All the Sun For You

Something shocking happened this morning at Preschool drop-off.  It was so shocking, that I stood there for a moment, not knowing what to say.

Scene:  I am walking the boys in, helping Matthew hang up his backpack in his cubby.  Bryson is actually behaving and staying close to us.

My Favorite Preschool Mom (MFPM):  “Courtney, why is it that every morning, you come in showered, hair done, and dressed and put together for the day?  I just don’t understand it, and it’s every day!”

Me: Pause, confused look, thinking ‘is there another Courtney in the hallway?’

Me:  “Are you serious?  This is the first day in the last two weeks that I’ve showered and dried my hair before school.”

MFPM: “Well, it sure seems that it’s every day.”  Smiles and laughs.

Another Preschool Mom (APM) laughs with MFPM and agrees that I have my shit together, or so it seems.

Me:  “Do you want to know something, MFPM?  I think the same thing of you every morning at drop-off!  And then most days, you come to pick-up in different clothes, and I wonder if you showered and got ready twice in one day!”

APM:  “Funny, I’ve noticed that about you too, MFPM!”

We all laugh together and I say, “Isn’t it funny what our perceptions are of one another?”

Everyone nods and laughs, and probably thinks to themselves, “hmmm… interesting.”

This, RIGHT HERE, is an example of how we see ourselves, how others see us, and how we see each other.

Powerful stuff, and even more powerful since it was all in good fun!

Hottie and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to purging and organizing.  We both have our own quirks that drive each other crazy (he wants NOTHING on the floor in the store-room – everything must be in tubs and on shelves, and I must have all of my holiday decorations put away by the weekend after the holiday or I’ll lose my mind), but for the most part, if one of us is in the mood to purge and organize, the other one follows right behind.

We spent Saturday at Hottie’s parents’ new place picking up the metal shelves I’m selling, discussing what we can do to help, planning what we’ll pick up next, etc.  We brought their truck home with us loaded with the Hoist weight machine and the 4 metal shelving units.  They asked me to sell some old family steamer trunks from the 1800’s so I took photos and got them posted in the evening after cleaning up the shelves and dreaming of where I’d put them if we kept them all.  We planned out the exercise space and decided what to keep and what not to keep (Matthew loves the elliptical trainer, so Hottie agreed to it – yay!  We decided to keep it all and get rid of nothing).  Sunday was all about getting the house ready for the elliptical trainer to come into the house next weekend or so.

As we ate dinner, the steamer trunks sold (within 3 minutes of posting them for $100 together – they’re staying together and going to a friend of mine!) and so did some ancient picture frames from the 1800’s that were in rough shape.  We didn’t bring the trunks home with us so now that they were sold, we had to get them here.  Hottie’s parents offered to come and pick up the truck on Sunday and we agreed (we would never have allowed them to drive down to pick up the truck that they loaned to us – we would have returned it) so that they could bring the trunks.  They were thrilled with the news that they were going to a loving home.

We decided that the exercise room was not going to be the exercise room.  It just isn’t big enough for everything and neither is Hottie’s office (we’d thought about moving his office to the current guest/exercise room and making his office the exercise room).  The kids’ play area, however, was definitely wide enough for all of the equipment.  Hottie researched flooring mats and a new light while I kept selling stuff on FB (seriously, it’s amazing what you can, and can’t, sell there).  It was a productive night.  New mats and a ceiling light were on the way, and we made $105 for Hottie’s parents!

Sunday.. oh Sunday.  As we went to bed on Saturday, I told Hottie that I wanted to get the Halloween stuff put away on Sunday.  He said oh sure, yeah.  He didn’t hear me.  HA HA!  When we got up early on Sunday, we got to work and I went straight for the Halloween stuff.  He went straight for the basement.  We were not on the same page.  There were words on priorities, a bit of a bicker, and then we headed to breakfast to cool off.  We met Hottie’s parents for breakfast and they came to our house, dropped off the trunks, and insisted on helping us move the treadmill.  We got the treadmill out, some of the kids’ stuff in, and his folks took off.  My friend picked up the trunks as I wrapped up the Halloween clean-up and we were ready for a serious overhaul of the basement.

We moved so much around, oh my goodness.  We had a train table (actually a coffee table doubling as a train table) at the bottom of our stairs that moved into the guest room/den to serve its rightful role as a coffee table again.  🙂  We moved Matthew’s little desk, my grandpa’s old wooden crates, and the kids’ wood kitchen into the guest room/den.  We moved the dining table and chairs into the theater room so we can eat dinner and watch movies together in there once in a while (I’ve wanted to do this for a long time!).  We moved the real train table and the Lego table to the space behind the sectional where the table and chairs used to be.  We put the treadmill and the weight machine in their new location as we wait for the mat, new light, and elliptical trainer to arrive.  And… the gate at the top of our stairs is GONE!  That alone is birth control – I cannot take another 3-4 years with that gate at the top of my staircase!

Both nights, we had awful dinners.  We had frozen pizza (doctored up) on Saturday and BBQ takeout tonight.  But… that’s a small price to pay for getting so much done!  And… I got a slow run in tonight in the new exercise area.

We’re ready for bed!

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