I have a box labeled “Rainy Day” that I chuck sale item fun into. The idea is that when we get a rainy day, the kids get bored, ask me what to do and I say, “well, lovely children, why don’t you check the Rainy Day box.” Though it usually comes out as, “go away, I’m [cooking/cleaning/helping your father/sitting].” Those cheeky monkeys found the Rainy Day box right as I was secretly building it thus redefining the box as an “Everyday Something New and Fun” box. I stopped adding. They enjoyed it and it was gone.

Today, you see, in the Gers we have rain. It has been a proper rain with puddles and gray and a feeling that the fire needs to be on. Otto pounds down the stairs after some finite form of entertainment claiming that he is bored. “What can I do?!” he mopes.

I suggest ten items of clean and he gives me a huge eyeroll. “Well, darling child of mine, have you checked the Rainy Day box?” that should diffuse his frustration and perhaps he’ll find some distraction along the way. Knowing full well that the last item I saw in Rainy Day was a lid to a clever cardboard box from Ikea, I was spared a few moments from a whining eight-year-old boy. Then he returns with a grumpy pout and two white balloons. “TWO BALLONS!!” he flaps, “THAT’S ALL!!”

“Well, how many things can you do with two balloons?” The challenge was on. A crazy balloon race! Two balloons, a bit of rope, engineered to deflate straight, flopped with giggles. A state of the art Air Machine fluttered his blonde mop. A serious exhale followed by a balloon inhale added more data to understanding how his lungs work. Sounds were squeaked, creatures were made, sisters were whacked.

Tosca relieved her boredom by spontaneously resting on a piece of balloon race rope debris. She’s so crazy, that Tosca. No matter what conditions, each morsel taken care of. You go, old girl!