I ACTUALLY Went to Bed Early

9:15

Unheard of by me.

I rested well.

The girls didn't wake up until about 7:30.  They went to bed even before I did.

So now, maybe I'll actually have enough energy to tackle some of the mess that needs to be dealt with here.

I moved everything I could out of the way in the Laundry Area so the delivery men could get my new washer installed.   And I even went so far as to make sure the patio entrance was cleared and straightened and cleaned as well.

But I've piled up a bunch of stuff in my dining room because of my trips back and forth to Harvest and the consequent swapping  of vehicles so I would have the one with car seats.

The girls and I have had breakfast.  They generally play very well together.  They are not "watch me" children, however, Autumn does require some watching because she's an investigator and gets into stuff she shouldn't.  Rachel is not so much that way.

Down through the years as I've kept various ones of my grandchildren, I've been intrigued by the differences.   Some will go straight to the play room and occupy themselves for hours with the toys there.  They have their own little world going on I suppose.  Others are more oriented to discovery so they go from one place to another seeing what they can find, what's in it, how it works, how it tastes, what they can do with it.  So in order to keep them safe and to keep whatever they are "discovering" safe, they HAVE TO BE watched more closely.  When you realize that you have not heard them for awhile you get that sinking feeling in your tummy because you know that you do not have any idea what you might find when you go and check out why they are being quiet.

Rachel has her own world to play in.  She occupies herself in it for LONG periods of time.  She really doesn't like for me to break into her fantasy world with my presence.  She'll look up at me with her big brown silent eyes as if to say, "You can leave now."   And I can leave because she is not doing anything that will make or break me or hurt her.

Autumn is a different story.   Autumn occupies herself too.  She climbs up, She falls down.  She sees what she can open.  She is daring.  She would even wander off.  She gets into things.  She dumps them out.   She pulls out couch cushions.  She moves on to the next adventure.  She is the only one of Jef's kids I have to keep a close watch on and sometimes even doing that, I miss some of her tricks.   Like the time she got the scissors and cut her hair in front. Last night she got a game of Outburst one of my boys had left in reaching or climbing distance of her little hands and dumped it out all over the floor.   (I keep it WAY UP HIGH, but someone getting something else down from up there had taken it down and failed to put it back up.)

I must get to work on this house now.   I'm not sure when I'll get another chance.   I was going to go for blood work this morning before going into work, but I'll do that on Monday, so I won't have cleaning time then.  My doctor won't refill my thyroid prescription until I get more blood work done and then come and see her.   I'll be running out before all that is done, but I do want to get the blood work done BEFORE I run out of the thyroid medicine so she'll have an accurate gauge of what's going on with me.

Today is the day.  I feel for people who have really had to deal with a real flood.   Just restoring everything after the mini "flood" I had has been a challenge.   I think I used every towel I had in the house  to sop up water.   I line-dried those towels awaiting the arrival of my new washer to wash them.  First I caught up on weeks of dirty laundry.  Now I'm tackling the towels and rugs I used to sop up the water. 

I am still working on the mess that was left in the playroom when I had all the grandchildren last weekend.  Although I will say, Rachel has been VERY helpful in getting things restored to order there.  She seems to have a sense of organization.   I'm one of those quaint people who like the toys to be sorted when they are put away instead of throwing everything into one big box until it overflows and then starting on the next.

So we sorted wooden blocks from two kinds of plastic blocks.  We sorted big cars and trucks from matchbox size cars and trucks.  We sorted out stuffed animals and dolls.   We sorted "kitchen" stuff.   And we put the couch cushions back.  The playroom looks much better.