle that is on the front lines more than any other, it would have to be the Battle of Getting 'Em to Pick Up After Themselves. Yes, I know this is not a battle unique to my family. But, honestly, does anyone EVER get to celebrate a victory? For us, there have been many strategies, but they seem to do little for our troops: lectures go in one ear and out the other; kind, sweet requests get ignored; ranting and raving make their eyes glaze over; charts and rewards get forgotten by both commanders and charges. So what to do? Well, I came up with FLYlady.net for kids.

I assigned each kid a zone (if you FLY, you know what I'm talking about), this instead of just telling them to go clean their rooms since their rooms are full of their own mess; I wanted them to experience the joy of cleaning up after someone else! Each child is responsible for his or her own zone and must have it cleaned up in order to have dinner (don't worry...no one's going to starve around here!). They can ask for help with messes that aren't theirs, but ultimately, their zone must be ship-shape regardless of whether any aid comes their way or not.

The kids drew from a hat for their zone. Admittedly, Alex got the worst zone, the one that includes the Playroom/Schoolroom. Day 1 was OK--she rose to the challenge of something new. Day 2? A different story. I overheard, "Boys, why do you have to make such a mess?" (Not that she's innocent of all charges!!) "Boys, PLEASE help me clean this up!!" Ahhhh....music to my ears!! After she was done, she commented to me, "Tomorrow I'm going to sleep until 8:00 PM." Translation: Tomorrow I'm going to sleep well beyond clean-up time and thus rid myself of duty. In other words, her intent is to go AWOL.

That, of course, was perfect timing for a lecture. Alex, how does it feel having to clean up after everyone else? How does it feel to clean something up just to have careless boys come right behind you to mess it up again? And you've only been doing this for 2 days. I've been doing this for 7 1/2 YEARS! Do you understand?

Point taken. But I'm not sure the understanding will turn into action. I'm not setting my expectations too high.

A Tale of Two Knights and Two Princesses

I really shouldn't be posting these pictures as I'm sure there will be an identical post come end of October. But...this was such an event for us today--checking on ups.com for the update, looking out the window for the UPS truck, asking the same question over and over: "When do you think it will come?" Unfortunately, I think we're at the end of our UPS guy's route because he usually swings by toward the end of the day. Today, however, he must not have had many deliveries because he showed up right around 1:30.

The kids were about to DIE with anticipation because I made them finish their school project (a mini-replica of a Viking ship, which would have been much more exciting if it weren't for a box sitting on our doorstep) before we could tear open the box. Finally, we were able to open it up, and I took a quick opportunity to stealthily slip one of Alex's old costumes in for the Princess. I'm glad I thought of that because no sooner had I pulled the boys' costumes out when Audrey peered into the box and said, "Baby?" "Yes, Audrey, you have one in there too. Just wait a minute!"

I do have one thing to admit: we know by now that I'm a bit of a control freak; I may have asserted just a tad of my control into the whole costume decision-making process. We are studying knights in a couple of weeks, and I really wanted the kids to fully experience it. However, with Halloween fast approaching, I didn't want to double-spend on super hero costumes AND knight costumes. So, I coerced...er...convinced them to go with knight costumes (and a princess one for Miss Alex--she didn't take much convincing, though). (For the very technical, I think the boys' costumes are actually crusaders get-ups, but these were the closest thing to knight I could find for the money I wanted to spend.)

Of course it was great fun to try on the costumes. And of course I've already given my speech about how today is just the 9th and we have until the 31st for Halloween, so how many days does that mean we have to take extra special care of these costumes? I'm sure there will be many sword fights in the days to come, and the boys already have plans to wear their helmets to bed and, with their swords and shields, defend themselves from one not-yet-declawed-feline, Sir Stitch.

Miss Alex looks beautiful in her blue flowing princess dress which accents her daddy's eyes wonderfully.

As for the princess, I think living in this family, she often faces the same quandry: To be princess or not to be? Princess or scoundrel? THAT is the question!