Almost back to normal!

With the oldest away at camp, I have realized how many hands are necessary to run this house at a preferred level, LOL!  On top of that, I emptied his room yesterday so I could paint while he was gone, since then I don't have to worry about where he'd sleep each night.  They think it's fun one night to camp out in other rooms, but after that they start to get crabby about it.  And I don't blame them!  It took all day to get everything out, and then pull nails, fill the holes, and scrape & scrub the tape off the walls.  NO MORE TAPE ON MY WALLS!  Put whatever you want on the door, but leave the walls alone!  That child had stuff taped EVERYWHERE! The walls, the sides of bookcases, drawer fronts. I have no idea why I painted his furniture last year or why he wants his walls painted now!  It'll look great, and maybe having a color HE likes as opposed to what we had on hand when we moved in will make a difference.  We did get the outside trim around the rec room windows painted, and D2 is mastering the masking tape skills.  Although she didn't particularly love the masking, either. I don't if she'll be willing to help in S1's room.  We'll see.

I didn't get anything finished over the weekend, and I have little hope for this week.  The list is getting longer and longer, and time is running shorter and shorter. I can't believe summer is almost over!!!! So off I go to see what I can get done today!

Just a little bit behind

All of the camps are over except for 2, neither of which do I need to be there for.  S1 is going on a 50-miler for Scouts, and D2 will be doing a dance camp.  Easy-peasy for me.  I finished one project last week, a kitty print bone pillow.  I took a photo, and promptly lost my camera, so no pictures! 

The girls' room is still waiting for the last little bit of trim, and then I will be painting S1's room while he is gone.  I am very happy that no primer is required!  Just get the paint on!  He chose a soft grey, named "sharkskin".  Appropriate for a teenage boy, I think.  When we first bought the house, there were glow in the dark castles on the wall, but I got some primer and paint on the first weekend we were in the house.  It wasn't pretty, but it wasn't glow in the dark either.  I am hoping this paint job won't take an entire week.   I also have a quilt to finish for the D2 and a bunch of other little projects to get wound up and finished. 

We have spent the little free time we had last week de-cluttering the house.  In two days we took 10 boxes to the goodwill.  And the girls are still saying they have nothing to wear. HA! They are learning the error of that by doing laundry this week!  I'd like to get through more drawers and closets this week, but I am not going to hold my breath.  It is amazing how much stuff we think we need, and how much we never really use.  DH says we "need" the  two or three 8x8 casserole dishes we never use because it takes all three cook enough for us.  I say get one the right size, and get rid of all the rest.  Maybe he needs to dishes more often! LOL...

On the yard work list, I am hoping to build a real compost bin this month.  We have a semi-contained pile, but with 6 people, it get bigger than average.  We get great dirt out of it, and it isn't spread out all over, but I am sure the neighbors would like something a little bit more screened off.  So now I am off to see what I can get done sooner instead of later!!

So little time...

And so much that has to be done and that I want to do! Last week was full of meetings to finalize various day camp plans, as well as getting kids to from activities.  We did get a bunch of unused stuff out of the house!  Boxes of too small clothes, toys the kids don't play with.  We still have more to do, but I am happy with the progress, and the kids are happy with how easy and fast it is to clean their rooms.  If we spend anytime on the purge this week, it's the rest of the house.  Books, movies, whatever.

I only finished one sewing project this week.  It has been waiting to be finished for 3 years and it was for my bestest friend.  I thought I had tons of work to do on it, but when I actually sat down to finish it before I saw her this weekend, it only took 15 minutes!  Anyways, here it is.

A bag holder for all those plastic grocery bags.  Her kitchen is blue and yellow,  so I used squares of all my blue and yellow fabric.  She was very happy with it, although I felt horrible that it took so long to finish.

As for this week, there are no plans, just survive cubbie camp!  Anything more than that is  bonus!

Doing something new....

I've never participated in a link party, but I have spent (too much) time checking out other people's.  I am particularly fond of popping around Shabby Art Boutique. So in the interest of not doing house work right this minute, and having worked with D2 in the bathroom reorganizing today, I figured I would give it a shot.  It's better than watching Godzilla again!

D2 and I have been purging girl stuff this week.  Not because we don't like girly stuff, but because after painting the girls room, I didn't want another mess. No. Uh-uh.  This mama would hit the roof! In the process we found a lovely little chest she no longer wanted (score for Mom!) and tons of hair pretties.  TONS!  Some of them were MINE.  So the solution is.....

 You can barely see the tags I tied on to the knobs.  I had a pack of those little vellum key tags. (had is important, I used them all up on this! YAY!)  I made a label for each drawer, I just tied them on with a sheer green and pink ribbon.  There is a "mom" drawer, so the girls shouldn't be losing my stuff anymore.  Like any of it so fancy, since all I do are ponytails with my hair. 

This shelf worked really well, since I needed a spot for my teeny canister for my little hair clips.  My bangs are just long enough to stab my eye right now, so I NEED those if I want to see, and again, I found them in the girls school stuff when they were emptying desks at school.  There was still too much "space", so I also moved my mom's ring holder, make up brushes, and a bottle of oil on to the shelf as well.  To top it off,  I put my vanity set in front.  I can't stand the brush, but I love that comb!  And the best part...all the hair doo-dads are in ONE SPOT!!

No sewing...

or anything relaxing last week. However I did get one big, long put off, house project (mostly) done.  The girls' room is PAINTED!  And most of the trim is in, but we ran out.  So I think I'll just buy 10 feet a week until it is done. We are putting in through out the house, so I'm not worried about getting too much. So here is the "before" picture from last week.

Oh that glow in the dark paint was bad!  And notice how the ceiling LOOKS white?  Well, it wasn't, and we never noticed until we painted!  It is GREEN!  Pale enough to look white with the old blue walls, but rather obvious with the new yellow!

So now we have added painting the ceiling to the list of things that need to get done, but I think that will be NEXT summer. I have 2 more rooms to paint before September!  Here is the trim. Much better than the old stuff, which went around the room and over the closet and door.  It was glow in the dark too.

Since the trim is going all through the house, it is the only thing the kids get no say in, much to their displeasure.  But the girls are happy with the end result, aside from realizing the ceiling is green.

This week is all about getting everything in order for 2 weeks of day camp.  Cubbie camp followed by VBS.  I will definitely need some down time over the weekends, so maybe then I will get some sewing in!  Or at least hiding in the workshop staining some more trim!

It's July!

Almost to the summer halfway point. And  I am so not ready.  We had a quiet week with 2 kids away at camp, which meant...I got stuff done!  Only three crafty things, but lots of home stuff! 

The first item I finished was the girls dresser scarf.  The last one for the house! YAY!  I also finished a non-seasonal pillow cover for the living room.  I love changing them out for the season and holidays, but you can only get away with St. Patrick's for so long, LOL!  I also knit myself a cowel, I think it will be easier in the winter than wearing a scarf around the house!

 The applique on the pillow is from one of my cricut cartridges.  I used fusible webbing and the stitched it down once it was in place.  I do NOT like round parts!  D2 liked the left over sashing fabric, so that is what we used for her runner.  I have one little scrap left, so I think it was well done!

Below is the "before" picture of the girls bedroom walls.  Ugh! They hated them.  Those flowers glow in the dark!  So does the trim!   They designated the "over the closet" part of wall for posting photos.
 

The girls picked out a soft yellow and wood trim, so two walls are painted, trim in being stained, then I get to move the furniture over and paint the other two walls.  Fun. And time consuming.  But it was the only way to do it while they were at camp.  They got their share of work in, though.  All clothes had to be gone though before I would start!

I don't have a lot of plans for this week. Mostly finishing the room, and getting ready for more camps.  But I have high hopes of getting a couple other rooms painted this summer, as well as some stitchery projects I've been wanting to do.

Lazy days of summer??

HA!  Yesterday started the rush of camps for the kids.  S1 is off to camp until Wednesday, D1 is at camp in her hometown, D2 leaves today.  I wish I could say I love driving!  S2 and I will be home by ourselves, so who knows what we'll do!  I am glad that the kids love their summer camps, S1 has gone to this one for 4 years now, and D2 has been going to hers for 3 years.  They have a good time, come home tired, and I have no idea what they learn!

This last week our dryer died, and then the motor blew up, so we are installing a sort-of "new to us" dryer today.  Not much got done with the rows of laundry hanging through out the house, but I did finish this cute little bag that D2 laid claim to.

The cross stitch panel had been sitting in a basket of "stuff" for a couple of years and I finally finished it, but then I needed to do something with it.  I saw this orange fabric at Joann's and thought it was perfect.  I sewed the panel down with some orange/pink/yellow variegated quilting thread I had stashed around.  When I finished it was one of those "whoever wants it can have it" projects! 

Plans for this week include driving all over the Olympic Peninsula, which is beautiful country.  I am hoping to at least prime the girls room while they are both gone, but we'll see.