The Last Two Weeks

Where has the summer gone? Well, I guess it's only turning into July tomorrow, but still. I'll try to summarize the last few weeks.

Connell went to a camp called Camp Invention from 9 am until 3:30 pm every day last week. Since it was about a 15 minute drive each direction, Liam and I spent 1 hour in the car every day just dropping him off and picking him up. We did have time to just hang out, run errands and do some other things (saw a movie and had John Henry over) while Connell was gone.

After Ray saw the beautiful patio that our neighbor's boyfriend put in for her, he hired the guy to redo ours. So Ray spent last weekend (in the terrible humidity) digging out the old patio. It was long and tedious work, but he did a great job. Now we've been advertising free landscaping sand/fill and free old pavers, etc. on craigslist trying to get rid of all the old stuff. We did pay a hefty amount for one large tarp of it to be taken away and we had a guy in Rosemount take three truckloads of the sandy fill and we had a couple in North St. Paul take all the pavers that hadn't been broken. So we are making headway, but we still have lots to dispose of. Aaron has started working on the new patio and will have it done before this weekend (which is perfect timing since we host the annual Wacek/Waldrop/Mathot/Boyce family 4th of July bash. There will be 17 this year as my uncle Paul has to work, so hopefully everyone will get to enjoy the new patio. I will post photos of the "before and after" when it's completed.

In addition to the above craigslist listings, I have also been using it to get rid of other things -- clothing, old computer, etc. I'm really good at getting people to take things for free, but not so good at selling on there. We really don't have high-quality stuff to begin with (since most are hand-me-downs or thrift store finds) and so better to give away than sell. But you can tell that I have been doing a lot of craiglist transactions when the lady yesterday stopped by and I couldn't remember what she was coming to get until she reminded me! Oops!

Oh, and I got the notion to paint Liam's room. We had never painted that room -- it was white with scuffs. And although there are several parts of our house that have never been painted (like the entire area as you walk in -- front room, dining, up the stairs and upper hallway -- when it has to be done, we will need to hire someone since it is a BIG job and very high and dangerous), I thought that Liam's room would be a "tolerable" job. Well, silly me. I decided to have that done before the 4th of July as well and so it ended up having to be last weekend -- which coincided with Ray's patio removal project. Somehow we thought the boys would just love to stay out and watch daddy. Nope. They would help him, get their shoes muddy from the digging and then walk into the house and up the stairs to tell me something! So mud was all over my house and I was nearly in tears from the sad situation. Painting for the first time in 2 years, I was reminded that I despise painting and how I really am terrible at it. Ray did try to tell me that but of course I had already bought the paint and was determined to do it regardless. Well, in the end I looked at the light gray color that I chose and realized that you can hardly tell that it is a color at all and so I am disappointed that I didn't go with a nice, deep, bold gray instead. Grrrr! So all the painting work, muddy carpets, screaming at kids and you can hardly tell that I did any work at all in there. My neighbor had the idea that I buy some darker gray and do an accent wall and yet that would mean more taping, painting and heartache and so I am not sure I want to undertake that. At any rate, it feels cleaner (less scuffs at this moment) and looks fresher, so I guess I will have to look at those things as positives. Oh, and Liam wanted to change from a sports theme to superhero theme so we gave away all his sports stuff and I framed a bunch of comic books for his walls. Combined with the painting of the frames and lamps (just basic craftsy things that I love to do) that part looks cute. Will take photos when I get the throw pillows made, etc.

That's basically the update. Consumed with painting, patio stuff, getting rid of stuff and oh, trying to keep an eye on the boys as well! Put in a few doctor and dentist appointments in there and you have an idea of the last 2 weeks.