No longer painting chairs

I went to put my final coat of paint on my chairs tonight.  I was so glad that I was actually going to have one of my goals done before the 4th of July.  Yeah, not so much.  The first coat was still tacky and when I tried to pick it up, some of it stuck to the board I'd propped the chairs up on.  I give up.  I'm not painting anymore until I figure out what's going on.  This is the 2nd time in 9 months that I've painted the chairs.  I ended up having to sand all of the paint off to get it ready for this time because the guys at the paint store told me that I had painted it with crappy paint.  If that's the case, they sold me more crappy paint because it's doing the same thing.  I've decided that I'm not doing anything on them until after the 4th, then I'll go back to the paint store and tell them what's up. 

I'm pretty sure that I've been painting latex paint over oil based paint.  I'm just frustrated because I could have been working on other projects that I decided weren't going to get done so I could get the chairs done.  I stayed up way too late last night painting chairs and I was tired all day.  I even fell asleep watching the movie with my kids.  I'm just done!!  I want the chairs out of my salon, so I can move my salon stuff in there and Nathan can start building my cabinets.  I'm tired of having to store things in places where they don't belong.  I want to be clearing stuff out, not storing stuff. 

On a good note, Nathan and Jo fixed the toilet downstairs (I LOVE that I have to delineate which toilet I'm talking about).  The plumber didn't realize that we weren't putting a floor down, so when we put the toilet in, it rocked.  So, Nathan shimmed it and now it doesn't rock anymore and it's ready for caulking.  Last year, my goal was to have a working bathroom by the 4th of July.  We barely made it by this year.  Maybe next year I'll have Adirondack chairs out on my porch. 

Now, I'm going to bed so I'm not so tired and ornery tomorrow (hopefully?).

1.  I am grateful that Nathan and Jo were able to fix the toilet.  It was actually trickier than we thought.  Jo was a good helper.  I asked a few times if I could help and Nathan would tell me that Jo had it all covered.

2.  I am grateful that my kids are getting big enough to help with projects like that.

3.  I am grateful that Nathan found the screws and bolts to my Adirondack chairs, so when (if?) I ever get them done, I will have something to put them together.

4.  I am grateful that my kids finally practiced their piano.  We've had a really hard time getting back into it this summer.  Today was Owen's first piano practice (he just started last Thursday, then forgot his piano books).  He did a great job.  It's interesting to see the difference between my two kids.

5.  I am grateful that I realized, and admitted, there was a problem with my chairs before I did all of the painting.  It would have been more frustrating if I'd spent more time.

Today I felt a ton of help in keeping us safe.  I was tired today and we had to drive 1/2 hour to swimming, 1/2 hour to the movie, and 10 minutes to the orthodontist (Jo got CUTE red, white, and blue bands).  I'm grateful we were safe.

Painting Chairs

Painting stinks!!!

1.  I am grateful that I stayed after swimming lessons today and spent most of the day swimming with my kids.

2.  I am grateful that when Gus was trying to "save" us from the fireworks, he didn't singe all of his hair off, just his whiskers.

3.  I am grateful that I have a nice bed to go to sleep in.

4.  I am grateful that I have a washing machine and a dryer, so when I forget to wash the swim clothes, I can wash them at 11:00 at night, even though I really want to be in my nice bed now.

5.  I am grateful that I get to see family this weekend and that they will still love me even if I don't get finished painting my chairs by then like I'd hoped to.

Yep, today, my "gratefuls" are not so happy and cheerful, but that's as good as it gets.  My day has been hard, but I am grateful for those things, so there you have it.

Sunday

Today has been a good day.  Meeting, church, clean kitchen, lunch, read book, nap, meeting, talk about calling with Nathan, eat popcorn.  That about sums it up.  One of my goals for today was to read most of my book for book club on Wednesday.  It's on my Kindle, so I don't know what page I'm on, but I know I'm 83% of the way done.  I feel good about that.  I would have read more, but I fell asleep.  That also felt good.

We did have a good meeting tonight with the other ward mission leaders in the stake.  It's always nice to go to meetings like that to get re-motivated to do your calling.  I've been feeling kind of lost in my calling ever since we got it.  They specifically called both Nathan and I to be the ward mission leaders.  I'm not a ward missionary.  The bishop made that clear when he called us.  But, most wards only call the man as the ward mission leader, so no one really knows what to do with me.  Nathan and I talked about it tonight and I think we're more on the same page now.  One thing we're trying is to assign meals instead of just send around a sheet for people to sign up.  We've called some people who aren't as active, or who wouldn't have to opportunity to sign up to feed them and they said they would.  I'm hoping that it will turn out well.

We also made a list of people to go visit this week and a list of people we want to work up to being willing to feed the missionaries in the future.  We made some goals for the ward missionary meeting and we're hoping to get the ward more missionary minded.  Not that they need to go out and find people for the missionaries to teach, but we want them to think outside their circle of friends and think of others.  Anyway, those are our goals for now.

Today I'm grateful . . .

1.  I'm grateful for the opportunity I have to go to church.  It's good to re-think the week and resolve to try harder next week.  It's also fun to visit with people.  I won't lie, that is part of why I like going to church.  I need the adult interaction and it helps that someone else watches my kids so I can listen in classes and finish a conversation with someone.

2.  I'm grateful to have the opportunity to go to meetings where I feel re-motivated.  I didn't want to go when it was time, but I was glad I went.

3.  I'm grateful for my kids.  They were psycho crazy when we got home from the meeting.  At that time it was a fun crazy.  Zoey and Owen were actually getting along and laughing.  It was fun to be a part of.

4.  I'm grateful that it was a little chilly after church today so I remembered to bring home my jacket that I left there last week.

5.  I'm grateful that Nathan taught my lesson today.  It was only fair after I had to teach his lesson last week when he went out on a call, right?

6.  I'm grateful for the discussion we had with the kids tonight during scriptures.  I love when they ask questions that show that they are listening and thinking about what we're reading.  I like it much better than when I just sit and read and they just fight or goof off.

I felt the Lord's hand in my life as Nathan and I talked about our calling and what we could do better.  I'm grateful that we were able to come up with a plan and that we both came up with the same names to go visit and to have the missionaries over for dinner.  I was reminded of when I was on my mission and we would pray over what to do and come up with the same thing.  I felt like we were being prepared for something.  Even if it is just working hard, I feel like we'll be blessed for doing what we are prompted to do.

It was a Saturday!

Saturdays around here are usually crazy.  Especially lately.  It seems like Nathan and I are always trying to get projects done and the kids basically run back and forth talking to us and having fun.  Today was a little different because it started out with Nathan and Jo going on a 4H horse ride.  From what I have heard, everything went well.  Jo actually likes going on trail rides more than the 4H meetings.  The trail ride ended up being about a 4 hour ride which meant they were gone from about 8:30 until about 2:00.  It sounds like Jo did great on Shorty and Mel was pretty good.  Nathan said Mel was pretty tired by the end.  Jo just told me that Shorty was, too. 

These pictures are from the trail ride.  Nathan took them and I stole them.

 Jo says this one is when they stopped to wait for everyone.

 These next two are when they all lined up to take a picture.  Nathan said there were 19 horses on the ride.  Jo is on the far right.

After the ride, Jo, Zoey, and I went into town to buy the girls new swimsuits.  I've been hoping that the suits they have would last through this year, but Zoey's is pretty stinkin' small.  And Jo's seems to have lost it's elasticity.  It droops everywhere.  We went to Ross Dress for Less first and found Zoey a CUTE Speedo swimsuit for about $8.  The tag on it said $30.  They didn't have anything in Jo's size, so we headed over to Kohl's.  I found another Speedo swimsuit for Jo, then looked at the pricetag.  $40!!!  Um, no.  Then Jo pointed to a sign that said something about swimwear being 55% off.  We bought it.  For $18.  My girls are so excited to be able to wear their new swimsuits to swimming lessons on Monday.

Tonight was also a night of freedom for some of our animals.  We decided to let our kitties out of the garage for a while.  They are still so little and I don't want them to go out in the road and get run over, but one of them managed to get hurt in the garage, so we decided to let them out, then put them back in at night.  They are so fun to watch!!  Nathan took some pictures and a video.

Our baby chicks also got a taste of freedom.  I tried a few days ago to take the cardboard out from around the cage, but they could still barely fit through the bars and get to where the mom couldn't save them.   Also, one of them got out into the pasture between the coop and the run.  Last night, the mom seemed to really want to get out, so I left the cage door open to see what she'd do.  She was very protective.  Maybe too protective.  The rooster got after her at one point.  But if any hen came too close to her chicks, she'd poof up, flap her wings, and peck at them.  I ended up putting them back in last night because we still hadn't fixed the break between the coop and the run.  Tonight, I decided that I would just leave the door open so the mom could get out and get some exercise and so she could eat the layer feed.  We put a board up over the break.  I checked on them later and everything seems to be going smoothly.  Nathan took a picture of them, too.

The mom was not happy at Nathan.  She started flapping around when he got out the camera.  In the picture, she's giving him the evil eye.

Like most Saturdays, we got a lot done, but wish we could have gotten more done.

1.  I am grateful that we were able to find good swimsuits for a good price.  I love the Speedo ones because they have big straps and the straps go together in the back so they don't slip off of your shoulders.  Both girls commented on how they look like their teachers.

2.  I am grateful that I don't think fast on my feet, or sitting in my car in this case.  Today, when I was out shopping with my girls, I had pulled forward to pull out onto a street when I realized that the car I was waiting for was going to turn left onto the street I was on.  So, I stopped.  He cut the corner WAY close and came within inches of my bumper.  I'm sure my face was worried.  He stopped his car, rolled down his window and pointed under my car.  I thought there was something wrong with my car, so I rolled down my window.  He very colorfully told me that I should be behind the white line.  I wasn't sure what to say, so I rolled up my window and drove away.  Jo turned to me and said, "Mom, you aren't any of those things that he said."  It made me angry that my girls had to hear that kind of language.  We decided that he wasn't very smart if those are the only words he could come up with to express his anger.  Especisally since he used the same word at least 5 times.  The rest of the time we were out, I came up with all of these things that I should have said, or could have said, instead of driving away.  Then I realized that I'm grateful that I didn't think of them at the time because it probably would have made him more mad.  It wouldn't have done any good.  And my girls didn't need to see me get angry like that.

3.  I'm grateful that I was able to work on my chairs today.  I finished sanding them and got some of them primed.  I will be very glad to get that project done.

4.  I'm grateful that the horses were good on Jo's trail ride.  She seems to be gaining confidence.

5.  I'm grateful that my kitties and chicks got to taste freedom today.  It was fun to see them enjoying the outdoors.  It was funny to see Abbie and Gus freak out when they couldn't get to the kitties.  And to see the kitties reactions the first time they saw the dogs.  Hopefully someday they'll all be good friends.

Gone Private

Sorry about the sudden private-ness of my blog.  A few weeks ago, my sister helped me re-design my blog and along with that put in a Feedjit that tells me where people are when they log onto my blog.  It also sometimes shows where they left the blog to go.  A few days ago, I saw someone from Brazil had come to my blog.  I thought it was kind of interesting, but didn't really think anything of it because it showed that they had come from a friend's blog.  I looked at it again this morning and someone had logged on from the same place in Brazil and they had logged directly onto my blog.  Then it showed that they had blown up two of my pictures on my blog.  I clicked on the links to see what pictures they had looked at.  They were pictures from about 3 years ago when I was potty training Zoey.  They were of her in her "big girl underwear" and nothing else.  It made me sick to think about someone I didn't even know going through my blog and looking at pictures of my kids like that.  I had been thinking about making my blog private for a while and I wish I had a few weeks ago.  But, since I hadn't, I decided right then and there that no one was going to do that again.  So, here I am, private. 

Today we went to the splash park with Nathan's sister. It was fun. Pretty cold to get in water, but fun. We also took her our grown cat. I think he'll do better up at her new place. His biggest problem is that he loves to get hit by cars. He's used up at least 7 of his lives already.  I hope he'll be very happy up there and fit into their life well.  I also hope that our three babies can take over and keep the mice population down here.  I know their moms were good mousers.

Here are some pictures from our fun at the splash park.

Zoey LOVED these geysers!!  It's what she played on most of the time.

 Josie freezing.

 Owen and Calving freezing.

 Cash freezing.

 The younger kids finally convinced Jo to come with them to play.  Here she just went through the water and was trying to convince the other kids to come with her down the slides.  They decided they really didn't want to go through the water after all.

 Zoey and the geyser, again.

 Calvin got in on the geyser action.  He liked to jump through them, though.

 And whatever Calvin does, Cash can do, too.

 Awwww, cute cousins sharing the geyser.

 Aly wasn't too sure about the cold water.

 She finally got into it a bit.

 And Calvin decided the standing in the geyser was okay, too.

 This was right before Aly got sprayed in the face with a squirt gun.

 Cash and the geyser.

 Calvin, Cash, and Zoey and the geysers.  They really were a hit with these three.  I think it's because they didn't have to get their heads wet and they could determine how wet the rest of them should get.

 And Zoey and the geyser . . .again.

 Owen refused to get out of his towel for a while there.

 But he finally decided that going down the slide was fun.

 This was Cash's version of playing on the slide.  This way he didn't have to go through the water falling on his head.

 Owen really got into going down the slide.

 Calvin even went down the slide.

 Then, Zoey decided that if they could, she could, too.  Here's Owen encouraging her.

 And she made it.

After the park, we ran some errands.  We had to get a new shower curtain liner because apparently water resistant doesn't mean that water won't go through the shower curtain and soak your bathroom.  We found a nice fabric liner at WalMart.  I was so happy.  I HATE the vinyl ones.  I want one that I can wash and it won't fall apart.  We also picked up some new 4th of July nail stickers (because toenail polish is the one pampering thing I HAVE to have).  Then we went and picked up fabric for my project I need to sew next week (I think it's CUTE, Dawn!  I'll post about it when it's done.)

We ran home and I hurriedly got ready before cutting one ex-missionary's and two current missionaries' hair.  While I did that, the kids played outside in the sprinklers.  Apparently they didn't get wet enough, cold enough, or tired out enough at the splash park.

All in all, it was a long, busy, fun, crazy day.

In looking through my pictures, I found some that I took yesterday and meant to post.  These are of the kids' swimming lessons.  They all LOVE them.  They are so fun to watch.

Zoey just got done playing motorboat.  That's her rubbing her eyes.

 Jo listening to what her teacher is saying.

 Zoey kicking.  It's cute to see even at her young age that they teach them to keep their legs straight and point their toes.  Here they tell them not to let their feet touch the water.

 Owen working on kicking, too.

 Oops, he caught me.

 Jo practicing the arms for the breaststroke.

 And again.

 Today, I am tired, but grateful . . .

1.  I am grateful that I caught on what was happening on my blog and was able to hopefully stop it from happening again.

2.  I am grateful that we were able to go play at the splash park.  I'm hoping we can go again when it is warmer.

3.  I am grateful that the cat didn't get out of the box on the way to the park or at the park.  I'm glad he settled down.

4.  I am grateful that I was able to find cute fabric for my project.

5.  I am grateful that I can cut hair and do that service for the missionaries so they can look good when they are out doing their work.

I do feel very blessed for how things happened with my blog.  I am glad that if something had to happen to kick me in the butt and make me go private, that's how it happened.  I'm glad that whoever it was, they lived in Brazil.  I'm not so worried about them figuring out where I live and driving by my house.  I do feel violated and I'm struggling with feeling like I'm a bad mom because I feel like moms are supposed to protect their kids and not make it so people can take advantage of them; but for the most part, I feel pretty safe considering everything.  I feel like I can go on with my life and not worry about every little thing out in the world, but I do feel like I'll be more careful about what is out there for everyone to see.  I do feel like the Lord had a hand in warning me without making me too paranoid.

I am Grateful

1.  I am grateful that all 5 of Zoey's caterpillars built cocoons.  I'm also grateful that I was able to transfer them over without any of them falling off of the paper.  They are now in the butterfly habitat.

2.  I am grateful that we don't have swimming lessons tomorrow.  I'm grateful for a day that I don't have to be out the door with three kids by 7:30.

3.  I am grateful that Tara called and wants to meet us at the Splash Park.  It will be fun to get out and get together with family tomorrow.

4.  I am grateful that Zoey was in charge of dinner tonight and that she wanted store bought cardboard pizzas.  It was a quick, easy dinner to make; especially when I forgot I was supposed to go visiting teaching.

5.  I am grateful for a patient piano teacher for my kids.  I'm glad that she is patient with Jo when Jo gets frustrated and I'm grateful that she helped Owen's first piano lesson turn out fun.  He was so excited to come home and show me where middle C was.

Good Day!

It's getting late and I still need to fold laundry, so this is going to be a very fast post.  I do have much to be grateful for today. . .

1.  I am grateful that my neighbor let me use her microwave to heat up my leftovers.  I was thinking we'd have leftovers before 4H because they are so fast and easy.  Then, I remembered that our microwave decided it didn't want to work anymore on Sunday.  I called my neighbor and she was more than happy to let us use hers.  Zoey and I even got in a good conversation with her while waiting for our rice and gravy to heat up.

2.  I am grateful for craigslist.  After having to use my neighbor's microwave, I decided to look on craigslist to see if anyone was selling a microwave.  There was one about 1/2 hour away for $25.  Then I found one that was less than 10 miles away for $10.  We are now the proud owners of a very used microwave.  But hopefully it will last for a while.

3.  I am grateful for patient 4H leaders.  Jo's been having a hard time with confidence.  They played some fun games tonight.  One was cow herding and one was trying to drop a penny into a bucket from a spoon taped to your hat.  Jo actually was able to get her penny in one time and she was so proud.  Zoey, Owen and I left, but Nathan said that both Jo and Shorty did great at herding cows.  Especially for the first time.  I think both games helped boost Jo's confidence. 

4.  I am grateful to live in a small town where people remember me.  I had to pick up a prescription today for my neighbor and the tech remembered me from before and didn't give me any hassle about picking up a prescription for someone else.

5.  I am grateful for the summer reading program.  My kids all love it, I have time to socialize, and it gets us all reading together and alone.

6.  I am still grateful for my floor downstairs.  It's nice when my laundry basket is overflowing to not worry about clothes touching the floor.

Tonight, right before I left to go to town, I realized that the sky was very dark and it was thundering and lightening.  It looked ready to dump good.  At first, I was just thinking about having to drive in the rain, but then I realized that I still had my chairs outside.  I had been trying to keep them dry until they get all painted so I didn't have to wait for the wood to get dry.  I knew I had at least 3 loads to get everything in the basement.  As I went outside, I felt a few raindrops.  I picked up my first load and took it downstairs, praying that the rain would hold off.  It took 4 loads to get it all in and I felt little raindrops each time.  I got the sanding sponges and scrapers in, then went and got in my car to go to town.  I wasn't even a block down the street when the sky opened up and it downpoured.  I was very grateful that the rain was held back until I got everything inside.

Few additions to Today

I'm feeling bad about my last post.  I am feeling better after thinking and writing about what I'm grateful for. Oh, yeah, and talking to my sister on the phone.  Also, thinking back about my day, I did have some times I laughed.  My sisters and brother will probably appreciate these stories more than anyone.

Last night, Nathan was not feeling so hot (that's not the part I was laughing at), so I ended up going walking today without him.  I was trying to figure out how to keep myself entertained while walking while I was getting ready.  I grabbed an mp3 player out of the electronics box and headed out the door.  When I turned it on, I realized that it was set to all of Janeen Brady's songs.  So, that is what I listened to while I was walking.  I tried not to sing out loud, or at least make sure that no one was too close when I did, but I did catch myself singing "I'm a Mormon" somewhat loud while walking down the greenbelt.  After realizing that, I hurriedly looked around and had to laugh at myself.

A few days ago, Nathan moved our horses across the street to our neighbor's house.  We've just been checking their water while we walk past.  We (okay, Nathan) have a 5 gallon bucket we've used to dip water out of the canal.  I realized this morning that I should check the water so Nathan didn't have to worry about it.  I checked and it was a little low.  I've seen Nathan fill the bucket and use it to fill the water trough.  I thought for sure I could do it.  So, I dipped the water in the canal.  First of all, it didn't get hardly any water in it.  So, then I angled it so it would fill with more water.  It filled up nicely.  Then, I tried to lift it out of the canal.  I felt like Matthew Buckley in "Chickens in the Headlights."  I couldn't lift the bucket.  Matthew could dump a little out until he could lift it.  I didn't have that option.  My options were to let the bucket go and lose it down the canal, or buck up and lift it.  Another problem I faced was that I was precariously perched on the bank of the canal and didn't have a lot of leverage.  I finally dug my feet in and leaned back heaving the bucket up out of the water, slopping water on my sweats in the process.  I didn't really care, though.  The water and I were both out of the canal.  I sloshed my way up the bank and filled the trough.  Then I realized that I had to do it again.  I was smarter that time and didn't angle it quite so much.  It still took some doing to get us both up the bank, but I did it.  The trough wasn't quite full, but I decided that it would do for today and I'd let Nathan fill it tomorrow.  I sloshed and laughed for the rest of my walk.  Luckily I did it on my way home and not when I was just starting.

Some good news:  I checked on the caterpillar/butterflies and two of them are in a cocoon.  The other three are hanging upside down like they are thinking about it.  Hopefully soon we'll be able to transfer them over to the butterfly habitat.

Feeling better about my post.

Ornery Day

Today I felt like I was behind all day.  It was very frustrating!!  We were late for swimming lessons this morning and late for the summer movie this afternoon.  It didn't seem to matter what I did, there were always shoes to put on, kids who needed to go to the bathroom, and water bottles to fill before we could leave.  My kids also had a hard time listening today.  I feel like I've had to ask and remind at least 3 times today.  I don't know what it is.  I just don't like it.  I'm ready for today to be over and for all of us to get over whatever ornery, non-listening, slacker sickness we have.  I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow.  I heard at Time Out for Women that if you begin and end complalining like a prayer, that's what it becomes.  A heartfelt prayer discussing your problems with Heavenly Father.  I'm thinking I might try that tonight.

Okay, now that the vent session is over, I can go on to what I am grateful for.  I really do have much to be grateful for today.

1.  I am grateful that my kids seem to be learning quickly in swimming lessons this year.  Jo swam across the pool doing the backstroke and the teacher just had to help her get started.  Owen is learning the kicking and arms separately for the front crawl.  And Zona is taking to the water like a fish.  She loves to jump in to her teacher and is usually one of the first ones picked because she is so brave.  I've heard her a few times trying to convince one of the more scared kids that whatever they're doing is fun.

2.  I am grateful that we made it to the movie.  It is one of my favorite times of the week.  I love sitting there with my kids and enjoying a movie. 

3.  After the movie, we went shopping for some things that we needed and ended up getting some things we wanted, too.  I am grateful that we were able to find two pairs of jeans for Jo.  She has holes in all of the jeans she had for school except one pair.  It's a skinny pair and doesn't fit over her boots.  She needed some jeans to wear for the county fair to show her horse and we found two pair at D.I. to fit over her boots.  I didn't want to spend a lot of money because my kids go through jeans like crazy in the summer. 

4.  I am grateful that we were able to find a book with a song that Jo has been wanting to play on the piano.  I've looked online, even, and couldn't find it.  We had to go get a new theory book for Owen because he is starting piano on Thursday.  I asked the guy in the music store if they had the song.  He helped me look through a lot of books and we finally found it.  I'm grateful.  Jo is excited.

5.  I am grateful that we were able to find the first two Harry Potter books at D.I. for $3 total.  I'm glad that we can read the first two books before we have to start borrowing them from the library again.

6.  I am grateful that I was able to find a shower curtain, rugs, and a garbage can that I think look good in my upstairs bathroom.  I'm grateful to finally have a bathroom that matches!!  I was worried about finding stuff that went with our yellow walls and brown towels, but I think we did all right.

Here's our new floor with the rugs on it.

 And the new shower curtain.

 Showing off the rugs, floor, garbage can, and curtain.

 And I don't even think it looks too bad with the yellow walls.

7.  I am grateful for the warm weather.  I finally got out my capris today.  It felt awesome!!

I feel blessed with everything we were able to get while shopping today.  We only went for about an hour and got a lot of good stuff.  The kids also found a Scentsy-type wax at WalMart that smells like blueberry muffins.  I have it in my burner right now and it is making the whole day quite a bit better.  I'm glad that we were able to get pants that Jo needed (and ended up getting some pj's for Jo and Owen so theirs aren't 2 sizes too small anymore).  I feel much better about my bathroom.  I'm glad that we're ready for Owen to start piano and that we found a fun book for Jo to play out of.  All in all, a great shopping day.

Just previewed my post:  still LOVING the new updated editor!!  It doesn't just decide where I want spaces put in my post.  It just does exactly what I say.  I guess I can't blame how my post looks on the editor anymore.