Despite a slightly angsty start to our day (it’s just sooooo darn tough to live around here these days, and nothing is in an easy location where we can find it!), we rallied for a decently normal Saturday.
Chill morning.
Lunch in the car on the way to errands.
A couple of to-dos knocked off the list.
Video games in the late afternoon.
A successful crock pot dinner.
A few loads of laundry knocked out.
And...a really fun family movie before bed.
All. Good. Things.
And every stinking day we make it through is one day closer to getting this insane-in-the-membrane house put back together! Soooooon(ish), we can be boring and normal and lounge on the couch like potatoes.
Until then, I’m continuously trying to find ways to better this situation of living in half of our house with all of our possessions underfoot—literally. We can barely step through the landmine of our upstairs landing and playroom without risking life and limb. Oye.
And the kiddos bedrooms are currently just as cluttered—especially Chicklet’s, considering it’s the “sleeping room” where all the kiddos have been bunking since February, complete with a giant blow-up mattress permanently in her space, and no room to actually walk around.
And on top of that, several weeks ago, the kiddos decided to fling ALL of Chicklet’s stuffed animals off her bed and never put them back. And since I don’t have the willpower (I mean, why clean up one thing when the whole house is a hot mess express??) it’s just been one more thing cluttering up the space, ha.
And in case you can’t recall, Chicklet has a WHOLE LOTTA stuffed animals at the foot of her bed.
Now.
Those dozens and dozens of stuffed animals have been on her bed forever. But the pile just keeps growing and growing and encroaching upon her sleeping space more and more.
And don’t even get me started on the process of regularly changing her sheets! I give myself a kink in my back just flinging all those animals off, and then strategically rebuilding the pile when fresh sheets are back on.
So it was time for an alternative solution. And I seized this rare opportunity when everything is all topsy turvy in our casa, and Chicklet had her brother and sissy sleeping in there with her, so she won’t be so anxious about any sort of change.
Enter...the stuffed animal zoo, ha.
Pretty much just as it sounds. A bare bones “zoo” for her animals, complete with bungee cords as bars (covered in plastic tubing to protect against finger pinching), so she can stretch them and pull out any animals she pleases. Adorably, simplistically genius. Especially considering she has way too many stuffed animals to fit in any sort of bins or buckets at this point. We had to employ vertical space, peeps!
I put the majority of it together—minus the bungee cord bars—in under an hour, while the plumber was disconnecting appliances on Thursday.
And then after school, I spent 20 minutes finishing the rest, and set the kiddos loose in the bedroom to fill ‘er up!
And they had a blast doing it!
Side note: I’d warned Chicklet I had a new surprise arriving for her, so she’d have a better space for her animals to live (my kiddos do not like change, ha). But—big sigh of relief—when she came home from dance glass and saw the creation, she was delighted over her little zoo. :)
And then after school, I spent 20 minutes finishing the rest, and set the kiddos loose in the bedroom to fill ‘er up!
And they had a blast doing it!
Side note: I’d warned Chicklet I had a new surprise arriving for her, so she’d have a better space for her animals to live (my kiddos do not like change, ha). But—big sigh of relief—when she came home from dance glass and saw the creation, she was delighted over her little zoo. :)
Later that evening, she even spent quite some time giving me the positives and negatives of the change, and, thankfully, the positives won out. Woohoo!
So far, it’s working swimmingly, and she actually has an easier time standing there to select her buddy to sleep with each night since they’re all upright. Better than sifting through a pile where many friends are buried at the bottom, unseen.
And like I said, it’s so easy to stretch the bars to pull one out.
All in all, I think it’s a fairly unobtrusive and helpful solution to our stuffed animal mania! And—dare I say?—we even have a tad bit of room leftover for a few new friends in the future. :)
So here’s to helpful changes that will ensure my Chicklet’s growth isn’t stunted during her sleep anymore, ha.
So far, it’s working swimmingly, and she actually has an easier time standing there to select her buddy to sleep with each night since they’re all upright. Better than sifting through a pile where many friends are buried at the bottom, unseen.
And like I said, it’s so easy to stretch the bars to pull one out.
All in all, I think it’s a fairly unobtrusive and helpful solution to our stuffed animal mania! And—dare I say?—we even have a tad bit of room leftover for a few new friends in the future. :)
So here’s to helpful changes that will ensure my Chicklet’s growth isn’t stunted during her sleep anymore, ha.
Next up: the massive challenge of getting Chica accustomed to a new and needed bed blanket as soon as she’s back in her room (she really, really does not like change, ha. Great or small.)
Stay healthy, stay sane, peeps. And enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Over and out.
No comments:
Post a Comment