I’ve been having a bit of a clumsy week. Just a few examples, I managed to slice my thumb while washing off a potato peeler, and a stumble out of the car left me with a nicely bruised shin. There’s also been the usual mix of dropping, spilling, etc.
Thursday night, I was cleaning up the kitchen counter and managed to knock a bag of herbal supplements Erin got from her acupuncturist into the gap behind the stove.
It might as well have fallen into the collapsing singularity of a black hole. I’m pretty sure light also doesn’t escape from that little gap.
That night, I made a few attempts to reach back there, but it’s too small and awkwardly located to be able to see anything or have the prospect of grabbing hold of anything. I pretty much resigned myself to having Erin order a new one and I’d go pick it up the next day.
Well, on Friday morning I decided I’d give it one more shot. I had the brilliant idea of putting some duct tape on the end of a tape measure and reaching down there. My first attempt ended with the duct tape getting stuck to the wall and coming off.
So then I upped the duct tape ante, and put a giant wad of it on the end of the tape. Back down it went, and this time I actually got it stuck to something and had to give a decent tug to free it. I could tell something was coming up, and I was fully prepared to have it fall off just before I could reach it, but sure enough, the bag emerged!
Seriously, is there anything duct tape can’t do? This probably demonstrates the high end of my handiness and ingenuity levels, and also rates as one of those things that I’m both a little proud and a little ashamed of.
Amelia was off from school, and spent much of the morning playing games with Auntie Kallin. Henry had his therapy, and then preschool in the afternoon. He was particularly excited because his class was having its Valentine’s Day party that day.
I remember always loving Valentine’s Day parties at a school as a kid. Not only was there candy, but there was the fun of getting and receiving those little cards. Every year I’d get to pick out which cards…like A-Team or Knight Rider…and I’d spend time writing them out with thoughtful sentiments like, “From Jim” on each one.
We helped Henry get little cards and treats together for his classmates earlier this week. The school asked us to drop them off on Tuesday to give them time to be quarantined before the party. It was super cold outside (single digits) on Friday, so I drove him to school and dropped him off for his party.
While he was there, the ladies all went downtown to have afternoon tea at this little place in Denver where we’ve gotten takeout from before. I had an almost surreal hour or two alone in the house, so I got hunkered down at my desk and got some work done.
Later in the afternoon, I picked Henry up from school and he had a blast at his party. He was all excited to show me the bag of treats he got at school. He also told me that he really loved the cupcake he had, which was well evidenced by the fact that his face was covered in red frosting.
This photo was taken after I did an initial cleanup. At first he looked more like an early 1908’s, post-bat Ozzy Osborne.
But he was full of sweets and joy and in a great mood, and we were glad his first preschool holiday party went so well. The ladies got home a little later, having had a lovely tea, and ordered some carryout pizza for dinner.
It was a bit of an early bedtime…unsurprisingly, after a day of eating candy and cake, followed by three huge slices of pizza, Henry said his stomach was bothering him a little. I took him to bed, watched the latest WandaVision and fell asleep myself. Full disclosure: it’s possible that I also had a bit too much pizza.
