The family game night was another item I wanted to start up, but so far it hasn’t happened. We’re close. The boys are getting older and their games finally more interesting. (Candyland is for the birds.) Of critical importance, however, is their emotional maturity. They are almost at the age where playing with me won’t result in life-long, irreparable trauma. Playing Battleship with me isn’t like entering an arena with an unchained lion, but it’s close.
In preparation for the day I snuff the innocence from my sons’ eyes with a ruthless Stonewall Attack while stroking a green-eyed cat, I decided to clean out the future game cabinet. It was, as usual, the place where “Mom said to clean up or we’re grounded” stuff and things went.
I took out Legos, paper, a Hawaiian necklace, model airplane supplies, and a Star Wars book.
From the top of the cabinet I removed trophies and a Clone helmet.
It was a matter of organizing the linens and putting the games all on the shame bottom shelf. When I finished I decided to give my fiddle leaf fig tree a leaf bath (don’t let dust collect on leaves if you want healthy plants–it blocks the sunlight and reduces the plant’s ability to photosynthesize) when I noticed my spider plant was not happy in his new corner of the house. Really unhappy. Edward Cullen unhappy. The situation was dire.
I put him in the shower and sprayed him down with cold water, trimmed as much as I was willing (I need to go back and trim down to the base), and moved him next to the cabinet, which is directly across from our large slider. I lucked out and remembered I had an old plant stand in the office collecting dust. It’s not something I would normally have in the house, but the plant stands I like are cheaper online and I needed something right then.
Anyway, he’ll get eastern light here. The corner where he was at was indirect north-east and clearly not enough. It’s also possible the draft from the window was too much for him since spider plants like humidity.
In conclusion, I cleaned the future game cabinet. Also, I used personal pronouns when discussing my plants. This is, I believe, the best point at which to conclude this post and still maintain a modicum of dignity.
But you did’t name him, so yes, you maintained that modicum. :) I’m sure he’s happy you have taken such good care of him.
You have such interesting things in your house. My all-female except for hubby household never had beyblades or clone helmets, although we probably have had a Hawaiian necklace or two. We never achieved the game night goal, although we do have TONS of games, from the “ancient game of Go” to Life to Apples to Apples. Moving past Candyland was a happy happy moment for me – although of course I loved it as a child, WHY was it so painful as a parent? I’d be so happy when it was almost over and then one of us would get sent all the way back to rainbow unicorn cotton candy hell.
The cabinet looks great! Hope your having a great weekend.
Your spider plant is having babies! He must be happy!
I know! But all the leaves were turning brown and withering. It was very strange.
I haven’t named my spider plant or my ficus, but I do have a boxwood named George.
I highly recommend looking into collaborative games to play with your boys, both now while they are young and also as they grow and are more able to cope with Mum in attack mode. This minimises scarring from playing with a competitive parent. A la Brene Brown, in order for everyone to enjoy the experience, what you are looking for is contest, not competition. (Forbidden Island is a game that meets the collaborative criteria, where you play against the board.) I think my childhood wood have been better had we understood the difference between contest and competition back then and chosen out family games accordingly (contest games for general fun with the whole family, competition games when you are mentally prepared to handle/risk the negative feelings associated with someone you love being ‘mean’ to you.)
This is only tangentially related, so I am certain you will appreciate it. My friend had that table/plant stand in the late 90s, but in dark blue. He put his weed in there, and also quoted that line a lot, like so: http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/989437/
You’re welcome for that tidbit of knowledge. And now you know what you can do with the table if you need it to be more useful.
Hmm. Are you not supposed to use personal pronouns when discussing inanimate objects? I didn’t know that.
If it is true, don’t tell me as everything I own is categorized into male/female at the time of purchase.