Saving Face

This morning when I was making a big flask of hot water ready for the day's tea (so that I only boil the kettle once) Linnea and Emer stuffed a bit of dressing-up fabric into the wheeled shopping trolley. "I'm going to be very cross if there are things in my shopping trolley!" I said, and turned my back on them while I poured the kettle water out.

They concealed the evidence.

I do this a lot. I think it's because catching them out is harder work for me and no fun for them, but a side effect is that we both save face. "I'm coming upstairs and I don't want to see anything that makes me cross!" I call, and then I say "I'm halfway up now," and "I am on the top step now," and so on.

Most of the time, there's nothing to be cross about by the time I get up.

(Now we are all dancing to "Here come the ABCs" while wearing our hi-vis vests. It's all about personal dignity in this household).

Day 6: Good things

50) Rob made cake and we ated it.
51) Rob made flapjacks and we ated them too.
52) I did the grocery shopping...
53) ... with Linnea, who was lovely.
54) Emer likes to help Linnea at the table and when Linnea thanks her Emer tries really, really hard to say "You're welcome," though it's technically beyond her.
55) I bleached the kitchen worktop.
56) I found a dining chair on the side of the road and kidnapped it.
57) Linnea and I had a conversation about how I have to do stuff I don't want to do sometimes, which was useful, and went without preaching (I may have sounded sulky, but not whiney or preachy).
58) I found great satisfaction in my work, when I was done being cross about the unpleasant parts.