Ending Project Week

I turned on the heat today. It's June 6th.  Laura Ingalls Wilder ain't got nothing on this Long Winter. No wonder my kids are going bonkers.

As I mentioned in my last post I am trying to spend this week working on house projects and getting some long over due spring cleaning done. (It's finally spring....in JUNE!)

Next week is vacation Bible School where I somehow found myself volunteering to teach preschool. Right. Because that went so well for me in the fall. Ugh. Why do I do this to myself?? Two weeks ago a friend asked me to make her sons graduation cake. Even though I had a stressful week including working two days at the Homeschool Conference I thought it was a fun idea.  So at 11:30pm the night before the conference I finished the cake two days before the party. Personally I'm not totally happy with the cake, but everyone seemed to love it.

Clearly there is foundation issues with the corners sloping down. I could have fixed it but chose to let it go. Humbly, let it go. I also want to point out the messy kitchen in the background. Did I clean it? Heck no. I had a glass of wine and caught up on the new Arrested Development. This is why Mr. Sloth dislikes my cake making hobby.





Then I had to work the Homeschool Conference. I say had but really I volunteered, sort of. The science curriculum we use is really expensive and the last two years I received one for free if I work the booth during the conference. Which is great, saved us $600 over the past two years but I miss out on a lot of the conference. While I set up the table a herd of women and their rolling suitcases bolted for the used book sale at the opening of the conference. I wanted to bolt like cattle too. (super sad face)  Then again, since I was working and our supplies were late arriving I actually sneaked over to the used book sale before it started and filled my suitcase at the first table!  I found a TON of wonderful things. American Girl book sets, chapter books for Demand, early readers for Happy, and I even found Level 1 & 2  of Demands Latin curriculum. Saweet!  Mr. Sloth and Demand are so excited they can't wait until the new school year to start it together. I figured since Latin is an extra curricular subject and Mr. Sloth has taken Latin before it would be a great activity for them to do in the evenings whenever they have time. Not every night but here and there.

When I showed Demand all of the books I bought at the conference she asked if she could sell them in her toy sale. Yeah, no.


 

After the Homeschool Conference ended on Saturday I met Mr. Sloth and the kids at our friends house for the graduation party. It was a much needed break, and they had Buffalo Wild Wings. Score!  Mr. Sloth called from the van before arriving and asked if I could take the kids while he ran to the Cathedral for confession. What we didn't know was that the priest who was doing confessions was hammering down some wings at the party before rushing off to the Cathedral. If we had only known!

So that was last week now you know why I didn't want to leave the house this week.  Next week we have vacation Bible School Mon-Friday from 8:30-12pm.  Then we head off on vacation. Friends of our who have almost the exact family except their baby is a girl and ours is Mister, they won the use of a duplex at Glacier National Park. So we are driving out there and taking our sweet American Road Trip time doing so. We can't wait to take the kids to Mount Rushmore, the Badlands, Custer's Last Stand, Wind caves, Walnut Grove.  In fact next week, when I'm not teaching VBS I'll be assembling a travel treasure hunt for the kids to take with them.

Today was much like yesterday. I wanted to get projects done and the children wanted to fight. By 8am. 8AM!! Rooster was throwing all out screaming temper tantrums. It is almost as if getting up before the crack of dawn doesn't benefit his mood at all. I'm already getting up at 5:15am I cannot get up any earlier to be the first one awake. I decided that I needed back up. By mid morning I had locked down a mother's helper. I could come and get her anytime, if only Mister would wake up from his morning nap. (taps foot)

(taps foot.)

(taps foot)

Finally at noon he woke up and we picked her up. It wasn't a perfect solution. My house was still a disaster (aside from my bedroom which is still loverly) but at least the kids were happy and not being yelled at by mom. I was able to finally organize the laundry room closet. It looks so purrrdy now.

This is the humble before. It became our, if we can shove it in and walk away without an avalanche-it works closet.

I made the curtains last summer when I was learning to sew. This is what I made with some of the left over fabric.

I desperately want a counter top for the washer and dryer. Grains of detergent get jammed under something and when I moved it horrendous metal scratching sounds are heard and felt. Plus the tops are all scratched up (I wonder why) and uneven and uninviting. Look how much brighter just trying these two white boards from the garage make the room look. I could fold all kinds of laundry on a counter top Mr. Sloth. I could I could. I also envision a bright blue vase filled with white or pink flowers. And a basket of sorts for a natural element. It will be grand. Someday.

 

Here's how the closet turned out. I only allowed myself an hour to work on it (having already started sorting and purging the night before) . So it's not done, done. Mr. Sloth was concerned by the lack of labels.

Two $5 bins from Target, some scrapbook paper, and viola! A new pretty closet. Up top we have a bin for rarely used items like bread making and beer making items. With coolers on top (unseen) of the container. Then our meat slicer (surprisingly handy) and our ice cream maker, and no Rooster we are not having ice cream today.  Below we have our new griddle on top of our picnic bin. This bin has paper plates, cups, utensils, napkins, foil containers, etc. Then clearly we have our newly stocked paper towel supply with my cooking-candies bin below. Don't tell Mr. Sloth there is candy in there.  Below that we have our roaster and our bin of tupperware.

That's what I was able to accomplish today. I think I'm getting the mothers helper again tomorrow. Other than planning out VBS I'm sure I'll just get general cleaning done. That will be nice.