Weekend recap

So Anthony and I really enjoyed our quiet weekend.  We went and heard our Manny, Wesley, play on Friday night.  He came over to our house after with a new band member to continue the party.

We slept and slept and slept on Saturday morning.  Mmmmm.  Got up for a lazy breakfast, lazed around the house, went to Costco.   We had a few friends over for a get-together in the evening.  All that lying-in makes me stay up WAYYYY too late.

Valentine's Day we snoozed again, then did some gardening in the warm morning sunshine.  Good thing -- hours later a cold front made it all grey and chilly.  I cleaned up Anna's room (more on that later), did some Bollywood dancing, then met my sweetheart for sushi and Thai food (our V-day tradition, this time without kiddos).

Anna and my sister Emily cleaned out her room a few months ago when she painted it.  It was already a disaster area, again.  Anna is a pack-rat extraordinaire, and unfortunately inherited her organization skills from me.  I told her several times to straighten up, and in the past I have sat with her and tried to help her clean up and cull the detritus - an exercise that lasts many hours, and results in much frustration on both our parts and very little clean up.  The girl simply cannot bear to get rid of ANYTHING, not even to make room for new birthday presents.

I told Anna if she didn't clean up her room before she went to Houston, I'd do it when she was gone.  She was very worried I'd get rid of precious treasures, so I told her I'd put everything in a box, and anything in it she asked for I would return to her.  "But what if there is something in there that I love but I can't remember?" she wailed.  Well, then you enjoyed it and don't need it anymore.  She wasn't convinced.

Going through Anna's room, I removed 2 trash bags of verifiable junk and one large box of possible treasures.  Anna had saved every scrap of paper, things that said "Colin 5 pts, Anna 8 pts" were saved with certificates of achievement, all of it crammed into drawers, shelves, under furniture, etc.  Every plastic necklace and hideous bauble from China was there.

But also there was this: at least a dozen books written and published by Anna on the StarWars movies, and a screenplay for Episode 7: Four Friendly Faces Return.  These are hand written books, most illustrated, stapled together by the author herself.  One has an author bio on the back:  "Anna Martin is 8 years old, she enjoys ballet and playing with her brother, Colin...."  Also, there is an entirely original book, based on a brother-sister pair who meet some new neighbors; it is not finished but is written as maturely as the Tree House series are.

I was really impressed.  And I am determined to remember all these amazing books she has made, and I will try to forget all the many Ziploc bags filled with random magazine clippings, with blank pages also titled "My Favorite Magazine Pictures," just waiting to be filled. (seriously, found 3 versions of this future project.)

And when Anna got home, she LOVED her new tidy room and thanked me.  She has not asked for anything from the box.