Oscar the grouch

I didn't go to work today, since it's a federal holiday, but I did do quite a bit of post holiday cleaning around the house. I'm amazed at how much trash one person and a toddler can produce. Germany has very strict recycling laws therefore trash has been the bain of my existence for months. You've got the "plastic/aluminum" bag, the "paper/cardboard" bag, the "regular" trash (like spoiled food) bag, and the "diaper" bag, oh yeah and the biodegradable trash like leaves and banana peels trash bin. Yeah...I think that's it. So I spent most of the morning breaking down cardboard boxes that were used to ship Christmas gifts to us. There was also all the wrapping paper and tinsel to bag up and get in the appropriate trash bag. I also realized just how much bottled water I drink. I went around the house picking up stray bottles, cans, ect and sorted them in the appropriate bags. Errrgggh....I hate working to throw stuff away! Just another way to show how spoiled we are in America.
Once I got done getting all the trash bagged up, (6 plastics bags, 6 paper bags, 1 diaper bag...and a partridge in a pear tree..LOL) I went to take them to a recycling point. One problem. It's a federal holiday and even the Germans aren't working. Oh well, I'll just take it to work with me tomorrow and drop it off then.
Once I got done with the trash, I worked on another project. We have an extra room in our house between the kitchen and living room that until now we've been using for junk/storage. Um...it's called a dining room, but we never use it! So I cleaned out all the junk, baby proofed it and turned it into an extension of the living room so that my son will have more room to play. It looks almost like his very own personal play room. He just had a blast in there tonight. You could tell he really liked having a new place to play. And since he's got such good grandparents, we have plenty of toys to fill both rooms! :) Man he is one lucky kid. I think we as a family are pretty darned fortunate.
By the time I was done with that project, it was time to pick up the kiddo from the sitter. I finally turned his carseat around to face the front. He's a big boy now and is ready to face the world.
Well, the holidays are over now. They sure are nice, but they tend to leave a lot of debris behind with them. I look forward to next years mess in the good ol' US of A!