First Day of School

Yesterday was Elsa's first day at her new daycare. She has been with her wonderful sitter, Diane, since she was 3 months old. It was a wonderful environment where she has truly thrived and excelled in a loving warm home. 

I'm not going to lie when I say I have reservations about a more institutionalized type of care. Unfortunately, at this time we didn't have a whole lot of other options. We picked a center that is convienent and that we felt comfortable about the level of care she would receive. While she had a great day according to her new teacher I was a mess. I worried if she would feel welcomed, would she adjust to the schedule, would she take a nap in a room full of other kids and would she miss us or cry? She did fine, she only cried when she saw other kids playing outside but they couldn't go outside. All in all it appears she will adjust just fine. Day two is tomorrow. Hopefully it will be just as successful as day one. 

Museum day

Today the Florida Museum of Natural History held their Wolf to Woof exhibit celebration. Steve was off fishing so Elsa and I spent the morning with the dogs and butterflies. She had a blast. And she got to visit with her little friend Skylar. And we put her to work at the front desk. 

Somebody has to do it

And tonight it was me. I got the pleasure of cleaning a batch of the museum votives we use for events. This is annoying on so many levels. For starters, they belong to the membership department, but being the nice person I am I let anyone borrow them that needs them. Not one person has offered to clean them. They get put back in the closet covered in wax. Then when I go to use them, they are a mess. Secondly, they are covered in wax. When people borrow them they tilt them with hot wax in them, thus getting wax all over. I prefer to be OCD and let the wax cool before I move them. Thus keeping the wax in the little tea light metal cups.

Now how to clean them depends on whether there is a lot of wax or just "smudgy" wax. A lot of wax can be frozen out. For smudgy wax I use super hot water in a bowl, soak them then wipe them down. Both methods are pretty effective.

Here are the fruits of my labor. Well about half of them anyways.

Sunday swinging

Today was a pretty laid back day. We ran some errands in the morning and after Elsa's nap we wandered around the yard. We did some quality swinging, raked the yard, and fed the fish. It was a beautiful day indeed! 

Our dead little trees

 Our dead little trees aren't so dead after all. We thought these two next to each other were dead all this time. Apparently they are going to be beautiful. I discovered buds on both on Sunday and now they are slowly starting to bloom. I've been told one is a magnolia and the other might be a peach or cherry tree. Only time will tell.