the girl who is waiting for a break in the rain

It's a rainy Florida Day and I'm waiting for it to clear so I can go meet the locksmith at Albertsons and pay him $200 to change out the ignition switch on the van which, inexplicably jammed up on me. (Although, apparently its a common problem on that particular make/model/year)

Matthew comes out to the porch and sees that its raining and proceeds to make the following statement:

"Mommy, it's raining. The sun is saaad. You have to make it happy. Sing Mommy, sing about cars. Go 'Cars, cars, cars!' (in sing-songy voice) Do it, Mommy! Do it!"

So I oblige by singing "cars" over and over.

"It's not working, Mommy! Do it again!"

I guess there are reasons I don't have a singing career as it is still raining. Lol.

******

So what to do when it's raining except take pictures of the little boys all together on the bed?

Here they are, all together on the edge of the bed. My two baldies and two Breck models side by side.

Now they are head over heels having fun.


And finally, it's tummy time for all.

*****

I love where we live. The location is excellent with the school across the street and easy access to grocery store, gas station and babysitter. The cons are pretty much that we are six people living in a 1200 sq ft space with all the "stuff" six people accumulate. Add to that the fact that the storage in this place is not overwhelmingly great and you find you have to get creative.

One of the purchases I was looking forward to making (but have since put on hold) was an IKEA expedit bookcase. Scrappers swear by it and I thought it would be a good place to store my ever growing collection of albums and possibly some scrappy supplies. The boys still get into things, but they have learned that Mommy and Daddy's toys are to be respected, so I was finally comfortable putting some of it more in the open. Sure it would have taken up the last remaining wall space in the living/dining room, but at least I had a place for it.

Well, after cleaning out my office at work, I had to find a place for the cradle my "assistant" used to occupy. My grandfather made it before he passed and it has been passed around to all the grandchildren for the great-grandbabies. I'm the most recent to have it, and possibly the last. So, until my parents come to visit from Texas, it's mine to take care of, cherish, and store.

Thing is, its big. I'm talking a nice sized wooden cradle that does break down to some extent, but we aren't talking pack and play here. So it took up the spot destined for my bookcase. However, I still had two problems. 1.) I just knew that the kiddos would look at it as an invitation to play on/in it and Ididn't want it damaged. 2.) I still have a ton of albums overflowing their storage. So, I found a solution.

Nice, huh? My "babies" all in one place. Now there are still a couple albums stashed away, but the bulk are here and it makes me happy.

*****

Speaking of creative storage solutions, I'm trying to streamline my stash. Now, I'm using more and more of it as I complete lo's (even though I've fallen off the wagon slightly.) but it still occupies my amoire and chest and some space in the bedroom as well. I got a clip-it-up last year and discovered that while it stores everything magnificently, it just doesn't work for me. It's awkward to turn without overbalancing it and it was sort of crowded. I dream for the day I have a room of my own (or at least a room I share with dh just for our playthings) and can use the clips on a rod type system. I think that will work better. Aside from the embellies, I also have a huge stash of ribbon. I really don't know why, I don't use it enough to justify all the ribbon I have, but there ya go. It's a scrapper's mentality. the second I get rid of it, I will probably need it for some project. I'll search all over for it, get frustrated, and finally remember I purged it Don't laugh! It's happened!

To that end, I've tried several systems: the all wrapped neatly on wooden clothespins system, the wrapped neatly on chipboard cards system, and the kept on spools and sorted by color system. Trouble was, I always seemed to revert to the carelessly unrolled and thrown in whatever storage container was handy system.


These were all the containers I was using to store my ribbon in. Yes, some have been repurposed since my revelation (more on that in a sec) and I'm not inclined to UN-repurpose them for the sake of a photo.

Now the revelation. My LSS was selling some ribbon organizers recently and I was skeptical as to how well they would work. I was certain that the ribbon would get all sorts of tangled. However, after seeing the owner work steadily during a crop (back in December) to fill this organizer, I was amazed. She managed to get a box about 2 ft square, filed to the brim with ribbon (on spools, loose, in baggies, all of it) into this little bag about the size of a makeup case...with room to grow!

So I sat on the idea for a little while and finally took the plunge. This is the result.

And there is plenty of room left over to grow. What I like about this is that I can still add ribbon and keep it separated by color without having to move anything else. Plus it's squishy and easily stores in a quarter of the space I was using before! And, I'm happy to report, I have had no issues with tangling (as of yet) All in all, a good $20 investment. Love it!

*****

Eli update: the little boy wants to crawl! He spends a LOT of time practicing. Raising up on his knees and rocking back and forth. All with a look of concentration on his face. Catch him at it and he drops down to his belly, so I'm going to have to go stakerazzi to get a shot, but this comes close.


He's still the happiest, most easy-going baby ever. I am so happy he joined the family! Every day I think about how, even though I had my hands full with three boys, I always felt the family had some growing to do. And when I was pregnant, I really didn't have the little girl longings I had with the others. I knew (or was resigned to, lol) I was going to have another boy. He's my ray of sunshine, my little Eli-phant, and I love him to pieces.

****

Well, there was a break in the rain and went to meet the locksmith at my stranded van. $210.00 later, I'm mobile again. Now to use it to go job hunting. It's funny how not having to go to work changes things. I'm using my down time to organize and purge, slowly but surely. We want to move to a house with more room to spread out when our lease is up. I'm hoping to find something in the area and same school district. Of course, being employed will make that a whole lot easier, lol, so I better get back on track.