Projects, Projects and More Projects

Two Sundays ago Erik hurt his back during a water rescue drill with the fire dept. Thankfully it wasn't a bad injury and he got to spend a week at home with us.
Can I tell you how amazing this was?
It was so much fun to have him home, not only did we get to hang out with him (which was the best part) but I've gotten to finish some of my really long project list.
I "built" a screen out of PVC pipe and then sewed and painted curtains for it. It's to take with me when I travel with "The Story of Gomer". I needed something light and fairly easy to take apart and put together. I used a painter's canvas drop cloth for the curtains; very inexpensive and easy to paint. I think I like how it turned out.


Don't mind the messy house surrounding the screen, I hadn't gotten to that yet...

I also got our bedroom deep cleaned and re-arranged.

Put a new zipper in a dress who's zipper has been broken for 4 years. Finished another dress. Finished an apron.

Moved the bookshelf from my closet to the girls' room.

Cleaned out 5 boxes of stuff from the boys closet, making room for some and adding some to the Goodwill pile.

Hung a few shelves and pictures that have been languishing in my craft closet.

And...

...cleaned out my craft closet!

And yes, amidst the many things I've gotten done we did actually get to hang out with Erik.

The things on my list, individually don't take very much time but the nature of them distract from keeping an eye on certain children that know how to open doors and escape. It's been nice to have an extra pair of eyes and hands around.

It feels good to get things done!

And Erik headed back to work today.

We missed him!

I Might Be Crazy

I just might be crazy.

And I'm just going to come right out and tell you why:

I'm not going to buy any clothing for myself for one whole year.

This might not seem crazy to some, and some will think I'm off my rocker completely, no doubt about it. But it's something I need to do.

I have a closet full of clothing. I have a dresser full of clothing and I simply do not need anymore. I love goodwill and I love thrift stores, I love finding deals. I have a weakness for wool skirts, sweaters and dresses. But too many deals can really drain the wallet quickly and so I'm quitting for one year.

Starting today.

Now this does not mean that I will not make myself clothing. But the rule is I cannot buy fabric or patterns for that purpose, I must use what I already have. I may buy thread or zippers to make said clothing but that is it. This doesn't mean I can't accept hand-me-downs or gifts. I'll still gladly take those; it means no cash will exchange hands for my clothing until July 9, 2012.

I will make do or do without.

I could have said a month. Or 4 months or 6 months. But no...I'm going cold turkey and I'm going extreme.

And I need to tell you. Because if this was just a goal in my head I could change the starting date, I could justify. I could ...gasp....lie to myself.

I'll update you on how this goes. I'm a little scared.

Wish me luck!

Little Bit of This and That

In the process of moving dirt (yep, still doing that), and playing outdoors and enjoying the summer that has finally started, I have missed sharing with you some very important dates.

June 21:

Erik and I celebrated our 8th Anniversary. Sorry, I have no pictures. Our "celebration" consisted of saying "Happy Anniversary" and me leaving a great card I found at Fred Meyer the day before on Erik's pillow.

June 25: My 10 - year high school reunion up on Whidbey Island. Alas, I did not take pictures. I could probably go steal some from FB but I"m not going to. Suffice to say it was really fun and I enjoyed seeing people I haven't seen in 10 years.

June 28:

Hannah turned 7!
My little girl is getting bigger, oh me, oh my. This year she wanted cupcakes (yay!) which made it super easy on me. And luckily Aunt Mindy came down to celebrate so there where seven of us, which made one candle per cupcake. I like when things work out like that.



July 1-2
Erik's parents and sister came to visit. The girls garage-saled in the morning and then Erik and his dad worked on attaching a $5 garage sale slide to our porch.


The kids love it! (And don't worry, we've built up the dirt around the bottom a little more). Mostly we used the dirt that I dug out of our new fire pit:


I dug a big hole, put down a layer of rock, lined it with cinder blocks and then at ground level surrounded it with really cool river rocks that all came out of the free fill dirt we got.

July 3-4

We broke in our new fire pit by roasting hotdogs over a fire and then after the kids were in bed we invited our neighbors over for s'mores.


We did get to ride in the fire truck for the parade, but I didn't get pictures. And then the kids all went to bed and missed all the fireworks. Our really great babysitters came over and "watched" the kids (sat at the house while they slept) and my sister Mindy and I were able to go sit on the fire truck with Erik and watch the fireworks. The firetruck is right behind where they light them off from, it's probably the best seat "in the house". Maybe next year I'll work up the courage to wrangle all four kids in the crowd by myself so the kids can see the big fireworks but this year they enjoyed 3 days of little fireworks. Once with Grammy and Grandpa, once with the neighbor girls across the street and once with the boy next door; I don't think they felt deprived.

Tonight T-ball starts.

Whew...I think that's all.