‘Tis the Season to Get My House Together

I need for life to get back to normal.  I’m ready for my sweet children to go back to school.  They’ve been out since the 18th.  As I’m typing this and trying to work on some other projects, Wallace, my four-year-old is tying up my rain boot with the cord to the blinds in my bedroom while singing at the top of his lungs.  It’s pretty comical to hear him belt out “Drive by” by Train.

I have to hand it to him.  He sounds pretty good and I’m impressed at how many of the lyrics he knows.  “When you move me everything is groovy, they don’t like it sue me, mmm the way you do me.  Oh I swear to you, I’ll be there for you, this is not a drive by-I-I-I-I-I.”

Nice.  Of course he would pick up the only line in the song that could be interpreted as somewhat inappropriate.  Hopefully he won’t break into song in his Pre-K class, and hopefully his teacher is not a prude.  I’m not at all surprised that he knows the words to this song.  When we were on the FIVE hour drive back from my mom’s on Friday, Piers was in a hell of a mood.  I don’t know if he snuck into my mother’s pantry and binged on chocolate covered espresso beans or what, but he could not sit still.  I had my iPhone plugged in to the stereo and I was using Siri to request songs.  They thought this was the coolest thing ever.  At one point I told Piers if he could be still and quiet for five minutes, I’d let him hold the phone and request music.  It took a few tries, but eventually he made it through the entire five minutes.

I showed him how to press the button, wait for the beep and then announce his request.  I let him play around with it, but once he stumbled onto “Drive by’ it was all over.  I’m not sure why but he can’t get enough of that song.  I bet he played it twenty-five times.  I didn’t even mind as long as it kept them happy and occupied.

Gil had to work Thursday and Friday, so I made the quick journey alone with the kids in my old-school Honda Accord.  We affectionately refer to her as LaWanda Honda.  She’s been a jewel but with over 200K miles, it’s time for her to retire, at least for long trips.  

We are very fortunate that Gil is provided with a nice ride with all the bells and whistles by his employer, and we’re free to use it however we wish.  So as long as we go away as a family, this works great — lots of room, movies for the kids, all that.  I didn’t realize how spoiled I had become until this lovely trip in LaWanda Honda.

But we survived.  It was a quick visit with Mamala.  Neither of us annoyed the other too severely, and we only stayed one night. This is well within our limit.

Now that we’re home I’m looking ahead to 2014.  I think this needs to be a year of action.  One of my main focuses is going to be on our house.  We need to get rid of some junk and make some minor updates.  Most likely we’ll be moving closer to Gil’s job and we’ll need to sell.  I could give a million reasons that this makes me anxious, but I’m trying to be optimistic and know that even though there will be challenges, things will work out.

Last year this time I was freaking out about my kids starting real school, and now that they’re halfway through the year, things are smoother than I could ever imagine.  And thankfully, they get to go back……TOMORROW!!!!!

We’ve had a nice break, but now we’re all working on each others’ nerves.  Since I began this post, Wallace announced that he needed a nap and put himself to bed.  He’s quite the self-aware child at times.  Gil is cleaning out the basement and is on his way to the dump/recycling center with load number two.

My plan for the evening is to tidy up the bedroom and make my office area more functional.

So even though I don’t usually make New Year’s resolutions, I do like to spend the first few weeks in January thinking about how I want to approach the new year.  So there you have it:  I want to be more action-oriented in terms of getting my house in order.  Specifically, I want to get rid of things I’m no longer using — either give them away to people who need them more, or trash/recycle.  I also want to be more efficient and organized with my space and my time.  I’m also going back to yoga classes.  We have a new studio nearby and I plan to sign up for some classes tomorrow.  Yoga keeps me flexible and sane.

What about you?  Do you have goals or resolutions for 2014?  Tell me.  I’d love to hear about them!