“I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!”

I can’t believe it has been a week since I have posted anything. I guess I have been even busier than I thought. I started a list of things I would like to get accomplished before school starts next Monday, and I am wondering if I am being too ambitious. Lists like these can be daunting; like a written reminder of my inadequacy. Perhaps I could use some Daily Affirmations With Stuart Smalley. Or perhaps I should just focus on the things I did accomplish this week, rather than that darn list.

We made some more progress in Miss M’s room on Monday. We put some white trim around her closet door and her windows, we painted the trim that will go on the rest of the walls, and we hung her curtains. We also moved the other kids into their new rooms that day. Banana now resides in what used to be the boys’ room, and Big D and C.B. are in the girls’ old room. Thankfully, everyone seems happy in their new spaces.

On Tuesday we went furniture shopping. We have never purchased a single piece of new furniture for any of our children. Any of the kids’ furniture in our house has been given to us or we bought it used. Some of it still looks fine and may even work pretty well. Other things are in pretty bad shape. One thing in particular is even being held together with duct tape. We decided that the boys really needed dressers. They have been using one small dresser for both of their clothes. It's probably too small for even one boy’s clothes, and their clothes just continue to get bigger. We chose a dresser and a chest of drawers for their room, and then Miss M spotted the pretty little girl beds. She hinted at how she would like to have a new bed, reminding us that it once belonged to a friend of mine when she was Miss M’s age (making it approximately 25 years old.) She kindly did not mention, however, that her bed is the piece of furniture I mentioned previously that is being held together with duct tape. Needless to say, we also ended up purchasing a set of white bunk beds that we will use separately in Miss M’s and Banana’s rooms. The salesman actually congratulated Miss M on such a “smooth move”, although it wasn’t really difficult to get us to replace her old bed.

Miss M and I spent the whole day Wednesday at Six Flags with some friends. Yes, it was hot, but it didn’t bother us too much. The lines were not long, except for in the water park area. As a result, we spent most of our time on the major attractions in the amusement park. We braved the Superman Tower of Power, but it was a ride I felt only needed to be done once. Miss M disagreed. She got in one more ride before the park closed. Yikes! I’ll take the Screamin’ Eagle any day. Long live the classics!! We had a great day and I’m actually looking forward to doing it again next summer. By then Big D should be old enough to join us.

My one-year-old nephew spent the day with us on Thursday. His mom and dad and big brothers went on a float trip that day. We explained to the kids that he wouldn’t have had any fun on a float trip so he came to play with us instead. He and Banana had some cute moments together, like BIG hugs; and they had some other kinds of moments, like bashing each other on the head with a toy or pulling hair. Is that cousin-ly love or what?

Today I started painting in the boys’ room. We decided to go with a Star Wars theme, mostly because we already have several large posters and other memorabilia that may be used to decorate in there. The color we chose is called “Silver Charm”, and it’s going to look great with Yoda’s skin tone and Leia’s hair color. The only time I had to paint today was during Banana’s naptime, so I only got the edgework done. It is coming along, though, slowly but surely. The boys are just excited that the pretty purple flowers on the wall are finally gone.

Wow! When I look at all that I have just written, that feeling of inadequacy is starting to diminish. I guess I don’t need to call Stuart Smalley after all.