I hate painting.

One more coat on two walls, and I'll be done (well, except for the "oops" touch-ups on the ceiling--heh).  And actually, I must admit I'm "enjoying" the painting this time much more than the painting of my children's bedrooms.  Frankly, John and I just didn't really know HOW to paint back then.  And the results showed it.  The paint is PEELING in Mary and Izzy's room.  And Keith's room is WAY too dark--and still not technically done as both John and me just sort of gave up after a while.  John is talking about re-painting the ceiling in Keith's room.  Well, he's more than welcome to it.  I don't want anything to do with that room for a LONG time!

Anyway, the creamy-tan-yellowy color is looking pretty nice in the living room/dining room.  Too bad we have to put up with horrible pink carpet and college kid-worthy/crappy furniture for a while.  Ah well.  Bits and pieces--we'll do what we can do when we can do it.

A school mom called today to chat for a minute and reminded me that I'm leaving for vacation soon...and here I am spending all this time painting instead of fretting over what I need to pack for this family of five--and do we even have enough luggage for that?  I don't think we've taken a full week's vacation somewhere since there were five of us--what all is this going to entail?  Are we going to have enough room in the back of the mini-van?  (John is seriously considering getting one of those luggage cap thingys). 

Oh!  Forgot to mention in my catch-up post yesterday:  Keith has had a pretty memorable summer.  He has FINALLY learned how to ride a two-wheeler, WITHOUT the training wheels.  I feel kinda guilty that he learned so late.  I mean, shouldn't he have mastered this years ago?  (Come to think of it, shouldn't this be something I should be teaching his little sister now???)  I don't know.  There are no sidewalks on our side of the road.  And when I was working, I never had the desire to take him out on the weekends.  And...just plain bad, lazy parenting, no?  Well, I was determined he would learn this summer.  But most of the days have been horribly hot or rainy, and...next thing I know, we've only got a few weeks until school starts!  So!  I finally pumped up his tires, took off the training wheels, and got out there with him.  I tried him on the grass first, in case he fell a lot, and held the back of the bike up for him.  Then we moved on to the driveway.  Then I think it started raining....  Then I took him out a few days later and drove him to a park down the road that has a really nice-sized, usually-empty parking lot.  It didn't take long at all.  Maybe 20 minutes to get it down?  Oh!  Such exuberance!  ...And then the chain kept falling off the bike.  No worries.  Mom carries a Swiss Army knife in the glove box--one of these gadgets should help  (I'm SO awesome)....  Still, that's kind of a pain.   Anyway, we've been out one more time--where he ended up having to share the big pink bike with Mary since the chain on his STILL kept popping off.  (I think it's time to just buy a new bike, no?)  Anyway, John is so excited, he's thinking of bringing the bikes on vacation.  Wait--a luggage cap thingy AND a bike rack?  I guess I should go out and buy those little family people sticker thingys, too.  LOL

Blog? What Blog?

Whoops!  I guess the summer is getting away from me.  I didn't mean to slack off here so much.  But, you know...summer, right?

We took a very tiny trip to Indiana to see my BFF from high school (whom I've not seen in about four years) and another BFF from high school and wow--my brother also happened to be in the 'hood!  And since my Grandmother has not felt well enough to see us, I went to see her.  Wish we could have spent more time there....

Out with my Dad.

 

BFFs!

Grandma and her great-grandbabies.

Gaggle of kids (Hey, where's Mary?)

Pathetic that I still don't have all the pics downloaded yet.  Although the camera was away from me for part of the trip, so I only got one pic of my brother and none of my mother.  :-(

The kids finally got their school lists and teacher assignments, and we spent a morning at Target digging out the last of the purple folders.  Since I had a stash of a few supplies I'd been picking up here and there, I actually managed to get it all done in just one trip!  *sigh*  I get a lurch in my tummy every time I think about how now my baby will be gone ALL DAY.  I miss her already!

We spent three days one hot week mooching off a friends' pool.  Izzy seems to have lost some of her confidence in the water.  I guess that's what happens when you don't go swimming very often--and then you go in an above ground pool which has a depth just over the top of her mouth and nose!  Once we settled her with a noodle, she was fine.  Just a few more months until she's six and can move up to the first level for swimming lessons.

John decided to put in a new back patio door--we're hoping it will cut down on the draft in our living room in the winter.  That caused a problem.  New pretty door in an old, atrociously-decorated living room/dining room.  Gah!  So we got our our rollers and brushes, and yes, after FOUR YEARS we are FINALLY painting our living room.  I took a few days and primed and painted the ceiling last week.  Then I started on the walls.  We had issue with the first color we tried (thank goodness we only bought a sample!), and we finally agreed on a tan/creamy color.  Half the room is done now (and boy, are my arms...and legs, and back tired!).  John told me I could take a break today (hence, finally blogging!), and I'll try to finish it tomorrow or the next day.  I HATE painting!  But wow, the living room already looks SO much better!

It's feeling like fall around here already (where did the hot weather go?) and John and I are nervous about our big trip still to come.  If the weather's icky....  Ah well.  It'll be good just to get away for a few days.

I'm getting ready to brush off the ol' resume again now that summer is coming to a close.  That ALSO leaves a funny lurch in my tummy.  Amazing what the inability to find a job will do to one's self-esteem.  Ugh....