Quiet Saturday morning

Only because I'm the only one up at the moment. It'll get rip roaringly going here very soon, we're suppose to be out the door by 1:30 at the latest for my niece's graduation party. Is it horrible that most of my kids are trying to opt out of it? Some are camping, some are at friend's houses and Val has to work. What did I say? Val work? Yep she got a call last night that she has a job...bar tending. The town is only 15 miles from here but it's in the opposite direction of where I'm going. She's due there at 5 and the grad party starts at 2. So not entirely sure how that's all working out right now. She may have a ride from her boyfriend Matt but I think he's working on the brakes of his vehicle. (which I'd greatly appreciate since he's driving my daughter often). We have lots of time to figure it all out I suppose. lol

I haven't posted lately because I have a partial post in my draft section that I was trying to get done first from LAST weekend. It was to have lots of pictures of our trip to the beach. I finally figured I could post what's on my mind now and try to get the beach one done later.

I've been busy here. We went camping at the conference center with Della and her group. It was fun! Lots of swimming and sunburns. It enabled me to see what I'd want to pack for the summer conference in 2 wks. Also that I may want to have the car there instead of the van since the van is loud even with the new exhaust system. I have to leave by 6:30am on the weekdays (kids have to go to summer school still). While camping this week I ended up parking the van on the other side of the property so I wouldn't wake anyone. Where I parked the first night wasn't far enough away and I woke up some of Della's kids.....ooops! I also have to figure out a way to remember to pick up the school kids (or more accurately...watch the clock). I lost track of time the second day and it was 11:45 before I remembered them. They'd ended up walking and were almost home. BAD MOMMY! At least it wasn't over 90 out like the day before. Poor Carrie got a sunburn though.

Having a mini break from the house got me wanting to get back to work on it again. Unfortunately my body wasn't in full compliance with my mind. I did manage to rip out the carpeting on the addition stairs. They were gross and I was amazed at the amount of grit that was trapped under the padding. I don't ever want carpeting in my house again. All that garbage left me totally stuffed up. I was shocked when I got to the top of the stairs (ripped the carpeting from the top down, removed the padding, nailers and staples from the bottom up). I found Eileen's and Olivia's carpeting about 3/4 of the way removed and some of the padding lifted off. I asked Olivia who did it and she said they both had done it. When I asked how they manage to get it out from under their bunk beds which are massive, she said....We're strong! I guess so.

I'm still not entirely sure what I'm doing with the stairs. Ideally I'd like to paint them white then top them with some hardwood we have in the basement. The only problem is that my mind knows it's a ton of work and it would rather do something a bit more simple...like painting. It's neat to be able to finally do all this work. I've been wanting to do it for a while now. The poor girls waited years for me to redo their room. I have tons of plans for all the rooms. The problem is money and time of course. The good thing is, a lot of what I want to do, we have the stuff here for already. Although I'm not trying to get everything done before Luke's graduation party, it would be nice to have it done. That means I kind of have a deadline of a month. I don't want the kids' summer vacation to only be me doing the house and them keeping the little ones busy. So I'm trying to make sure we stop and play at times too. (Plus my body needs the break...I'm getting old! I want my 25yo body back!)

In all this I'm also trying to figure out things for the summer conference. Meals with limited resources (camping with iffy power supply), packing, costumes for a medieval themed children's day and whatnot. Right now I'm trying to crochet a chain maille hood. I found a tunic I'd LOVE to make, plus a few other things.

Well, Sean is up and wants my laptop's lap space for some reason. I need to throw laundry in and get some things done around here. If things go as planned I'll be bringing my brother's 3 kids home with us today. We wouldn't want them thinking Aunt Kim is a slob. Oh wait, I'm sure that one has already been discussed in their house. Why can't the rest of the house stay nice while I'm doing the other work!!!! Or better yet, why hasn't a self cleaning house already been invented?