BeReal or Don't

I figured I needed to take a break from Aggie pics for a couple days.

Here is when the house was relatively clean!  Last Thursday, for my ladies Bible study that I hosted.

Sorry you missed it!

Don't you love the BeReal app?!  The real selfies...  You only get 2 minutes so no makeup!

Like I ever anyway...

Today I plan to spend some time working on Leon's room.  He's only here on the weekends right now and asked if we could switch things up in there, including moving the bed, bookshelf and getting a desk out of there. yeah....  Not sure where the desk will go but I have room in the garage for the time being.

Full of What?!

 Life has been full!  Not all because of this little girl but she IS fun.  I can't believe she'll be 4 months in a couple weeks!

I made my sample batch of Hawaiian rolls last weekend in prep for our personal family Thanksgiving this Sunday.  I'm making turkey sliders.  The rolls are SO good! I made another couple batches yesterday and plan to make two more as soon as the bread machine pans come out of the dishwasher.  I have two bread machines so double your carbs in half the time! :)

The recipe is HERE in case you want to try it in your bread machines.  Google for a different recipe if you don't have a machine.

A few months ago, I was taking garbage to our local waste reclamation center and I found two heavy duty bookcases!  I know, right?!  EEWWW, they're from the dump???!!!  Another mans junk... was tucked into my van!

They sat in the garage until this week when I decided to clean up one of them and set it up in the Livingroom.  It looks like it should have been there the whole time!  Jen called dibbys on the other one so that'll go downstairs this weekend.

And yes, we have a security camera in the living room.  Don't do anything stupid in there or it will be recorded for proof later!  If we think to look at the recordings...

Kevin seems to love it.  So I left that side of the shelf just for him.  Games that we don't play a lot are on the lower shelves to free up the actual game cabinet a little better.  It was getting too crowded.

And in line with my church's Bible study theme, I found this mug online!

Who can I give it to? hmmm

Kevin is leaning on the sill with his elbows...  What a crazy cat.  Frank must have been in the garage.

Here is a tip for when to pull the turkey out of the freezer for next week, unless you're doing sliders of course, because then you'd buy sliced meat.

Leon will be here for the weekend and if he's home in time, we'll get an episode of Dr. Who in.  And if I don't get back to my blog before next week, Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

These are the socks that never end

 I just checked with Biolife and can go back next Tuesday. woohoo!  Hopefully I'll be negative by this weekend.  I hope to test again on Friday.  Still no symptoms to speak of.

Last night, the girls, Ryan (Meri's bf) and I played UNO online and were on a DUO call at the same time.  It was a lot of fun and I hope we do that again sometime soon.  This isolation is really bothering me.  

I spent some time in Robb's closet yesterday, reorganizing it.  It's so much neater now and all the extra junk that was in there is out.  Mostly boxes of mismatched socks and some more outgrown clothing of Leons.  Maybe one more bag of Maddy's clothes.  I'll make her go thru that when she can come back in here safely.  The suitcases are full of Robb's clothes.  I'll do something with them some day.  Just not yet.  About 30 ties hanging behind each door on racks.

That's my wedding dress in the box on the top shelf.  There are also several shelves to the right that have a teensy bit of Robb's Sci-Fi books (the rest are packed up in the garage), medical stuff like knee brace, wrist brace, etc.  Whenever I find something around the house that fits that category, it goes on that shelf.  And memorabilia that was Robb's, like an old Thundercats lunch box he was given as a gag gift.  He LOVED Thundercats in college and a bunch of his college friends would get together at the time it was on tv and watch it together.

I don't know why I have all these plastic horses in here...  Probably to keep them safe for grandkids.

The beer that Rod Stewart gave him when his pipe band opened for Rod's concert.  Rod didn't PERSONALLY give the beer, but had some lackey bring a cooler of it for the whole band.  So since Robb didn't drink, he kept it as a souvenir.  

Anyway, I partnered socks.  Does anyone else say "partnered" or do you "match" socks?  I've always called it "partnering".  It's in my bloodline to call it that.  Don't I sound like a cowgirl?!  I heaped them all on my bed and sorted them out, partnering as I went.  Then into each pile of like type socks, sorted deeper.  These have stripes, these have polka dots, etc.

This representation is in NO means all of the socks.  There was a LOT more than this.

As I partnered and looked for a match, I realized, why am I looking for a match for a sock that not only has the heel worn out, but is uglier than sin?  No one has worn this sock for over 20 years, why do I care about it? *pitched it*  Those were mostly girl socks.  I'm sure I'll regret it in 3 months when I find the partner for it behind the dryer.

I don't feel like pitching any of Robb's holey socks yet.  Ryan wears his socks so I keep them in a separate bin still.  Ryan will raid it when he needs to and I'm sure Leon will someday too.  For now, the bin is in here with me though.

Here's to another productive, isolated day, another problem area to get cleaned up.

All Sanitized Up And No Place To Go

 Remember me saying that Ada had covid?

Well, guess what?

For the record, that's NOT a pregnancy test.

A friend wanted me to come over on Friday night for dinner and I didn't want to get her sick, so instead of waiting for Saturday to do a test, I did the test on Friday. 

c$*p.

So I've been in isolation since Friday, escaping the confines of my bedroom only to get breakfast and some pop/ice at 5:30am (well masked, gloves and dripping in hand sanitizer).  Also after yelling downstairs that I'm coming down, giving them ample time to get the heck out of my way, for the food that either Meri brings over, Jen makes and leaves outside my door or some canned food.  I'm snacking on some canned coleslaw right now. YUM!

Me, waiting for Meri's supper last night.  Just leave it on bench! Thanks!

Other than that, I've been stuck in my room all weekend thru today.  I tested myself again yesterday and yep, still positive.  I was kind of hoping the first test was a false positive.

So far, no symptoms outside of my cold that seems to have hung on.  It's weird.  It's almost like I'm becoming an introvert.  I kind of like it...  and I'm NOT an introvert! But I see it's appeal.

You'd think introverts would have the cleanest houses!  Because every day, I'm looking around my room, thinking, "yuck. how have I lived with that bookshelf/closet/bedside drawers/trunk looking like that?"  And the bathroom floor might even get mopped at this rate.  I'm pretty sure the lines around the tiles aren't supposed to be gray.  We'll see later.

I sorted and cleaned out my (supposedly) walk-in closet, which produced 5 bags of clothes for Leon's half siblings, 5-6 bags of rejected items (sheets/clothing/etc) for donations to either Goodwill or Salvation Army and 3 bags of garbage.  I can WALK into my closet and there's still a lot of stuff in there, but at least now I can get to it without climbing over bags of outgrown clothing.

I sorted out Robb's bedside stand and after a good bout of crying, the drawers are all organized.  He'd have hated the neatness of it.  You can see everything at a glance and that would be terrible for him. It takes away the hope that there is a toenail clipper in there somewhere.  *nope*

On Sunday, I streamed church and then for the entire rest of the day, organized all my jewelry that had been in a wadded up heap for years!  I actually have partnered earrings now!  Maddy said that I have a lot of jewelry.  And I guess I do.  I had a regular Avon lady for a good many years, attended several home jewelry parties including Silpada, Sarah Coventry, and some other MLM parties that I don't remember.  I was invited to them all and if they were serving treats? You bet I was there!  Buying the cheapest thing in the catalog.  After having a Tupperware party AND a lingerie party, both the first week in our last house as kind of a housewarming party.  Robb asked me sincerely to use him as an excuse that we don't do that anymore.  So I did! :)  "My husband says I can't".  But I sure went to the parties!

So yeah, I guess I do have a lot of jewelry.  There are some gifts that the kids made for me too.  If you look closely, there is a Lego necklace that I could NEVER part with.  And Robb bought me a lot too.  The bracelets, rings and watches are in a different area.

Nothing very expensive, but they are steeped in sentimentality.

The kids have been wonderful and concerned.  They insisted that I send out hourly, homemade, BeReal updates to them.  As soon as the hourly alarm on my phone goes off, I have to take a pic of what I can see and what I look like and send to them.  No arranging the photos to make it look good. The thing is to BE REAL.  sigh.  It's like they're going to write a book documenting my demise.  But I'm doing it!

And don't critique my bed making skills, or lack thereof.  Who's going to see it?!  me. and I don't care today.  The bathroom drawers are all lined up for my next organizing stint. Lots of junk in there.

My sister-in-law thought it would be funny to send different pics to throw the kids off.  So one hour I sent them a pic of her pantry, the next hour I sent them this.

Instead of where did all those Golden Retrievers come from or why do you have a pool in your room, it was all, "Who is that man and why is he in your bedroom?"  sigh.  SOMEBODY needs to manage the dogs and the pool!

Why do I have to be contagious in order to carve time to do deep cleaning in areas of the house that no one will see?!  Well, it's getting done.  Maybe once it's all clean, it'll give me the boost I need to hit other problem spots in the house. maybe.

Mental Housekeeping

 I don't know if this happens to you...

But... I had some diet coke late in the afternoon on Sunday while I was sewing.  Kept drinking it most of the evening while I sewed. NO PROBLEM!

I was able to get to sleep without any issues, but my brain woke up around 1:30 and wouldn't shut up until at least 3.  In my mind, while I lay there with brain racing, I thought about housework that needed to get done.  I went through each housekeeping task in my head, as if that would do it. Made sense at the time.  So I cleaned my whole house top to bottom, "in my mind..." and frankly by Monday morning, I was exhausted!  Housework will do that to you.

Even if I'm only mental...

So then comes last night.  I got to bed at a decent hour even!!  SO ready for a good night's sleep.  Texted with Meri a little confirming our workout time in the morning and I was just drifting off when my phone beeped again.  I figured it was Meri but it was a work call.  uggggghhhh..  So I pulled on a robe and camped out in the living room trying to solve a problem that only happens randomly at night for these people.  But I was determined to figure out the issue this time so it won't interfere with my sleep again.  I even got my boss involved a few times, especially when I accidentally, singlehandedly brought their system to a screeching halt by accidentally moving some major files into a hidden folder...  whoops!  Boy was I hyperventilating!  Had to call my boss again to share and he was suddenly awake with heart palpitations too...  Good thing there was only 1 person in the lab and he didn't notice.  I worked and worked and finally got the issue resolved around 2:30am.  uggggghhhhh....

My boss gave me permission to come into work late today. umm was planning on it anyway! :)

But I woke up only an hour or so later than usual and even though every movement was sluggish, I was only late to work by an hour.  My boss had already warned my co-workers to be nice to me today. :)  It makes a difference!  So minimal sleep last night and no workout this morning, makes for a cranky woman.  I even had a double shot of my cappuccino as well as two big cups of hot tea and a whole bag of pork rinds so far.  There's some cold caffeine waiting for me when I get around to it.

What a day!

Oh, this is Leon's plate of ice that he was able to carefully carve around and clean off.  He winged it into the house wall shortly following this pic.  I had shared with him that when I was a girl, I'd sit in the snow and carve out my own china set for tea out of the ice layers on top of the snow.

Oh, Leon has discovered the Connect 4 game and he's developing his own strategy on beating Grandma.  It's basically keeping a watch on me and if I suddenly look nervous or happy about where he's going to drop his little plastic disc, he looks closer to see who might win.  I don't think it's a valid rule, but APPARENTLY this is called a "regret move".  If you drop a disc in and see that you might suddenly lose, you can back it out. He's gotten good at it, but his dad caught him doing it yesterday during our game and told him to knock it off.  I didn't care, but someone his own age would punch him in the nose.

For one game, he wanted to do a checkerboard pattern and I can see several wins on both sides here. Luckily we wouldn't playing "blackout" so it was just for fun.

And that's my Star Wars puzzle from New Years.  I'll get it done eventually.  I find 3 or 4 pieces in it each day.  At 1500 pieces, I'll have it done by next Christmas.

Whew... the day is halfway done!!  good.  However Robb and I are helping someone move tonight.  

I won't make the mistake of drinking caffeine after 5 again though!...

Even though I may really really really need it.

Eh - what'll it hurt?

I've got some housework that needs to get done.

Normality. Is it worth it?

So Ryan was having breakfast with Leon and I had a few minutes to MYSELF!  So I sat in the big butt chair sideways and looked up at our Christmas tree.  

The prelit-ness of the tree hasn't worked for years, so I've been stringing some on myself and then half of those died this year.  So the tree looked wonky all season long.  Oh well.  

Even wonky-ness has it's majestic qualities.

So this morning, I moved the coffee table as close to the base as possible, holding up some of the bottom branches, grabbed a cane and pulled it over.  Pulling each section off and pulling off the Christmas lights of each one.  This is how I always take it down.  

And this is how the carpet always looks as it happens...  Yikes.

At our old house, we had Berber carpet, which is little loops of carpeting instead of normal carpet.  If you used a vacuum to suck up all the pine needles (we did a fresh tree a few times), it would do nothing more than push the tiny green bits into the carpet further.  So we had to pick up all the green junk by hand at that house.  

I should probably bring out the vacuum...

Have a great Wednesday!  Life is almost back to normal.

Bummer.

Cleaning Mode

I REALLY need to get working on those slacks and suit jacket, but not feeling it yet.  Probably tonight or tomorrow night.  Maybe this afternoon...  

The slam back into cold weather has put me into a cleaning mood.  Plus the fact that I found Reedus in the living room this morning with a brand new bag of bagels, mostly gone.  Not that I'm going eat the last half he left...  but he's in a bagel coma this morning and I don't care.

Naughty dog...

So I cleaned out the corner cupboard in the kitchen so that whatever bread doesn't fit in the counter breadbox can be put in that cupboard.  DONE.  

But now I'm left with about 30 mugs that have no home.  I put the decorative ones that mean something to someone in the house in the hutch, 15 got put in the back hutch that needs to get cleaned next time I'm in this mood, and then several that I'll either get rid of, tuck in the back hutch until a future date or give to the Goodwill.  I did offer several up on the Facebook donation page but haven't had any takers yet.  Eh - they might get to the Goodwill too.

Someone asked me on the fb page if the price is negotiable...  The price said free, even in the description.

ummm ok... you can pay me if you want!

How about 1/2 of free?

I sent a pic of a bunch of the mugs to our facebook family group page for the kids to fight over.  

Plus some specialty coffees that I found up there.  No one here will use them, so there they are.

The mugs meant something to us at one time, but come on. The cappuccino mugs just aren't big enough for one my size...  They sure were cute tho!  

I already have a taker on the cappuccino mugs!

We might be able to have a space at the counter for dinner tonight after all!

Back to the old grind...

Drenched Goals

I got a couple, three hours of work in on the garage yesterday!  Meri's future furniture is stacked on one side and I had another pile of stuff to take to the dump.  Plus an old ripped up tire with a bent rim for our car guy who said he'd take it for free.  Thank you Corey!!

So I got up earlier than usual today and actually got breakfast with Robb.  Loaded all the junk into the van and headed out.  JUST got back a little while ago and am trapped in my driveway.  The rain in pouring and if we hadn't gotten new tires on the van, I'd probably be hydroplaning across the driveway... ;)  probably not really. 

A little exaggeration is good for your hair, right?

Robb said the rain should last another 20 minutes.  I hope I have enough juice in my laptop for that...  and hopefully no hail. 

Anyway, making tracks on the garage and office sorting project.  If nothing else, it makes me feel less stressed.  The less baggage, the less baggage. 

Oh, I worked from my office yesterday for the first time since before Christmas! 

Looking forward to an organized house! 

and then I'll sew.

update: The power in the house went out.  I knew this because suddenly my internet connection dropped and I couldn't connect to my office computer anymore...  I finally got into the house when the rain let up a little.

Deck the Halls & Lasts

Last weekend...

I wanted to jam in as MUCH work outside that I could possibly do and I really did do a lot.

The problem is that now I'm 90% done with about 15 things on my to do list.

So let's see... 10% times 15 equals...

I was only a math minor, briefly, but I think that equals a lot of lists, stress and panic attacks.

The deck cleaner is doing awesome...  In case you can't tell, the bottom half of the photo is done, and the top is not done.  We kind of sprayed it off quickly to get to a grad party before it ended.  More on that later.

I still have half of the back deck to do, but 50% of the work is making the effort to get the right tools out there and just do it.  That's why only 40% of the deck is done so far.  

And it didn't do that great a job on the burned spot...  There's still a gaping hole!  BUT between Robb and I, we concocted a cover with support over it.  No guests will be harmed during the course of our party.

OH!  and guess what?!  The extended forecast for our party was initially showers in the morning, then the next two days, it was spotty showers in the morning and then today?!  warm with some sun!!!!

YAY!!!!

Our prayers are being answered!  It will be a beautiful day!

Leon after school yesterday.  That door gets him EVERY time! ;)

On Saturday, Meri's plans to go grad hopping with a friend fell through and she needed someone to go with her to about 5 parties Saturday afternoon.  sigh... really?!!!  I've got so much to do!

But then again, I do love Lin-Z... (not the real way to spell her name, but that's how Meri has done it since the 4th grade)

She's a horse enthusiast/cowgirl, so of course you had to sign her hat.

Ok fine.  Let me wash some paint off my glasses and legs.

We went to several others and ended up at LinZ's.

Her party was a lot of fun and SO much great food!  Meri told me that I don't have graze anymore but can have the whole meal, since we like this grad.  She had been instructing me on how much food to take at each party.  But the cake looked good!

I loved looking through the memorabilia and remembering things I hadn't pulled out yet for Meri's party.  Meri was in a lot of the photos at this party.  Plus, she had taken LinZ's senior pictures and I'd been along with the photo shoot last summer.  What a blast that had been!  Well, LinZ's sister took the pics in to have them printed and Walmart thought they were professionally taken, so they insisted on having the photographer sign off on them...

REALLY?!..

They WERE really good...

And Meri's last day of school yesterday!  Well, until fall when she starts college classes. 

Here she is when she started school.  

Where has the time gone?

and where have my black eyed Susan's gone?

She's sleeping in this morning, but I'm going to SO freak her out when she comes upstairs.

"I thought you'd LEFT already!!! GET GOING!"

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping

I had a busy weekend.  But  before I jumped into the grad party prep list, I relaxed on Friday night and watched 9 to 5 all by myself!  I had been up since 3am and was exhausted, not wanting to jump into any projects right away.

  

And actually, it WAS on the list.

Meri and Robb had plans and I was in the mood to watch it.  So I vegged out for the evening! Yay!

Saturday morning was when all the big fun was!  I taped up the walls and hung painters plastic all over the dining room.  The ceiling had to be painted.  

I probably would have gotten done sooner, if I hadn't fallen off the step stool!  I've got a nasty bruise on one leg now.  Aleve is my friend.

As you can see, there are big patches of places where the bathroom upstairs has leaked over the years and been patched up.  For some reason, I was never lucky enough to get the right color white!  Too many splotches of glossy white or county white that just made it look yucky.  So Robb picked me up a gallon of flat white ceiling paint and lo and behold, it matched the rest of the ceiling perfectly!  So I painted just from the windows to the chandelier.  

It looks great!  If you don't pay attention to the smallish spot over the hutch that I missed that I'm not showing you.  Painting white on white is difficult...

I also pulled down all the curtains on the main floor and washed them.  As I was pulling them down, amidst the dust bunnies, a few of Leon's toys fell out.  Yikes!  How long has it been?  

Probably the LAST graduation party...

As I was putting the ones in the living room back up, I decided that we needed something at the top.  When we moved in, the previous owners had had a beautiful sun ray there and we just hadn't put anything there.  

So I got the grandchildren clock that my mom had made for both sets of my grandparents one year.  This one has (all my maternal grandparents) grandchildren's names and birthdays painted in gold on each of the rays.  I just recently inherited the grandchildren clock from my paternal grandparents as well!  It doesn't have a clock in it, but I can pick one up.  I just don't have a good place to put that one yet.  One of my mom's hobbies was ceramics, once upon a time.  

Oh - the clock doesn't work in this one.  Maybe I'll get that fixed.

And I didn't like the awkward gap just under the clock, so I stuck a silk flower there since this pic.

Up to this point, this one had been hanging in our bedroom.  This is much better!

I also had a stack of Meri's high school t-shirts for this very purpose.  We might be doing one more board as she said she had some more.  Good!  These will be on the deck along with the costumes on mannequins.  I've got clips on the back holding the t-shirts on.  It turned out pretty neat!  

Sometimes those wild hairs pay off.

This morning, Leon and I checked out his pineapple that we planted in my garden before he got on the bus.  The trees are budded out so nicely, I had to take a pic.  We're expecting thunderstorms later, so no telling how long those buds will be on the trees.

And I mentioned this on Friday, today is our anniversary.  

I can't believe it's been 30 years today...  

Where has the time gone?!

Ding Dong Brain

I made pizza last night.  

I meant to do a bunch of housecleaning for company this weekend AND I meant to get the pantaloons done, but they just got half way cut out.  They have a crotch now. yay

But as usual other things came up.  I made a pizza for Robb and I for supper.  Meri was bringing several girls home with her after play practice last night and they had the sale Valentine candy (I'm assuming... Robb says that she came up to talk to us after we'd gone to sleep and I spoke to her...  really?  I think it was about where the candy was...) and I made them an additional two pizzas around 8pm so they'd still be somewhat fresh by the time they got to the house.

You know when you KNOW you should be doing something so you wander around the house picking up and cleaning here or there?  Well, that's what I did for most of the evening when I wasn't cooking.

The mattress shuffle is in process also.  We've got another set for the guest bed in Leon's room.  SOMEDAY that set will stick and stay put.  BUT for now, things are in flux.  OOH that just reminded me of something I need to do...

Maddy and Matthew will be here this evening! YAY!  Meri has a jazz band thing this weekend and we're also celebrating Leon's birthday a little early.  OH THAT REMINDS ME!  I need to get his invites created today for his OTHER fake birthday party!  sigh...  I'm thinking of just sending notes for all the kids in his class to be distributed there.  Even the kids that bug him...  Might be easier...

I also spent 5 minutes replacing our door bell this morning!  And it looks it...  Maybe I should have taken 10 minutes...  For YEARS we've struggled with our doorbell not working.  We've replaced the piece in the house several times thinking that maybe we've just had a dud bell as it works for a while, then quits or goes berserk in the middle of the night.

Then we did the temporary door bell thingy as you can see from the extra screw holes on the right.  and that lasted as long as the batteries inside it and the other part.  

 

For a while, there was an extra door bell button that got stuck in my office desk for some reason and every time I dug around in my desk for anything, everyone inside the house including the dogs went crazy wondering why we had a phantom door bell ringing and no one on the porch.  They eventually learned to just come out to my office and not knowing why they were there, I gave them a chore.  

That little tidbit of learning soon went away, before the battery in the door bell button did.

We'll eventually find the paint that matches the house (somewhere in the garage) and repaint that area of the siding, but for now, I'm happy!  I hope the bell doesn't go berserk again any time soon.

So...  there was my evening and morning.

OH!  And I made pizza last night!

Isn't she lovely? and then a good Ramble

Ok, we're part Norwegian, part German, part Irish, so how does a quinceañera play into it? and how many of them would we ever be invited to?  

Ok, one.

Meri went to her very first ever quinceañera on Saturday.  One of her best friend's sister is turning 15 and in the Mexican tradition, that 15 year old has a fantastic party and gets a beautiful dress and a court.  Meri and her friend Perla called it the Groomless Wedding.

Meri spent the morning with me, dropping off the State Fair entries and talking.  She can be quite funny when she wants to be...  But all that afternoon, she prettied herself up more and got ready to go to the party.

I spent almost 3 hours in the garage that afternoon sorting boxes, getting stuff ready for another donation and garbage run.  I was filthy by that time and Robb was just getting back from another quick trip to Missouri where he picked up a beautiful full size bed with canopy for Meri's room from her cousin.  Um... where are we going to put THAT until she's ready for it?...  

Well, we found room temporarily.  It's in Meri's room now tho.

Meri had to school me on how to pronounce quinceañera correctly.  Keen sen yerra.  OH?!  So I practiced several times when she wasn't around and by the time she was ready to leave, I had it nailed and she was appropriately impressed!  I guess I get to go along to the party too then!  

But then again, no. 

I wasn't invited and besides, I didn't have a THING to wear!  It's at the fair.

The additional 4 inches on the hem worked perfectly.  I LOVE this fabric!

Then she took off but posed for me just before.  

I'm a lucky mama...

Because ALSO, luckily, just before she left, she mentioned that she'd heard from Maddy and Matthew.  They were actually only going to have supper in Missouri with their Aunt Quack and family, then head here! YAY! So I spent the evening tidying up.  Yes...  my daughter is now considered a guest.  She seemed astounded at how tidy things were and that there was even a table runner on the dining room table!  Granted... it was from the wedding....  

Um yeaH!!  We use it ALL the time!... ;)

We're fancy that way.

Well, I spilled some Worcestershire sauce on it at Sunday lunch, so it needs to be washed.  So obviously not ALL the time...  and it'll probably be two months before it's back on the table.  You know... when she's back next. 

Her comments reminded me of when I'd clean some area of the house that isn't always tidy and Ryan would ask when the company would be arriving.  SHUT UP!  at two.

They went to church with us and home for lunch, then we played Settlers of Catan for a while until I got sick of being a loser and someone else won.  Then we talked until Maddy started looking sleepy.  That's the cue to hit the road and send along 30 ounces of coffee with them.  They had a 5.5 hour drive ahead of them.  I hope they got home ok...

I spent the rest of the day running a load of donations to town, visiting my bestie and then back to working on moving boxes to get to the spare fridge we have out there.  We have two garage fridges.  One is just there and unplugged.  With 6 tons of storage stuff shoved in front.  Well, I was able to get to it but after that couldn't get back so I kept on going until I got to the other garage door.  It was a grand adventure, worthy of any Indiana Jones character.  They could write a movie about my garage...  

I will never intentionally take photos of it so you'll have to live vicariously through my descriptions.  My children take the garage photos when they're making videos for school...  "Ryan - I didn't realize that you were doing your research assignment on hoarders!" I'm kidding....  But we have all of my MIL's previous life baggage stored out there and she IS.  Along with 3 large dog kennels and other things stored there is no room for cars.  So THAT'S my goal for this fall.    

The fridge is plugged in now and humming.  Well, I couldn't hear the hum, as my hearing has gone by the way side JUST a little more this past year, but the light turned on inside, so I suppose it's on.  This morning, the freezer part is cold and I can actually hear it now.  Not sure if it's going to work for the purpose we intended it for.  The fridge at church died and we said that we had a spare...  We'll see.  Someone might be coming to pick it up tonight.

So I didn't get ANY work done on getting ready for Vacation bible school this week...  I'll do that tonight or in my spare time today. 

Those poor kids...  Here, draw me a picture of what you learned today.  And don't leave it blank...

Anyway... back to work.  Have a great Monday!

Tidier Things

 WILL!

 If you had watched Stranger Things, you'd have gotten this...

And a little of the boy's photography.  

I cooked again last night!  Granted... I baked some brats and reheated a squash dish... But I was in the kitchen for over 45 minutes!  And it wasn't just to clean or wash dishes!  Sometimes I just amaze myself...  Tonight it will be the dollar menu at Wendy's.  Or pizza at Sams Club. 
We're almost out of brats.

After supper, I decided it was time to take the tree down.  The breakables are packed away.  The tree is in 4 pieces in my entry way.  The boxes have been stored away in the garage.  Well, not all, but most.  The living room is back in play and in pretty good condition!  I pulled out two bags of toys that the kid has either outgrown or needs to go to his bedroom.  How many stuffed animals does a 4 year old boy NEED in the living room??  He needs a good selection when he goes to bed.  And the Pokemon stuffed toy is only used for playing catch outside.

So what looked like this...

well not ALL December, but it was full of furniture and a tree...

Now looks like this.

Still nothing to write home about, but you can walk through the room now and not trip on an ottoman, or a case of Hot Wheels.  Now where did I stick all the mantel pictures??

And check this out!  I was going to sell this little desk, but decided that if I bought a Lego mat, he can put his Lego's here instead of smack in the middle of the living room.  Yay!  Not only does it have a matching stool, but his puzzles are stored underneath, so win win...  And he actually sat there last night and played. Whew!

So, feeling productive at my house.  What are you up to?

Frosty Mornings

I got a LOT cleaned out of my closet last night!  Sluggy would be so proud...  There are roughly 6 white garbage bags full of clothes that I either hate or hung onto for the kids for some unknown reason... Maybe they'll like them again someday?  Or shrink back to preteen sizes?  I don't know.  And one full black garbage bag of things that I'd held onto that NOONE would want anymore.

There is enough room for 12 of Meri's prom dresses now!  

I wonder how many she'll go to...

It's a very deep walk-in closet.  I'd show you a photo if there wasn't so much stuff in it...

Leon had a blast when he discovered what I was doing.  That's his adventure room.  He climbed on the pile of clothes on my bed that I was keeping and knocked it over. 

thx.

Climbed on the pile of clothes for the Goodwill.

thx.

And climbed on boxes towards the back of my closet seeing if he could reach the high shelves now.  He seemed bummed that it might not be the same adventure by the next day.  So I ran out of steam and left a few boxes in there.  He's happy.

Anything for him!  

As soon as I get these bags out of the house, I'll venture back in for another round.

This morning, I woke up to this!  

In more ways than one...

I hope Facebook calms down soon.  People are not being nice.

Impersonating Normal

What do you get when you help your grandma sort old boxes in the garage?

Treasures....  

Leon is in heaven!  This is just a few of the many many treasures that used to belong to his daddy and aunts long long ago.  It was funny to hear him as he picked up a old musty Wiggles doll with mouse poop on it's foot and say nostalgically,  "This was mine and I played with this when I was a tiny tiny baby." 

Um, you never played with that, kid!  You don't even know who the Wiggles are!

Here, let me sanitize that thing.

So, we're just over here finding treasures, floors and spacious spots in our house.  Appraiser tomorrow.

Will we have the house looking like a normal family lives here?  

Probably not.

First day of revelations.

First day of school for both my girls.  

Unfortunately I didn't get them in front of the black eyed susans...  I will remedy that for Meri this evening.  SO WHAT if it's not just before she left the house!!!  It'll be an end of the first day photo.

And THIS one of Maddy is actually from the back to school party on Friday night.  She's having a ball as a mini-mini-mama RA.  I had to live vicariously through Facebook for her first day of school.  I hope someone snaps a photo of her today too!  You hear that sweetie?

As usual the weekend was a blur.  We've been working on the house, getting ready for the appraisal this week.  Refinancing, not moving.  It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate that you don't want anyone else to see...

Why is it accumulating???!  Maybe because we feel like someone will want it someday and we just don't know what to do with it...   It brings up more questions than that actually...  Like, When will I get a craft/sewing room back to store my fabric stash in?  Why won't people take things with them when they move out?  Why won't people move out?  Will they ever ask where this item is?  Do you think I can get away with being ruthless?  Etc.  

I'm tired of being the hoarders store house...  But things are going to change!!!  

Not before Wednesday, but I have a dream.