when it snows on the tulips....

 ....I'm eyeing the red tulips that just bloomed, thinking to lop some off to enjoy in here before they freeze tonight.  I just got back from bringing Charlotte Claire's lunch to school, a luxury the older kids wouldn't have dreamed of. Well, maybe occasionally, but they knew I would have to put all the at-home kids in that 15 passenger van...so they didn't forget things very often. I had just read an interview with Dave Ramsey, about parents supporting their adult children.  He mentioned helicopter parenting, coddling, not letting kids suffer consequences of their actions and therefore not learning from their mistakes.  I had JUST read the article when I got the text from Miss Char.  But I couldn't let her go hungry!   :)

This fine 40 degree rainy day, I'm going to Costco with Kathryn.  I don't know what she needs, but you always find something you didn't need in Costco, and usually in the huge-0 pack. I am already telling myself to avoid the chocolate covered almonds. They come in a jumbo plastic bin, and are fresh and crunchy and the milk chocolate is just right.  You get a sugar rush, a dopamine hit, and general satisfaction with a handful of those.  But, all that has a cost, and one can't properly weigh the cost, once those deadly little nuggets are IN the house.  

Costco has good clothes.  My nice snuggly winter coat was only $12.99, and they had joggers for cheap, really comfy ones. They have different things on special at different times, of course, and if you're not careful, you'll blow your monthly budget in one fell swoop, because each thing you put in your cart is over ten bucks.  The cash register Rude Awakening at Costco is REAL.

Yesterday afternoon, Paul and I headed up to the house we are working on.  I primed the new cabinet ends he put on, and primed the window frames on the little porch, along with one of the doorways.  It's an old house, and the doorway edgings and window edgings are lovely, the outside ones, and a few of the inside ones are still intact, although most have been replaced.  It has character, but also slant-y floors and tilted ceilings.  Emily ripped the old carpet from the stairs, and sanded them. Paul painted them, gray on the top and white fronts.  They don't look bad, better than the carpet.  All the floors have new LVP, and all the walls have been repainted, as well as the ceilings.  New light fixtures, mostly new trim, "new" stove and refrigerator (really nice ones from Marketplace!), ect.  We've replaced some doors, painted them, and replaced some heat registers, spray painted one so far.  The outside needs the trim repainted, and the front porch needs painting, as well as some boards replaced.  I'm working on the little side porch, it needs the floor cleaned and painted.

I actually like doing this work, but my back has to be babied.  There's something that catches when I lean over, and I have to be careful.  It's hard to remember, so I usually remember by forgetting, ha.  I sit in a chair when I paint low things, instead of leaning over.  I feel like a drama queen, but ha, I think I AM a drama queen.  I can't help that everything hurts!  Standing on the step stool/ladder thing when I'm painting up high, ugh, don't like it, but...I survive.

Anyway.  I won't go help today because I have Activity Club....Lydia is coming over and going with me!  

Off I go, to not buy chocolate covered almonds....

Sunny yawning...

(just because they're dopes, so cute)