Just around the corner

Home Issues

Back when I was pregnant, I made an amazing discovery. If you clean on a regular basis, cleaning is easy. [Mom, I don't remember you ever teaching this to me! ;) ] Sadly, it's been a difficult summer. During the month of August I don't think I have dusted, vacuumed or even picked up more than once. Time just got a way from me. Maddie has been going to Grandma Day Camp, which takes away the motivation of company and well -- that's it. So I finally dug in and did a full house cleaning.

I hereby swear never to let it get out of hand again.

I read an awesome article in Real Simple Family about organizing children's spaces based on age bracket. Did you know that you should sort out toys by developmental skill for babies and toddlers? Apparently, putting un-alike toys together in one big bin can lead to overwhelming distraction. So Maddie's toys have been regrouped into stacking/sorting, moving/noisy and chewy toys (yes, we have a lot of chewy toys -- great for when teething. Amazingly in one day, Maddie has become re-interested in toys.

And then there are crayons. The toy that apparently needs no organizing.


The blur would be Maddie's arms scattering all crayons.

A close-up of the nibbles.

Winding Down

It feels like summer is almost over! And, world, it's really not. I tell you, it's not. There is a tree near Mirror Lake that is already turning orange and red. Plus a lot of trees in the area are turning brown from this hot summer. And there's still the whole month of August to go yet.

Last weekend, Rob and I went swimming at the cottage and it was brought to my attention that my swimsuit is a bit threadbare -- and a little saggy too. Seeing as how I bought that suit about 10 years ago, I can't say I'm really surprised. So I had to find a new suit to get me through the rest of the summer. In August. A Summer month.

Clearly it has been a long time since I bought a swimsuit because I was under the assumption that I could just get a cheap $20 suit someplace. Uh, no. Not the case.

I started off at Target and after checking with a salesclerk, I learned there were two types of swimsuits available: Juniors (read itsy bitsy bikinis) and Maternity/Plus sizes. I looked through both looking for a plain-ish one piece, not even concerned about size yet. I found a tankini that had 10 zippers (Juniors) and a Bahamian flag (Plus sizes). Alas nothing else.

So Maddie and I made a quick trip to Kohl's, which had one rack of sale swimwear. Kohl's at least had three plain one piece suits. I was about to try them on when I realized that their sale price was $86. No thank you.

In the end I bought a suit offline. Let's hope that works. Because this girl:


loves to swim.