all good things

E's back, the basement renos are taking shape, these are all good things that put me in a happy place. It was so nice having her back even though she has been a little pita at times. I mentioned to my dad that E has been a little adversarial at times and that I think her behaviour is related to her having had her way for the week she was away. Well, he confirmed it, E dictated everything that they did while they were in Cuba. It is no wonder my previously lovely little girl has been a bit of a royal terror as of late. Of course it hasn't helped that her sleep and other routines have been disrupted. After some strategic discipline by applying consequences that really hit home, we are back on track. E has lost tv privileges, cd privileges and has endured timeouts for all kinds of mischievious behaviour. Today at supper, I had to tell her what she thought was being clever was being sneaky when I reminded her yet again to eat over her plate. She was curious about something my dad was doing and moved her plate over to where he was sitting. After dinner, she stuck her finger in the pie that we all intended to have for dessert. It was almost as if she wanted me to put her in a timeout. She is funny but has been testing her limits as there weren't any while she was away with my folks.

Today, L came over and started putting the tile down on my basement floor. I finally decided to tile the entire basement floor with this beautiful blue tile that I already have. We went to get more this morning while E was in her Spanish class. After turning off the furnace, I closed all the vents on the main floor and 2nd floor and put towels down on top of them. I put sheets around my pantry shelves in the basement and covered up my washing machine and anything else that was vulnerable to the dust that I knew would soon permeate my house. I have so much experience in renovations, this last project has me well trained in how to protect the rest of the house from dust. I am super excited. L has already finished one corner of the basement and a 30' row that runs along the basement floor from one side to the other. It is going to be amazing. I am already so happy I recruited L to do this job. He brought his laser levels and will do a much better job than I could have ever done.

This afternoon, B, E and I went to get our H1N1 vaccinations. At first I thought we could skip it as E and I both have pretty strong immune systems. However, I worried that we might infect mom and dad which would not be good so off we went. E was amazing and did not cry at all. I let her decide when she would get it and she said that she wanted to be last. So B and I got our shot and that made it easier for her to see that it wasn't as horrible as she thought it would be. It went super well as the clinic has seen a lot of kids and had their intake people dressed up with funny hats and provided stickers as a reward after the deed. It was really cute to see E stick out her hand for her sticker when she was done. She is such a professional sticker taker.

So between the return of E and the start of the basement renovations, life is good.