Wasted on a Girl

I had a drainage problem in my downward-sloped driveway fixed recently. Water wasn't draining where it should have, ran around the side of the house, and washed away the soil and plants. After the drain was repaired, I had some topsoil delivered so I could fill in what had washed away over a couple years (and add some topsoil in a few other places too).


This is the dirt that's been sitting in our yard. Since last Friday. And it never even occurred to Clare to play in it!

If Clare weren't such a girl, I'd probably have to scrape the dirt from her body after playing in this construction truck dreamland. And I'd find trucks still in the dirt when I finally wanted to use it. I almost ran across the street to ring the neighbors' doorbell and ask if their boys could grab some trucks and come out to play.

I think I did entertain the neighbors though. They must have enjoyed watching me try to move that much dirt with this wheelbarrow.


I'm not even sure how we got this Fisher Price model—Clare has never used it. I guess I should be glad though to have a kid who doesn't mess with my dirt and whose fingernails I don't have to scrub dirt out of—I just have to do that to my own.

As for the wheelbarrow, using that one lasted about two minutes before I realized I needed a real one.

Back of My Neck Getting Dirty and Gritty

Okay, so we don’t live in the city. But it is summer, and I did spend a lot of the day dirty and gritty. There are a few jobs that I didn’t get to before Clare finished Kindergarten. One of them was trimming some hedges, another was weeding out a slope in our backyard and trying to kill some poison ivy, and another was digging some rocks out of the soil where I’m trying to get some new plants to grow. So, even though it was in the 90s in Connecticut yesterday and today, I finally took care of these things. Clare kept herself occupied for a while with coloring, TV, her new Internet addiction thanks to Webkinz, and hanging out in her new deluxe not-quite-Olympic-size pool.

I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of backyard kiddie pools. My biggest gripes with them are that they kill the grass under them and that they look cheap. But, the heat and dryness are already taking care of the grass. And this pool is pretty cool as cheap kiddie pools go. The water reaches to about Clare’s thighs and she can actually swim a few strokes from one end to the other.

Around mid-afternoon, Clare got tired of the pool and got out. This was just about when I was done with my hedge trimming, weed killing and rock digging. So, I hosed off the dirt and sweat and took a dip myself. Sure it would have been nice to be at the beach—or maybe relaxing at a hot tropical resort with poolside service—but it wasn’t bad for cooling down. Clare even asked if she could bring me anything. I didn’t get a frozen daiquiri and some mindless trash to read, but I did get a juice pouch and the J. Crew swimsuit catalog. Not bad for backyard service (especially her judgment in picking the soft core preppy porn that is a J. Crew summer catalog). Still, I think the next house needs a real pool for days like these.

Trash Collector

A couple days ago, I got an email forwarded from a networking site I just joined. A friend and old co-worker that I hadn’t seen in about fifteen years had found me. We exchanged a couple emails to update each other, and she told me that she still has a handwritten sign in her office that says “In case of emergency, break glass.” I made this sign for her when we were working together. Other than it being some comment on office stress, I don’t even remember exactly what it meant.



I have a box in the basement. These are some of the things in it: old report cards, newspaper clippings and comic strips, postcards and letters, a Rubik’s Cube (which I could do at one time…without moving the stickers), a quote by George Bernard Shaw, tickets, programs from shows I’ve been in, a coconut bra, a broken piece of a 1 x 3 board, baseball cards, a baseball, scout badges, part of a model for a set I designed, some Star Wars action figures, a late gate ticket for the New England Aquarium in Boston, my college graduation cap and hood, a couple old Matchbox cars, and a wooden soldier that stood on the dresser in my bedroom as far back as I can remember.

These are all pieces of my life. Some of them stay in the box, some go with me to jobs and end up on shelves, in drawers or on bulletin boards. Each one has a meaning to me. If I lost every other possession, these are some of the things that I’d try to hang on to.



The other day on the forums at DadStaysHome.com I answered a post about schedules and methods for cleaning up around the house. Although you might think I'm a packrat because of the box of saved things I just mentioned, I’m completely the opposite. I miss the days when I could move apartments with one suitcase and two boxes (one box full of those mementos and books and the other full of liquor). I love to throw things out. It actually gets me kind of giddy. I go through drawers, closets and boxes and pare down our lives by getting rid of things that we don’t need or use anymore. I should have a show on TLC, HGTV or the Discovery Home Channel.

One thing I posted that I do is toss out old broken or misfit toy pieces or cheap Happy Meal prizes that Clare hasn’t looked at in a long time. But then I thought of my box. And of the “In case of emergency…” sign. I could be throwing out some otherwise useless piece of trash that could have meaning for Clare for years to come. Her beat-up Polly Pocket could be my Luke Skywalker. Her broken magic wand could my broken 1 x 3. This puts a lot of pressure on someone just trying to throw things away. Does anyone else save junk like this? Maybe Clare just needs her own box.

Secret Project -- Part Two

I did it! All of it done in one day...even though it's been pouring and I was afraid the paint wouldn't dry. I didn't quite make it by the deadline though...I had to pick up Clare at the bus stop before I was finished. So I had to close the door and keep her out of the bathroom while I got all of the small details in place and cleaned up...which reminds me...I still have a can of paint and lots of trash in our spare room.

When I finally let Clare in for the "reveal" the look on her face was priceless. It's great how little things like this can make a five year-old girl happy. And how a hug and a "thank you, Daddy" can make a thirty-something Dad happy.

Happy Birthday, Clare.




I also want to "publicly" thank the bloggers who've been checking this blog out lately. It's great to know that there are some "cheerleaders" out there. With this project over, I'll return the favor soon and check out your blogs. There's a lot of great writing going on during NaBloPoMo. We should consider it National Blog Reading Month too.

Secret Project -- Part One

I haven't done a lot of blog reading in the past few days...and I've scrambled to get a post up for NaBloPoMo before going to bed each night. But I have some good reasons. It's Clare's birthday week so we had a party on Saturday and took her out to lunch and the movies on Sunday. And the past couple days I've been gearing up for a secret project. (There's something else that has occupied some time that I'll explain in a later post too.)

The secret project is redecorating Clare's bathroom with a Tinkerbell theme. Clare knows that it's being done, but I don't want her to see the room until it's finished. So, while Clare is at school, I've been taking down the "duckie" themed decals and getting rid of the "duckie" bath accessories, prepping the walls, taping, and I've begun painting. If all goes well, the room will be ready for her birthday when she gets home from school tomorrow...and the "before" pictures of this post will be followed by "after" pictures in tomorrow's post.

The only problem that I foresee is that I'm both a pretty bad and slow painter. And this room with the color chosen is going to need two coats. If tomorrow's post is something other than Secret Project -- Part Two you'll know that I ran into a snag.