Value Tales

Today I was BORED.  I hate being bored.  Everything I thought would be interesting was too messy to start this close to the weekend, just in case I have to clean up.

I took Spike for 2 walks.  My girls were obsessed with the nature aspect of walks at this age - flowers, leaves, bugs, squirrels, etc.  Spike?  He is obsessed with finding rocks and then finding a puddle to throw it in.  I almost can't wait for some of this remaining water to dry out!

Spike HAS to push the stroller, which means we walk incredibly slow.  He also prefers to push it through the grass instead of on the road.   I want to get something like this.  It will only work if he *thinks* he is in control.

Remember these books?

We had these late 70-early 80's books.

I was getting my oatmeal from Chick-fil-a and noticed their kids' meals have an updated version of them.

Anyway, I ordered a set of 5 off Amazon for $8 total:

Louis Pasteur, Harriet Tubman, Confucius, Helen Keller, and Will Rogers.

The girls loved them.

It is rare they both listen to the same book so intently.

That is one aspect of the girls' school that I am impressed with.

They focus quite a bit on character traits.

We bought a plane ticket for DD to come home for Easter!

Yippee!

Priceless

$3 bag of sand +

old container +

shady spot +

85 degrees =

2 HOURS of fun for a little boy.

I need to work on my photo skills.

How did I not notice he was in partial sun?

He filled up that entire bucket with a sieve.

We'll call that perseverance.  

Spring has Sprung!

Spike loves to throw things in water.

He sat quietly by this pond while the girls fed the geese.

Finding tiny-teeny rocks and sticks and putting them in the water.

We got a ton of rain over the weekend.

The weather is beautiful today, so we took a walk.

We just sat there, watching the overflow water flow.

Throwing rocks and sticks into the stream.

I love rivers and the ocean.  

I could sit by them all day.

I don't care much for lakes, though.

Or dirty, muddy rivers.

If I could freeze time....
I would freeze my little guy and me, sitting there in the sun.

I think we are going to have a lot of days by the ocean.

Spike digs sand, too.

Spike and the Joker

Farmer, Farmer, let me down.

Pookie is closing the size gap on Munchie.

Mixer Envy

16 years ago, I had a bridal shower at my future-in-laws.

The group gift they bought me was this:

A nice gift, of course. I thought it was a little odd, though.  An INDUSTRIAL mixer for two people with no immediate plans to have children?

Mother-in-law: "Do you like your mixer?"
Me:  "Yes, yes, it is very nice.  I am sure I will use it."

Apparently, I wasn't excited enough.

Mother-in-law: "Well DD said you had ALWAYS wanted one."

Oh, he did, did he?  What the heck?  I can 100% guarantee that I never uttered a phrase to the man about wanting an industrial-sized mixer.  DD wanted a mixer like this, for what purpose, I don't know.  Why get a something normal-sized when an industrial version is available?

He doesn't really do anything other than grill,either.  I am sure I am came off as an entitled little hussy not being overly excited to get my lifetime *dream* gift.  :)

I don't use it very much. It weighs 30 pounds and I don't like stuff sitting on my countertops. So I only lug it out if I have to make something involved ... which is about once a year.

I have been watching Food Network lately, and all these hosts tilt their Kitchen Aid mixer heads.  No way!  That is one of the reasons I don't care for using this - it is hard to use with a stationary head.  The bowl slides up and down, and it is hard to add stuff into the bowl, imo.  I did double check to make sure I hadn't been using the thing incorrectly for 16 years.  That would bite.

Anyway, maybe I'll craiglist this one and get a new tilt-head one... in purple.

Land of Eternal Wind

How true is that saying!  I was incredibly frustrated over the weekend, but at the end of the day, almost anyone in the world would trade problems with me.  Perspective is such a powerful concept.

It looks like it is haircut time again!

It has been incredibly windy the last two days.
Sustaining 30 mph and gusting to 50 mph.
My house is shaking.
The roads are littered with branches.
The fence lines are full of trash.
The wind sucks the joy out of otherwise warm days.
I tried to take Spike for a walk.
He walked at 45 degrees and then a cross-wind would cause him to face-plant.
It was a very short walk.

Hanging with Zebra

He really needs a new trike, but we have been in this "wait until California" mode.

I am starting to think I just need to buy the darn new things for my sanity.

March Madness

Twice, TWICE over the weekend, a realtor setup a showing and then didn't show.  I can not tell you how mad that makes me.  I understand that things can change, but for goodness sake, CALL ME.  I have little respect for real estate people to begin with and "unprofessional" is the kindest word I have for such people.

Munchie spent her birthday money on a series of books about Cat Warriors.  She has been reading non-stop for about two weeks.  Pookie has been reading a lot, too.  She likes Magic Tree House and Rainbow Fairy books.  The target reading rate for 1st grade is 60 words per minute.  Pookie read 152 words in 49 seconds.  She thrives on that beat-the-clock sort of stuff.

Spike has been getting into trouble.  He likes to throw stuff in the trash.  I probably only catch 50% of it.  Some things aren't worth digging through dirty diapers for.  He also finds great joy in unrolling toilet paper... in all 4 bathrooms.  He can clear a bookshelf in about 10 second flat.  He is lucky he is so darn cute.

We had some storms roll by and it blew the grill over.  I had to have the neighbor kid help me get it picked up again.   I could have done it if it were life or death, but it simply isn't worth pulling my back over.

One of the windows had a broken seal.  You could barely see a faint haze.  Luckily it was covered under a 10-year warranty.

I am generally opposed to posting crappy cellphone photos, but I had to take a photo of what my bed looks like by morning.

Coyotes

Our neighbor took this photo of coyotes behind her house.  They have woken me up almost every night for the last week.  They are very close to my bedroom window.  

Yip-yip-yip-yip-yip..... followed by every dog in the neighborhood barking and howling.

I do keep the house somewhat clean on the weekend, since 95% of our showings are on Saturday.  A realtor called today, MONDAY, with an hour notice.  Good gravy.  It wasn't perfect, but I just hope the other houses they looked at were worse-kept.

We shall see.  I am not holding my breath.