My To-Do Lists Gone Wild...

I am not sure why, but it seems that I make time to do "stuff" and then I completely overfill it with my lists and ideas. I have next week off work, my hubbie and oldest boy are headed to Pennsylvania for wrestling camp, and I took the week off while they are gone so I could get the house painted. But it has progressed from redoing my bedroom and bath, to doing the other bathroom as well, and the entryway and hallway, hopefully the kitchen and then maybe, just maybe, the living room. At that point, if I could conceivably get that all done in one week (along with the paper I need to finish for school, the strawberry picking, the tri-training and the day at the beach with my other two kids) that would be practically 9/10 of my entire main floor. I know I will do at least one bathroom, since I already stripped the wallpaper, there is no turning back now...

Anyway, I'll try to fit it all in, and I'll try to post pictures of my new "colorful" house. Most of the rooms have been "eggshell white" since we built it in 1998. I could never be an interior designer, the color samples and schemes and matching is way to much for my brain. I've been on color overload the last couple weeks since I decided to paint. I've ordered new bathroom stuff from the internet that didn't look at all what I expected, so I returned it an found the "perfect" sets for both bathrooms at Target. Then, I found the perfect comforter set on Amazon.com. Once I decided to actually attempt the kitchen, I found new rugs at JcPenney.com for 60% off! It's like Christmas in July (well almost July). Since everything has been in our house for 11 years now, it is so fun to go pick out new stuff! Of course, the hard part again... is finding the colors to go with what I find. I thought about just picking out colors and painting first and trying to find matching stuff later, but I was afraid of the "what if I can't match it" scenario. So, regardless to say, I've spent more than two weeks looking on the internet for the stuff I like, then trying to match them all to paint samples.

The paint samples, to me, are a living nightmare... I didn't realize the infinity of colors. Avacodo, Olive, Sage - those being the normal names. I found Coffee Bean and Peanut Brittle along with Desert Camel that all kind of match my new bedroom outfit. Then there is Wheat Field, Beehive, Bulgar Wheat, Dakota Hills, Cherrywood, Rhubarb, Fresh Tomato... the list is neverending. These are just the names that have been haunting me. I've read through so many color names that my mind now thinks in those terms. It's scary to watch tv and think, "she has a 'rhubarb' shirt on..." Ah! And when it becomes overwhelming, I remember exactly why it was that I painted it all "eggshell" white so many years ago. Because on top of building the house, picking out carpet, furniture, fixtures, etc... the paint colors WAS too much for me. I tried back then and I think I short circuited an hope for finding enjoyment in the process of color selection for the rest of my life!

I'm all excited to do it though. I love painting, I love manual labor. After my brain has been drained of all the work I do everyday (along with the above color selection process), the thought of manual labor is actually a dream. And I can't wait for my husband to come home to the finished project. But trying to squeeze it all in has me thinking that I will need to go back to work to recover from my vacation! If only work could be considered such...

Why I Like Busy...

Tonight was quiet and relaxing. I had a lovely, peaceful two hours to myself after work when my daughter left for a friend's house, my youngest was at his aunt's after Y camp, and my husband took my oldest son to soccer practice. I can't even remember the last time I was home all alone.
And while it was very nice and peaceful - I got stuff picked up, some extra work done, and one TV show deleted off the tivo box - I think I enjoyed the hours after they got home all the more because of it.

My youngest came home wound up like some crazy kid on a sugar kick straight from Willy Wonka (what in the world does the Y camp feed them when they are there??). He rolled around on the floor laughing insanely at the dog trying to get his rope (my son was of course either laying on it or hiding it somewhere on his person)... It was one of those laughs that just makes you smile, and realize that I wouldn't trade one minute of his laugh for hours and hours of quiet, alone, peaceful serenity.

Then, after my husband left for work, we watched Disney's "Game Plan" on TV. It's such a "feel good" movie, made me cry of course, I'm a baby with any Disney movie. But again, it made me realize that the little bit of quiet that I had earlier, with me actually in charge of the remote, wasn't as great as it felt at the time.

I think I now know why I am constantly busy delving into some other kid sport, function, activity, school work or what not... because, I would rather be busy living any day than sitting by myself "enjoying" quiet time. Because, as it's been said before, there's time to rest when your dead... Right now, I am going to keep on enjoying my crazy busy life, because there is no other way that I would want it.

Drive In Movie Night

We decided to take a family outing to one of the few remaining drive in theaters. My husband used to go all the time as a kid with his family, and I had never been to one, so we packed up the mini van full of kids (two extra - niece and nephew), treats, chairs, blankets and coffee for me, and headed to the Capri Drive In in Coldwater, MI.

It's a good hour away, so it gave the kids a chance to take a little nap on the way down ...

The drive in is actually pretty economical. I was surprised that the ticket prices were cheaper than a normal theater PLUS the cost was for two movies not one. We picked the "Land of the Lost" and "Night at the Museum" combo. It got a little wet at the beginning and the kids and Darrell all ended up in the van, while I tried to keep dry sitting on the bumper under the hatch...

It ended up staying mostly dry, and the kids had a great time. Now the drive in is the only movie they want to see!

Already June?

Wow, I can't believe it is June already. I feel like the summer has gotten away from me and it hasn't really even started yet. It's crazy... One kids' soccer season is done, the older two both have one more week and then a tournament next weekend, and then we can wrap up that sport, for a few months at least.

Football and cheer sign ups are forever ongoing. It seems like the sign up forms trickle in daily into our mailbox, but I cannot complain. This year we added 3 more grade levels and a flag football league, so we now run the league for Kindergarten - 8th grade. And, it seems like we keep adding other stuff to it as well. We are trying to add community involvement into the mix for the kids. Last year, we took the older players and they helped at the local assisted living home in town. I'm hoping this year's project will be to get a team together for the Relay for Life event in our town.

I am also working on getting actual "non-profit" status for us, which I found out will probably, also, be my research project for my bachelor's degree. I have a 6 credit, 250 hour, 50 - 200 page research project due next June... "How to obtain "Non-Profit" status" for our organization looks like what my research will be on. The application alone is scary, but thinking that I need to write a 8 chapter, probably 100 page paper, is even scarier! Again, someone remind me why I didn't finish school when I was 22? But, at least the work I do for our league this year can duplicate work that I need to do to finally get that degree.

So not much else has been going on... work, school, summer break... I'm still running, my sister has me on a "program" for this triathlon, and she informed me she is running another marathon (the whole 26 mile shabang) in October. I'll cheer her on in spirit, my legs were not made for a 3 - 4 hour run (of course for me that would be more like 7 - 8 hours I'm sure). I'm hoping to make it to 6 miles though, I told her I might, or rather MIGHT, try and run the 10k instead of the 5k with her in August, again let me emphasize M-I-G-H-T!!! It does feel good to run again though, the first mile is a killer and then after that it seems to get better - of course I'm only up to 2.5 miles!! I'm sure it gets worse again at some point. And, I've been trying to run with my oldest, who is more than willing to sprint ahead and leave me in his dust. But I have gracefully accepted that I am indeed getting old.

Oh, and I found out that I only have 2, yes TWO years, until he will be taking driver's training! If I didn't feel old before, I am definitely feeling old now! I also found out yesterday that he is now too old for his mommy to follow him around... I chaperoned his class trip to Michigan's Adventure. 225 middle school kids, running free as can be, around the park; five buses full of kids, who managed to intake a lot of sugar and candy right before time to leave... wonderful trip!

Such is life right? Anywhooo.... I guess that's the nutshell recap of the last month, since I've been too busy to keep up to date on this! I have a lot more planned for June as well, including some much needed SCRABOOKING!! It has been forever since I have done anything creative, and I ordered 368 pictures, and all the paper and "stuff" to go with it... Ladies, I do believe that it is time to get this party scrappin'!

Night all... ;-)