So.....Guess What We Bought

Last night Daddy rescued me and we went out to the World Market. Neat place. I bought some custard powder and some lingonberry jam.

Then we went to the new Old Spaghetti Factory. That was really good. For $9 you get a salad with the best bleu cheese dressing, a plate of up to 4 different kinds of spaghetti/sauces (I chose meat sauce and the mizithra cheese with burnt butter), a loaf of hot crusty bread and butter, coffee, and a dish of vanilla or spumoni ice cream.

After that, we went and bought a television. I'm still kind of in shock about that, as I thought we were getting along very well without one, thank you.

However, the events of the past few days have been stressful, to say the least, and the night before we went out, I dreamed that a tv had appeared in the family room. Sesame Street came on and I was SOOOOOO RELIEVED!!!!! I was surprised at myself, but so relieved anyway. Then yesterday, I was chatting with a friend on MOMYS who has many children, and she suggested to me that I sit the two littles in front of the tv and put a dvd on for them. I thought I'd never see the day when a "real" MOMYS would suggest that. LOL.

You see, things have been interesting around here lately. I am in a constant state of damage control. Between baby, fireplace, bits of wood and bark, meals, homeschool, this huge house, and three-year-olds, it seems as though I can not get a break. Particularly from the three-year-old.

The day before yesterday we were just finishing up lunch and the house was in pretty decent shape. I had caught up on all the laundry after having done load after load of sorting, washing, drying and folding the day before. So I thought I would finally open that new sewing machine box and give it a look-over. I've had it for weeks, but haven't even opened it yet. As I was sitting on the floor in front of the fireplace, cutting open the box, and 4 children were sitting at the table eating, I heard the sound of water cascading into the hallway.

What on EARTH?

I thought, initially, it was the (hot water) heating. Then I thought it was the dishwasher or washing machine -- realizing all at the same time that it could not be any of those three things. On an immediate hunch I ran upstairs for the bathroom, only to step in about an inch of water on the upstairs bathroom floor. The faucet on one of the plugged sinks was on full blast, and the bathroom, including both adjoining bathrooms, was completely flooded. The water was cascading down into the rooms below, which is the noise I heard.

Now Jr Spragus has had a fixation with these water faucets for a while, and combined with his fear of drains, had managed to somehow sneak up the stairs, plug the drain, and left the water running.

Lots of shouting, running, and loads and loads of (formerly clean) towels later, along with a great deal of mopping, wringing and (formerly clean) dishes on the floor downstairs to catch the drips,
we had it more or less under control.

But it really brought to my attention how completely impossible it is to keep track of the kids in this house -- I rely on Miss Rose and Joman to help be my eyes and ears, but any tiny lapse of concentration -- and things like this or worse can so easily happen. You just can't see into the rooms from the other rooms, with the exception of the kitchen/dining/family room. I am CONSTANTLY running through the house locating the little ones, and it will only get worse as Baby begins to toddle.

Jr Spragus has gotten into a few scrapes -- one day when we were all home, he somehow got out into the garage, opened the garage door, opened the van, climbed in, set off the panic alarm on the key ring (which was the first we knew of him even being out there), and when we realized what he had done, we were shocked -- how easily he could have hurt himself, gotten caught in a van door (they are auto) or the garage door (the obstruction mechanism doesn't work), gotten out on the street, fallen in the creek, any number of things. And yet, because the house is so big, you don't miss the kids because they could be anywhere in the house. Does that make sense?

Anyway....fast forward to the tv. We got a cheapo one and a cheapo dvd player. We can't find an antenna hookup so we get no channels. That's probably good although I know Daddy wouldn't mind watching a game now and then. Last night we watched Ratatouille (I hated it! First, it was boring, and second, I disliked all the characters and the premise! Yuck!).

I found the sweetest find in the dvd section. A 3-dvd set of Sesame Street from 1974 - 1979 -- the years I watched it as a child, and arguably the best years of Sesame Street. Bought that.

Guess where Jr Spragus is right now? Safely deposited in front of Sesame Street in the family room.

Ahhhhhh. A dream come true.