Scored a great haul of old kids' books

A nice neighborhood was having a sale today and tomorrow and I stopped at a few houses over lunch. One place had a wonderful stash of kids' books, which was apparently much bigger at the start of the day. The man at the sale said, "She taught first through third grade, so they're mostly books for little kids."
Then a little later, "Are you a home schooler?"
Nope, but I might be before too much longer.
Anyway, the kid who picked these books must have had the exact same taste in reading that I did. I vividly remember reading both of these:

In the King book, a King without a kingdom goes on an adventure (naturally) and meets six friends along the way (I like ensemble casts). Each has a special power: one is a snake, another a fire, another an ax. Each one helps the out-of-work king, Zar, pass the three challenges required to win the princess's hand. Beautiful illustrations.

In the Snake book, a cowboy sign painter knows how to speak snake, "I worked one time don in Oklahoma territory, painting signs along the 'Strip.' Were a sight of snakes there, and almost no people, so if I wanted anybody to talk to, I had to learn snake," and befriends a bull snake who grows to an enormous size. The drawings in this book are beautiful too, all black and white line drawings.


I got this painting too with the idea of revising it, as this crafter did. Love the colors in it too.
I was thinking of cutting up some of the picture books to use for decoupage or as pictures in my kid's room, but I may not be able to bring myself to do that. We'll see.

Poopy day at work, but we had a fun picnic this evening. TF got the bubs out of day care early and they went to our favorite park down on the river. I picked up some snacky dinner stuff and we had a lovely dinner. Love my family so much.

I Kept My Name Both Times

The boy and I were at a parent/kid event the other day; it was billed as a "community building" thing, meet other parents, talk, learn about small businesses, etc. I had to make all the effort, naturally (seems to be a theme lately). I introduced myself to 4 moms, held 3 stilted conversations, and tried to talk to one dad, who ignored me. Granted his kid was throwing a ball around, so the dad was distracted.
Anyway, one mom's name tag said, "DD's and DD"s Mom." She had twin girls. Her own name wasn't even on the tag.
No thanks. I kept my own last name when I got married and as much as I love my kid, I'm not pitching my identity for him either.

It's a lose-lose proposition

Several times during the work day, I miss my kid. I stop for a minute, wonder what he's doing, look at his picture, look at the clock to figure how long til I get to see him, think about what we'll do together this weekend.
He's often the last kid at day care because I'm usually running late in the morning, so I stay at work as long as I can. We used to nurse in the car before heading home, but that's finished now. If he's cheery, I pop him in his car seat, give him a cracker and we're homebound. If he's grumpy, we play a little and then head home.
If dinner is leftovers, we play for awhile when we get home. If I have to make something from scratch, then I have to get right on it. If it's been a crappy day and I'm tired, the evenings aren't so great. Even more so if he's tired. Sometimes I snap at him and feel consumed with frustration when he fights me washing his hands or throws more food than usual at dinner. At those moments, it's hard to believe that just a few hours ago I couldn't wait to see him.
So, I feel bad for being angry with him and then guilty for not enjoying the limited time we have together.
Ick. Double ick.
My teutonic furnace may be able to pick up our little teutonic furnace ealry from day care tomorrow, so at least that's something good to think about.