I tried to teach Max how to mow the lawn on Saturday. I showed him how to put gas in the mower, we cleared the lawn of hoses and such, I gave him a lesson on emptying & replacing the bag, and then the mower wouldn't start. Now our old one had this problem all the time, but this one that we got last year always starts. Except on Saturday. That always gets me riled up, when I'm all ready to mow and the mow-lawner (as Lucas used to call it) won't cooperate.We went out this morning before it got beasty hot, and it started right up! Max was totally worried that he would run over a sprinkler head or in some way cause damage. (For those of you that don't know Max, he takes after his dad in the worrying department.) I assured him he would be fine and pointed out which sprinklers he needed to avoid. After he got going, I took Eva and Jack on a walk, and when I got back, he was all finished! He didn't even ask for help with the back emptying/replacing. I know it was kind of hard for him, but he did a great job. I can't even tell you how excited I am to have some help with the yardwork! This is one of those cases where I'm totally fine with my kids growing up...
I then took some clothing that the kids have outgrown to Children's Orchard (a children's resale clothing store). I took in 6 bags of clothes. While I was waiting, I ran into Pebbles for a few minutes (double-punch Monday, don't you know!). I got back to Children's Orchard and the manager handed me back about 4 1/2 bags of clothes. Hmmm, I thought. Great. He didn't want to keep very much of it, even though almost all of it is from Gap, Old Navy, etc. Imagine my surprise when he paid me $70 for what he did keep! It couldn't have come at a better time, either.
Jill and her kids came over around lunchtime. We haven't had a creative Friday in almost 5 weeks!! So we had a creative Monday instead. Strangely enough, it felt a little weird to us both, not like that old comfortable thing that we always do. We both worked on thank you cards. It seems you can never have enough of them on hand, and we were both lamenting how behind we are in sending them. I think that's a happy problem to have, don't you?
Jessie stopped by to scan some scrapbook pages. After looking at her work, I understand what Jill was saying about not wanting to scrapbook anymore. If I can't do it like Jessie -- and I really can't -- I don't know if I want to do it at all! Whaaaaaaaahh... Seriously, I think Jessie is destined for greatness.
I had had the brilliant idea to send the kids out to jump on the trampoline with a sprinkler underneath, since it was over 100 degrees today (that's just too darn hot). At least, I thought it was a brilliant idea, until it took 45 minutes to go through the rigamarole of getting swimsuits on, sunscreen on everybody, setting up the sprinkler, etc. All that and they only jumped for about 20 minutes, AND they had to come in for drinks in the middle! As Jill said, shouldn't they play out there for at least as long as it took to get ready? Good grief. The sprinkler created mud, and the kids and the dog came in and tracked mud on my kitchen floor that I just barely scrubbed on my hands and knees. Oh the pain. I think they were trying to set a record for how many times they could open the sliding glass door in a day. Jill left with a headache, most likely induced by the smell of wet dog. I fear my house is a toxic environment for her.
After Jill left, I cleaned the shutters in my family room and washed the walls in the bathroom. I fed the kids and put them to bed, and now I'm sitting here in front of the fan that Jill brought me on Friday (I didn't have a working fan and our AC can't keep up with this record heat. I think I would have died over the weekend without that fan!) All in all, it was a pretty busy and satisfying day.
15 comments:
What's up with cleaning the blinds and scrubbing the walls? You must have gotten a serious burst of energy after we left. Perhaps my late-afternoon Eeyore-like persona weighed you down. It's interesting/annoying as hell that a headache can creep in on me and wreck my day. I still have it! I've taken 3 aspirins and 2 Tylenols, what the heck? It's grim.
I'm very pleased with the card productivity and writing though, if only the post office had still been opened then my joy would have been full. I hate waiting another day just because I missed their last pick-up. Why not a late pick up in our area? I know South Provo has a 9:00pm pick up and Randy and I used that often when we lived down there.
Have you tried Excedrin? Or do you fear the caffeine?
I fear the caffeine, but probably should have taken some earlier today. I'm going to bed now, so that better work.
Holy cow! You are a cleaning goddess. Wow, I'm totally impressed. I think my walls would fall over if I cleaned them like that.
I'm sure that it was good to get together with Jill again, even if it wasn't the usual.
tramps and sprinklers are fun, not so fun is the mud, the kids in and out and the wet dog smell.
Sorry to hear about the headache Jill, have you ever looked into Diamond Headache clinics?
I am so jealous that you have a kid who can help out so much! I had to pull teeth today just to get some dress- up things back in the enormous basket that houses them. Could it BE any easier? (said in Chandler like voice)
I took some very nice clothes to Children's Orchard once and they wanted to give me $50 for all of them. I said 'no thank you' in the nicest way I could and proceeded to sell them on ebay for about 3 times the amount. I guess if you don't want to go through the pain and effort of ebay then C.O. is a good set up. Glad that you were pleased. Did the money make it out of Pebbles? ha ha I know it wouldn't if I were involved.
There are many things that make me want my kids to grow up a little faster, and this being one of them. I bet he felt so awesome about himself when he finished. I love when my kids learn a new chore they feel so excited, instead of whining about the same old same old.
Wow, you scrub walls for fun. How many days until the husband comes back?
Wow, what a lot of stuff you got done today. I am so looking forward to when my kids can help with the chores more. My little boy is only 4 and he empties the bathroom trashes when they get full, and he puts the soap in the washing machine and dishwasher for me. But for the most part, he can't help with the bigger jobs yet. Good job on all the progress!
You mow the lawn? Impressive. I feel like I do a lot of everything, but mowing the lawn, cleaning out the garage, and hand-washing the car are three things that I just avoid doing (or really, won't do). So, impressive.
Don't you wonder why kids can't just play? You would think that they would love being away from parents for awhile. I guess that they just love us too much. :)
ahh i remeber the first time i got to mow. i was really excited. i actually wasn't supposed to but i "convinced" jack to let me. it's been triple digits here too but it's sooo much more humid and i've been working on my truck and i finally started drivers ed and tomorrow hopefully i can get my permit.
100 degrees is better than 106 degrees plus humidity. And just think how soon-ish (maybe) the fall is coming and things will cool down! hooray for cool weather!
I LOVE it that John can now mow the lawn--and I'm not even the lawn-mower he replaced! I just love having productive work for my kids to do, and it gets mowed a lot more often than when Mark was doing it.
Speaking of thank-you notes--I always write them in my head, then forget to actually commit them to paper. I LOVE the book you sent!! I have had so much fun reading through it, and I'm feeling new inspiration to completely revamp my style of scrapbooking and let go of the guilt! Thank you so much for your thoughtfulness and generousity.
Don't worry I am toxic for Jill too. I swear she got a headache 3-4 times in a row after being with me. I am glad you guys had a good day anyway and got lots done.
My dad started me mowing the lawn at 7 but I am pretty sure my 21 year old brother is yet to mow his first lawn. We haven't had grass for so many years now that I actually miss mowing.
How cool that he is old enough to do it! I love mowing my lawn and remember learning how when I was younger and feeling so cool. Granted that was back in the humid TX days with a heavy push mower and a very slopey lawn- I was crazy to sign up for that job.
I saw Jessie's stuff yesterday and feel the same way...she is destined for greatness and it makes me frustrated to scrap because I just sit and wonder how she does it.
We have never had a tramp but I always have thought the sprinkler thing would be so fun...now I know to look for the mud though and re-think doing that if we ever do get a tramp.
you're crazy.
That's all I have to say about that.
I loved when I could start mowing the lawn-briefly. We had a nice riding mower that I was excited to be able to use (Ryan and I used to attach a sled to the back and he would drive it while I rode int he sled. Very safe, you know.) However as soon as I took over the job, the riding mower broke, and I had to use the push mower in the sickening humidity with a huge yard. yay. I guess it was good exercise.
It's funny that I can tell you these stories and you don't know them, even though we're sisters.
I love the picture of Max mowing the lawn...hard to believe he is old enough. Of course, it won't be that long now until he starts driving!!
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