I Hate February

Hey, it's time for my annual I Hate February post!  I'm tired of the cold wet weather, I'm tired of being tired from the flu, I'm tired of being stuck inside with a bunch of bickering kids that are still recovering from the flu...

...I'm tired of homeschooling (nothing sounds fun), tired of cooking (nothing sounds tasty), and tired of cleaning (nothing stays clean anyway).  I have a huge list of things to do and a huge desire to get it done, but the tired doesn't go away long enough for me to battle my Goliath.

I'm tired of battling Daniel on every decision that we make throughout every single day. Every meal. Every activity. Every encounter with his siblings.

We finally agreed on a movie for him to watch while I got my Wednesday afternoon cleaning done.  Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs is quite possibly my least favorite besides SpongeBob, Scooby Doo, and Speed Racer.  But it kept him quiet and non-combative while I sorted and tossed a notebook I made about ten years ago:

Heidi moves the pages from the paper recycle to the garbage

The notebook was full of magazine clippings about organization, crafts with kids, decorating, you know, all the fun stuff a new bride and young mother dreams about.  I felt pretty sad and slightly discouraged that ten years later I am no closer to achieving my decorating style and color palette in my home. 

I also tossed a bunch of scrapbooking paraphernalia that I know I will never use.  I can still remember the day the now faceless, nameless mother brought her scrapbooking castoffs to toddler playtime.  I was pretty excited to receive all these hand-me-downs because all the little things that make scrapbooking Scrapbooking cost so much! But I never used them because they never quite matched my pictures and I wanted to wait for the set of pictures that fit them just right.

But why was my Wednesday afternoon cleaning project getting rid of my old dreams? Because I had to make room in my cupboard to store my not-so-old dreams just in case I use them in the future.  Right about the time Ian was in kindergarten and I knew homeschooling was going to be a big part of our lifestyle, I invested in Lentil Science.  I was convinced that Lentil Science was the coolest thing ever, so I bought the Deluxe set that included all the parts so I wouldn't have to locate them myself.  I got all the labels on and the photocopies made, but then we moved here.  And I never really unpacked it.  A bin full of lentils is fun, there is no doubt about that.  And Lentil Science is something my kids would totally dig (pun intended).  But managing lentils is not happening and I have a whole group of unmanageable kids coming up the pike.  Mark said the other day that only crazy people let their little kids play in bins of beans in their house.  I'm tired of being called crazy (add that to my I Hate February list above), so Lentil Science is packed away until I no longer have a two year old digging around in my cupboards.  It'll be too late for Ian, who starts at the middle school next year, and probably Shane.  Maybe Lula will be the one to enjoy all the great discovery-based activities.