This isn’t my annual recap of the year. It’s Wed Feb 19th, and I’m sitting on the train, sipping hot chocolate, and am surrounded, it seems, by people on vacation, heading to Manhattan. I, on the other hand, have used up all of my limited vacation days this year, and will be working through the end of the year. Sigh. At least we have a 4-day Christmas weekend coming up.
So the year went fast. Well, it did for me anyway. This was my first year at the new job, with lots to learn about the new-to-me organization. Between figuring out the ropes at work, my wife and her increasingly hectic schedule, and both of us attempting to get the kids to all of their activities, I think we could use a little downtime. It’s no wonder the year went fast — we’ve been running without much time to stop.
A week and a half left to go for 2012. Christmas is coming. Yesterday, I used my last remaining time-off (a half-day), and Nums & I went to the IKEA in Elizabeth NJ to secretly find, purchase, and bring home furniture for a new playroom for the kids. We debated and argued about what to get the kids for Christmas. We got them the bunk beds last Christmas, and my wife wanted to get something cool and different.
We settled on converting the guest room / home office into a playroom / home office. I’m not certain I like that combination, but we’re gonna try to make that work. These days, the house is a little cramped, and we agreed that the kids would have a lot more fun if they had room to stretch out. This is how it’s going to work:
1. Yesterday was phase 1. We bought a large mesh box and bench for their costumes and other dress-up stuff. We also bought Lily a presumably nice bean bag for relaxing. We also bought Josh a desk and chair to call his own.
2. This week, we are removing the guest bed (and taking the mattress & box spring for our own use), dumping the old broken dressers, and emptying both bookshelves. We’ll leave one large bookshelf for their overflowing library.
3. We’ll be secretly putting the furniture together at night, moving their easel and other toy bins/chests into the new playroom, and decorating other facets if the room to make it more kid-friendly. We’ll hopefully have a defined space for Josh to call his own, for Lily to call her own, all their toys and games in that same, and a large area in the center of the room to play.
Still a lot to do between now and Christmas, and I personally also have a lot to do at work before the end of the year. I hope everything works out.