Best Mother's Day Ever

This year was the best Mother's day ever for me. I could not have planned it better myself! It started with hubby requiring that I leave the house for 2 solid hours on Saturday night, without the kids! That meant that he had to put them to bed all by himself! I treated myself to a lovely meal, with a book of puzzles and NO ONE to ask me for anything, or put sticky hands in my hair, or insist on sitting on my lap while I attempt to shovel food into my mouth! Plus, it was a beautiful night for a long walk, which helped work off my meal.

Then, in the morning, not only did hubby leap out of bed to get our potty training son to the bathroom, (and successfully I might add), he also got everyone together in bed for my present. I didn't even have to get up!

Here is the inside of the card, complete with a poem, written by my husband.


For those of you who's eyes are not what they use to be, it reads as follows:

upon reading the blog of the sweet snarfysnee,
a mommy's day treat became clear to me,
not diamonds nor pearls for my craft-loving honey,
for use in rhinebeck an offering of money.
In exchange for this card there are currency notes,
to purchase some fluff from the sheep, pigs and goats.

Now, for those of you who might not be aware, (living under a fibre free stone I suppose?), Rhinebeck is the NY State Sheep and Wool Festival. Not only does this mean that I get some extra dosh for Rhinebeck, it also means I get to go WITHOUT complaint!!! Whooohooooo!!! I am an excited little fibre junkie!

Then, I got my present from the kiddies. Now, my husband has been learning all about the crunchy side of life, and while I may never get him to carpool, I have convinced him to recycle, (at least most of the time). He knows I have been making myself some market bags. He spent his Saturday night creating this masterpiece:



I love it love it love it!!! I have always wanted my kids hands or feet on something. I've hinted, poked and prodded for 3.5 years. Finally! We packed it full of snacks that day and headed to the park. I was so proud, and he could tell. To be honest, I dunno who was prouder, me or my son! And the most amazing part, there was not even the tiniest bit of paint on a child, or clothes, or the floor... couch... walls... I don't know how he did it!

To top it all off, I got to go to dinner and a movie with friends. A movie in an actual theater, that wasn't animated! I got to have a margarita at dinner. There was no food in my hair, no hand prints on my dress, (they look much better on my tote I think). And when I got home, he had just finished cleaning the house. What a fabulous day!

Spring Cleaning

I'm a pack rat. There's no denying it. I come from a long line of pack rats on both sides of my family. One of my Grandfathers even made a living out of it. I have a great deal of difficulty throwing anything away. I just hate seeing useful things go to waste, and even garbage is useful. It's a problem... especially because I married my polar opposite in this respect. If there is even the slightest bit of doubt in my husband's mind... even the faintest hint that he might not be using something in the next ten minutes... into the trash it goes. His thought process, "I can always buy another one". What a waste, and by the way, we do NOT have a money tree out back. I suppose it works out, in that we have learned from each other, and we do meet in the middle, but its a struggle.

Unfortunately, we are well overdue for a toy clean out. My kids have far too many toys in our we-don't-have-a-family-room-house. We never really did a toy clean out at Christmastime, (which is when we usually do it), because we were all so sick. Leila's birthday is coming up, and I know we just need to get rid of some things. So I have been picking away at it, packing up one box per week of things to go to goodwill. I was pretty ruthless for me, (which is nothing compared to what my husband would do), but what I really needed was the chance to do it all at once. Tonight was that night.

Just before we put the kids to bed we gathered EVERY SINGLE TOY into the living room. It was piled high on the floor. What a mess. Then, after the kids went to bed, we went to work. 3 hours later we have a pile of things to go. Too bad its midnight and there's still stuff everywhere! I think we did pretty well. there were no fights. I was ruthless, he was compromising, and in the end, we have two garbage bags going to good will, and 2 garbage bags packed up for "redistribution", plus 3 large items. Here is what my dining room table looked like. It was the "get rid of" pile.



And there's my happy hubby, thumbs up for all the stuff I am willing to part with!

Now I just need to get all the pieces of all the toys back together and where they belong...

MD Sheep and Wool Festival

I spent a lovely day, (and by lovely I mean a wet, muddy, rainy day full of fabulous friends and fibres and NO CROWDS), at the MD Sheep and Wool Festival today. What a haul! I spent everything I have saved for this, and now I must get to work using it all before Rhinebeck so I can do it all over again with more fabulous and fun friends and fibres!