Monday, September 14, 2015

Two of the things i did today


Katrina's been really wanting me to teach her how to sew. Me: "Maybe we should wait until after ArtPrize, when we'll have more time?" Her: "I'm a fast learner!" So today we got out some scraps, and i showed her how to thread the machine and sew a basic seam. She sewed a red tube-type thing, with very wonky seams, and she's very thrilled with herself. Her goal is to help make a blanket out of some really, really soft material she bought in Shipshewana.

Meanwhile, Zane's room has been a disaster (seriously, DISASTER) for ... i was going to say most of the summer, but it's probably more like "forever." Or at least since i cleaned it up for him as a Christmas present in January. So. Nine months then. It's gotten to the point where i'm just unwilling to let it go any longer, and so he's on "almost no fun" restriction until that stupid room is clean. The problem is that he's just so distract-able! I'll send him to clean it and come up half an hour later to find him sitting on his bed playing Legos, with nothing having been cleaned. Me: "Zane! You're supposed to be cleaning!" Him: "OH! I forgot!"

Tonight i brought Charlotte's Web (which we've been reading) into his room, so he could clean while i read. Except that i had to keep stopping every page to say, "ZANE! Don't play with the stuff! Just pick it up and put it away!!!!" Katrina finally sighed, "This is just not enjoyable."

And so eventually i tossed the book aside, cleared a space to sit in on his floor, and ordered him to haul out everything from under his bed. He was all, "Wait. Everything? Even these little things?" Me: "EVERYTHING." Half a ton of junk later, we got down to the tiny pieces of trash that really just need to get vacuumed up. His room is now even more of a disaster. (Although it's better than it was. We started making a dent in the giant pile of junk.)

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