Making Progress

Today was another dreary day.
Another one...ughhhhh.
Gray, depressing, little rainy, cloudy...the sun absolutely nowhere to be found.
We stayed home all day long, all of us.
And if you want to know the truth, I never even got out of my pj's, except to shower
and put clean ones on.
But we did get a lot of stuff done around the house.
We are making great progress on the laundry room and playroom...I think I am rubbing
off on Eric now.
woohooo.

I started on an advent calendar, maybe I will finish it up tomorrow.
I used pages from an old, falling apart children's book and made them into little pockets by
gluing the sides.
Then I used my fancy new border press thing (?) on the top.
Don't you love actually making something with stuff you already having laying around
the house? I am going to fill the little pockets with activities and fun holiday things we can
all do together.

We also made hot chocolate with marshmallow snowmen.
I am realizing that it won't be too long before we are making real snowmen.
Eeek...definitely don't think I am ready for that yet.

So that's what was going on around here today, taking it easy and trying to recover
from a fun, busy, kinda crazy weekend.
Hope everyone has a great Monday.
Meet me back here for Virtual Coffee tomorrow bright and early.

Mrs. Bramer Goes To The Library

This year I am determined that the kids (and I) will complete the
Summer Reading Program at the public library.

We will do it. We will. We can do this...right?

I mean, it's not like I am challenging myself to read War and Peace over the summer folks, 

it's just reading to the kids, which we do every single day anyway.

And actually it's not the reading part anyway, it's just following through with it; writing the books down, 

returning the books on time, you know, all the little details.

I'm often not too worried about the little details and this is usually to my detriment.

If you have been reading here for a while you might be able to guess what my first hurdle

was with this whole library thing is.

The Fine.

My Big, Fat Library Fine.

Ughhh...the curse that has been following me for several years now.

It's a big one. Like big-big.
And no, I have not been able to check books out for a few years because of this.

But guess what?
I paid it off Friday. All of it!
I was so excited, I felt like I was getting my driver's license or something all over again.
Mrs. Bramer's library privileges have been reinstated, y'all!

Wooohoooo!
The woman at the desk actually said "Congratulations Mrs. Bramer!"
hahahaha.
It's kind of pathetic that it took this long, I know, but I did it and I no longer have that hanging
 over my head, which is a huge relief.
This week while the kids are at Vacation Bible School I will actually be able to go to the library
 all by myself and browse around, picking out books for myself.
The kids loaded up on Friday but I wanted a chance to look alone, in peace.
No more sending the husband with a list of books to look for. Yay!

 So I thought a good incentive to get myself to go in and pay the fine (oh, and get the kids excited, too) would be to make cute library bags for the kids.

I already had some of these bags that I got on sale at Hobby Lobby a while back and used paint 

I already had at home. I just painted on the stamps  using a tiny paint brush, it was
super quick and easy. The bag above is Charlotte's.

 I kind of ran out of space with Wyatt's but it's okay and I think it is so fitting for him.
Right now he is really into writing and making his own books and drawing all the time,
 like every single day and often at night in his bed before he falls asleep.
My little author and illustrator.
These bags are totally going to make me follow through with those whole Summer Reading thing, huh?
I think so, that and knowing I just paid a lot of money for this "free" Summer Reading Program.
Oh yes, sometimes it really does feel good to be a mature, grown-up, responsible adult.
Sometimes.

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