Not Promising Anything

Well. it's happened. After a beautiful afternoon at the beach, our camera is broken. I guess the good news is that, while it served us well, it wasn't a particularly expensive one (I'm still kicking myself for getting that one and not the slightly more expensive one that would have given me a macro setting- why wasn't that written on the box?!). When I get my good camera, she's not going anywhere near sand. Not unless I buy her at the place that will replace your camera if you get sand in it, anyway.

So I can't promise any pictures in the near future, unless they're the ones I've already got on the computer (and the pics from yesterday, if I'm really lucky and the camera will at least let me do that). We won't be rushing out to buy a new camera any time soon- it's pay day, but there are bills to pay, food to buy, and the car needs to get something fixed (hopefully something that's under warranty, but that's not usually how our car luck runs).

Can you tell I'm feeling a bit down today? Much as I look forward to pay day, it's depressing when you sit down to budget and realize that there's nothing extra (and nothing to put into savings) for at least another two weeks- no summer craft supplies, no meals from the lunch bus, no extra gas for road trips. I know I shouldn't complain- we have so much more than we did when AJ and I worked in retail, we've got a nice home that we're paying very reasonable rent for, we can put food on the table and keep clothes on the kids' backs.*

I need to keep reminding myself of that while we're waiting to be able to buy a hose and sprinkler for the yard. :/

I also need to follow this advice: "If you can't get out of it, get into it!" As of right now, I can't get out of doing housework, planning meals, or cooking, all things I really don't enjoy doing. If I can't get out of doing them, I need to find a way to get "into" them- to take an interest and enjoy doing them. I'm not feeling very optimistic about ever thinking that a clean kitchen is really worth all the work it takes to get it that way, but I have to try.


EDIT: AJ managed to get the camera working again, so that's one thing we don't have to worry about right now. And this has helped me realize that as much as I want a good camera (like one where I can actually adjust the focus, maybe), a half-decent and working camera is far better than no camera at all, and I should be thankful for what I have. :)


*Except when Ike refuses to wear clothes, but that's a separate issue.

Rainy Day, Sick Day

It's been a long, wet "Spring." I'm not even sure it deserves to be called Spring, which sounds so cheerful. It took forever for the leaves to come out (and who could blame them?) and sunny days have generally been few and far between. We've taken advantage of the ones we've had- the Easter weekend hike, trips to the beach- but the clouds and rain in between have been rather depressing. I'm hoping for more sun in the coming months, even if it means going through a ridiculous amount of sunscreen and probably a few lost hats.

Today wasn't one of those days. Today was cloudy and cold, and you can feel the air gearing up for rain. Ike picked out a couple of wooden cars yesterday for the boys to paint on a rainy day. Simon was VERY excited. In fact, he had his car painted and set to dry by 10:00 this morning. It was a brief but glorious project.


Such concentration! ^

Ike didn't get to participate in the painting bonanza. He was a sick little guy today- not only did he get Simon's cold (which seems to be on the way out, thank God!), he also started throwing up this morning. Repeatedly. His friend (the blue hippo in the picture) is in serious need of a bath, but what can you do when a sick kid needs his friend for comfort? Surface wash and live with the smell is what I've come up with.

All tuckered out. Poor kid. ^

I painted Ike's car yellow for him, and he'll draw or pain on it when he's ready. AJ took Simon to the fair this afternoon to a) get him out of the house, and b) let me and Ike rest a bit. And that was our rainy day. Not exciting, but there were crafts and lots of cuddles for everyone, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Tonight: watching "Enchanted" with the boys while AJ is at work. I love Amy Adams. Also, my rat clearly needs to get of her ass and help me clean the toilet.

Nature Table

The Nature Table- the first week ^

The boys like to bring things home. Some of them, like the bugs Ike brings in to show me ("Look, Mommy! He's so CUUUUUTE!") have to go right back outside. Others are kind of nice or downright decorative, but they have a habit of getting scattered all over the house and making a big mess. In an attempt to make the boys collections look somewhat purposeful, we're making a nature table. Actually, a nature shelf. Ike's finally old enough to not break everything we put on it- at least, not right away- so we can actually have things at kid-height. What a novelty!

Yes, I know what the red thing is, it's just not labelled yet^

I've seen some people's nature tables that have little scenes on them with felt characters and fairies and magic dust- I think they're awesome, but that's not us right now. The boys are most interested in learning what things are, who the shells belonged to, and why they can't bring that centipede into the house. If they want to add to it later, great! If not, I'm happy with helping them put names to what they find and letting them arrange stuff however they want.

Ike likes to collect pretty flowers. :) ^

HAHAHAH- oh.

Remember when I was going to try to keep up with this blog? That was funny. Hi-freaking-LARIOUS. But I've got good news... or at least good intentions, and that's something, right? The boys and I have big plans for this summer- Simon's got a ton of stuff he wants to learn about, we're going to attempt a small garden, and we've got an annual pass to the wildlife park. We're going to do crafts and a summer reading program and go through a heckuvalotta sunscreen. We've got the nature table set up, and the sandbox is just waiting for some fresh sand.

I'm going to try to post updates from the Summer of Fun in CB (I'll have to get Simon to come up with an official name for it- hopefully something other than "Phil" or "Barfur," two of his best stuffed friends). We don't have a great camera, but as long as it's working, I'll post pictures. I might even write a little about my sad attempts at becoming more domestically inclined- it'll be good for a laugh, anyway!

Two days of school left...