We let the worm composter go for awhile without regular attention, so we're restarting three trays this weekend. Laurel enjoys helping with the worms, so I'm only helping minimally this round. (My knees are thankful for that.) Some of the finished compost will be going to repot the ficus plants and restart the potted grass for the cat. The pineapple could stand to be repotted too, but I have to cut it back first. Not a fan of bromeliads poking me.

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The Thursday winter weather postponed the school event where we're providing face painting and balloon decor to the end of the month. This gives me more time to buy some small Snazaroo palettes, a couple of stampers (with volunteers of unknown experience painting it's a good choice) and decide whether to buy cosmetic glitter. I'm considering the UV reactive Snazaroo paint too, but that would be for personal use.

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After hitting another plateau of motivation/behavior with Laurel, we've been listening to the audiobook of Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication and applying it there. It would have been nice to do the Landmark Forum, read Richard Lavoie's books and listen to Rosenberg earlier in Laurel's life. Just Lavoie's books would have been much more useful to read while I was pregnant than the "What to Expect" series and never-let-your-child-cry books that made up most of my local library's parenting collection.

We've also been using new-to-her music as an earned incentive for consistent behavior, so this weekend I sussed out her taste in Desi music some more (I've been downloading desihits.com podcasts and noting artists she likes) and I bought Baby Loves Jazz and Vienna Teng albums to burn to disc for her to work toward.

Re Friday's post, I didn't buy those facepaints I wanted after all. The specific part I wanted (a plastic palette that holds 16 2ml and two 18ml pots, then fits in a separately available holder, great for walkaround work) won't show up when I select "add to cart" on T. Myers's online catalog and the only package it's part of is more than I can afford. Vogon offered to buy it for me, but if he's going to spend money on nonessential things I want, Laurel should get her 4-year immunizations instead so I can put her in daycare and find a real job.

I spent the afternoon working on Laurel's room instead of this week's Fly zone, the kitchen. I found one of the missing Christmas ornaments or, rather, it found me -- and now I can't bend the top joint of my right index finger, which makes typing awkward and pretty much puts a halt to my fine handwork projects until it heals. It's definitely turning into a kid-run household when searching through the sizable Band-Aid stash still yields the choice between cartoon characters and Nexcare™ Tattoo prints. My kingdom for a plain Band-Aid!

While I was waving my hand around and trying to figure out what cut me, Laurel helpfully announced "Mommy, you're bleeding! Go clean it up!" She's otherwise been particularly unhelpful with regards to cleaning. *sigh* She practically begged to help but either can't or won't follow simple directions, so "Please put these Duplo bricks in their bag in the living room" resulted in her going in the other room and screaming that she couldn't find the bag while she was literally _standing_ on it.

To add to the fun, the vacuum decided to stop sucking despite having an empty dust cup and no obvious clogs. I should check for hanging anvils next time I go in that hole. We were discussing having a picnic lunch tomorrow, but now that I have to seriously troubleshoot the vacuum and focus on the hole room until it's reasonably safe again, Vogon can come home and feed himself and Laurel lunch while I take the chance to clean without her underfoot.

My next post will be the thrilling conclusion... and hopefully sometime later this week. It would be very satisfying to report that I shoveled all the non-clothing, jewelery and photo items into garbage bags and the vacuum spontaneously fixed itself, but it will probably be much less interesting. I'm off to see what Laurel didn't run off with from the latest package from my folks. I know she already mauled open her gift and ran off with a pair of slippers, but my facepainting smock should be in there and I saw my A/V Geeks' Educational Archives Vol. 1-4 Lunchbox-ed Set and Fantasia box set while Laurel was tearing things up, so there's something to look forward to watching when she's asleep.

I survived the Saturday gig with relatively little fuss. I had a decent time, got to listen to four hours of live music by Gypsy Moon while working, and had some really cute requests from some of the kids, such as the one that brought his dog over and asked if I could paint his dog's face on his hand.

Laurel had a good weekend with her paternal grandparents -- she didn't want them to leave after they brought her home today! Luckily they had a little time to spare and stayed around until she was more ready to say goodbye to them.

Himself arrives in Denver via Greyhound on Monday morning, having turned down his dad's offers to pull some strings to get him here Space-A from Pope. (If I got an offer like that from a retired Lt.Col, you can bet I wouldn't turn it down.) In a rare display of synchronicity in our lives, the fortune in my cookie after Chinese with my family on Saturday night read: "You are almost there." And on that note, I'll be seeing him in just over 8 hours as I write this and look forward to his visit because every moment is precious.