Forty Days and Forty Nights

Television.

That is what I'm giving up for Lent.

I was seriously going to go with the chocolate, until I realized that I would fail miserably.  I just don't have it in me this year to make that kind of sacrifice.

Plus, giving up chocolate will do nothing to make me a better person.  I'll just be right back to it with a vengeance  on Easter Sunday.  Lent is designed as a means of self improvement.  So if I'm going to bother to do it at all, I might as well pick something that might have a chance of improving me some how.

So instead of flipping on the TV at night, I'm going to spend more time reading, especially with Olivia, helping with homework, talking to my kids, exercising, and organizing.  And maybe even going to bed earlier.

I have a couple of caveats though: the Republican debate tonight, and this weekend, when I am going on a getaway with Em.  We planned it before Lent, so it shouldn't count, right?

Also, today is the scheduled beginning of the resumption of my running career.  Alisa and I have committed to a half marathon in October, so around 7 pm this evening, somewhere in this world, I will be out there, red faced, huffing, puffing and cursing myself for ever thinking that a half marathon sounded fun.

I Now Pronounce It President's Day

Painting in the basement with children today.  It took guts, let me tell you.  Only one major accident, and several minor spills. And I only swore once.

Okay,  so we really weren't PAINTING  painting.  It was just the primer.  Still a lot of work, and a long ways to go.  And they were great sports about spending part of their President's Day holiday involved in manual labor.

Audrey was not involved in the painting today.  She got a last minute invitation to go sledding, so I let her go.  I'm nice like that.  But it almost seemed like she would have rather stayed home and painted.

Olivia was a firecracker  today.  She stuck it out with the painting for a good two hours.  She painted a big patch on one wall with the roller and she did all the edges with a brush for me too.  What a pro.

She and I  had a little chat about President's Day last night, and all day today, she was was on a kick telling me about George Washington and that traitor Benedict Arnold.  Only she can't pronounce Benedict Arnold, and calls him Bacon McDonald instead.   Also, she keeps getting George Washington confused with Joseph Smith, and will gladly tell you all about Washington's first vision.

Then, while we were driving to the store today, she had brought along a little plastic horse that she had found under her bed.  "Hey Mom," she calls from the back seat.  "I finally figured out the name of my horse!  It's Shinna!"  I tell her I think that is a great name for a horse, and am only partly wondering where in the world she would come up with a name like Shinna for a toy horse she has owned for three years and never bothered to name before. Then she says, "His name is written on the bottom of his foot, just like in Toy Story!"

Then I hear Will, who is sitting in the back seat next to her say, "Let me see that."  A pause, and then he says in a slightly impatient voice,  "Olivia, it says "made in China".  That's not the horse's name."

Oh well. We  both  still  think its a good name.

Lent

Lent starts Wednesday, and I haven't thought of a thing to give up!

Lent begins each year on Ash Wednesday and ends on Easter Sunday, and Catholics are supposed to give up some kind of personal vice during those six week. 
 
Alisa and I started observing Lent in 2005.  That was the year I gave up diet pepsi.  I actually made it the whole six weeks too. AND I was 7 pregnant, so bonus points for me.

No, we have not converted to Catholicism, so why do we do this to ourselves?  Gluttons for self-punishment I guess.  A little self denial now and then is good for the soul.  It's a sign of spring.  Lent that is, not self denial. And it makes for a friendly little mother-daughter competition. 

Alisa is giving up vending machines this year, which I thought was a clever one.  She is in for a challenge too, as the vending machines in her building are currently busted.  You can get anything you want out of them, including Oreos, for 50 cents.  Good luck with that one kiddo.

Me, I can't quite decide what my 2012 Lent offering should be.  It can't be anything too stressful this year, given our current level of duress.  I have a few ideas I am mulling over, and I have two more days to make my final selection.  Here is the final cut:

-chocolate.  I tried this one a few years ago and lasted about a day.  I could try again.  Alisa is sure I will fail, so the pride factor is riding high on this one.

-diet pepsi.  Yes, I already conquered this one once, for all the good it did me.  I am as addicted as ever.

-swearing.  No, really.  I swear a lot.  More than you know.  Much of it under my breath.  At work.

-self righteousness.  Nope.  Definitely much too important to me.

-television.  Teen Mom 2 is over for the season anyway. I could maybe do this one.

 The fast food resolution already has me feeling deprived.  I'm going to have to think about this one a little bit longer.

A Little Dusting of Inspiration

Honestly, there are rare moments when I absolutely amaze myself with my brilliance, and today was one of them.

Many moons ago, we started a project around here called Finishing the Basement Family Room.  We put a good chunk of change into putting in walls down there,  and were left with a a lovely room that just needed a little more work to make it usable.  Due to the drywall work, the room was covered in sheetrock dust.   A few weeks after the drywall was finished, I went downstairs to clean up the dust.

It was such an awful job, that I got disgusted and quit after about seven minutes.

Fast forward to today, which is much too far away from the day we started this project,  when I got disgusted with myself for letting it sit so long.  Me and the shop vac went downstairs to get that dust cleaned up.  I vacuumed and vacuumed and vacuumed, but there was still a lot of dust that wasn't coming off the walls or the floors.  I knew I needed to damp mop it but I couldn't stomach the thoughts of buckets and water and dirty messy towels and smeary dust everywhere.

And then it hit me.  Maybe the swiffer duster would be good for this job.  It has a long handle and a rotating head.  It works great on my hardwood floors. I had a whole box of  the disposable cloths  that go with it that were just begging to get used.  Might as well give it a try.

Oh, I am a genius. This is the best idea I've had all year.  If you get the cloths nicely damp, they hold the perfect amount of water for collecting dust off of walls and floors, without ruining the drywall or making a smeary mess of things. No dust angst!

I could have swiffered away down there all afternoon.  I had to make a conscious decision to NOT engage my OCD tendencies on this project, and stopped myself when it was good enough.

It took about half the time I thought it was going to and it looks so much better than I ever thought I could make it look.  Now we are ready to primer, then we can paint.

We are out of our rut! Progress is good! I feel so smart.

We Are Happy Today

Mitch is a happy guy tonight because.....in the past week he has gotten not just one, but TWO substantial raises at work!  How does that even happen?  I have never gotten two raises in one week.

The first raise came when he got promoted to manager of the kid's center at the gym he works in.  He started working in there about a month ago, and found out he really enjoyed it. It is mostly older kids in there, and Mitch was coaching them on lacrosse and basketball and stuff like that.  He enjoyed it so much that they promoted him this week, and gave him a raise.  Then he got another raise today, just because his boss likes him.   As if that wasn't enough, he finally finally finally got his laptop back from Sony.  His hard drive crashed just a few days into this semester.  Fortunately it was under warranty, but after a failed attempt at having a technician fix it here, he had to send it in to Sony for repair.  The part it needed was on back order, so we thought it was going to be a long time before he ever saw his laptop again.  He has been DYING without it, trying to keep up with an online math class, a writing class, AND a computer class. It has been a rough semester.  So imagine his surprise when the laptop showed up on our doorstep today.  It was  red letter day for Mitch, that's for sure.

And the rest of us are happy today because it is the beginning of a four day weekend for us-yeehaw!  That is, if you don't count the fact that I have to work until three tomorrow -boo.  But I usually work til seven on Fridays so at least I'm getting off early-hooray!   We are cookin' up somethin' to keep all these rustlers busy for four whole days, but in the meantime, they are enjoying Friday night rules, which means video games and movies and staying up late, a night early.

Well, not all of us are happy.  Dan isn't happy.  He has a stiff neck.  And he has to work all day tomorrow.  And Monday.   News stations just don't know how to celebrate President's Day like the schools and pharmacies do.

The Day Chocolate Cake Was Outlawed

Yesterday evening there was a lovely triple chocolate bundt cake here.   It was part of our Valentine's Day dinner, but we were all too full to eat it last night.

When I got home from work today, all that was left of the cake was the plastic tray it had been sitting on, along with the plastic cover and the wrapping, all of which were still laying on the counter.

There were bounties of plates  and forks in the sink, smeared with the remnants of triple chocolate bundt cake.

The counters and floor were littered with triple chocolate bundt cake crumbs.

And nobody saved me even one little piece of triple chocolate bundt cake.

They only saved me the mess.

After I finished cleaning up after the lot of them, I got mad  and told them all what I thought of them. 

Duncan felt bad and gave me his last Valentine' s Reeses  peanut butter cup.  Olivia felt bad and gave me the Valentine M & M's she meant to give to her friend Sylvia but never got delivered.

Audrey and Will just looked guilty.

But I am still not bringing home any more chocolate cake any time soon.

V Day

In honor of Valentines Day, we held a romantic candelight dinner for six, complete with dimmed lights,  floating candles, roses, paper hearts, frozen lasagna, bagged salad, cold bread sticks, and a vacuum cleaner parked within a few feet of our table.

Classical music, chocolate dipped strawberries, Lady and the Tramp on blue ray, and a big lasagna spill on the table completed our fancy evening.  Audrey folded the napkins in delicate fans around the forks. We only yelled at each other twice during dinner, and once before, when Will forgot to put the lasagna in while Mom was at the doctor with Olivia, getting an infected toe checked out.  Diagnosis: it's infected.  Antibiotic and soaking were prescribed.  Praying we don't have to go through the drama of removing an ingrown toenail.

But back to the topic at hand.

The first annual Metcalf family Valentines Dinner was a big hit, glitches and all.  I think it's going to be our new  February 14 tradition.  Everybody I love is invited, and I'm already planning next year's menu.  The "fancy but frozen" theme went well this year, so for next year, I'm thinking cordon bleu.  That might not make such a mess when it gets dumped on the table.

Audrey was mad that the 6th grade didn't get to do a Valentine's party. They did lip sync instead, so I went over to watch her perform.   She and her friends did Super Trouper-our theme song!- and they did a fantastic job.  Caught it all on video, but I don't have a way to post it, so take my word for it- it was adorable!

All in all, a successful, love-filled Valentines Day for all of us.