Life Skills

I am back to the endless chore of shifting clothing.

Girls clothes into storage bins & back out again.

It is exciting for Gillian to see the baby clothes that she used to wear, 

coming back out, for baby Kendall.

But.

She is having a very hard time watching her old favorites go to Moira.

She is broken hearted again, that she has outgrown the old favorites.

And she is jealous to see her sister happy in them.

It has been really hard on her.

So much so, the thought crossed my mind,

"maybe we should get rid of these entirely, 

so she is not reminded of the old, dearly loved clothes all that time."

And then I stopped.  

Was I really trying to shield my child from disappointment?

This is what life skills are made of.

I do NOT want to be a mother who hides reality from her kids 

& never allows them to experience consequences.

I shocked myself by entertaining such over-protecting thoughts.

Parents want to give good to children.

They don't want harm for them.

But, I am doing greater harm, 

when I don't teach skills basic coping skills for real life.

Speaking of skills, we lack handy skills in this house.

As in, handyman (or woman) skills.

My kids broke my vacuum on/off button this morning,

while I was in the bathroom for a few minutes.

Oh great.

Such a bummer.

We have no idea how to fix it.

How could they have busted it to badly?

They were trying to clean up a breakfast mess,

& didn't know it needed to be plugged in.

They pounded the life out of the button.
My house turns into a garbage heap after a day of no vacuuming.
But the vacuum repair guy & I don't get along.
He lacks many social skills & I lack the "let it go" skills.
(e.g. not having a machine done when he says it will be, then when it is finished,
calling me & chewing me out for leaving my machine at his shop "rent free"
& threatening to sell it if I didn't come in right away.  And there's more.)

Here's a new skill I learned this week.

Homemade Dish Detergent.

I've been using it for a full week.

I am fairly well pleased with it.

It is non-toxic.  

Which, come to think of it, is a good thing for dishes.

I won't give you the directions here, cuz you need to go to Jami's blog to read.

She blogs like no one else.  

So go to read her detergent post.  Plus, read the rest of her blog.

The one thing I would say - 

I wasn't prepared for my mixture to bubble over as violently as it did.  Be ready.

Oh, & one more thing.  My mixture isn't very pourable.  I put the vinegar & lemon in.

But, it is more like a moist mixture.  It is not a liquid.

Next time I will put it in a bowl & spoon it in.  

I have it in a bottle & it is tough to get it out.

Peyton couldn't be happier about a friend who has good sharing skills.
He gets to borrow a Spider Man toy this week.
He's been dreaming about the day when he could play with a Spider Man toy.