From this day forward, all gifts intended for the Sprouts must meet the following guidelines:
1. No small parts. For the sake of simplicity, I am going to say that anything the size of your fist or smaller is too small. In fact, I would prefer it if all gifts were large enough that they do not fit under a standard bed frame. This means no board games or card games.
2. No crayons, markers, pens, chalk, or writing utensils of any kind. Basically, if it can mark up walls, carpet, faces, hands or clothing, we don't want it. For that matter, no paper either. This includes coloring books. Paper tends to end up with one mark on it and then is stuffed in a corner. It just isn't worth it.
3. No stuffed animals. Please. We have enough.
4. Nothing that requires batteries. The batteries invariably run out in the first hour of play, and I am too forgetful to replace them. This results in many toys that just sit there on a shelf.
5. No crafty thingies. They always have small parts(see rule 1), and the Sprout's never finish them anyway. If they want to learn a craft, they can pretend with rocks and sticks OUTSIDE. This rule especially applies to anything with beads or sequins.
6. No edibles. These are often hidden in the darkest recesses of the black holes commonly referred to as the Sprout's rooms. They are not eaten, but rather become science projects or advertisements for artificial preservatives.
~~~~~~~~~~~~Most Sincerely,
Barefoot Mommy
As you may have guessed, I just today finished Big Sprout's room at the apt. Well, not really. I still have to go and finish the deep cleaning before the inspection, but I finally got all the stuff out that she left behind in the move.
I couldn't believe what a pig sty it was! I know it is mostly my fault, because I am not the best role model for cleanliness and I don't ride her enough about keeping her room clean. Still, it was horrid! I lost count of how many garbage bags of stuff I hauled out of that room. It was so embarrassing.
The good news is that we now have all of our belongings at the new house. Now all that is left is cleaning the apt and having the building manager inspect it. Then I can finish setting up the new place the way I want it. Of course, Mr. Barefoot keeps trying to have opinions about how things should be and that is driving me crazy, but I figure I will win in the end.
I have noticed that folks in this town are a lot more serious about their yards than the folks from my hometown. There are so many beautiful gardens here, I am going to be truly challenged to live up to the standard. It is actually exciting, because Mr. Barefoot likes to "keep up with the Joneses". This means he will most likely be more willing to let me plant more stuff than he normally would be comfortable with. Woo~hoo!
I am hoping that now the worst of the moving is over I will be here a bit more regularly. Of course, it is going to take me DAYS to get caught up on everything you all have been up to....
Well, it has been 25 hours since my head has touched a pillow, so I am off for some much needed shut~eye....
2 comments:
hear hear!! Just the other day we went through the crafty corner and threw away 2 bags worth of paper that had one mark on it. Not to mention the many markers without their caps-- grrr!
Isn't it aweful?! My hands were all orange yesterday because Big Sprout had left a marker uncapped and I managed to grab it by the business end while I was tossing all the junk she left on the floor. She is just sooooo lucky that it didn't get on the carpet!
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