The Saturday 7

Sorry for skipping last week. I have a bad case of The Februarys.

1. The kids have gotten really into games recently. Their new favorite is Clue, and it's fun now that everyone is old enough to read/strategize and we don't have to play Clue Jr. anymore! We even got Justin to play a couple of times!

Plank break! Lena won, but in Justin's defense, he had run 7 miles the day before. As for the nonparticipants . . . Lucy has a foot injury, and I have a childbearing injury known as diastasis recti. #delicatesensibilities #nocorestrength #itslenasfault #fatlardbaby

2. We had the whole week off for Winter Break this past week, and Lucy decided that we needed to put every game we own in a pile and guess how many there are . . .

When I sent this picture to my sisters, Libby called me a hoarder. I can't imagine why! 😂

We decided to only count one deck of cards toward our total, and we didn't count duplicates. The grand total is . . . . 80 games! On Tuesday, we spent 4 solid hours playing games. The kids and I each took turns choosing, and we had a blast breaking out some old favorites and even some new ones! We introduced Levi to Telestrations (he hated it) and Blokus (he liked it). I love Blokus, but I lose every time. Probably for the same reason that I cried every day in 10th grade Geometry. My brain just does not work that way. I also finally taught the girls Dutch Blitz. (Levi was done by that point. Haha.) I told Justin I was going to weed through the pile as I put them away, but I only ended up getting rid of 6 games. Haha. You just never know when you're going to want to play something! (A hoarder's favorite phrase: You never know . . .)

3. I finished the Made for People Book. It was a hard read because the author has been incredibly intentional about curating and sustaining his friendships, so he has this amazing group that he and his family "do life" with. And I had that at one point, but it fell apart five years ago and I'm still not over it. Haha. Of course, as I was reading the book I saw a group of friends from church post on facebook about their amazing group trip to the Caribbean and it was like a gut punch. I don't begrudge those people one bit. I'm just so jealous of their friendships and wondering how you find friends who are willing to align vacation times and spend money on trips? All that's to say . . . I did feel like the book had some helpful tips, and it did inspire me to try harder with my friendships. So I think it was worth the read. It was my 10th nonfiction book since my 39th birthday, which means I'm 25% of the way to my goal! Woot! (Too bad the February blahs have taken over my desire to read.)

4. I had big plans to deep clean my house some more over winter break. You guys will be so shocked to find out that I failed spectacularly. Lol. I did bits and pieces. Scrubbed a couple walls, mopped a couple rooms on my hands and knees, broke out the stainless steel cleaner for my fridge and dishwasher, washed my comforter and Levi's snow stuff. Oh, and good news: Justin fixed the broken dishwasher (after telling me 14 times that he isn't a dishwasher repairman and he doesn't know how). But I only vacuumed the crumbs out of one couch and I never got around to scrubbing the couch cushions or all the walls and floors and cabinets that need it. And somehow the laundry pile is completely overflowing, even though I was home all week. I think what I really need is a whole week of no work and no Internet. I don't have enough self-control (especially in February) to be as productive as I should.

5. Have you picked up on my hatred for February yet? 😂 I really do try to give it a chance every year. I tell myself, "You can complain about the snow and cold, but you're still going to have just as much snow and cold." I try to have a good attitude. But I invariably find myself becoming one with the couch, wondering why I don't want to do anything but sleep and play games on my phone, and then realizing, "Ohhhhhh . . . it's the February doldrums." I just wasn't made for a Michigan winter. I'm on the highest dose of Zoloft available and it's still not enough to make up for constant cold, snow, wind, dry skin, darkness, and despair.

The good news is that there are only 6 more days in February! And temps are actually supposed to hit the 40s in the next few days. Then we just have to make it through March . . . and April . . . and most of May and it will be warm and sunny again! 🤦

6. At least we had Valentine's Day to give us a little mid-month boost.

Levi actually got to attend his Valentine's Day party for the first time in three years. He always seems to come down with the flu in mid-February. But we dodged it this year! 🤞

We also had our traditional candle-lit family dinner on Valentine's Day.

I only bought the kids candy this year - no toys or trinkets. They don't need anything and I'm sick of spending money on dumb stuff. I can't even come up with ideas for Levi's birthday next week. This house is overflowing with toys no one every plays with. Why buy more??

7. Pics and memes