A bit Easier.

 Yesterday was a wobbly day. No other word for it, and today, truth be told, it was yet another wobbly day, and that is some nonsense right there. 

We had some work to do at the renovation, taking apart the 8 foot tall cabinet so that we could give the doors away. We were meeting the people tonight. While we were there, a quick giveaway...the 'small' 30 x 34 inch mirror was claimed by a couple who were renovating a bathroom. She did not want a medicine cabinet, only a large mirror behind the sink. They were thrilled to find one for free. We were thrilled to get another thing gone from that house. 

Once our work was completed, we came home. Tim wanted to spend the afternoon hunting, so I fixed him a hot roast turkey sandwich and then he was out the door with a nice container of turkey and gravy for the kittens as well. 

Left to my own devices, I looked around blogs for a time. That 'black dog' was still on my heels. When I ran out of my regular blogs, I glanced at side bars. I noticed that Tasker had one 'Finding Life Hard?' and so I clicked on that because, yeah, right this minute, I'm finding life a bit hard. She showed a game that her husband had made for her, and it popped into my head that this would certainly be a game that the Amish kids loved. 

The hematite pieces are divided up between the players, the extra pieces set inside the string ring. The players take turns putting their hematite into the circle. If your hematite attracts other pieces, they become yours. The first player to get rid of all of his pieces is the winner. Simple game. No reading required. Good for all ages. 

I looked around and bought a quarter pound of hematite

I started to feel a little excited, so I browsed around some more. I found Shut the Box. That's a big favorite around here, fast paced, easy to play, good for rudimentary math skills. They make a six player game! Who knew? I bought one of them and a Perplexus Maze ball too. 

I don't generally buy a great deal of new things. Just a handful, and flesh that out with nice things from the thrift stores. As delighted as they were with that old box of children's books from my childhood days, I keep an eye out for used books. 20 books in a box will make their day. They love to sit together in their warm kitchen in front of the wood stove, eating popcorn and putting together jigsaw puzzles, so I always like to toss in 3 or 4 of those. Candy is a good choice too. Strangely, Rudy loves trucks. Littlest David loves horses, and I got a nice deal on some Breyer horses. A woman was selling an unopened 152 crayola crayon set for $8. on Market Place. I bought that too. 

My mind danced along making plans and lists. It really does not matter what you get for the nine of them. Wrapped gifts are a novelty and they are just as tickled to unwrap a box of candy canes as they are to unwrap a game, and remembering their excitement made me happy. For an afternoon, I was not finding life hard.

So...thank you, Tasker for the link that led to Liz.