Weekend roundup
Nov. 9th, 2009 04:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mamajoanThis weekend the kids and I went to the bed store in Inman Square to look at bunk beds. I have pretty much decided that I'm going to get them a bunk bed in the near future. The beds they sleep on now are toddler beds that can expand to be longer; but they are still kind of narrow, and in any case the more we expand them (each bed has three settings short, medium, and long) the harder it's going to be to fit them in the room. The kids' room is pretty small. Right now Ruthie's bed is on the shortest setting and Isaac's is on the medium setting, and already it's a little tricky to get in the door. Also, the mattresses on these beds are basically just pieces of foam, and they are in terrible condition.
But the array of options, bunk-bed-wise, is pretty daunting. Once you get past the basic choice of wooden vs. metal frame, and sizes (there's twin-twin, full-full, twin-full, etc.), there are subtler things like whether the ladder lies flush against the bed frame (takes up less space) or extends out as an angle (takes up more space, but is easier to climb). And I want to be sure to get a bed that can also be used as two separate beds, because you never know what we might end up doing.
The bed I liked the most at the store we visited on Saturday was a floor model that they have on sale for $630. But this doesn't include the mattresses or the under-bed drawers, so it would be easily a thousand dollars all together, and that's not even including linens and accessories -- of course the beds they have in the store are all tricked out with cool curtains that hang over the bottom bunk, tent thingies on the top bunk, matching sheets and pillows and so forth. I mean, I don't have to get most of that stuff, but certainly we will need several sets of sheets and probably some blankets and pillows too. Oy.
Anyway, so I need to do some more looking around before I make a decision. Also need to clear up the kids' room so it'll be in any kind of shape for a new bed. The mirror along the longest wall will have to come down, and I have NO idea what I'll do with that.
But the kids had a blast climbing around on the beds in the store. They have all kinds of fancy lofts and bunks and stuff -- one bed is a queen-size, about three feet off the floor, with a SLIDE going down from the bed, and a crawl space underneath for hiding/playing. Man, some kids sure are lucky. ;)
The other fun things we did this past weekend were a trip out to the farm from which we have our CSA, and the monthly meeting of the local SMC (single moms by choice) group.
At the farm, we picked beets and carrots and parsnips and leeks. The parsnips took a lot of digging so we got very dirty. The kids especially enjoyed picking the carrots, which are easier than parsnips (they mostly just pull right out, except where the ground is particularly hard) and more recognizable. We got there at noon and thought we'd spend an hour and ended up staying until 3. It was another freakishly warm day so the conditions were perfect. We had a blast and got lots of veggies for the upcoming weeks/months. Ruthie also enormously enjoyed climbing on the tractors. She is quite the little daredevil! After the first couple of times when I had to help her get up and then down again, she figured out how to do it herself and was up and down like a monkey.
As for the SMC meeting, it was the group's 25th-anniversary celebration, so they had made a special effort to get former members to come back. (I guess that once your kids get past a certain age you stop getting much value out of a group like this, since it tends to focus so heavily on the getting-pregnant process and then pregnancy and baby/toddler stuff. But it does seem like the "older" members have mostly stayed in touch with each other and formed lifelong friendships, despite no longer being active in the group.) So there were moms there whose kids are teenagers or even in their 20s, and all the way down to moms with teeny babies, or pregnant bellies, and of course some women who are still trying to get pregnant or even still in the process of deciding whether to do it at all. There were also a fair number of kids in Isaac and Ruthie's age range, so after the usual initial period of shyness, they both got into playing with the other kids and had a great time. It was a lot of fun. It was cool to hear the older members talk about life with teenagers ;) and about what it was like for them in the beginning, and the lessons they have learned, etc., much of which already sounded pretty familiar to me, but still.
Anyway, so that was lots of fun and the kids got SO sweaty from running around and wrestling with the other kids. And did I mention we had basically gone there straight from the farm? So we were covered in dirt and mud, and now sweat, lol. So we went home and had a quick bath before bed (and I had a much less quick shower after the kids were asleep ;) ).
To sum up: Super-fun weekend, but soooo exhausting. Phew!
OH! And did I mention that I somehow got roped into taking away the leftover cake from the SMC meeting! They had gotten an absolutely enormous cake, and only half of it was eaten, and I happened to mention that I had chorus rehearsal tonight, so they were like "no really, take the cake. PLEASE." LOL, so I took it and will bring it to rehearsal. The part that's left is the middle part that still says "Happy 25th Anniversary SMC" on it, so I imagine I'll have some 'splainin' to do tonight. :) That could get interesting. ;)
But the array of options, bunk-bed-wise, is pretty daunting. Once you get past the basic choice of wooden vs. metal frame, and sizes (there's twin-twin, full-full, twin-full, etc.), there are subtler things like whether the ladder lies flush against the bed frame (takes up less space) or extends out as an angle (takes up more space, but is easier to climb). And I want to be sure to get a bed that can also be used as two separate beds, because you never know what we might end up doing.
The bed I liked the most at the store we visited on Saturday was a floor model that they have on sale for $630. But this doesn't include the mattresses or the under-bed drawers, so it would be easily a thousand dollars all together, and that's not even including linens and accessories -- of course the beds they have in the store are all tricked out with cool curtains that hang over the bottom bunk, tent thingies on the top bunk, matching sheets and pillows and so forth. I mean, I don't have to get most of that stuff, but certainly we will need several sets of sheets and probably some blankets and pillows too. Oy.
Anyway, so I need to do some more looking around before I make a decision. Also need to clear up the kids' room so it'll be in any kind of shape for a new bed. The mirror along the longest wall will have to come down, and I have NO idea what I'll do with that.
But the kids had a blast climbing around on the beds in the store. They have all kinds of fancy lofts and bunks and stuff -- one bed is a queen-size, about three feet off the floor, with a SLIDE going down from the bed, and a crawl space underneath for hiding/playing. Man, some kids sure are lucky. ;)
The other fun things we did this past weekend were a trip out to the farm from which we have our CSA, and the monthly meeting of the local SMC (single moms by choice) group.
At the farm, we picked beets and carrots and parsnips and leeks. The parsnips took a lot of digging so we got very dirty. The kids especially enjoyed picking the carrots, which are easier than parsnips (they mostly just pull right out, except where the ground is particularly hard) and more recognizable. We got there at noon and thought we'd spend an hour and ended up staying until 3. It was another freakishly warm day so the conditions were perfect. We had a blast and got lots of veggies for the upcoming weeks/months. Ruthie also enormously enjoyed climbing on the tractors. She is quite the little daredevil! After the first couple of times when I had to help her get up and then down again, she figured out how to do it herself and was up and down like a monkey.
As for the SMC meeting, it was the group's 25th-anniversary celebration, so they had made a special effort to get former members to come back. (I guess that once your kids get past a certain age you stop getting much value out of a group like this, since it tends to focus so heavily on the getting-pregnant process and then pregnancy and baby/toddler stuff. But it does seem like the "older" members have mostly stayed in touch with each other and formed lifelong friendships, despite no longer being active in the group.) So there were moms there whose kids are teenagers or even in their 20s, and all the way down to moms with teeny babies, or pregnant bellies, and of course some women who are still trying to get pregnant or even still in the process of deciding whether to do it at all. There were also a fair number of kids in Isaac and Ruthie's age range, so after the usual initial period of shyness, they both got into playing with the other kids and had a great time. It was a lot of fun. It was cool to hear the older members talk about life with teenagers ;) and about what it was like for them in the beginning, and the lessons they have learned, etc., much of which already sounded pretty familiar to me, but still.
Anyway, so that was lots of fun and the kids got SO sweaty from running around and wrestling with the other kids. And did I mention we had basically gone there straight from the farm? So we were covered in dirt and mud, and now sweat, lol. So we went home and had a quick bath before bed (and I had a much less quick shower after the kids were asleep ;) ).
To sum up: Super-fun weekend, but soooo exhausting. Phew!
OH! And did I mention that I somehow got roped into taking away the leftover cake from the SMC meeting! They had gotten an absolutely enormous cake, and only half of it was eaten, and I happened to mention that I had chorus rehearsal tonight, so they were like "no really, take the cake. PLEASE." LOL, so I took it and will bring it to rehearsal. The part that's left is the middle part that still says "Happy 25th Anniversary SMC" on it, so I imagine I'll have some 'splainin' to do tonight. :) That could get interesting. ;)
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Date: 2009-11-09 11:25 pm (UTC)