Life Needs A Hefty Bag

Something that will hold everything, expand beyond comprehension, and still not split at the seams.

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Quiet Times

Oh my gosh...how did a month fly by!? Well, in reading my last blog (I had to see where I left off!) I see that I left off with the baptism and my week off from work. So, I'll start with Saturday!


Saturday morning was a busy morning here for us, as Trey & Talin were getting ready to spend the week in Cadott with their father as he was here from North Carolina visiting his family during Easter. Trey & Talin were off from school the whole week, so I know they enjoyed spending more time than they're used to with him at Easter, especially since it didn't work out for their father to meet me for his visit with them at Thanksgiving OR Christmas breaks. I liked that I didn't have to drive to Indiana ;o) About an hour before I was going to bring them into Cadott, I figured I'd better look through their overnight bags to see what they packed for clothes. Good thing I did!! So while we were trying to get enough of everything packed up for them, it hit me....we can't find ANYTHING in their room because there's SO MUCH CRAP!! Their closet wasn't useable...the clothes were hung, but the floor was littered with other clothes that had fallen off the hooks, toys, papers, and goodness knows what else!! Now, I'd already been bitten by the Spring Cleaning bug and was more than eager to dig in, so this became my first mission. We got the closet walkable again, and their bags packed correctly this time, and headed out!! Two down, one to go! LOL


Sunday was the baptism. The church we needed to be at starts an hour and a half later than our regular church does, so one would think that this would be a piece of cake to get to on time, right? WRONG! I woke up at 8, which is sleeping in for me, so I was already behind...great way to start the day! After a quick shower and blow-drying my hair, I decided that Rhonda and my attempt at dying my hair blonde the night before still wasn't to my liking, as the color turned out not to be blonde, but closer to a strawberry-blonde/caramel color. Luckily I had another box of dye around, but thoughts of my hair falling out in clumps as I walked to the front of the church haunted me, so I called Kayte since I KNEW she'd know!! After being assured I wouldn't be bald if I added another box of dye to my hair, I quick brushed out my hair and slopped box #2 on, let it set for the alotted half hour, and picked out the clothes Derrick and I were going to wear before showering AGAIN!. Then I HAD to make sure that the color turned out, so I once again got out my handy dandy hair dryer. Much better!! So I was all ready to go...but there was the issue of Derrick. I don't think he could have been less cooperative than he was that morning!!


After the hair color fiasco, I went to get Derrick dressed and ready to go. We only had half an hour to get to the church by that point...but how hard is dressing a toddler?? Apparently, it's hard on days when you NEED to be to church on time! LOL The first outfit I picked out while my hair was soaking in box #2 was too small on him, so I took it off and went to get a different one. While I was gone, he got himself dressed in the first outfit again!! UGH!! So I had to fight to get those clothes off of him, and get the other clothes on him. He tried to get himself undressed again, but then I suggested maybe he should eat breakfast and watch Dora (his favorite TV program right now). That worked for a little bit. Then I tried to get his nice shoes on him. Nope, he wanted his boots. Snow boots and church clothes at a foreign church for a baptism...ummm....no. So that was a struggle. Coat...where's his coat? Got that...okay good. Think I could get that on him?? He thought if his coat was on he wasn't going to get to watch Dora anymore...I mean Heaven forbid we leave before it's done, especially considering he's seen it 639 times before!!


At 10:25 AM, I finally had him ready to go, under protest and only by the power of bribery of gum after he was in the truck, to the church that typically is about a 3 to 5 minute drive away. Today though, I got stuck behind a driver who decided that they needed to go about 10 miles an hour and come to almost a complete stop at every intersection, even if there was no stop sign! And when I got to one of the intersections that typically there's NO traffic at, I might as well have watched the Macy's Christmas parade!! So, we arrived to the baptism at the church a couple of minutes late. I felt so bad for Rhonda...I was sure she was sweating bowling balls when I wasn't there on time!! Of course, by the time we got to the church, Derrick had magically transformed into the happy little guy he usually is, giving no hint of the drama that had taken place beforehand. The rest of the day was wonderful...Bub even came to the party after the baptism when he was done with work :o)


We went home, and I started making lists of supplies I needed to spring clean the house during the week, making lists of what I wanted to do in each room, and started cleaning things up so I had some of it done before I dug in the next day. Of course I spent a lot of time with Derrick since his brothers weren't around, and we got in some really good mommy/baby time, which was nice :o)


Then came Monday morning. Derrick went to daycare, and I got started on the house. The living room and den were first on my list. After 13 hours of busting my behind, my living room and den were cleaner than they'd been in quite awhile!! Walls were dusted and wiped down, windows were cleaned, the TV center was cleaned and organized, drapes were washed and rehung, blankets were washed and refolded, furniture was vacuumed and scrubbed where it needed, wall hangings were cleaned and rehung, and as much clutter as humanly possible was disposed of...YAY! One entire garbage bag full of papers and junk was hauled out of my living room and den! Feeling pretty good about the fact that I cleaned TWO rooms in a day, I figured I'd have MORE than enough time to clean the rest of the rooms (kitchen, our bedroom, dining room and front entry way) before the weekend was up. As you know already, I am an IDIOT!


Tuesday was kitchen day. Should be a piece of cake seeing as how the kitchen is only about as big as our living room, and I'd cleaned TWO rooms on a MONDAY! After another full day of cleaning, organizing, sorting, tossing, and wondering how we all managed to survive living in this cesspool with our relative health still intact, I was only HALF done with the kitchen by day's end!! So, my original confidence was deflated to practically nothing. Wednesday found me working on the kitchen yet again, and the realization that our bedroom was going to have to wait for a different week was readily apparent. But, after I was done spring cleaning the kitchen, I would have happily eaten just about anything off of my floor...before the dogs walked all over it that is!


Thursday I began the most daunting task on my list...the dreaded DINING ROOM....AHHHHH!! Well, as much as cleaning this room sucked, and for being so small and still taking me TWO DAYS to sort through and clean, and another two days to paint with my friend Rhonda, I can't say I'm disappointed in the outcome. Other than needing some different flooring and trim, and a new door, we LOVE it!! We moved the toy box that had been substituting for a crap catcher up into Derrick's room where it is now serving its intended purpose of keeping toys off of the floor to keep us adults from tripping over them and breaking our necks. We decided to move some of the furniture around after I was ALL done cleaning it on Friday, and then Saturday came the FUN part...PAINTING!! My friend Rhonda loves this stuff, so she came over happily to help with the stuff I hate...detailing around the trim. Give me a roller baby...and show me a wall!! LOL It took the two of us about three hours to put the first coat on. Since that definitely deserved a reward, I treated us to dinner at the Fill-Inn Station. Great eats!! Then we came back and got started on round two. Wow...what a difference!! Our dining room went from shades of pastel puke green and white to a rich deep red color....LOOOOOVE it!! Bubba put the curtains and rods up Sunday evening, after the paint was SURE to be dry, and it has been wonderful sitting in there ever since!

Sunday I took time to clean out the front entry way and load the truck up with all the crap that had been sitting there collecting dust and taking up space, making our entry way virtually unuseable. I cleaned out the closet, organized the clothes in there, tossed out enough shoes to make Nike look like a flea market, and contemplated marketing spider webs as the newest stuffing substance since my broom was starting to look like a rectangular sheep. Seeing as it was Easter, a call to family was in line, so I called everyone to wish them a Happy Easter while I was cleaning. Then later we went to Bub's granparents' house for supper, and I went to pick the boys up from their visit with their father. They had a good time, but were happy to be going home. And they were SHOCKED by the changes in the house when the walked in...YAY!! Monday brought us back to reality. The kids went back to school. I went back to work. But I was glad not to have so much to think about while I was working, that's for sure!!

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