Attempt #172 at tackling the mounting piles of laundry

1. wash clothes, dry clothes
2. haul an armload of dried clothes to room and plop them on the bed.
3. fold clothes, put shirts on hangers
4. do not immediately put away, instead leave them on bed
5. retreat to laundry room for more clothes
6. return to bedroom to find kids jumping on the bed and all of the previously folded clothes bounced onto the floor in heaps.
7. grab armloads of clothes off the floor in frustration and bring them to the right bedrooms
8. put clothes in drawers, in closets, etc.
9. return later to bedrooms only to see the kids have decided to play dress up with the entire contents of their dressers/closets.
10. back slowly out of room counting to ten. or twenty. or seven hundred ninety six.
11. leave clothes on floor.


Aha! It's all so clear when I look at it this way. From now on I think I'll go from step 1 straight to step 11... I'm not sure, but it just seems more efficient that way.

A minute in my brain right now...

• Is there a chance this house is going to get cleaned before next week?
• Where are we going to sleep 10 extra people in this little tiny house?
• Why did I wait till last minute to finish school work?
• Will the baby sleep okay tonight?
• Should I exercise or go straight to the homework?
• We used to have stacks of towels. How do you lose towels?
• Is Lydia going to actually cooperate for Emily's wedding?
• Where, oh, where did I put Lydia's shoes for the wedding?
• Will she walk down the aisle? or refuse?
• Did I pay the phone bill?
• Who's going to watch these kids the night before the wedding?
• How in the world to we generate so much laundry?
• Why didn't I put away the clean clothes before they got dumped all over the laundry room again?
• Why did I take out summer clothes before putting away some of the winter ones? It's like something exploded in the laundry room.
• Why is gas so darn expensive?
• How long can I drive on empty hoping the price will go down?
• When is this cold weather going to go away so the kids can play outside again?
• This house is such a disaster.
• I think I need to rent a dumpster.
• I need to try on my dress one more time.
• We need to find Ryan a shirt and tie for the wedding. And what about pants?
• Jack needs something to wear too. What's he going to wear?
• And does he even have dress shoes that fit?
• What about Hannah?! I forgot about her. She needs a dress too.
• Why didn't I take care of this stuff? It's not like Mark & Emily got engaged yesterday.
• Oh yeah. Wedding present. Oh great. Oh, no. This is not good.
• How do you grocery shop for 10 extra people?
• What in the world are we going to eat? WHAT should I feed them?
• Where are they goign to sleep again????

I think I might miss "Chicken"

Lydia's finally learning to pronounce "kitchen" correctly
Her "K's" have been hard for her to get when they fall at the begining of a word.
So... Kitchen has always been... "Chicken"
"Mom, this chicken has three windows!"
"I can run in the chicken, Mom."
"I just can't say CHICK-CHICK-CHICKEN!"
...But, now she can.
Now she says, "kitchen"...
It was one of those things that sounded so darn cute,
it was hard for me to correct it.
I think I might miss "Chicken".

Three-year-old logic

My little girl has been saying her prayers at night since she could talk...

Little hearts
Are made to love
Friends below
And God above.

Then one day she started telling me she didn't want to say her prayers. Figuring it was just a phase, I let it go on for a week- each night as I tucked her in I'd ask- "Do you want to say prayers tonight?" And each night she'd tell me no.

Well... Finally a couple of nights ago I asked her why she didn't want to say her prayers and I told her, "God likes to listen to us say our prayers."

She looked up suddenly and said, "Where does God live?"

"Up in Heaven," I answered.

"Oh." She seemed to think this over for a minute then she said, "Up in the sky?"

"Well, yes..."

"Oh." Again she paused deep in thought. Then she said matter-of-factly, "I heard God go by our house. In an airplane."

Uh-oh. I'm afraid I didn't do a very good job in my teaching because each night since then she's asked, "God lives in an airplane?" And each night I patiently tell her, "God lives in Heaven."

I think this might take awhile.

Projects

The fabric I ordered online came in today! I'm so excited to get started making some bags... I attempted to this afternoon but it's a little too frustrating when you have little helpers who want to "cut too". I'm going to have to keep this stuff hidden if I don't want to find it in peices, I fear. I just discovered this winter that I really like to sew... I used to say I couldn't stand it- but I guess that was before I really tried on a good machine (my mom's). For now, I'll keep borrowing hers. Maybe someday down the road I'll get my own. My jump-in-head-first instinct wants to just start cutting pieces out... But the rational-take-your-time-and-do-it-right voice is winning. I must have patience and do it in order: First things first- draw up the pattern. I'll let you know how it turns out- but don't hold your breath. I'm famous for starting things in a hurry and then taking six months to finish.

If you need to get away with something...

... just say it like it is!

Me: Lydia, what are you doing in there?
Cupboard door slams.
Me: Uh... Lydia?
Lydia: Don't come in here, okay Mom?
hmm.
Me: Why can't I come in there? What are you doing?
Lydia: Nuh-THING. Just wait, okay?
Lydia comes running into living room, opens her mouth and sticks out her tounge.
Lydia: See! I'm not eating anything.
Oh-okay.

A Tribute To a Dear Friend

If you know me, you know that I love my coffee. I drink way too much of the stuff... doesn't matter what time of the day- I can even have a cup at 10:00 at night and head up to bed an hour later- my Finnlander blood? My husband says that I might as well be hooked up to an I.V. that pumps the stuff in all day long. Well... This coffee cup here was a splurge in one of my weaker moments. My sisters, my mom, and I were shopping and I was roped into spending somewhere around $8 on this particular cup- we all did. A bit over the top? Well... That was approximately a month ago.

Then I fell in love with the thing. Since then it's the only cup I use. Laugh if you must, but's just the right shape to fit comfortably in my hand, it's so colorful and cheery, and it seems to me coffee just tastes better out of this cup. This cup has seen me through the early mornings with my children, and late nights studying for Pharm. It never judges me on how much coffee I drink, just keeps doing it's job.

Well, I was warming up coffee in it this afternoon (just hours after taking this endearing photo, I might add). So I stuck it in the microwave, waited patiently with my blueberry muffin- anticipating a steaming cup of coffee, and went to retrieve it when the time was up. And then... the unthinkable happened. The thing slipped right out of my hand and it was like those slow motion shots you see in T.V. commercials advertising a thicker paper towell or the last degreaser you'll ever need. I cringed and my beloved cup smashed into the unforgiving surface of the stove. So... Now my cup is left handle-less with a rather large chip on the rim and a crack weaving down one side.

The funny thing is- I have never before in my life speant that much on a coffee cup... And probably never will again. But, isn't that just the way it goes? I told my sisters when I bought it- this will be the one that breaks right away- and after it did I had to call them to take a poll on the survival rate of their cups... Of course theirs were still holding up just fine. Yah... You just wait. Some unsuspecting moment, you'll go to reach for your cup and... the next thing you know it, you'll be sweeping up the peices of the floor and kicking yourself for spending so much on it in the first place. Hah. I'm not bitter- I'm not.