Anna has the disease we've all been passing around. Anna can be very dramatic when she is ill, clutching her throat, moaning, languishing all over my new, flowery, overstuffed armchair. We should have thought to buy her one of those Ektorp fainting couches while we were at IKEA.
That leaves only Larry and Brian untouched by this plague. We assume Larry will get it while he is chaperoning the homeschoolers' ski trip later this week. At which point he will understand just how much I suffered. Not that I am wishing it on him, or anything.
Meanwhile, as long as he is healthy, Larry has been painting like one possessed. It may be because today I handed out invitations to our 45 neighbors for a little party at our house on New Year's Day. He works well when properly motivated.
Unfortunately, I don't know how to throw a party that doesn't involve birthday candles and goody bags. I'm not quite sure how I am going to pull this off. It was challenging enough to print out the invitations.
This place is trashed, in a Christmas-y sort of way. Gaudy crap everywhere, opened presents strewn all over the floor, broken bits of candy cane wherever you turn....and it doesn't help that half our furniture is displaced by the painting-in-progress. Oh, and the hall closet door that we fixed last month? The kids managed to rip it off its track again. Why bother replacing it? I'll just prop a piece of plywood in front of our incredibly messy closet and paint it white.
You know, if there were a reality show that had families of kids competing to see who could wreck a house fastest, I think we'd have a good chance of making it to the finals.
I hear Anna moaning again. I better go check.
I hate the after Christmas house. The little scraps of paper that keep popping up, the gifts laid out on things and not put away...ugghh...I am ready for a clean slate.
ReplyDeleteI believe my family could give your family a run for the grand prize money in destroying things. We once spent $3,000 on a professional ellipticle stepper machine. Before purchasing it, I was talking to the sales gal asking about what happens when my kids destroy it. "No Way!" she assured me. She has never heard of any child being able to destroy their professional equipment. I called her the next day because my two year old had bitten through the rubber hand grip and it was unraveling off the bar. She was speechless.
ReplyDeleteYikes! You really have been hit hard with this bug! I'll say a prayer that the last two standing won't get it! God bless.
ReplyDeletemary alice - The bright spot is that we have a charity pickup coming tomorrow. I think a lot of things are going to disappear tonight...
ReplyDeletetoni - hmmm....I wish you had a blog....we could compare notes.
bia - Thank you. We can use all the help we can get.
Maybe it's the paint fumes keeping Larry well!
ReplyDeleteI hope everyone feels better soon!
Holy cow, this croup has been a long slog for you!
ReplyDeleteWe just had a bunch of kids over today so that our families could exchange colds. S'fun.
My husband suffers from Anna's illness drama...he is sick today and you would think the world was coming to an end. Man cold.
ReplyDeleteMy house, too, is a freakin' disaster. I keep waiting for somebody to clean it up but...well you know how this story ends.
Have a great party. Hope the painting is done.
mrs. g. - done? That's a good one.
ReplyDeleteYour house sounds a lot like my house. I am drowning in a sea of christmas clutter, which is why I am hiding in front of my computer right now.
ReplyDeleteWhere, oh where, are we going to put all the 500 lego and playmobil pieces ?!?
Hope everyone is feeling better/stays healthy there!
Dontcha just hate the after Christmas carnage? And picking up all the germs passed around by everyone at Christmas? "Merry Christmas *cough, cough*!"
ReplyDeleteSuggestion: Put up a curtain over the closet door on a tension rod. That way, if the kids pull it down, it's easy to put back up.
ReplyDeleteThe Christmas after-math was organized early this year when I bought a fake tree on clearance and decided to replace the real one right then and there. Nothing cleans up Christmas vomit like changing trees.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's sneaking up on us again, that sickness...
I think we could give you a pretty solid run for your money with kids being able to destroy things! If only there was a reality show we could compete on. At least there would be something to gain monetarily from putting up with all the choas and destruction! :)
ReplyDeleteI'll raise a challenge to the destructo-thon championship.
ReplyDeleteWhen I want to upgrade a piece of furniture, I buy from college kids moving out of their apartments. Once I even accomplished a decorating make-over with pieces that had been left behind in a FRATERNITY HOUSE about to have its sprinkler system rebuilt!
The average life expectancy of a sofa in my house is 6 months, a table slightly longer, a chair even less. Electronics?? Don't make me laugh. We had a Christmas gift Playstation 2 that lasted (I am not kidding) three-and-a-half hours.
Free frat house cast-asides are the only way to go, I'm telling you.