A Bit O' Sunshine

I know I've got a problem when my brother Matt (the only other person I know whose disordered living space rivals mine on any given day) calls from the ski slopes in UT, offering to come out and help clean after seeing the photo of my kitchen counter last week.  Lucky for us both, for some crazy reason sunshine brings out the cleaner in me.  Adderall helps too.  Hooray for three consecutive days of Buffalo sun!  Although this means our backyard is once again a wading pool, I'll gladly take the boost of vitamin D and its miraculous effects on my desires and determination to get some order in this house. (The mound of mush in the middle of our yard would be the pile of leaves I raked to that point, intending on getting them clear out to the curb.  Oh well.  And the glimmering you see was snow that now awaits months of evaporation... or the latest project I've been researching - French drain systems for soggy lawns.  Yikes.)

To follow up on the first installment of "cross-sections of chaos" (p.s. suggestions for a better name?), here is my before...and...after!  Pretty exciting, I know.

 

And so, for next week, I will attempt to tackle my dryer. At present it looks something like this:

(Paint, my make-up bags - yes, one a ziplock that I just found behind the TV after 6 months, level, miter box and saw, my little ponies, toy butter, toothpaste, potting soil, resistance bands, tiling reinforcer, detergent etc.)

As for the girls, Abby's had quite the last couple of days.  After dumping out a million "warm fuzzies" all over the kitchen floor and refusing to pick them up when asked, she suffered my determination to teach her a lesson.  I "threw them away" (on the shelves in the garage), which sent her into hysterics.  Twice I had to peel her off of the giant garbage can in the garage where she stood on the wheel, reaching and ready to drop in.  That whole episode set the tone for the rest of her oppositional day, complete with her refusing a cheese quesadilla for lunch and insisting she make her own "tortilla sandwich" instead.  In fact, after saying good-night to Abby, I asked her if she wanted her door open or closed.  "Um, if you say you want it closed, then I want it open."  That pretty much sums up Abby and our day.

 

I have to interject here that just now she walked into the room carrying some sort of tupperware lid, upon which she has piles of raisins and mini Altoids.  Yum.  Anyway, at least the sun is out and we're making it through the week okay.  

QFTD

Abby: "When I tried to say 'okay' with cantaloup in my mouth, I said 'releve' (reh-leh-vay) instead."

I told Ellie it was time for bed.  "But, my bike is...stuck in the snow."

I called the girls to come for lunch. Ellie, singing: "Ravioli are not good for Abby's feet.  They are not good for her feet... They are good for my feet and Mommy's feet."

Ellie, playing with dolls: "I have long hair to kick you - and I have long hair to kick you."

Me: "Girls, are you not going to take naps today?"  Ellie: "No.  We're going to Nana's house for a few days." 

I reminded Abby to bless Daddy in her prayers:. Abby:  "...thank thee that us three girls are at home together and Dad is in New York..."