Metal Meredith

I find that when we get busy around here, certain things just fall by the wayside. Like in every house, we have to pick our battles.

But then I started wondering, how many times do we just turn a blind eye and hope for the best? Here are a few things that we have done in the past to get around completing the whole task:

*I have been known to use clean glasses from out of the dishwasher instead of emptying and refilling. Sometimes, more often as of late, we have had almost as many dirty dishes to be loaded as are clean to be unloaded.

*The dryer becomes an extra dresser that is in a way more convenient in that they are right in the kitchen, no folding necessary and easy fluffing at a moment’s notice.

*Using folded clean clothes out of a laundry basket instead of a dresser makes it easier to tell when your clothes need to be washed; empty basket = time to do laundry!

*Grabbing an additional trash bag to put on top of an already full kitchen trash can makes the point that it needs to be emptied, without taking that chore on yourself.

*Walking away from a stopped up toilet, hoping that with time to sit and stew (ha!!), the clog will fix itself the next time someone flushes.

I know I am not alone. I know that this doesn’t make me a bad person. But I do know that when things get tight, time-wise, in the house, these tasks are the first to get pushed to the side. 

When we moved in, we realized that the back door sucked. It is a wooden french door which I assumed was installed in 1977, when the house was built. It stuck, there was no keyed lock. The doorknob was hard to turn and required a slight lift up and then pull when opening or closing. There was one sliding bolt on one side of the doors and that was the only lock.

Last year, we had a new kitchen floor installed and with that, lost the threshold. Since the installation, we have lived with a rolled up towel and doormat as buffers from the 2 inch gap that leads to the outside. We have experienced more spiders and bugs than I care to acknowledge. We all dealt with freezing toes over the winter and chilly ankles from the drafts. Once, during a heavy rainstorm, there was a small river flowing into the kitchen from under the door.

I finally threatened Phil enough (and then bribed him with a Wii) to call the nice handyman and fix the damn door. This weekend, all of my wishes were realized. Behold, my new (albeit 2 inch shorter) back door. It has locks! It has a threshold! It has an easy open and close handle! There is no breeze, no draft and no illegal critters appearing from underneath. 

Vivienne is going through some major transition problems which we think stem from both losing a tooth and turning 5, getting ready for Kindergarten as well as an uncertain daily summer schedule. It is a lot for a tiny 5 year old brain to process, I suppose.

These problems are manifesting in a unusual need to be no less than 4 feet from me at all times. Add to that the inability to fall asleep and stay asleep and you have two unhappy parents to deal with an increasingly weepy child. It hasn’t been so much fun around here.

My big plan was to get Vivienne to my mom’s house for a good part of one week and then re-do her room. I wanted to rid her of the toddler things that have been in her room since we moved here in June 2005. After all, she was still in the crib then. I have been planning for this for about 6 months, collecting linens on sale, scoping paint samples and planning around things we already have as to not spend too much. I had everything ready to go when Vivienne decided that she wasn’t able to let me out of her sight without having a little kid panic attack. She only made it one night (and two fun filled days) at Camp Grandma before demanding to come home.

So we rushed to get her room done. It was well worth it and I spent a lot of time in there this week just ‘visiting’ the room and sitting on the floor and enjoying the uncluttered, non-baby design of it all. It feels good to pat myself on the back when I am able. I am taking that opportunity now, and bragging on my own abilities.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Vivienne does love the room. She thanked me many, many times and is excited that her room is pink now. Truth be known, I didn’t do it for her, but don’t tell her that.

I made these 3 years ago (!!) when we first moved in and put up the new counter.

In our kitchen, there is an overhang where the chairs are pushed under the counter/bar. It created 2 big, sharp and hard corners. Poor Vivienne smacked her head into these more times that I can recall. I am sure this has something to do with Vivienne’s 45 second attention span and selectively impaired hearing.

They are now to protect Henry from the same fate. I bet now he will NEVER ignore me, right?