Gymnastics, Gigantic Green Beans, Gross TP, and GS Cookies

What an experience! I got quite a workout at Ethan's gymnastics class! He was all over the place-never really where he was supposed to be. I got more exercise restraining him (holding him where he was supposed to be) than he did! He even refused to do some of the stuff he does at home. Ugh. The baby rebel. Or rebel baby.

This morning mom was opening a gigantic can (industrial size) of green beans, or trying to open it. (She can get the big can for $2.86 when the small is 98 cents, and the big is about 7 or 8 times as big!). Anyway, it wouldn't fit under/in her electric can opener, and she doesn't have an old hand opener. She tried to raise up the can opener and support the huge can, but no luck. We were on the phone, so I just told her to use her can opener (the one with the point, for opening canned milk), and make lots of holes and pry up the lid. Well, she's hard at work on it, Dad comes in, and says he'll open it, maybe with tin snips. He disappears, and comes back with a tool-not tin snips-a hand tool. That plugs in. He starts running it, and I'm screaming, "No!" (yes, on the phone, and he can't hear me), cause I can see disaster coming. He has what seems to be called a "nibbler" and he's cutting through the lid. Well, in the process, it drops allsorts of metal shavings down into the green beans, thereby not only ruining the green beans for consumption by live beings, but also ruining her savings that she was impressed by. Ahh!! And he wanted to just throw them in the yard for the birds, but she didn't want the birds to die from the metal shavings. It was all quite comical, but real, in some surreal way. Anyway, they are looking for a dumping ground for green beans (lots of 'em), in case you have a spot. Away from people or animals.

Scratchy toilet paper has got to be the worst. I have a roll (that I've avoided for a good 6 months or so), but it's time has come. It sat under the bathtub in the open, but raw-looking space in the cabinets under the tub. (You try explaining that one without sounding stupidly redundant.) Anyway, in one of Ethan's fun bathing experiences involving splashing, he soaked the faucet area, and water leaked down under the cabinets onto my toilet paper. It soaked the roll, and I just left it to dry out. Well, now we have finally had to use it. Gross. It's all stiff on one side, so as you unroll it, you get the combination soft/crunchy. It does not feel good. On my nose or any other place. Should I just throw it away? Or live with it for a day or two? It is like torture, and you don't remember till it's too late. And Ethan has even figured it out. He doesn't like when we unroll it to blow his nose. He has even picked up on the crunchy paper. Yuck. I'll be over it soon, but keep your tp dry, as it will harden!

A little while before Clay went to boy scouts, I was frantically trying to get his patches ironed on. Failing miserably. So, girl scouts have iron on patches, smart women we are. Guess what? Boy scouts need their mamas. Their patches have to be SEWN on. What's that about? Is it cheaper? Can they not order from the same company? Who has a mama just waiting with needle and thread (in the coordinating edge color so as not to be noticed?). Yep, Clay I guess. I got ONE sewn on in forty minutes. I have three more right now. But am I working on it? No, will wait till next Thursday. I work better with a deadline.

I got all the rest of our gs cookies ready to go out. I tied each person's order with ribbon (lime with hot pink polka dots!), and added a tag (preprinted in green) with their name and the amount owed for cookies. It was fun, and I got it done during my show. Won't bore you with details, but the cookies look fab! : )

Mary Claire came home and said that Breya wanted a notebook like the one we made her (the one with the tabs for fun stuff). Apparently she saw Mary Claire with it on the bus and said she wanted one. I think Breya is so sweet, so maybe I'll make her one tomorrow. I remember being a kid and wanting things other people had. If only I could've made a wish and made them appear!
I think only when we're kids can we really say what we love and want (although the things may change daily...). Sometimes when we are older we guard our desires like they are treasure themselves, not even telling those closest to us-like we don't "need" them, so denying ourselves. We should not necessarily reward wanting or greed, but the self-confidence to compliment somebody's thing, ask for some thing, or to reward ourselves for a job well done (with something other than a gs cookie, m&m's, or a found hoarded Valentine's candy as I did today...). So I'm impressed that Breya asked for one, named what she liked, and she'll be rewarded. I'm sure someone else could come to a totally different conclusion, but she's a doll, and it's so fun to light up a face. Mary Claire was purely ecstatic when she got to make hers, so I'd imagine Breya will be too. It's great fun to have a new thing to play with and write in. I mean, aren't we trying to encourage writing as much as reading in kids?

I think I've fallen asleep two or three times while writing, so I really should go to bed. I even begin to sound crazy (I'm really only a tiny bit crazy). It helps me be creative, so I don't push it down. Then it would need to be fed chocolate also. : ) That'd be another problem. So, let your crazy show! : ) Obviously, more tired than I realize. Maybe I'll remove the craziness tomorrow.
Oh, and I found Ethan INSIDE my dark basket/bag for dirty clothes. He managed to crawl over the top of the laundry cart, and into the empty bag. He squatted down and waited on me. Yes, we've played hide and seek with the kids, but weird. Weirder-I told him to stay there while I ran to get the camera! : ) My baby, admitting he makes all that laundry. What a sweet cutie pie.