(*Thank God It’s Almost Monday)

We spent this weekend in sinus infection (me), teething (Griff), and toddler boundary-testing/tantrum (guess who?) hell. It’s only through the grace of ibuprofen, amoxicillin and the local parks system that we all survived this very trying weekend, but we did.

Looking back, all we have to show for a mostly miserable couple of days are some nice pictures of happy people doing fun things. Which makes me wonder about all the beautifully photographed mommy craft blogs I read. (These would be the ones written by artsy women living in 100-year-old farmhouses while raising chickens and a gaggle of delightful rosy-cheeked kids who all apparently think making gnomes out of felt and pinecones is the awesomest thing ever and who would never watch Yo Gabba Gabba or want an iPad or throw screaming fits in the Brier Creek Noodles & Co and force their parents to pack up all the untasted food and go home to eat their crappy soggy reheated noodles in peace while their 1-year-old naps in his crib because he passed out on the drive home.)

But I digress. Despite the sickness, the whining, and the gallons of drool, there were some bearable periods.

From the “The Best $20 We’ve Ever Spent” Department comes this Bissell manual sweeper. Griff loves to push his lawn mower, and, as we hoped, he loves to push this thing just as much. The living room carpet was in great shape after a mere ten minutes of determined toddler-powered cleaning. We removed one rod from the handle to make it easier for him to hold. He loves it so much, we have to hide it after he stops using it or else he’ll throw a fit if we try to put it away. It works great at getting the cat hair off the carpet. And it’s Prime-able, Amazon fans!

During one of Griff’s much-anticipated naps, Jag and I managed to carve up the pumpkins we bought at the pumpkin patch a few weeks back. We’d been keeping them out on the porch, and they were in still in good shape. They’re not fancy, but they look pretty happy together.

We are really lucky to live in an area with a variety of great parks within a short distance. (Although I’d like to warn any fellow North Durham-ites to avoid River Forest Park like the plague unless you like trash-filled slides and a parking lot being used as an open-air car repair shop. I’m planning on writing a nasty email to DPR.) Griff absolutely has to have some serious outside run-around time every day, or he goes totally nuts(-er). We stopped at Little River Park and Old Farm Park over the weekend for some tire-out-the-toddler action.

Griff’s sweater is now finished except for the sleeves, and it fits great. I should actually be able to finish this thing before Thanksgiving!

Since I’m so busy with the sweater, I haven’t had time to knit Griff a hat, so we went shopping for one today. He loved this freaking hat so much that he refused to take it off in the store and the cashier had to scan it while it was still on his head. He wore it on and off right up until his bathtime, and I had to hide it in the hall outside his room so he wouldn’t try to put it back on when we came back in to put his PJs on. We shouldn’t complain, at least he wants to keep a hat on instead of flinging it on the ground.