The Peaden Life: February Wrap Up

Saturday, February 27, 2021

February Wrap Up

Here are a few other photo-worthy happenings from February:

-I got a code for $100 off a stitch-fix box and ordered one for David. Because I had already tried the company a year ago, I couldn't use the code - but they just started a men's line of clothes. Stitch Fix is a subscription company that has you fill out a style profile on their website, then sends you a box with five clothing items inside. You try them on, purchase the things you like and send back the things you don't. It's kind of fun, but the clothes are super expensive. With the $100 discount, it makes it less expensive and a fun thing to try one time. It was fun and David got a few shirts for like $4 after the discount. In an awesome turn of events, they gave him a referral code for $100 and each person that you referred could get $100 discount PLUS YOU get $100 credit. I referred some friends and David maxed out with $600 credit! So we are looking forward to getting several more boxes for him and hoping he gets some nice new outfits. It's been fun to do together. In other news (I didn't do this because of David's box although it was fun to do it at a similar time frame), I have been looking for a new dress to wear for Spring and ordered several from Amazon I tried them on, sent pictures to my sisters and picked the one I liked best. Yay.

Because of technology and Covid, Lydia got to watch Aubrey give her first talk at church as a Young Woman.

-My parents came to visit and they brought Rugby which was the highlight of Lydia's life, or at least her whole month. February is also Jacob's birthday and I'm glad for the time we've been able to spend together this month and grateful for Jacob in my life. I love my family and so grateful for the love and support offered from my parents, always.

-We built a new little bookshelf and this impromptu photoshoot of the kids climbing in the shelf turned out to be so darling.

Did I mention that Lydia loves Rugby?

This is my favorite children's book. There's no grand moral or life lesson (which I tend to gravitate towards in favorite children's books) but it's just so beautifully illustrated, cleverly written, and so darling. My kids know that even if I've already read all their bedtime books, if they ask for me to read one more I will say no unless it's this book and then I will absolutely say yes.

-It hasn't snowed much this winter, and the very few times that it has snowed it's melted before we've finished our school work and the kids haven't got to play in it. Finally I decided to take a day and let them play in the snow before going to school and they were thrilled.

-This is a funny story. Or at least a story. Several months ago, like at least 6 months, we were having a virtual game night playing Code Names. It was almost the end of the game and my team had the chance to win and one of our teammates looked right at me (later acknowledging that he knows I like science fiction books and stating that if anyone could get the reference I would) and said "Arrakis". My blank stare and expression of "What?!?" lost the game for us. I learned that Arrakis was a planet in the book Dune which is apparently "the greatest novel in the science-fiction canon". I balked at that statement and there was much back and forth about the book and it's status as greatest novel if I'd never even heard of it. Apparently there is history and truth to back the statement and so I set out to read the book. My library didn't have a copy so I tried downloading it and reading it on my phone, three maybe four times. I could never get into it before it was due back at the virtual library. It was too complex a book to be able to read on a 2.5x5 screen. We joked back and forth over several months about my inability to read the book and finally my little brother Jacob let me borrow his copy. Dune was the first real book in this space of future-old-world science fiction with massive world building structures in place (meaning you have to understand the rules of an entire different universe to understand the book). I could say a lot about the book, but I will say that I did not particularly enjoy the book. I do not think that it's the greatest science fiction novel ever. I think that there was too much evil and too little good and that the book itself lacked depth, or that the depth of it's characters felt forced. However, I can acknowledge the historical impact that this book had on the science fiction genre and I am glad to be able to add to my list of reading credentials that I have indeed read and have an opinion on Dune. And now, when playing codenames I will be able to identify the following connections in codenames: "Dune, sand, water, spice, orange, empire, guerilla, worm, etc.."

ADJ's aka After-Dinner-Jobs have been going strong in our home for several years now and it honestly makes such a huge difference. David and I try to be very intentional with the things that we are doing with the kids and are hoping that the effort we put into things now will pay off for them and us in the future. Currently, after dinner is over, Lydia takes out the dishes from the dishwasher, Austin clears off the table, and Caleb pulls out the chairs so that we can sweep. I clean the counters while Lydia is unloading and then load the dirty dishes in. David wipes the table and sweeps the floor. We depend on everyone doing their job and it makes a difference in our family. We got this structure from a lady named Ralphie (@simplyonpurpose) and she gives a little candy as a prize at the end of every ADJ. We switched it up a little and if you've done your adj when we've asked then you get an adj treat, which is a gummy vitamin. I feel like I'm winning in that arena because it helps me remember to give my kids vitamins and also provides an incentive for doing our adjs quickly. (If they complain or won't come do them, they still have to do the adj before bed but they just don't get their treat.)