For Christmas, MJ got an amazing train table from his grandparents. Yesterday, CJ spent hours putting it together and the boys loved playing with it. This morning, the first thing MJ ran to was his playroom so he could play with his trains some more. Then he pulled a “Godzilla” and decided to really have some fun.
Godzilla and his train village.
My mother has been after me to share the story of what she refers to as the “Purple Paint Incident” ever since it happened a few weeks ago.
My extremely pregnant sister and her two girls were over to pick something up and I was rushing around to get ready to leave for work. MJ and my sister’s youngest were playing in the foyer where I had foolishly left my work stuff where they could reach it.
Normally, this would not have been too terrible as the most they could have gotten into was work bag, but on this particular day, I had an almost full gallon of purple paint with my things as I was planning on doing a project with the kids at work.
I was in my bedroom, my sister was in the living room, so there were no adults around to thwart them. There was a big boom and I ran out to see the hardwood floor, in the house I have owned for less than a year, covered in purple paint. I (quite rightly) begin making incoherent noises. To this day, I am still not quite sure who was the culprit. MJ had purple splashes down his belly, but my sister’s daughter had purple hands and feet.
They both began crying, afraid of being yelled at, and my sister’s four year old begin chanting: “I didn’t do it, Aunt Amber. It wasn’t me. I didn’t do it.”
My sister grabbed some paper towels and began wiping up the mess while I took care of the open can of paint. The four year old was still chanting when I came in the house so I had to reassure her that I knew she was not responsible for the mess.
My sister told me that she had done the best she could and went to corral the children into MJ’s playroom. I panicked. The floor was still purple and I was not OK with that. I got some warm water and we both went back to work on the spot.
From her vantage in the playroom, the four year old felt it was her duty to point out any spots she thought we were missing. My sister had to quit before the spot was completely up as the baby was making her uncomfortable and then she went to entertain the still crying children.
Somehow, the two year old ended up with some sort of whistle and would not stop blowing it. As she was part of the reason the floor was purple and her sister was not helping, still shouting out instructions, I became even more frustrated than I was. I told the two year old that if she would not stop blowing the whistle, I would shove it up her nose. In hindsight, this may have been a harsh threat to make to a two year old, but remember, my hardwood floor was PURPLE!
Needless to say, I no longer like the color purple. I was able to get all but one small spot off the floor, so there is now a piece of furniture there to cover it up 🙂
Of course, my camera died during MJ’s party and we have no more batteries. Can’t post more pictures until I remember to buy some, but here is one of him enjoying his gluten-free cake!
Cake time!
Everything went off without a hitch. CJ’s mother’s BBQ and my homemade gluten-free mac and cheese went together even better than I thought they would. My pregnant sister put it all together – I do not mean just on one plate, she mixed it together – and it was amazing. CJ and I have decided that it will now be a main staple in our diet.
Today, we had a gentleman come over to measure some of our windows and give us an estimate for their replacement. The house we bought in January was built in 1951 and still has all the original windows. The appointment was at 10am and it is now 1:30pm and he is still at my house. Is it a little rude that I am blogging while he his here, maybe. Honestly, I just really wanted to vent that he is still here and I had tons of stuff to do today since I have to cook Easter dinner tomorrow for approximately 15 people.
Hopefully he will be headed out soon. He is getting borderline pushy. I think he was expecting us to sign up TODAY, and that is just not something I am willing to do. I am a nervous consumer – and that is putting it lightly. Honestly, I think we will end up getting the windows from them but I just need time to think before making such a large financial commitment.
Thursday, I entered work and was approached by my supervisor. She informed me that she had offered out my services to a friend saying I would not charge them. I was upset, not because she said I would do it free of charge, but because of what it entailed. She wanted me to tutor an autistic girl to help her pass her GED exam. I was schocked that I would not be allowed to make my own assessment to see if this was something that I felt was actually achievable. Later in my shift, she told me that I needed to start running a fire drill with the kids, but I had to wait and do it when she was in the building so there would be an adult there. I was a little offened since as a wife, mother, and homeowner I assumed I was an adult. I guess I was wrong. Maybe that is why she felt she could dictate what I did with my free time.
My sister called me during my shift, and as she was watching MJ, I panicked and answered my phone. Since she knew I was at work, she made it short and sweet. She said she had to go out and would be taking MJ with her; not to worry, they would be home before I got off work. She had not texted to say they were home and it was nearing the end of my shift. I tried to text her; no reply. Obviously, I freaked out. I tried to call her and it went straight to voicemail. Next, I tried calling her husband. He responded and said not to worry, they would just bring MJ to me at my work.
When they finally arrived, I was walking out to my car to put MJ’s car seat back in it and my sister pulled the door of my work closed behind her. It was locked and my keys were still on the desk. At least my sister was kind enough to let me sit in her car while I figured out what we were going to do. I had the phone number for one of the volunteers who lived close, so I called her. She said another one of the volunteers who lived close had a key and she would get ahold of them for me. We waited about fifteen minutes and then I was able to get back into the building, get my keys, and go home – which I was more than ready to do by that point.
Once I arrived at home, I was attcked by the dog, who is always beyond happy when someone comes home. I took her out with MJ still in my arms (which is a process all in itself) and then went inside with the intent of starting dinner. As I was walking through the dining room, I noticed something strange on the floor. I turned on the light and realized that when CJ had changed the trash bag in the morning, he had not taken the old bag outside and so the dog (who we cannot really blame) got into the trash and my kitchen and dining room were a mess. It was extremely difficult to clean the mess while keeping MJ out of it so it did not become any bigger. Then I still needed to get dinner going for when CJ came home.
By this point, after everything that had happened, I had had enough so I called my mother acting more upset than I probably should have been. She talked me down (she has a knack for that) and as soon as she could hear my tears had stopped, she started laughing at me! She said I needed to lighten up and realize that it was pretty hilarious I managed to accomplish all those things in only one day – thanks, Mom. I do not know how she did it, but of course I started laughing too. That women truly has a gift.
Of course, now the whole thing sounds extremly ridiculous and I laugh thinking about how crazy that day was. I too am impressed by the amount of havoc that I can cause/be a part of all in one day.
Amber Batdorf's Blog 