Hello friends.
Hope your weekend was a good one!
It was warm here.
Saturday morning we visited an estate sale. There was lots to see, and much I wanted to purchase. But I only came away with a few treasures.
I've been thinking a lot about need vs. want. I seem to go through cycles of this. My tastes change, so I get a few new things here and there to fresh things up a bit. But then realize I need to purge some of the things I no longer enjoy or need.
I tell myself that because I shop mostly at yard sales or thrift stores (and sometimes Target), and never pay retail that it is ok. But then still feel like at times we have too much clutter.
Too much stuff is still too much stuff no matter how much you paid for it.
So, there has been some collecting. But behind the scenes there has been lots of slow and steady cleaning out of closets. Much going through and donating.
And our dirt finally arrived.
Who gets excited about topsoil and manure? Apparently we do!
Which meant all of Saturday afternoon was spent shoveling and wheel-barrowing loads of dirt from the driveway to the backyard. The boys were troopers and loved every minute of it.
What was amazing to me was how we ended up with 5 other neighborhood boys helping shovel as well. Thinking they were taking pity on my since S is away, I kept telling them they didn't have to help. "No, we want to help" was their reply. I only had 4 shovels and there was a line to take a 15 minute turn shoveling.
For a while now, I've had this thought that boys need an outlet and opportunities like this. "Manly" kinds of jobs to make them feel strong, an outlet for testing out their muscles. I don't mean to say that shoveling manure is a "manly" job and women shouldn't be bothered with it. Heck, I was out there too. But boys need to feel like they are growing into men. And my three sure were feeling like they were contributing to our family by using their growing muscles. And that is the important thing to them.
I'm sure there is a book somewhere that supports this, some psychological study. But as a mother of 3 boys I am really coming to realize this in a meaningful way.
In other news...
- We've been watching this owl cam, and this local eagle cam. (More great bird links on TMG.)
- And the boys are now completely addicted to nutella sandwiches and would eat them every single meal if I let them.
- We saw Gnomeo and Juliette, would totally recommend it! Loved it!
- Signed up for this little workshop.
- Have you seen the rugs Holly is making? Amazing...all from this original tutorial. Can't believe it has been more than 4 years since I posted t. Makes me a bit nostalgic. Maybe I'll use up some of the sheets I've been collecting.
Happy Monday friends!