Columbus Day

I wish I had three kids in grade school.  If I did, then I would have that elusive day - kids out of the house and occupied, and about six hours to efficiently run errands and do chores without distraction.  Wm will be off in about 45 minutes, so I guess that's a start.

Greg will go to the school's open house, while I take Patch to augment his cold-weather-clothing wardrobe received from my cousin (thank you!!).  This will be a bit tricky, because Patch is between a size 4 and 5, so we'll have to try on clothes.  With Ian in tow.  I may have to resort to bribing him with frozen yogurt.

Then this afternoon I really hope to finish the living room valence project.  Delay #1 was because I decided they were too long and needed to be re-hemed (this involved finding the sewing machine, busting it out, remembering how to thread a bobbin, hand sewing the edges, doing some research how to tack a box pleat, and then tacking the box pleat).  Finally that was finished.

I tried to hang them yesterday, but forgot to charge the electric screwdriver (I promise I will return it, Andrew -- just waiting for this one last project to be complete!).  So, I screwed in the L brackets on the mounting board by hand (not too hard).  And the screw driver still wasn't charged.  Greg tried to screw in by hand into our cement walls - and succeeded - only to find that (despite measuring twice) - the L brackets were off by about 1/16 of an inch. UGH.  Should have measured three times, obviously.

This realization occurred simultaneously with Wm having a major meltdown from being frustrated by his new math iPad game (he got to a level where he didn't know the answers).  Half a tube of tooth pasted squeezed out on to our bathroom later (long story), it was then time to go to catch up with our friends from India.

Thankfully, the tantrum subsided and the rest of the evening was fine, but the valances were not hung.  Hopefully today will see more success,

Win some, lose some

As Greg said, tonight I won.

Wm's school had its first movie night.  Pre-order pizza (proceeds benefit PTA) and watch a movie ("Wreck it Ralph") on the playground.  Sounds great, right?  Since it's actually getting cold now, we decided two weeks ago that I would stay home with Ian and Greg would take Wm.  Patch could decide day of how he was feeling.  Wm prefers me staying home anyway, because then he can order peperoni pizza (which I really don't like).  Should be a fun father-son night, right?

Except, it's been raining for three days. Which means movie night was moved into the gym.  Which, apparently, turned into a madhouse without even room for Greg to put down a blanket. Patch was a bit freaked out by the craziness and wouldn't leave Greg's lap.  So, a mere 20 minutes into the movie, Greg texts that he can no longer feel his legs.  Despite his strong persuasive powers, boys resist reason and want to stay and watch.  I may have to go pick them up in the car, because Greg might just be crippled after two hours of sitting on the floor.

Meanwhile, Ian, who usually shrieks at the top of his lungs between 6:30 and 7, has a totally happy evening, even sitting in his highchair for dinner (usually he refuses to get out of my arms from the minute I'm home, hence the loud shrieking because I keep trying to put him in his chair to eat).  He and I chow down on grilled chicken with fresh guacamole and squash soup (no, I did not cook).  Yum.  We play around for about 15 minutes, then he runs into his room, grabs Spot (his stuffed dog-lamb thing) and lies down on the floor.  A bit of a fight over the diaper/clothing change, and 10 seconds of protest after a story, but then silence.

Yup, I won.

Observations on America: Diversity

Spotted on today's morning metro commute:  An elderly man reciting phrases in Arabic under his breath from a pocket-sized Quran.  A few stops later, an African-American lady sat down next to him and pulled out a well worn Bible from her purse.  It took all my effort not to snap a photo to post as a wonderful example of diversity and tolerance.