Memorial Day

Sammy's birthday was Saturday and a trip to Matt's family's house was Sunday, so when the Big Guy rolled over and asked me "what do you want to do today?" this morning, I yawned and slowly came to the realization that it was a government holiday; meaning, he would be home today. "Uh...coffee would be good," I said. Shoot. I think he meant that he wanted there to be some sort of activity today. All I could think was "I'm so tired!" What I said was: "I hate mornings! I hate getting up! I hate talking before I've had coffee! I hate thinking before 10am! I hate children asking me for food in the morning!" He laughed.

We decided that he would take the kids to the Lincoln Park Zoo for the morning
(did you notice Sammy's zoo-keeper outfit?) so that I could do the things I had planned to do for the morning. Meaning: cleaning. I cleaned like a maniac. I cleaned out cabinets and drawers in the bathrooms. I put stuff in bags to take to the Salvation Army, (Goodbye crappy toys! Goodbye random stuff in my closet that I've been stubbing my toe on for a year!). I was a cleaning machine.

It didn't hurt that I had my new toy to give me some energy. Yes...I bought a record player.

I've been wanting one for some time now. I've been having these flashbacks of dancing with my sister to the Supremes on my dad's record player for a while now, (I'm not going to lie: we sang into egg beaters, wore matching flower girl dresses, and danced on the coffee tables) so I couldn't help myself when I found this one at a garage sale yesterday in the 'burbs. And Matt LOVED the chance to carry another piece of heavy junk into our already-cramped house.

I don't have a huge collection of vinyl yet, but this morning as I cleaned the potty, I listened to Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band and Steve Miller Band mixed with a little Chicago, Eagles, and Rod Stewart. I love the whole experience. The scratchy sound of the needle hitting the record, the static sound that happens during the quiet parts of music...it's all so old school and seems so much closer to you than CD's do. Sammy says he won't be happy until we have Beach Boys though. I'm workin' on it. I'm workin' on it.