Primroses, Shade Structures, and a Milestone

 

1.) Primroses 

There's a whole big bunch of them over by the dog's water bowl and they're just pretty. 

2.) New Shade Structure 

We have an agreement with my sister in law's family that we keep their (very large) RV on our property and they pay us some rent every month for the privilege. 

Well, recently we purchased an RV of our own. It dawned on us that we probably need somewhere to store it.

So we made an agreement with my in-laws, and we're forgoing charging rent in exchange for them going in for a half of a huge shade structure to house both RVs. Men came out to our property to start building it yesterday. 

And that's the reason why we currently have what looks like a modern art installation by our work shed. 

3.) Flying solo 

We left Bitty Baby with my mom for the first time today. 

It went surprisingly well. I wasn't overly anxious while we were apart, and she was cheerful when we came to get her. 

I guess that stuff finally gets a little easier with the third kid. 

4.) Lunch Date 

Chris took a half day and we went to a sushi place for an hour or so by ourselves. 

It was SO NICE to be able to be somewhere with just another grownup. We didn't even have any deep conversations, but it was still just nice to be able to chat. Not that I don't enjoy going places with the whole family, I do. But it's nice to have my husband to myself for once. 

Of course, I proceeded to prove what a klutz I am by failing miserably at using chopsticks. I told Chris I was thankful this wasn't our first date, or I may not have gotten another one (though, interestingly enough, our first date was at a sushi place). 

5.) Dora the Explorer

I feel like the person who designed this cover usually does anime films. 

Little Girl has moved on to a new viewing obsession, and now the library DVD of choice is invariably Dora the Explorer. 

My verdict? 

Slightly above Angelina Ballerina, which sort of surprises me. I suppose that's because every episode is so predictably structured: a challenge is introduced, we get the map song, then the challenge begins, the backpack sings it's song, there's a repeated chorus throughout, the kids are invited to interact, and then the challenge is completed. Wash, rinse, repeat. You know what you're getting into going into it, and it doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. 

Angelina, on the other hand, pretends to have good storylines when it really doesn't, and you have no idea if a given episode is going to be dance heavy (look, we're educational!) or "story" heavy. 

Don't misunderstand me, Dora is still fairly mind numbing. But it's not actively frustrating, and that, when it comes to TV aimed at toddlers, is nothing short of a saving grace. It's no Daniel Tiger or Veggie Tales, but I wouldn't groan out loud if I saw it playing in a pediatrician waiting room. 

6.) The great magazine clear out  

I like to craft and make stuff. And like many others with that particular hobby, I hoard stuff that any sane, rational person would throw away. 

Recently, someone gave me some homeschooling curriculum books they no longer had any use for (another thing I hoard. Yes, I understand it's ironic that my two hoards collided and led to a hoard conflict of interest) that I needed to find space for. I eyeballed the shelf where several nearly decade old magazines I was keeping for collages had collected and realized the time had come. 

Much to what I'm sure would be the utter dismay of such cleaning gurus as Marie Kondo and The Fly Lady, I didn't just toss them out. Rather, I went through dozens of magazines page by page and ripped out the best looking pages I thought I could use. Then and only then did I throw the rest of it away. 

I ended up with enough room for those books, and narrowed down a huge glut of paper to a small stack. 

I'll take that as a win. 

Now I just need to do something about my egg carton stash (already pared down once, believe it or not. Seems that I'm a very gradual declutter-er).