The Past Two Months In As Few Words As Possible

Let's see if I can summarize the past two months of my life into a post that isn't miles long so that I can feel ok with getting back to regular blogging.  Those two months happened and I can't feel ok with just letting them slip by without saying something.

So...

At the beginning of June, I helped Dodger with a job for 10 days.  It was nice to get to spend that time with him.  We finished listening to Robinson Crusoe via Librivox on an iPad app (we started it way back last August on the FL job).

Here are a few pictures.

Entertainment center (before).
The primer didn't stick so we had to sand the entire thing! Ugh!

Entertainment center (primed).

Entertainment center (after).

Kitchen (during). I, unfortunately, didn't take any before pictures.
Everything was an ugly off-whitish faux finish before painting.

Bottom part. My job.
Screwed up my wrist and forearm doing this job. It still hasn't healed.

Lovely brown.

During that time, Dancer had summer dance lessons, tennis lessons, and dance company practice.  So, many days I was helping Dodger, then running home to take her to her things, then going back to help him when they were done.  She even helped us on the job, the last day we were there, after one of her practices.  (He is, by the way, still working on this job as of 8/3.  There have been unforeseen issues with the top cabinets and the "clear" coat that was put on them to protect them.)

All of the doors got put in the trunk of my car and brought home so we could work on them here instead of taking up space in the clients garage.  So I got my garage cleaned up even more so that there would be space to lay them all out while they dried.

The rest of June and the first part of July was filled with more of running Dancer around to her classes and dance company performances.  During the summer, her dance company performs for daycares in the area.  The kids really seem to enjoy seeing them dance.  There is, on rare occasion, one little boy or girl who's just not into it but for the most part I think they all have a good time.

Dancer has also been helping my mom and step-dad fix up the house they just bought.  So many of her weekends have been filled up with that.  She also been golfing with my dad on the weekends, too.

Towards the end of July, Dancer turned 17.  She had a bowling party at Spare Time Lanes on one weekend, thrown by my mom and step-dad.  She chose a bowling party this year because it's always so darn hot on her birthday and she wanted something inside and something for everyone to do.  My dad got her a bowling ball as an early birthday present, so that she could have it and use it at her party.  Then the next weekend, we had a birthday party for her at my dad's place.

 

She also had math club on Tuesday afternoons a few times in July (we still have one more scheduled this Tuesday).  Math isn't her favorite thing but I asked her to do it for a few reasons.  1. it was helping out another homeschooling mom who is using a specific program for this and is doing it to test it out and give feedback to the creators of the program.  2. she hasn't seen this group of friends since Halloween and that's just crazy because they all get along so well.  3. she needs to get out of her comfort zone and better to do it amongst friends.

Right now we're on a break from activities until dance starts again in a few weeks and tennis should start up again soon, too.  I've only had to leave the house to grocery shop or run to the back and that's been really nice.

Dancer is going golfing with my dad this afternoon.  I cleaned up the pile of books and folders that were on my recliner a few days ago but now it's filled with a stack of fabric, so I think I'm going to set up the sewing machines and do some sewing this afternoon.  I've got some clothing repairs to do and fabric from my friend, Sarah, to make her cloth pantyliners.  I told her that I'd make them for her because I think the prices online for them are just ridiculous.  I think I'm going to have to print off the pattern again, though, because I'm not sure where I stuck the one that I already printed off.

The Case Of the Disappearing Blogger

It's been over a month since I posted last.  I've quite often thought about loading the dashboard up and posting but I'd just end up putting it off.  Keeping a log of my life is important to me but at the same time, I've found that since I've gone back to posting on Facebook I post here much less often.  I'm hoping that I can find a way to balance things in my life so that I can fit all of my interests into my days.  I tend to flit here and there, like a mosquito does.  There are things about that way of living that I like and things about it that I don't.  I just haven't got it all figured out yet.  ;)

The 411 about the last month of my life in the next post.  :)

My latest Instagram photo, which BTW I've also been neglecting.

Daily Photo: Remnants of a Tiny Girl

I found these two in the backyard yesterday while I was working.
I found a little green dinosaur earlier in the week, too.
So cute.  Dodger and I just laughed and smiled when I found these.  :) 

I Got Up Off the Couch... and I'm Getting Stuff Done!

Since I'm still trying to figure out what to do with myself today, I thought I'd work on a blog post.  It's been a week since I last posted and I've resigned myself to the realization that for the time being, once a week is most likely as often as I'll be posting.  I've been keeping busy with doing work on outside projects daily and it actually takes more thought and energy to put up a blog post than it does to just throw on my work clothes and gloves and head outside for some hard work.

Right now, It's too sunny to pull off siding.  I don't like to be in the sun very long.  Until the garbage comes on Tuesday, I can't really pick up any more shingles because I'm out of old 5 gallon paint buckets to fill up.  I could fill up more grocery bags, though. I don't yet have a blade for my sawzall, so I can't cut up any of the old wood roofing.

Here are some pictures of what I've been working on all week...

A small pile of shingles bagged up in grocery bags.
They are just too jagged and heavy to put into garbage bags, as is.

More trash and bagged shingles piling up and ready to set out on the curb for Tuesday's trash pick-up.

All of the clear space was covered with old shingles and wood.

Got even more done.

Some of the old wood from the roof.

The neighbor behind me needs to do some work, too!

The space behind my garage is now clear.
Remember what it looked like a few weeks ago?
The space back here it perfect for a garden!

The mess of branches I cleared from what was hanging over into my yard from the back neighbor's yard.

The mess along the side of the garage that still needs cleaned up.

Dodger pulled off some siding on the side of the house to get me started.
I have pulled off more since this picture was taken.

Dancer's summer activities started this week, so I'm back to running her around 3-4 nights a week.  We're both glad that tennis was offered in the evening as well as the morning this summer.  Neither of us are morning people and it worked out that she was free to do Monday evening's lessons.

I've been working a few hours every day getting our property cleaned up.  I've even managed to keep up the cleaning inside the house at the same time.  When I first started in on the garage this week, I felt very overwhelmed but then I remembered that line that you eat an elephant, one bite at a time.  So I just started in, did what I could, and have been working daily to conquer the mess.

Time and consistency conquers just about every problem.  We've got to do something differently if we want different results.

Dancer is out golfing with my dad this afternoon.  Dodger is at work.  I'm going to throw on my work clothes and gloves and head outside to see what I can do today.