Having someone else do your remodeling costs a lot of money. We have received multiple bids for flooring, windows, garage doors, totally re-doing our master bathroom, replacing our all-galvanized water pipes and doing some electrical updates. We are sitting back and letting the high costs absorb until we are willing to cough up the dough. If the shock doesn't wear off, we may have to figure how to carve out time in our hectic lives to do-it-ourselves. Noooooooo!
Costco shopping is a 4-hour chore, if you count putting it all away. I love Costco, but it is very time (and money :) ) consuming.
I love hand-me-downs. I have been getting the next size of clothes out for Lucy, and it has been fun to see lots of cute things that Sophie used to wear, as well as donations from cousins and friends. It's also been fun to package up the things she's grown out of to give to some friends at church who are expecting baby girls.
Volunteering at school is fun. I was an art docent (taught an hour-long art class) in Lukas' class this week and it was precious. We did chalk drawings of leaves in the style of Georgia O'Keefe. Some of his classmates made me drawings and notes to say thanks. One of the kids (who had chalk all over his face and on his arms up to his elbow) came up and said: "This is the funnest thing I've done all week." Awesome.
80's sitcoms sure were innocent. We've been streaming "Alf" from Amazon (lots of free content with a Prime membership) and our kids think it's hilarious. It is definitely in the "so-stupid-it's-funny" camp, but I was struck by how much edgier/raunchier lots of prime time T.V. comedy is now. Times they are a changin'.
Getting anything extra accomplished around my house takes a looooong time. It seems like a two steps forward, three steps back sort of deal.
Trying not to eat sugar for a month is hard, but I feel a lot better when it is a very restricted part of my diet--doh! One of my good friends threw down a "No-sugar November" gauntlet and I couldn't resist. Yes, if she jumped off the Golden Gate Bridge, I would be right behind her :). I am definitely a sugar-a-holic. I need a 12-step program, but I am doing a pretty good job myself, one day at a time.
When your newly daytime potty-trained 4-year-old (hooray!) falls asleep on the couch sans pull-up, and a voice inside you tells you to put a pull-up on him "just in case", you should listen to that voice. Just sayin'.
And last, before climbing on sculptures in parks and having a fun photo-op with your family, you should really read the signs nearby. People walked by and I thought they were just smiling bemusedly at my cute family's antics, but I think they were thinking, "What a bunch of idiots!" to themselves. I can hardly blame them.
I have a few fun posts planned for next week (I've been sewing up a storm!), so stay tuned!
Hahaha! That last one is great because you can definitely see that sign in the background. :) Oh well. It was done in ignorance--I mean innocence, right?
ReplyDeleteHooray for art-docent volunteering! It is so fun, and they get so little art in school now. I've been "publishing" and editing stories with the 1st graders this week too, and that's pretty sweet.
ReplyDeleteI think super-epic to-do lists are the way to go - shoot for the moon, and all that! Happy holiday weekend!
Hi Katrina!
ReplyDeleteI am loving being an art docent. I think it's a great program. Lucky you this week--first graders' writing is so completely adorable and guileless.
I'm of two minds about the lists, because occasionally I get pretty depressed when I realize the gap between my shoot for the moon list and what I actually accomplish. I think the problem is that I don't put all the normal stuff (like laundry, dishes, cooking, driving, etc.) on there, only the extra stuff. So somedays, I feel like I haven't done anything, when I've actually been super productive doing essential things. I'm just one of those people who likes to check off a box :).
I find it funny that a popular boys name in England is Alfie. That would never fly in the US because of the Alf show.
ReplyDeleteI too am overwhelmed at how long it takes to get almost nothing done each day :)
Hi Laura! Yep, that is true. That show pretty much ruined that name for Americans. Of course, the name "Randy" doesn't work in England for reasons best not elaborated on a family blog :). So I guess we both have our limitations :).
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