Room Refresh

Got myself up and really getting after it all very early this morning. I put together a ham, egg & cheese breakfast casserole, with diced red bell pepper in only half of it. Plus some biscuits. And while that was baking, I washed up a huge load of dishes too. I was really a go-getter at 7am today!

After a slow morning with breakfast and coffee, and just lounging around, like so many other slow mornings lately, Jeff eventually went out for a haircut, and the girls made themselves a little fort under the dining room table.

The girls and I all had some leftovers for lunch, and then Addie was very tired and ready for her nap time. Jeff got her down again in her “big girl bed,” and that went well, and she napped for almost three hours again today.

While Addison napped, Jeff actually took the boys out for a little driving lesson, over in the TCC parking lot. They will turn 18 this coming July, but they got their learners’ permits late, so they haven’t gotten their licenses yet. Emmie and I finally un-decorated the little tree in her room – this is the newest “Mirabel” ornament I got for her for $2 at Walmart the other day.

Before Jeff and the boys left the house though, they got down all the boxes for the Christmas stuff from the top of the closet, and they also took down and boxed up our Christmas tree. So Emerson and I then worked together to actually get everything boxed up and packed up and put away in the boxes, and got all of our other little decor put back out in the right places. (We did all this while watching the first episode of the newest season 45 of Survivor, and she pretended some of the tasks I was giving her were the games & challenges from the show.)

I posted this beautiful picture on social media of our clean, bright, sunny dining room after the room refresh, saying, “Love the post-Christmas-clean, afternoon winter sun, back to the basics of a new year.”

BUT – then I also posted this second picture, to show like, Instagram vs reality, with all the mess on the opposite end of the neat and tidy part of the same room. Now, since this picture was taken, we’ve gotten things much more cleaned up (got all the Christmas boxes in that biggest pile in the middle put away), but this was the reality for a few hours. And there’s definitely still more a bit to clean up, but we’ll get to that eventually…

This is the bookshelf I mentioned buying from FB marketplace, for Emerson’s room. Jeff and Gabe worked on a little bit today, making it more stable, by taking it a part a little bit, using some wood glue, and putting it back together. And then they also spray-painted some fresh white on most of it, and it’ll be ready to go into Emmie’s room tomorrow, for only $25, including a fresh can of spray paint!

So tonight, Emerson and I went to Trousdell for a parent info meeting, about the possibility of her joining the “team,” instead of just doing the recreational classes she’s been doing so far. And lemme just say, it’s a LOT. A lot of time, commitment, money, travel, etc, and I don’t know how people do this stuff!

Back at home, Jeff made hot dogs & Velveeta shells & cheese for the rest of the family, and this little nugget cleaned her plate, which means she ate an entire hot dog (sans bun) and a nice little helping of noodles.

Jeff successfully got Addison to sleep in her bed again tonight, and she’s been there about 30 minutes so far. Last night, she stayed in her bed until about 3am, when she got up and made her to cuddle up in our bed between us, but then she slept with us until at 7am. So all-in-al, that wasn’t too bad, and was honestly much better than the night before, so I’ll take it! If she can do that again tonight, or even better (stay there all night), we’ll be finally making some good bedtime progress with her!