Wonderful smells and other great things

I was walking through the house. I smelled a smell. It made me smile. It was a good smell. "It smells so great," I thought aloud to myself. "What is that really good, clean smell?" Then it dawned on me.

Fresh air.

No kidding. It has been so long since we've had fresh air in our home, that its very scent had become pleasant, yet very unfamiliar.

Y'all, it has been too cold here for too long. We've got another storm coming this next week and if the Farmer's Almanac is correct, all of March will be wintry. Argh.

So, how did the mysterious, but smile-inducing fresh air get into our way-too-sealed-up-for-winter home?

K- wanted to play outside. I had her out front sled riding on the mound that used to be the igloo. I had the house door open, but the storm door shut. The igloo had warmed enough to collapse, but had turned basically into a solid hunk of iceness. We've added probably 8" inches or better of snow on top of the ice mound, so I told her to go sled riding down it. I just wanted to watch and make sure she didn't slide somewhere she shouldn't or into something she shouldn't, like the tree that is right next to the lump o' igloo carcass.

Our sled is 10 years old. It is brittle. Everytime the poor child slid down our make-shift riding hill, another hunk snapped off. The sled is sufferin' succotash, but though I have looked for a replacement, I can't find one.

Perhaps it is because it has been so blasted snowy that everyone bought them because there is nothing else to do. Just a thought.

But, our Saturday has turned out to be fairly productive. We went to Target's Seuss Storytelling Show this morning. We listened to team members read Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat Comes Back, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish and Oh the Places You Will Go. The last lady was struggling, but reading aloud to a crowd of strangers can be a little daunting anyhow, let alone trying to bust out a Dr. Seuss at the same time.

I find Dr. Seuss and Winnie the Pooh challenging to read aloud.

Anyhow. They fixed the kids up with reusable bags of loot. They sent them out with some puzzle pages, a few sheets of Dr. Seuss stickers, a couple of pencils, a Target beach ball, a Target flashing button that will be great at Halloween, a juice box, fruity snack pack and a cup of their variety of gold chick (fish) crackers. It was really quite a nice time.

After Target, we were off to Lowe's for our Build and Grow date. Today was the day to build a "Lowebot." Y'all, it took us a half hour and though the idea of a wooden hinged car is a great idea, it wasn't translating so well into the actual building part. K- put the car together, but I told her that I would do the hinge. Yikes. Well, it functions, but it is missing a hunk of wood. The staffer on hand told me that everyone was having hinge difficulties. It was still a great time to be building with K-. It is good to work together, learn basic building skills and to follow instructions. It is a free project and very wonderful for Lowe's to provide these workshops to the children in the community.

I found K-'s Toys R Us $3.00 birthday card this week and since it was due to expire on 3/1, we trotted on up there to cash that in. (She had been asking about it.) Of course, there were many lovely things that K- wanted to get, but I only allowed her to bring $7.00 extra dollars from her bank. She is truly a saver and generally doesn't indulge. Every now and then we need to buy ourselves something, right? In the end, she bought herself a Barbie Mermaid book-- the same one that she was longing for in the Scholastic book flier this month but we didn't get since it was $5.00. It was $3.99 at TRU, but she used her certificate and still had $6.00 remaining in her pocket.

We took a walk to the craft store next door, so that we could look for some felt for a Dr. Seuss hat for K- for Monday. (Yes, I'm making one. I'll take pictures.) K- found some Play Doh tools and some St. Patrick's static clings, so I told her that she had enough to buy them. I found Easter tattoos for the egg hunts and for the Kindergarten Easter basket collection (they make Easter baskets for the kids!) Since tattoos are hard to find, I snatched them up and we happily went on our way.

We came home, had lunch, I hunted for drywall anchors and I couldn't find any. That left us with the need to visit Ace Hardware. They were having 20% off everything you can stick in a bag today, so we went and found the things I needed. The grocery is just a few doors down, so we went there, too.

I knew that I didn't need that much at the grocery, but the first order of business was to deposit a few checks at our bank. K- had herself set on getting a lollipop. She's been practicing her 'L' sounds, so when she asked for a "lollipop" the teller understood her and got her pointed in the right direction. She was thrilled with her 'L' progress and the treat confirmed to her that she's got it!

I challenged myself at the grocery to buy just what we needed. Since we didn't need milk, I skipped a cart and went for a basket. I tell you, that is the way to go. We scooped up salad and yogurt for dinner, salad dressing, a few packs of Morningstar meatless crumbles, grapes, a bottle of 7Up, a package of lunch meat for K- this week and a few odd other things. It was a tidy sum of $26.00 and we were out the door. Aside from the 2 liter, it all fit in my chico bag. A good and bad thing, I suppose.

As we were walking through the grocery, K- found that some soda company had built a bunny out of purple and orange pop. She was loving it and talking to me about it. Apparently, she tickled one of the store associates with her excitement, so they came over and gave her a Kid Buck for the store. She skipped the toys and opted for a bottle of Gatorade. She thought it was spiffy that she could pay for it herself.

K- ran into (not literally) the sample lady. She was cooking up fish today. K- said that she wanted some, then announced that fish is her "new favorite food group." Okay then. Mentally noted to give the child more fish.

So, I had a non-sale indulgence while at the grocery. I bought myself some Laughing Cow Light Swiss Flavored Cheese. Now, it was $3.39 for the 8 wedges, but I'm pleased to say that it was as good as I hoped. I found some Kashi Roasted Garlic and Thyme crackers and I was happy to see that one little wedge covered the 8 remaining crackers nicely. See, I can still have cheese and give the cholesterol a consideration, too.

My Excedrin Migraine seems to have kicked in with the caffeine. I plan on hanging my ribbon in the studio, so I shall take advantage of the energy boost while I have it.

Smiles in my day:
- Above.

Have a great weekend!