lego maniac

I've mentioned Legos quite a lot lately, as they have been one of my main occupations when A comes home from camp. Snoopy has a house now, and my stalled architectural aspirations have been re-ignited as I design modern homes for the motley assortment of Lego minifigs that live in A's room. He keeps himself busy making space-ships for Darth Vader, a throne for the emperor, and what he calls "new sets" of Legos. He'll put a bunch of figures together, make a car or a black box that looks like the thing in Mecca (but it's a volcano, mommy! can't you see the red on the bottom?), and that's a set.

I truly enjoy the organizational challenge of having these legos around. I think I have always enjoyed sorting things, arranging things by size or time period (I love timelines), and the Container Store is really unfortunate to not have a closer location than DC, as the rows and rows of plastic boxes, bins, shelves, and organizational systems have me drooling. I really do enjoy the simple pleasures. Plastic boxes. Wow. A thrill a minute. Anyway, when A decides that he will be a human wrecking-ball for the creations I've spent hours on (an exercise in the grieving process. I'm doing well), I'll gather all the pieces and sort them into more and more specific groups, so the next building project is much more satisfying and easier to complete. Bringing order from the chaos, one brick at a time. Neurotic nerds, unite!

A and I made this smugglers' hideout with lots of castle pieces. There's a beach with hammock and palm trees, a secret boat entrance where barrels are loaded, a watch-alligator and an extensive network of stairs and lookout posts, along with a prison cell complete with lava and snakes for any government agents who stumble on the location.Here's my asymmetrical home of the future/70's. A triumph of glass-walled construction.And here's A in his element, with the lovely box my dad and I made so long ago for lego storage.