Sanguine

Christmas is kind of awesome, what can I say. I realized with a sudden seize of the chest a few minutes ago that it's time for the annual toy purge. It's been a pretty hardcore obsession of mine since I realized kids mean toys, that every year, somewhere between birthday and Christmas, we would go through all of Ro's toys and collect everything she no longer played with, or that I was pretty sick of picking up off the floor, and donate it to a local shelter for families in need. I have a few things in mind for this year that will be on their way out the door in short order, and seem to be on the fence about ditching her Parents Magazine Raise the Roof barn, since she's managed to break off both a window and a door now. Awesome.

Anyway, the barn is thus:

And frankly, it's really adorable and hard to find these days, and I can't get over that it's a $70 wooden toy that I found at Tuesday Morning for $16.98. WHAT. Right? But on the other hand, my daughter is actually crazy and likes to pull off the wooden slats that make up the roof and throw them. I've given consideration to nailing them on, or in the very least, superglue, but I think she'd get so mad that she couldn't take them off anymore, that she'd throw the whole barn.

And don't try telling me that she's not strong enough, day before yesterday I found her bed in the middle of the room. If it was upside down I would have said, "definitely a little early to take on a Poltergeist, Ro," but it wasn't, so I know it was her and only her. She's a freak of nature.

Hello, I digress. All this to say, I can't decide if I should give the barn away or not. Maybe just give the barn away and keep all the animals and fences. Because really, my intention is to buy one of those amazing $400 Holztiger wooden dollhouses that looks like it could be a house or barn or fairy bower or anything you want it to be before the new lead testing laws make all toys impossible to purchase.

What am I talking about, where am I going to get the guts to spend $400 on a dollhouse?

...No matter how cute it is.