'Those People'

Well, it's finally over. Christmas, New Year's and THE BREAK! The break I'm referring to would be the 18 day long holiday break from school. It ended Tuesday, January 8th and 'those people', I mean 'my little darlings' returned to school. They couldn't go back Monday, nope, it was a "teacher planning day", they need to be planning on having some school... that's what they need to plan. I hope the school is having fun, after 18 days those children are no longer domesticated and have gone back to the wild...

Don't get me wrong about the break. The first week between Christmas and New Year's was great and I totally agree that they should have that off to spend family time, have a vacation etc. But... the following week, let's just say that kids were bored which led to bickering. Mother has gotten rather used to being 'alone-ish', with lots of quiet, no television sounds, or tattling noises. Mother actually has grown to embrace Finn's quiet talking and the click of her heels on the floor. Well, this dear Mother came very close to resorting to immature things like saying, "Stop looking at me!", "You're grounded for being a tattle-tale!" and "Don't you people do anything besides make messes!?!", "Well, if he hit you go ahead and hit him back... your bigger and that'll teach him!", "What do you people have against playing OUTSIDE?" Relax, I didn't say these things but it was very near. I kept quiet and kept following them around putting up orange plastic hazard cones and cleaning up broken glasses, dishes (Finn did these things while I was playing referee he knows how to open the dishwasher now.), juice, milk and urine (don't ask, but apparently only I know how to open the door so the dog can go out - he doesn't bark he stands in front of the door and stares at it. I couldn't hear his staring because of the rackett)

Well, the situation is over now and the boys are getting back into the school thing and Finn and I are getting our schedule re-established. Our schedule works for us, with scheduled eating and nap times both Finn and I are less cranky. Mondays we clean, alot because there is a big mess from the weekend. Tuesdays we bake, because the smell of baking makes us happy and Finn has a small... let's just call it a "cookie situation". Wednesdays are for sewing, that's the day that I sew and Finn gets into stuff and makes a horrid mess. Thursdays we bake again, because you just can't beat homemade bread and we knit or read, Finn enjoys pulling the needles out of my knitting, unraveling my yarn and making big ole knots in it or if we choose to read he lies in wait for me to set my book down so he can see exactly how fast he can run toward the toilet with it, giggling hysterically before I catch him. I have failed to catch him in time twice so far... he has definate football potential and probably won't be much of a reader. Fridays if the season is right we garden, do a big clean again before the weekend and try to spend the afternoon doing whatever we like. It's not written in stone and it changes but it's kind of nice to know what to expect.

Finn is getting to be a boy, instead of a baby. He has graduated from the high chair tray to the big table with the rest of the family. You can tell this makes him feel very big and important. As a matter of fact he feels so grown that he has decided it should be perfectly acceptable to push a dining room chair over to the breakfast bar and climb on up to reach all the stuff Mommy sets up there so he can't get it. I even get the feeling while he is doing this he is thinking something along the lines of, "Whose the smart one now, Mommy?" No matter how many times I take him down from there, put the chair back, explain to him that he is not allowed to do that and that's how his head will get cracked open, I turn my back and he is back with his chair at the breakfast bar.... laughing right at me.

I finished my toe-up socks. It was very cold at the time and the went from the needles directly onto my feet.

The sewing room has had 2 new additions installed in the last week. The first is a sewing cabinet that has much storage for current projects and notions etc. and folds all in and down to save space, it seems just the right height and it is decent quality for the price I paid. The second is a hanging thread organizer. I've gotten the sewing room pretty much organized. We are discussing how we are going to do the floor in there as that floor and our bedroom walls (no, it's still not stripped of wallpaper completely) are what is left in our "redo the house plans". I'm trying to bring Bob around to the snap together stuff that looks like hardwood floors. I think that would be better than carpet as I like to slide between cut, iron and sew with the desk chair and pins and needles don't get stuck in hard floors like they do carpets.

You know, Bob still calls that room "The Office." Look at these pictures, does anything besides the printer suggest to you that it is an office where important, manly, service manager type work gets done? I actually use the printer to print patterns and copy templates. If you are in need of a sewing/crafting room because you don't currently have one this is how you do it. Firstly, remember to go slow; good things come to those who wait. Secondly, gradually start decluttering other rooms of your house of sewing machines and sewing tables and moving them into your husband's office. Remember to say things like, "There's no room for this in the bedroom anymore, that's why it's always so messy in there." Thirdly, as you move more of your important sewing/craft stuff in move the office stuff into a pile in the corner of the closet and call it "getting organized" or "decluttering". Fourth, make sure your stuff is on any open surface where the husband could set things like laptops, tech manuals that sort of stuff. Fifth, move all chargers that acomodate his computer, PDA etc to the breakfast bar and explain that you did this because it's 'more convenient for him'. He now officially has no reason to go in that room if you've done it right. Lastly, do not smirk, when he inevitably refers to that room as "his office."