Togetherness

Tonight as we were heading home from the store Jake piped up from the back seat and said, "Tomorrow morning we should find something we can do together as a family."  "We should, huh?" I replied, "Like what exactly?" "Oh, like we could all go for a walk together... or something," Jake said. I said, "How about cleaning the house? That's something we can all do together." There was a long pause and then Jake said in a skeptical tone, "Well, it's not ideal... but it's something to think about." 

So I guess he'll let me know in the morning, after he thinks about it. 

A little nothing of a post...

Today I did nothing.

So I literally have nothing to post about.

The end.

p.s. I am still sick and cranky, which may or may not have contributed to the tone of this post.

My father is a genius!

A week or so ago I asked my dad to help me out with getting a piece of wood cut to the right size to cover the hideous indoor rock planter that lurks in my basement and only proves my theories about interior design in the 60's. (I firmly believe that they put LSD in the water along with the fluoride before they knew about it's harmful side effects. I just don't see any other way to explain how society embraced shag carpeting, harvest gold and avocado green appliances and hideous indoor planters where there are NO windows?! But I digress...)

In my dream world where I could have what ever I want as soon as I wanted it, the planter would be gone and that wall would be floor to ceiling shelving/entertainment center. Since this isn't my dream world I decided to settle for having a plank of wood to cover the stupid thing so my children stop trying to use it as a giant garbage can/hidey hole. I thought that would be a huge improvement over the leftover kitchen cupboard doors I've been using like big puzzle pieces for the past four years.

My dad surprised me this morning by dropping off these two shelving units from IKEA. Put together they are the perfect size to cover the hole in the top of the planter and now I have more storage options! Another bonus is that by raising the television I will be able to see it from my sewing cubical while I work. I am loving my new and improved TV area!

After he put the shelves together and hefted the TV up there for me, we turned our attention to assembling the new couch. Also from IKEA. (I love that store.)

TA-DA!

Those clever Swedes and their ingenious storage solutions. 

(I have threatened my children with extreme and dire consequences if I find one toy, one piece of clothing, or any siblings inside of the couch.)

And it pulls out to accommodate an occasional visitor or two. 

My cousin Tiffany has already graciously volunteered to test the "comfy-ness" quotient... 

I spent several minutes just staring at my new couch and shelves and loving how clean and organized it all is.

Mostly because the rest of the downstairs still looks like this.

(My sewing cubical)

Some days I feel like all I do is move the mess from one room to another downstairs. 

But slowly and surely, bit by bit we are coming along.

 Thanks to IKEA and my dad...

I hab a code in my node...

Which means that I am not the happiest mom in the world today. Sinus headache + lack of sleep = grouchy mommy. And all I wanted to do today was stay curled up in my sweatpants and watch movies and knit. But I couldn't because moms don't get sick days. I had two kids that had to get to the dentist and to school and get picked up afterwards. I have an almost three year old who's convinced that the world should revolve around her, no matter how poorly I am feeling. I have a sister who is genetically predetermined to lock herself out of things, so I drove to Ogden to give her her husband's house key. (Seriously Caitlin, if you want to hang out with me you can just ask me to visit... you don't have to keep locking yourself out of stuff.) I did the dishes. I made waffles for dinner. I snuggled Lila on the couch until we were both almost asleep, but then she rolled off my lap and face planted it on the carpet. So I put the kids to bed early and that's where I'm heading in the not too distant future, hopefully doped up on something to relieve the congestion and let me sleep for longer than a half an hour at a time. Stupid cold.

A little bit every day...

Today Pa Dave stopped by after work and helped us put together Jacob's new armoire.

Since we are moving the girls downstairs we needed some more closet space.

Jake and I are both super thrilled by how organized and clean his room is now. 

He decided he wanted to sleep in his own room because it is "awesome"!

He asked if we could get the girls room done tonight too so they could all sleep downstairs.

I told him that we'd get the girls moved down soon, but not tonight.

He thought about that for a moment and then said, "Well, I'll still trying sleeping down here by myself. It will probably be good character building for me..."

Pot roast on Sunday

I got out of bed this morning because I was dreaming about oversleeping. In my dream I woke up at noon and so the laundry in the dryer (which was all of the clean underwear and Jake's church shirt) didn't get restarted which meant that we were late to church, and I was late getting the roast on to cook so we couldn't eat until 9:00 pm. I shot out of bed and across the room to the alarm clock. It was 9:30... am. Oh. Whew.

So the laundry got dry, the roast got started and we went to church in plenty of time. I was exhausted from my burst of anxiety dream fulled adrenaline, but we were on time. Although Jake, who's job it is every week to pack up the church bag, forgot diapers and wipes (again) so he and Brian had to run back home for them. But I was on time.

I was reflecting as I stood washing up the dishes after dinner, that making a pot roast still makes me feel like I am a little girl playing house. It's the strangest thing. I am a 32 year old mother of three. I have been married for 10 years, lived in 5 homes and have had 2 mortgages. I am right in the thick of my adulthood, but cooking pot roast still feels a little surreal. Pot roast for Sunday dinner is what my mother made when I was growing up, or what my mother in law makes. I could probably count on both hands the number of pot roasts I've made since we've been married. (I might have to use one foot, but only just.)

It's just funny to have something like cooking a meal make me think, "Oh man, I am so grown-up!"

Tunnel vision...

A lot happened today that I could write about.

We got some more of the furniture we need to finish the basement for the kids so that we can make the upstairs easier to navigate for Brian's wheelchair.

Brian and the girls got haircuts.

Lila got bangs.

We made the 27th and final decision about Evie's Halloween costume.

Lila has broken out in hives again.

Brian and I had a great date night.

But all I can think about is the gigantic spider I just killed in the basement!

It was the fourth one of the night and the whole process involved a whole lot of screaming and squealing and jumping around in circles and talking sternly to the spider.

And that was just me trying to work up the courage to cross the room to see if I could reach where it was hanging out above my sewing machine.

This is probably the worst part of Brian's disability, I have to kill my own spiders now. :(

I ended up having to go get my little stair vacuum and suck the sucker up.

Then what?

I put the whole thing out on the front porch.

I'll deal with it tomorrow.

I figure if someone steals the vacuum they deserve the huge spider that comes with it...

I just hate spiders so much.