Friday, May 18, 2007

Third Friday

Every third Friday of the month I clean up D's art room. Today is that day. I don't really tell her about it before hand as she is a bit of a packrat and tends to obsess over every scrap of painstakingly colored paper and every random pinecone, acorn, or other "treasure" she's collected over the past month. But I can't stand the clutter and she gets to start fresh every four weeks. Today, amongst all her little girl beads, baubles, crayons, etc. I found a pair of unused ear plugs, the kind that you use to block noise on planes. Thank goodness they were unused, but I have no idea where they came from. Ewww. The one thing I'm on the fence about tossing is an old licorice tin, long since devoid of licorice, but still bouncing around the house storing one thing or the other. M collects and stores old shoeboxes, so I shouldn't be surprised his daughter hangs onto candy tins (she also likes empty tissue boxes). Maybe if the shoeboxes or tins held something, I'd be more appreciative of their recycling, but so often they just rattle around, using up valuable storage space, completely EMPTY. So, I spend a fortune at the Container Store and Pottery Barn on cute storage totes, only to have them filled up with empty boxes, jars and tins. Don't even get me started on M's collection of empty baby food jars -- which he claims to collect to store his fishing flies, currently housed in a (youguessedit) shoebox. I'm not sure what's in his actual tacklebox.

We've been travelling and busy this past week, but we've planned an excellent family weekend. I'm making my famous sauteed chicken with mustard sauce for dinner (chicken fingers for the kids, natch), and we're going to rent a bunch o'movies and just hang out. Tomorrow, M is taking D to the zoo for a special daddy-daughter day. It will be nice to have a Saturday to myself, especially since school is out next week. Yikes. Since Baby A was born right before school started, I've never had both kids at home for any length of time. I'm adamant about limiting TV time, but finding stuff to do for a 10 month old and an almost-five-year-old can be challenging. Talk about your different interests! But, she'll go to Vacation Bible School at church in early June, and then we're leaving for a month in the mountains with M's parents. (Wish M could get away too!!) By the time we get back, it's only about a month until school starts so I can probably handle that.

Hope you all have a nice weekend too!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I keep empty shoeboxes, too! They are a great size and often very sturdy. You never know when you are going to need one.

Although, I am trying to cut down on the junk in my room, so I have recently transported about 8 shoeboxes to my classroom storage closet.

Anonymous said...

Debbie - 8 shoeboxes? Do you have 8 shoes? Throw away the clutter or Kari and I will do it for you.
Love, Bunky!