Each year our elf, Buddy, leaves the kids each an advent calendar on the last day of November. Of course, I am the one who acquires the calendars at Aldi and always do this as soon as I see them out, usually this is at the beginning of November. This year was no different than any other and once I go the advent calendars home I found a nice hiding spot for them so that that kids could not find them.

Today we found out that our son told a girl in his class that she was, “fat and ugly”. He was not the only child who did this, a friend of his also said these unkind words, but what he did was wrong. Something you should know about our boy is that he is a sensitive soul. If we tell him he needs to work on his chewing at the dinner table his feelings are hurt, oftentimes there are tears; this is why it surprised me that he would have done something so hurtful to another child.

Today has been a rough one in the Clem household, part of the reason is that we are at the end of the first week of Christmas break and another part is that it is so cold outside we cannot get out to run around. My nine-year-old came downstairs to let me know that he had broken something. I immediately knew that the reason something was broken was due to the fact that he was using an old wooden cane as a sword (don't ask why we have this around...) and this caused me to be angry before I even saw the damage. R.J. felt bad, there were tears in his eyes and it was obvious that he knew what he had done was wrong; he had knocked a picture off of the wall and the glass had broken. Of course in the grand scheme of things this is not a big deal, nobody was hurt, the picture frame can easily be replaced, but he was being careless, and I lost my shit. I know that I said some things that I should have refrained from saying and that I could have handled myself better, but I did not. Once I took a couple of deep breaths I asked R.J if he understood why I was upset, of course he did. I asked him if this was different from the time he knocked a vase over at my brother's house, and he said it was, he knocked the vase over because who puts a three foot tall vase next to the fireplace when they are going to have a house full of kids? R.J. was standing next to the fireplace with his cousin and just backed into it...boom, shattered glass, immediate tears, but he was not at fault because he was not being rowdy or rambunctious. I then told him to go get the broom and dustpan and help me clean up the mess, I gave him a hug, told him I loved him, and the moment was over.

I had this big empty wall in our upstairs hall that was a bit boring and was longing to be useful. In a moment of pure genius I decided to turn it into a giant bulletin board so that I could easily hang and change out snapshots and R.J. and Lily's  artwork. I mentioned this to my mother-in-law and she suggested that I use old ceiling tiles; not only was I able to get some for free they worked perfectly. I covered 12 of them with different fabrics by folding the fabric over the back of the tile and adhering it with hot glue. I used paneling adhesive to attach each panel to the wall (just know that if you do not want this to be permanent you should find another way to put them on the wall); you just need to hold each panel for a minute or two before the adhesive grabs hold. I found some pretty straight pins in the sewing section of Walmart and my bulletin board was ready to go. 

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