Play Pen

My parents have a corn stove to heat their house in the winter time. My Dad uses corn (that’s been cleaned of dust and debris) that he harvests and puts it in a stove and it works exactly the same as a woodstove. It makes the house very warm (and very dry). I’ve already gone through half a bottle of moisturizer and two lip balms since being here. I will miss the heat when we go back to KC, but I won’t miss the dry skin, or the lack of internet (we live rurally) or the hard water. I have to wash my hair with bottled water because the hard water is much for my hair. I never had a problem with it growing up here, but after living in a city (not on a well system) my hair was not used to the minerals and deposits in the water. My hair was matted and greasy even though I washed it 9 times in the first week I was here (with 5 different shampoos). Finally, I researched it online and found that it’s a common problem. As soon as I started using bottled water – the problem was gone!

I think Allison will miss the corn cleaner most of all. My Dad built a structure to strain the dirt out of the corn and it’s in our garage. One night I was getting Allison into the bath when a half cup of corn fell out of her diaper. I was confused until my Dad told me he lets the kids play in the structure. It’s totally safe and shallow and Allison loves it. She gets a little wound-up but calms down quickly with the threat of being removed from the corn playpen. 

 

After dinner tonight, I went to Fraser and Shelley’s to relax and play a board game. I haven’t played a game with friends in a really long time so I was really excited. I was nervous about my mom getting Allison to bed though. I had a great time playing the game (it was called Quelf) even though it was a little too “outgoing” for me. Allison was awake on my mom’s lap when I got home, but I snuggled into bed with her and she quickly went back to sleep.