Crabby-Inspired Design

I spent much of this afternoon at a birthday party at one of those germtainment centers, chasing after Connor and coaxing Ian to actually do something. It's actually a cool place, but a little too much sensory overload for Mommy. This was followed up by Connor's staunch refusal to eat his cardboard pizza.

"No, I want birthday (meaning cake)! I don't want lunch! No. No, Mommy!"

I can't say that I blame him for not wanting to eat the pizza. Even I, who will eat just about any kind of pizza, found it unpalatable. He managed a few bites before the chocolate sugar bomb of a cake arrived. THAT he ate with gusto.

Then, as the birthday honoree opened his gifts, Connor was unclear on the proceedings.

"That Lightning McQueen? That Connor's Lightning McQueen? That Connor's?"

"No. It's his birthday, not yours. It's not Connor's. Not your birthday."

"Noooo, Connor's Lightning McQueen. " Several race cars, trucks and Cars presents later, I had to remove Connor for a bit. Honestly, it's pretty hard for any kids to watch other kids get cool presents. And when they are Lightning McQueen presents, well, that puts Connor right over the edge. Not that the chocolate cake didn't help that along.

The best part of the day was the opportunity to hang out with Cindy and spend some quality time chatting. Especially while sitting in traffic on the 101.

Needless to say, I was a little crabby and tired when I got home. Our dishwasher is broken. Our garbage disposal-broken. Backyard-a weed explosion. Kitchen floor-not washed. Laundry-not done. And when I feel stressed, I begin to find all of the things in the house that are wrong and try to rectify ALL of them in one fell swoop. Riiiight. Luckily, Tom was in a terrific mood and was able to counteract all of my impending crabbiness by getting some dinner and offering to hang up shelving in the boys room. That was enough to appease me and feel like something was accomplished. By the end, I was not even crabby, all credit to my husband.

He hung up Ian's karate belt holder, courtesy of Grandma Sheila.



He also hung up two matching shelves that I found at Goodwill for $3.00 each.



Ian chose to place some Lego models on his, along with his soccer trophies. I added a few Cars cars on Connor's and although it isn't pictured, his Lightning McQueen bank is on there now. We decided to try and find something cozy for their reading corner (NOT THE DAMN GREEN CHAIR, T!) and so once we have a garage sale, perhaps we can do a bit more for their room. It has no dresser, but I got some underbed storage drawers that the boys like a lot, so we are just going to forgo a dresser for now.

I also spray-painted their little table blue, which is outside drying and needs another coat.

Tomorrow is work-on-the-weed-infestation day and hopefully get out for a nice long walk with our canine house guests before that 90 degree sun gets going.