Unringing the Bell

Redoing It

Our house is in need of a MAJOR deep clean. Really though? We need a full sized dumpster.Is it spring yet?

Every year our village does a dumpster day, actually. I think we could fill one of the ones they provide with just things from our household alone. I cannot WAIT until dumpster day. I think it is in May. Before then, I have to make sure I have the stuff ready to GET OUT OF HERE. Who knew what 4 (not even, yet) years of accumulation looked like??? (Not me, I haven't lived anywhere for this long since I was 14 years old!)

Our house is...not big. It was built in 1949 and we do not have many closets or nooks for storing things. Things NEED to go. We also need to utilize smart layouts and makeshift storage. I am not great at laying stuff out. I know what I like, but honestly, ever since I moved in here, I have never had it the way I would like. It's partly that we moved in with one little one and another one the way. Or so I say. But, truth is, it's not like you're rich suddenly when you buy a house.

Then the kids get bigger and so do their needs. And you're busy and, I am finding, if you let ONE ball drop...well...I guess the saying goes "Drop a ball, your house and every organizational system you have in place goes to shit." (Something like that.)

Anyway. I've dropped a ball or two lately. My house is PILED with garbage. Annnnd...not garbage. Just stuff in want of a home. Orrrr...stuff I need to just make my peace with and get rid of.

So, while there is SOME sanity in my next decision, I realize it might seem kind of funny that what I next did upon realizing what a pool of scheisse we are drowning in, was to buy YET SOMETHING ELSE FOR OUR HOUSE. I mean, what does everyone need just as they realize that their house is just TOO DARN FULL?? More stuff! A new project!! Anything to keep one from doing what they SHOULD be doing (i.e. cleaning, dumping), of course!

This project looks like this.

Or, well, it did. That's the craigslist photo. I forgot to take a before picture, so this will have to do. I mean, you get the idea.

The not-insane part of this purchase is that, well...hey! Look at that! Makeshift storage!

Bottom drawers, I am SO going to fill you up with board games!!! Just you wait and see!

Then we took the drawers, doors and hardware off. (You know, after lugging it in the house. That thing is heavy, and not, by the way, ALL wood like that dude who sold it to us (for cheap) tried to claim, but that's okay. It's mostly wood. And, like I said. It was cheap.)

And then....

There's a coat or two of primer on and a bit more to do before we paint it--things with kids take...ohhhhh....about seven times as long as they normally would--but it's ultimately going to be green. I think. Possibly two-tone.

I'll keep you updated.

A Lover & a Fighter

Rainer is a lover. He is constantly, randomly, exclaiming, "I just loves ya, Mama!" and "I really, really love you!"

He won't let anyone leave without kisses and hugs for everyone. Included kisses and hugs for yourself.

During the day he or I will say to the other, "Guess what?" "What?" the other will say. To which one replies, "I love you and I like you."It's become our little catchphrase and we've even written a song for it.

As a result of this love fest, Georgia has learned how to really pucker up when she kisses. For her part, anytime you enter a room she will say, "Hi, Mom!" or "Hi, Dad!" and give a little wave. And the once aloof little lady has become a full-body hugger. She's a lover, too.

She's also a fighter.

It's true, she is much happier lately. In general. It is SUCH a relief. DS stereotypes be damned, because my gal is not always happy. Though, thankfully, she is getting happier. Calmer. More relaxed.

I love watching her when she doesn't realize anyone is looking. She has a curious way of interacting with the world, though she gets so frustrated with things. Today, at a friend's house, she was setting up a drum set. She was trying to fix the kick stand for the bass drum because it had fallen over. She tried about ten times, but just couldn't get it to sit right. If it was upright it was facing the wrong direction, if it was facing the right direction it was upside down. Eventually she just knocked the whole drum set over and walked away, like the best impersonation of a badass drummer at the finale of a set.

I can see how, if you didn't see what led up to the destruction, one might think she was simply being impulsive, or a brute. But she's FRUSTRATED. I don't know if it's the lack of fine motor coordination, sensory dysfunction, or, more than likely, a combination of factors, but she has a very difficult time with these seemingly simply tasks. And it infuriates her. I totally understand it. I would be mad, too.

That's why, when I am spying on her, say through the little window in the door to her religious education class, and I see her knock a chair over five times, and then each time diligently pick it back up (in itself no small task) to try and push it under the table again (even though it keeps getting over turned when the little feet get stuck on the low rug), I can't help but feel my heart in my throat while doing a little rah-rah-you-can-do-it cheer inside my head while I watch her.

I've been noticing that I've had a few more victory dances lately when I get witness her accomplish these not-so-little tasks.She's building upon her skills, and starting to want to perservere more. She's trying and trying again. She is the little engine that could personified.

She's a tough cookie that one. She doesn't always get the credit she deserves. She can be very misunderstood. She's been called stubborn, willful, impulsive, destructive, impatient.

But the more her patience grows, the more I get to see that she's kicking ass and taking names.

Something-Something

I have come here to write approximately 700 times since my last post and I just never know what to say. So this is going to be a picture post. A segue. I hope it will be enough to get me passed the inability to post.

I cut G's hair.

This is what it looked like a few days ago.

I'd been threatening to cut it for weeks. For some reason I was putting it off. I think I am growing more sentimental in my thirties! (Didn't know that was possible, I am sort of a sap already.) But I knew it needed to be done. The thought was becoming pervasive. She spent so much of her time with her hair wound tightly in a bun or in Laura Ingalls Wilder-style braids just to keep it out of her face.

It was getting hard to manage, and it was WAY too long for her to manage at all. It looked GORGEOUS when it was down, but she could only really wear it down after baths for an hour or so before I would need to braid it or put it up before bed lest she wake up with a real problem on her head!

I am so glad I did it. While I was quite fond of her braids, it was getting too unmanageable. It would go into into her sleeves when she was dressing and it was a doozy to keep clean when she had a runny nose or ate almost anything. Same old story. It's not like it's the first time I've cut her hair or anything. Her hair grows fast!

I am not even one of those "a girl's hair must be long" people. I have short hair. Spent much of my childhood with short hair that I asked for myself. So. I must just be a little wacky-woo-woo lately. I wasn't really looking forward to the actual cutting, either, because it's never been one of G's favorite things (to put it lightly) in the past, but I have to tell you she didn't fight or make a peep (thank you, iPod).

I decided to just take a little off this time. That's new for me. I am usually an all or nothing gal. If you're going to cut it, cut it. And all that. But, my first cuts came out pretty well and I coud tell it was more manageable instantly. So I decided to sit on it (like G could practiacally do with it already) for a few days and see what we think. When the pool opens up, I think I'll go shorter. It's just so much easier when she's in the water to have shorter hair. Maybe I'll give her another bob then, but for now, it's still fairly long. Especially considering I cut 6-8 inches off!

(There, I did it, I came out from blog hiding.)