Ks Are Wild

that they have to even CONSIDER this as a means to helping the current financial crisis in California.  If they don’t do this, which they won’t, they’re idiots.

One of the lovely things about parenting with a partner is being able to share the experiences, the good with all the love and joy and laughter and the bad with all of its frustrations, burdens, and anxiety.  There’s nothing like the end of the evening wind down where you divulge all the nitty gritty details of your day where you don’t have to worry about eavesdropping children.  The other night Kham cracked me up when Kosette wailed her way into her bedroom because she couldn’t stay up later and he said, “She’s so ludicrous, she sounds like Lucy in the “I Love Lucy” show.”  That was a spot on observation, if ever there were one.  I tried to find a clip from the old television show as an example, but it was hard.  The best I found was this:  Skip to1:30 and 3:30:

In looking for that, I came across this montage of clips where Lucy makes fun of Ricki’s English and then all of her “ewww” sounds.  My neighbor and now, one of my dearest friends, Herma, is Dutch and sometimes I can give her a hard time, as only close friends can.  It reminded me of the loving teasing.  Lucille Ball was genius at her profession.

I’ve been away from the computer working on a major household project.

Everybody who knows me, knows that I’m a bit of a Type A.  Shelves and labels make me hot.  I LOVE things neat and labeled with fancy label machines, folders, envelopes, bins, drawer dividers, racks, shelves….I used to watch Martha Stewart’s show and just drool over her labels and many different ways of organizing things.  I pore over the Better Homes and Gardens special organizing issue.  I’m a little sick.  Kham used to joke that nothing made me more lovey dovey than him adding a shelf somewhere in the house.  He joked but it’s true.  Making my life just that little bit easier in putting things away or trying to find them or visually diminishing some clutter just eases my brain and frees my spirit.  So yeah, I’m happy and appreciative.  It’s not like I can’t put in a shelf by myself, but mine aren’t as perfectly straight or as totally solid and sturdy as when Kham does it.  Besides, the projects I come up with frequently have complications that arise that require a certain amount of strength and math ability that I lack.  Spatial skills are not necessarily my strong suit.  Wanna hear something lame and funny, I always experience a moment of anxiety when I have to put some food away into a Tupperware because then I have to deliberate over which size Tupperware would be the perfect size.  If I guess too small then I’m going to have to wash that one and get out another one, or dirty two….  I know how lame it is.  It’s not easy to have a perfectionist nature.  It means the little things worry you as well as the big stuff.  It’s a struggle to let things go or try to ignore them.  But it does mean that my brain does obsess or preoccupy itself with meaningless stuff always, which is mentally tiring and a little emotionally draining.

Where am I going with this?  Well, you know how every couple has 5 big recurring issues or bickering…ours has been the garage for the past 3 years.  It has been a disaster area, hard to find things, hard to navigate, dangerous for the kids to walk in, not a space you could work on projects in so it means I was doing stuff inside that really should be done outside or in the garage in inclement weather.  But we’ve finally purged enough through donations, craigslist, and garage sales that I was able to put everything in plastic rubbermade bins.  Protects from cat spray and mice.  We had a horrible mice problem in the garage this year which is absurd since we have THREE cats!!!  3 times I vacuumed up a ton of mice crap and cleaned up stuff.  Just yesterday, I found this at the bottom of the adult art supplies drawer:

Those little buggers actually ate almost an entire box of crayons!

Next thing on Kham’s To Do list is to add a backing to that wooden drawer/bench to keep the mice out. (DONE!) Evidently, they’re attracted to the cat food.  I lied; the next thing to do in there is to make a coat closet for all those wet raincoats and snowjackets and muddy boots in that right corner by the door to our interior.  That will be sooooo nice to have.  We really don’t have a good spot for jackets inside and in a place with all this inclement weather, it is a necessary feature to have.  Oh, and another narrow “bookcase” at the end of the shelving unit perpendicular for all of our nails, screws, hardware, etc. storage.

After I sorted everything into bins, I labeled them.  From years of label experimentation, I wanted something that I could change the label easily and write a detail of the contents so I could go to the exact box I wanted for the exact item.  For instance, in Christmas time to pull the box that has the tree skirt or the music in it first.  Not just something labeled x-mas so I don’t have to open all 7 bins to find the earlier season things.  I opted for the sticker cd pouches from Office Depot and I just cut off the extra little half flap at the top.  I cut a 4×6 index card to fit and labeled those with the contents listed beneath the heading.  Loves it.

I’ve had to bins done for months now sitting on the floor in there.  They took up a lot of floor space because you could only stack them yeh high without tearing through the plastic lids from the weight of the others.  BUT once Kham built these freestanding shelves that he then anchored into the wall, it freed up the ENTIRE floor space.  It’s awesome!  I’m really proud of his precise work.  And sturdy, and we designed them to extend beyond the wall so as to block the unsightly water heater and furnace.  We could now park the car in there if we wanted to; but we don’t.  I even pressure washed the floor.  Working up to this I/we had already painted the walls, added silver, pegboard to organize our tools, painted my apothecary drawers that hold things like leggos and wooden blocks black, added shelves to the wall for toys we don’t want the kids to have access to, alcohol, excess cleaning and papergoods, fuel, car liquids, cat litter, food, large tupperware, etc.  I also made a work bench by painting the bifold doors I took out from inside (I hate those things!) and laying them across file cabinets, found, painted, and recovered an antique chair for it, and made another larger table/surface for the cat food stuff and to go over their litter box and recycling.  Oh, and of course hooks on the wall for brooms, dustbins, extra chairs, fishing poles, etc.

We are both thrilled with how the shelving came out, feel great about our having accomplished a tremendous task together, and are relieved to have eliminated our bane, the garage, and one of our recurring subject of bickering.

Here are some before and after pics for you to see what I’m talking about.  How does that Pussycat Dolls song go?  “Don’t you wish you had a garage like me?  Don’t you?!  Don’t you?!”  Bet you do.  Do it.  It feels so good.  Maybe now I’ll finish up some of my other projects this summer.

BEFORE:

AFTER:!!!!

Kosette told me multiple times today that she wanted to be a “star” (She even used Jazz hands when she said it so it was difficult not to giggle when she was being so serious).  She’s been watching Cats, Les Miserables, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Mamma Mia, and Hairspray.  Her interest in dancing has been revived.  I have to say it has been a lot of fun for me to share this common interest with her…to see what song gets stuck in her head that day.  What little move did she pick up?  But the “star” thing bugs me.  We’ve started discussing today what just exactly a star is and what does it mean for their lives?  What are the repercussions?  Starting to broach the subject of “celebrity” and looks without talent and both without an additional skill…the importance of knowing math and science to understand music and dance and how eating healthy things can make your body strong enough to dance those difficult moves and the energy to practise and perform for hours.  Lots of good parenting lesson material linked into this star business…  These Britney Spears songs/videos came to mind when she said it though, and it was hard to not sound judgmental in my response to her expressed desire.  Britney is the perfect case in point for this.  Michael Jackson too.  The sad thing is, I bet Kosette would just eat up these videos if I let her watch them.  I’d say there’s a better chance of me converting to Mormonism than that ever happening any time soon.

It’s hard to tell my girl, no easy to tell just not easy for her to believe, that stars shouldn’t be envied but pitied in many ways.  When she’s older I can show her the pathetic pot footage and slutty ditziness from her infamous reality show and say “That’s why.”

I don’t want to leave you with the bad taste of those Britney videos in your ears.  Thought I’d leave you a wonderful song by Lily Allen song called “The Fear” that has to do with a bit of this.  She’s my newest musical obsession by the way.