Motherhood...umph

So, what have I been up to? Hold on to your seats....

An entire week of snow kept us locked into the house, no school, no outside play, very cabin fever style of living. Over the course of time, we had numerous melt downs, a loss of two bags full of toys, left over chocolate being secretly eaten, but the wrappers left sitting around, and a handful of hair being cut off for no particular reason.

And that was just The Girl.

Me? I was blessed with a cold, a bum wrist and a short temper. At one point I was running through my house naked and dripping wet, having rushed out of my shower to stop an argument. It was the stuff therapy is made of. Liquid gold for future psychoanalysts.

We had our high points. We made a fort out of sheets and pillows, we took naps, we drew pictures and played games. Over the weekend we made it out and went snow tubing. We did manage to have hugs, kisses and heard lots of "I love you," too.

And as soon as it began, the snow week was over. Back to school.

Oh! And today I officially realized that I am not smarter than a 5th grader. As a matter a fact, I am not smarter than a 3rd grader. The Boy brought home geometry math work that I have not seen in almost 20 years...I never learned difference between an isosceles vs right triangle back then and I still did not know it now. He giggled to me as I asked questions and told me how funny it was he was having to teach me now. He was also really proud of himself--FINALLY knowing something his Mom did not.

Thank goodness I teach preschool. Otherwise Iwould tell all parents to keep their kids far, far away from me.

Ways in which I will not win Mother of the Year any time soon...

1. When school was cancelled for snow, I had a Valentine's cake that was now rendered useless since the party was going to be rescheduled. We ate it for breakfast. It was my Bill Cosby moment.

2. Falling asleep for 2 hours while my children are watching tv. I only woke up because The Boy walked in announcing he was "bored" from watching so much tv.

3. Letting The Girl wear her pjs until well after lunch almost any day we are home.

4. Allowing bedrooms to look like a grand war was staged in them....the toys exploded...the causalities were too high to count.

5. Encouraging cooperative play through video games...as long as they are playing nice and not crying, whining, hitting, spitting, or tantrum throwing, they can play for as long as they want.

6. Letting The Boy wear short sleeve on 20 degree days simply because he dressed himself and it managed to match. He can wear a jacket if we go out.

7. Finding out (after the fact) that my children have taken plastic coke bottles, play dough and PUSH PINS and made rather impressive space ships.

8. Applauding that decision by taking pictures and posting on my blog.

Snow bound projects

I have been taking advantage of the snow days. There has been a LOT of sitting around, starring at tv. There has been dancing and singing. There has been minimal cooking, but yet, still lots of dirty dishes. I have been cleaning a bit too. Every single shelf and drawer in my kitchen has been cleaned out in a early wish-it-was-spring cleaning sweep.

Case in point: my spice/baking shelf. Check. It. Out.

Yeah, don't hate me.

It will only look like that for a few weeks anyway.

And here is my canned goods area, all purged of cans dating as far back as 2005.

What else....

There has been Internet surfing and online shopping.

(Lands End has a great outlet area on their website, by the way.)

There has been junk food eating and sleeping in.

There has also been snowman making and wet clothes drying.

But when all else fails, a good craft can pass the time. Here was an easy one I made.

I was inspired by a picture in the Pottery Barn catalog.

This isn't really the picture, but the closest one I could find on the website. See the bottle with the spoons? Love.

And it just so happens that in the back of my pantry was a old paper bag full of silver spoons and forks from my great grandmother. And they were just begging to come out and play.

I already had a couple of cool containers from the after Christmas Target sale. I just scuffed up the shiny lids a bit with sandpaper to make them look more rustic.

The chalkboard label is courtesy of the Dollar Store. (note: bad cursive writing is courtesy of my 4th grade teacher. ) These are wall stickers with a chalk board surface.

Simply cut into whatever size/shape you want and presto chango! (Pardon the mess on the table. My kids were water coloring at the same time.

They look right at home in my grandmother's hutch.

What have you been doing on snow days to pass the time?