The Saturday 7

1. Last day of February!! Woohoo! Our week started on a sour note as Justin's wallet got stolen out of his car in our driveway sometime Sunday night. Fortunately, he doesn't carry cash. Unfortunately, he had $75 worth of Bass Pro gift cards that are long gone now. 😢 I spent a good portion of Monday afternoon calling our various credit/debit companies to have our cards cancelled and replaced. The perpetrators didn't attempt to use them, so at least there's that! And later on in the week Justin got a call from the mechanic we use right down the street from us that they found his HSA card in their parking lot. Stinkin' punk kids.

2. This week I read a very random (for me) book. One of my facebook friends highly recommended it, and it fell under that "narrative non-fiction" genre that I'm trying to get into. The book was Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond. It was written a while ago, so you've all probably heard of it, but it was new to me. And while it wasn't as un-put-downable as my regular fluff fiction, it was both fascinating and heart breaking. It's no secret that I grew up in my sheltered middle class bubble and have never moved too far out of it. I consider myself as an adult pretty much the lowest of the middle class, but reading this book made me realize what a privilege that is. It was largely about how rent is grossly unaffordable, especially to people on fixed incomes. It also opened my eyes to some of the cultural norms for people in the inner city. I never realized how many black women are raising children on their own because the baby daddies either don't want to be involved, or are in jail! This book made it seem like women never even expect the man to stick around. And when men are mentioned, it was almost always with the caveat "he had just gotten released" or "after 4 months of jail time." The thing that stood out the most to me, though, was the relationship between domestic violence and "nuisance ordinances." Apparently some cities have a nuisance ordinance that means if a certain address calls 9-1-1 more than 3 times a month (or some similar standard), they're labeled as a "nuisance property." And if your landlord is told his property is a nuisance because of you, you better believe you'll be evicted in a heartbeat. So women are regularly beat up but won't call 9-1-1 because it could cause them to lose their homes! Crazy stuff. As I read, I wondered how the author got so much information. In many places he seemed to quote people verbatim. I was intrigued to read the note from the author at the end. He spent years and years getting a degree in sociology - maybe even his P.H.D? I can't remember the details. It was implied that he was financially well-off. But to research this book, he rented a trailer in the nastiest, dumpiest trailer park he could find. He got to know the other residents, and was connected to landlords and other families living in rental units downtown Milwaukee. It was very interesting to know that he was there throughout everything I'd read. Ok, sorry. That was a novel in and of itself.  Go read the book!

3. So apparently I have an anger issue. I mentioned to my counselor on Thursday that my go-to emotion is anger. When something upsets me in the slightest, I don't feel sad or disappointed or worried. I just get mad. She said that's not normal. When I asked for advice on how to deal with my anger, she said, "How do you physically feel when you're angry?" I was like "uhhhh." She said, "Pay attention to the physical indicators that you're angry then try to distract yourself." That's the dumbest advice I've ever heard. (Although my current opinion may be jaded because I am at present quite angry with one of my children.) I think I'm done with this particular counselor. She's so not helpful.

4. The girls have been really into card games lately and Levi's always upset that he can't play, so I taught him Crazy 8s this week . . . and realized why we never let him play with us. The kid is a dirty rotten cheater! When he first brought me the deck of cards asking to play a game, he dropped them all over the floor. He picked them up and we headed into the dining room to play at the table. As we were walking he said, "Does the ace make you win?" I said no. He replied, "Does the ace make you lose?" I said no. He said, "Ok!" and pulled an ace out of his hoodie sweatshirt! Many games later I played a queen and he had neither the suit or another queen in his hand, so he started to draw. Then his face lit up, and he exclaimed, "Oh! I forgot I have one of those!" and pulled a queen out of his pants pocket!! I guess I better start counting the cards before we play to make sure all cards are present and accounted for . . . not hiding on his person!

Same game. He just took his sweatshirt off part way through. 

5. That picture reminds me: what can I do about his hair?? I hate the bangs on his forehead. I always try to sweep them to the side (like the pic in the red sweatshirt), but it never stays like that. I feel like I get his hair cut once a month just to tame the dumb bangs. What do I need to tell the stylist to do differently?

6. And now for the birthday recap, that has largely been on facebook, but will be documented in greater depth now. Today was Levi's first official birthday! His due date was March 13, but my water broke on Leap Day in 2016. I was so relieved to go early, but really didn't want a Leap Day baby. However, labor started at 5 a.m. and he was out by 10:30 a.m., so there was no holding him in. 🤷 We usually celebrate on February 28, but this year he had to wait a whole extra day to do it right for the first time in four years. He doesn't really understand Leap Day, but has been telling people, "My birthday is on Leap Frog Day!" I wrote last week that I hadn't even started thinking about his birthday, but I made up for it spectacularly after today. Actually, Friday night when Justin got home from work, I left the kids with him and went shopping. I really wanted a Power Wheels type vehicle for him, but really didn't want to spend upwards of $200! My friend Anita mentioned that she saw one at Rowland's Surplus Store, so I headed there Friday. Sure enough: a Lightning McQueen Power Wheels car. And it was on clearance! Win! Then I strolled the toy aisle at Meijer and picked out a few more random things. He's easy to buy for. Haha.

That pathetic birthday banner makes me think of Dwight's decorations on The Office. "It is your birthday." Lol.

All week I've been stalking my various deals sites for Leap Day Specials, and came up with a whole list for us to do today. First was early morning present opening. The girls each made him a gift:

Lucy's gift was a used slushie cup with a handful of change in it. 🤣

Lena made him a Lego garage with a car in it.

His own fishing pole!

Ok, so the car is a little too small, but beggars can't be choosers. (And I guess I'm a beggar if I don't want to spend hundreds of dollars!)

Then it was off to our birthday adventures!

Kids born on Leap Day could "leap" for free at Altitude today.

This picture cracks me up. You guys didn't know Justin could levitate, did you?

I'm going to make Lucy a hair appointment this week. I spent half an hour brushing out her tangles tonight. Something must change.

Sweaty boy!

When we asked Levi what he wanted for lunch, he said "Orange pop and pizza." Fazoli's for the win!

Then we headed to the mall. Build a Bear was doing a special for kids born on Leap Day: build a bear for $2.29! First, though, we made a stop at Dick's Sporting Goods:

Levi rode this elliptical for a solid five minutes without stopping. #ceaselessenergy

Followed by a quick stop at the Play Area/Germ Cesspool. The mall on a Saturday afternoon is a terrible place to be. This play area was madness. Fortunately I'm not afraid of germs. #coronavirus

Finally, we made it to Build-a-Bear . . . where we waited in line for over an hour. Apparently they were also running a promotion of 29% off for Leap Day - and, again, the mall on a Saturday: bad idea. Of course the discounted bear Levi was eligible for was not the one he wanted. After arguing for a while I remembered that Great-Grandma had sent him a birthday check! So I told him he could use that money for the bear of his choice and Lena could have the birthday bear.

Pumping it up.

All stuffed and ready to hug!

Bath time.

We ended our birthday extravaganza with a car wash:

He really does love it. He just can't handle the noise. Haha.

And an ice cream cone! (Complete with a tired, cheesey grin.)

Finally, it was home to rest in a box. 

We ended the night with not one, but two consecutive viewings of Frozen 2! Lol. I'd say that was a birthday well done. Only 4 more years til the next one! 🤣

7. A few more pics in case you haven't had enough . . .

Seriously, this girl and her creations. This one was "human whac-a-mole." She put socks on her hands, crouched down under that contraption, then stuck her hands up the tubes whereupon I had to hit them.

Tunnel fun!

Group sit-ups

Chubby-cheeked cousins chillaxin' on the couch.