Boxes And Balls

Remember Andy, our handyman, who you all were so generous to? He showed up at our house the other day, looking thinner but rested. I almost wept with relief.

"Just stopping by to see if Larry has anything planned," he said. "I'm looking to do a little something."

"Planned? PLANNED?" I said. "The man's getting ready to rip out our entire basement."

Larry's not messing around here...

Andy's eyes lit up. I swear, I saw dollar signs in them. So he and Larry got together today and mapped out their plan of attack and my assignment this weekend is to go downstairs and pack up everything that is not Larry's.

The man doesn't trust me. He just got huffy when I suggested we toss all our VCR tapes.

So this is the moment of truth: am I really going to keep games the kids play with once a year or not at all? Books that they've enjoyed but will most likely never look at again? It's time for hard choices, but I do know how happy I feel when I'm not surrounded by a lot of clutter.

Also, those cabinets down there could hold A LOT of yarn.

Yarn is NOT clutter.


In other news, it tried to snow here today, but not much fell. Susie valiantly pretended that it was a real snowstorm, however. "No one wants to come out and sled with me," she complained. Uh, yeah, honey, that's because it is really hard to sled in less than 2 inches of snow.

See? HEALTHY

In OTHER other news, my Gaiam ball chair arrived today. I've been coveting it since I tried one at my friend's house a few years ago, and last week they were the deal of the day at Amazon, at something like 40% off. My theory is that it will keep my back from hurting when I sit at the computer, as I seem completely incapable of sitting in a normal chair for any length of time without discomfort. I have to keep doing weird things to alleviate it, like sitting with my legs crossed on the seat, or kneeling with my feet tucked under me.

I get a lot of exercise, sitting. Also, I REALLY annoy anyone seated near me at the movies.

So my kids are all, "What the heck is that?" and making fun of my purchase. They don't believe me when I tell them it is going to Activate My Sit. Obviously, they are just jealous. Larry just shook his head, but I could tell he was wondering if there were a way he could deactivate that Amazon credit card that he never really wanted in the first place.

Anyway, I'm using the chair right now, and it's sort of working. Sort of. Maybe I need to inflate the ball more?