The packrat and the trash queen

On a scale from 1 to 10, 1 being emotionally tied to everything/can't throw away anything and 10 being completely unemotional about stuff/throw away everything, I would say I'm a 7. And my husband is a 3 or 4. As you can imagine, this has caused some interesting conversations in our marriage. I'm all for throwing things away, de-cluttering the storage area, and making things look nice and neat. He's all for keeping mementos (and some that aren't really in that category) "just because." A few months ago, he was going through high school photos. I'm fine with keeping a few of those, but come on—the one of him, his high school girlfriend, and his little sister on Halloween?—I don't think that one classifies as a cherished memory. When I brought this up, he said, "Unlike you, some of us actually enjoyed high school." Touché, husband. Touché.

At the other end of the spectrum, I probably throw away too much. I have been caught throwing away some of my kids' art projects possibly minutes after they get home from school (I keep lots of them, believe me. But they bring home so much paper!) It is truly awful when your child wants to show his dad a picture he made at school and you have to fish it out of the trash for him. Yep, mother of the year award, right here!

In preparation for our upcoming move, my husband tackled his boxes in the basement and the bookshelves in his office last weekend. And, he did this de-clutterer proud. He produced seven huge bags of trash and quite a few items for the charity pile. Unfortunately, he's now left with the "I don't know what to do with all this" pile in his office. You know, those things you probably could throw away and there's really no place for them, but what if you do need them someday? I hate that pile. I will always keep those things for a while, and then after a few years of truly never needing them, off they go.
On a happier note, could this little boy be any cuter?

While you were gone

Dear Husband,

I know you felt bad about leaving for the Scout camping trip on the morning of my birthday, so I thought I'd fill you in on all the fun we had while you were gone.

1. T didn't throw up again after that first awesome time on the kitchen floor Monday night. However, he did wake up from a nap on Tuesday afternoon with a random rash. It went away by the next morning.

2. Because of aforementioned rash, I didn't think it was a good idea for him to go to the pool with your sister and S and H. So, T yelled and moaned and whined for two hours straight. Candy and cookies were offered. They didn't work. My hearing may be permanently damaged.

3. My friend Shelley brought us dinner on my birthday, including a delightful chocolate cake/pudding masterpiece. I made the kids sing to me so I could blow out the candles.

4. Inexplicably, I had the songs from "Potty Time" stuck in my head the whole week. I serenaded the babies with a rendition of "Super Duper Pooper" and they loved it.

5. T's fever finally broke on Wednesday. A's fever—not until this morning. With all three boys, that's 15 days total of fever. I went through an entire bottle of Children's Tylenol while you were gone. And knowing how N and A2 regularly switch pacifiers when I'm not looking, it's only a matter of time before she gets this random virus. Good times.

6. Speaking of N, she spent most of the night in our bed last night. She kept sobbing in her crib, and since that's not exactly conducive to other siblings being able to sleep, I picked her up. But every time I tried to put her back, sobbing would ensue again. So, she slept next to me. (I guess it's a good thing you weren't there, though, or she probably would have kicked you all night.)

7. I packed a bunch of boxes, and also cleaned the house from top to bottom to show it to a realtor on Wednesday. On the phone, it seemed like she had a client who might be interested in the house. When she came, it seemed like she just wanted to sell our house for us, like all the others. Well, at least it got clean, I guess.

I'm so very glad that you called today to say you were coming home early. I had just been thinking that I didn't want to do this by myself anymore, so I'm glad I don't have to.

Welcome home. :)

Sorry ladies...

he's all mine.

Happy birthday, babe!

R.I.P.

I feel that I would be remiss if I didn't write a short post in memoriam of a truly great man, someone who helped shape my teenage years: John Hughes.

John Hughes, writer/film director all things 80s, died yesterday of a sudden heart attack. And as I look back on all of the wonderful gems he brought to the world, I've had a really nice trip down memory lane. He either wrote, directed, or did both on all of these movies:

Pretty in Pink
Mr. Mom
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Home Alone
Uncle Buck

(plus a ton more)

But the truly best teen movie (and perhaps even the best one period) of all time, was written by John Hughes...

Some Kind of Wonderful

The teen angst, the drama, the boy loves girl/girl doesn't know boy is alive/boy's best friend (also a girl) is secretly in love with him... I spent half my teenage years quoting lines from this movie. And let's not forget... the kiss.

Rest in peace, John Hughes. And thanks for the genius.

Fridge

We're in the market for a new fridge. I'd like to get stainless steel (maybe even the knock-off kind that lets you put magnets on and doesn't smudge as much). Side-by-side fridges/freezers drive me nuts, and my kids would be endlessly opening a bottom-freezer model. So, that leaves us with top-freezer models.

If you have one, or could shed some light on which brand/model not to get, please do so.

S ties it up!

It's been a hard summer for S. I'm not really sure why, but I do think she's been frustrated with going from being with her friends all day at school to being with her younger siblings all day. Poor S will come up with elaborate background schemes for playtime ("Let's play Harry Potter. Let's all get spellbooks, use pencils for wands, and practice spells") but by the time she has everything set up, H and T have lost interest and want to play with action figures again. I feel bad for her, but I also remind her that she's lucky to have brothers who will play "hotel" and "zoo" with her at all. And, they're lucky to have a very imaginative sister who thinks up the schemes in the first place.

Beyond that, S has just seemed kind of angry at the world lately, which has made this a super fun summer for me, of course. So, I was really happy to see her accomplish something semi-big a few days ago. She learned to tie her shoes! (Yes, she's almost in 3rd grade, but this has been so hard for her to do for some reason. Apparently, her dad and his siblings were the same way.) After going to the store and realizing that there just weren't many velcro options in her size, I came home and told her she had to figure it out by the time school starts in three weeks. A few days later, she had done it!

I should also mention that S reached another big milestone earlier this summer—she learned to ride her bike without training wheels. (Again, she's doing it a little late, but in this respect, she is totally my child. Always so cautious, to the point of talking herself out of things.) She's doing really well and isn't even scared of going up and down hills anymore.

Hooray for S!