Life, Shopping, and Soft Hardwoods.

Early Saturday morning, I poured myself a cup of coffee. The cream container in the fridge had a smidge more cream than I wanted. After a momentary debate, knowing there was not much in the container and whether to throw it away or put it back, I put it back in the fridge. Moments later, Blaine poured his own coffee. The holler from the kitchen made me laugh. “Really? The last three drops of cream wouldn’t fit in your coffee cup?!”

No, no they would not. I don’t think he liked me very much in that moment. (I got another jug from the basement fridge… he cheered up.)

Every so often, he makes jokes like he used to – and I remember falling for him in the first place.

Ellie was laying on her tummy on the floor – the hardwood floor. She’d scooted around enough she wasn’t on the blanket she’d started out on, and then Pierce went over to her. I warned him to be gentle, but he wasn’t getting it. “Isn’t this floor hard? Wouldn’t it hurt to hit your head on this floor?” I asked him, attempting to get him to understand.

“It not that hard. It not hurt so bad.”

Something tells me Ellie would not agree with his assessment.

I took my girls all to the store and left Sterling and Pierce with Blaine. With obvious disdain, a checkout clerk commented on my five girls. I looked him in the eye and told him I’d left the boys at home. I didn’t say how many boys, but his reaction was priceless. I’m certain it didn’t lessen his disdain… but he got very quiet after that.

On the same shopping trip, dear three year old Charlotte opened a bottle of shampoo, and squeezed it as she was smelling it. She got a face full of shampoo… so she started rubbing it in like lotion. The lather on that bottle of shampoo is impressive, let me tell you. Now that we have covered the 1,364th thing not to do in the store, we’ll move on to the next lesson. Some things I never thought I’d have to teach – but unless I’ve said it, the likelihood is that they’ll try it. Why?!

We had a church picnic at the park yesterday. The kids spent the majority of the afternoon in the volleyball sand. Last night, they took showers. Today, we’re vacuuming the sand from the tiled bathroom floor. Oh. My. Word.

Unashamed, un-sponsored plug for a company I’m thoroughly impressed with: Leatherman. My husband carries this multi-purpose tool and has six days a week, 16 hours a day, for nearly five years. It’s been a much-used tool. (He even has a bumper sticker that says “I have a Leatherman. I can help.” I had to put it on his truck when I saw it. It’s so him.) Last weekend, his Leatherman broke. I went on their website to see if it had a warranty. 25 years, no hassle guarantee! I mailed back the broken one (with it’s various pieces floating around the bottom of the package… it was very broken) last Monday. Via tracking, I know they got it on Wednesday afternoon. Within two hours, they’d sent an email with the tracking numbers for their shipment. Today, one week to the day of my having mailed the broken tool, Blaine’s replacement Leatherman arrived. Thoroughly, thoroughly impressed.