Weekend Recommendations

There is nothing like spending a weekend catching up on house cleanliness issues, addressing seasonal changes in weather attire, (cough cough in FEBRUARY!) and then indulging in a little retail therapy at the end of a few days of drudgery. That sounded less than pleasant, but I assure you it was quite pleasant, indeed!

It is downright pathetic how much I get the urge to clean things when I have The Husband home to keep the hostiles happy. That man can entrance the children by playing video games, (they LIKE watching him do this, which I find completely mind boggling, yet convenient) and so help me, I suddenly start mopping the floors because I can be assured it will be traffic-free for the foreseeable future. I spent too much of my Saturday in cleaning mode. In hindsight this seemed like a mistake, at the time, it felt immensely gratifying to have so many things cleaned out and organized.

Organized? You ask? Why yes! We decided to remove a bit of furniture from Squirt's room to add some more square footage for playing, and that ended up becoming a delightful game of rearranging everything in the room, cleaning out cluttered drawers, vacuuming behind nightstands, trashing some "decor choices" made by... The shorter factions, etc. It only lasted for one kid's room, however. The steam for such a project was sparse, and Bunny was a bit disappointed by the end. (No room makeover for ME?! Maybe next weekend?)

The weather got much too warm for anyone's comfort for the middle of February. I was TEMPTED to turn on the air conditioner for about a week there. The Husband begged me to do it. Luckily, my resolve was strong. However, we were totally unprepared for highs near the 80's as all we had for the children to sleep in were fleece pajamas. I rectified this problem with a stop at the internet. (I'm so done trying to find two of everything in the same size- I will even SPLURGE for shipping at this point. My time has a price, and it is STEEP) A metric ton of lightweight knit pajamas with both shorts and regular pants options are on their way to me now. At this very moment, I presume. And yet, the weather has had a bit of an identity crisis, and is back to not-really-cold-but-still-not-hot nonsense in which we wear short sleeves in the afternoon and fleece pajamas at night. WHATEVS, the summer pajamas will be at my disposal when I need them, this gives me enormous pleasure.

I also bought THE BEST PENCIL SHARPENER OF ALL TIME. I haven't even received it in the mail yet. I am just that sure in the knowledge of its awesomeness. You don't have to be a homeschooler to see the value in a good pencil sharpener. My heavens the sharpeners we have now are a JOKE. One is shaped like a mushroom, and by golly it sharpens like it IS ON MUSHROOMS. The lead is so wonky it snaps every time the kids try to write with every pencil they've sharpened using it. The other is just a regular run-of-the-mill type sharpener that just plain doesn't work very well and makes me seethe molten lava of rage. I don't want to spend a trillion dollars on a pencil sharpener, plus the electric ones have always worried me- what if kids put their tiny, pencil-sized fingers in there?! Savagery! It's just too much to even contemplate. So I bought the awesome retro one in green- naturally. I am WAY TOO JAZZED about a pencil sharpener, guys. This is what my life has devolved into.

I finally needed a break and we went as a family to see the Lego Movie. Ten thumbs up is what we give this movie. Husband thought the plot meandered a little bit, I thought he was being too critical. They had me at Will Arnett's Snarky Batman voice. I was close to rolling in the aisles with laughter close to 50% of this film. Maybe it has to do with my undying love of Lego. Did I mention I had an unhealthy obsession with Lego products as a child? (Maybe I'm ready to admit well into my Middle School years? Possibly even into High School times. Yes. It's true)

Don't walk away from me now!

It was a good movie. When we got home the twins wanted to get into their Lego collection, which if I am doing my job right, is in its infancy. However there is a major snag in the girls' Lego play: they refuse to build anything other than what is detailed in the instructions or on the box cover. They keep each set separate (although I at least managed to persuade them to merge the sets together- much to their hesitation- "what if we need a specific piece and they're all just in this BUCKET?! HOW WILL WE FIND IT?! That is half the fun of Lego, children. Embrace the chaos)

Once they build the little juice bar or whatever, then they play quite happily, but boy are they terrors until they get that thing built exactly to spec! Every piece must be in its place, as the instruction manual demands!

We need to resolve these issues. Meanwhile, I'm the adult who is now drooling over the wildly complex and pretty spendy Creator series. Parisian Restaurant? SIGN ME UP. Look at the detail! The architecture alone makes me swoon, but feeling useful BUILDING IT MYSELF? I can now see how grown men can spend hours hunched over creating scale models of World War II planes. I totally get it.
While it may not be in my wheelhouse, if you like Star Wars and have an extra $400 to build a Death Star, you can most certainly do it, my friend!  And you know how I've always wanted my own Volkswagen Van, right? I can have one IN LEGO FORM. FOR REAL. I am having real problems not spending all the tax return monies at the Lego website. This is not a problem an adult like me should have, yet here we are.

It was quite an enjoyable few days. I hope your weekend was just as fun and productive!