Another semi-productive weekend.

Another long weekend presented itself and I enjoyed every moment of it. First, my momma made her visit for the month this weekend so I got to enjoy her company to its fullest. We didn't do much - ran a few little errands and just generally hung out around the house. Honestly, while it doesn't sound all that exciting, I can't really think of anything I would rather do on a weekend off than just hang out around the house with the people I love the most. To top it off, Chad had the weekend off to so we just got to be HOME for a couple of days together. Lovely weekend it was.

Today was LABOR day and I sure did labor - but I saved it for the second half of the day - as to not get too carried away. Chad and I are catching up on old TV shows (specifically Alias - Jennifer Garner's finest work in my opinion...I love that show!) and just jumping into season 3. We caught up on a couple episodes before Chad had to go to work and I got cracking on my to do list from my last long weekend. I went to Lowe's and bought the wall paint for the bathroom since it was on sale this weekend and then came home and painted! I got the ceiling painted with two coats of white and the walls painted with one coat. I bought grey for the walls and I am pretty excited about getting it all on there in the next couple of days. I did more laundry (how does it never end??), cleaned dishes, vacuumed floors, and changed sheets. All in all, a pretty darn productive day. Long week of work ahead but thankfully, it is only 4 days long. New staff member starting tomorrow that I am very excited about - super positive, upbeat, and coming from another Girl Scout council so we don't have to train her as much. It's gonna be a good week!

Giving thanks.

This no-good-not-what-I-planned weekend turned out to be exactly what I needed and pretty much perfection.

Chad was off Friday so we got to spend the entire afternoon together - running around and then finishing our plumbing project with the help of his dad. (ok, it was mostly them. I do a lot of tool handing over...) Saturday we got up early to go pick up my car, Chad got his long run in, I got a walk in with Uncle J and lunch at UPD before Chad had to go to work. I spend the afternoon helping K at her house with more painting before meeting Chad at the townhouse for dinner. Lasagna and a nice glass of wine for J and I (not for Chad, obviously, since he was just on his dinner break) and some good conversation before heading home to bed. Chad ended up staying for an extra shift so he arrived home at around 7:30 this morning. We slept through church (oops? but not entirely a mistake since he had just arrived home after working 18 hours) then had a nice lunch with family at the Yellow Deli.

I spent this afternoon helping K again with an outside painting job and the weather could not have been more perfect. It has been an insanely gorgeous weekend, full of sunshine and near 70 degree temps. I have already cleaned out my car - a project that has been needing to happen for weeks - and now with the windows open, I will clean the kitchen. I feel so much more energized and ready to go and do when the weather is like this. My to do list shrinks so much faster! I am so thankful for today and a weekend where the unexpected turned into the wonderful.

Things to do.

Because of Chad's new work schedule, he isn't going to be able to travel on Christmas like we have the past 4 married Christmases together. Traditionally, we have spent Thanksgiving with his family and Christmas with mine since they live farther away and we got more days off for the Christmas holiday. This year, we will be moving my family's Christmas to Chattanooga; I won;t be waking up at my parents house on Christmas for the first time in 28 years. I am both incredibly excited and a little sad; I am not usually a girl who likes change so this is an adjustment but it will be so nice to wake up in our own house - the one we lovingly take care of and call home - with the rest of my sweet family nearby. So, hurray for new traditions and honoring old ones too!

In the spirit of inviting my family into my home, I have started my to-do list prior to their arrival. With the hopes that I will actually get some of it all of it done, I am going to share it publically and let you in on my progress. Some of it I know I can't do until the day before (vaccuuming anyone?) but some I can do before and some are unfinished Christmas projects:

- clean off and set dining room table (after adding leaf to the middle to accomodate more sweet family!)
- finish mom's christmas project
- wrap Christmas presents (this isn't a chore...I LOVE this part!) (Edited to add: I do plan on taking pictures of all the cool stuff I made and sharing after Christmas. The suspense is killing me.)
- purchase/make 3 more presents (including a Dec. 26th birthday present for a bestie)
- clean up kitchen
- plan for and buy groceries for lots of fun family meals
- replace strand of lights on front porch decorations (thanks Dad B for making them work again!)
- sweep and vaccum floors
- clean bathrooms
- change sheets on all 3 guest beds (we will need them all! woohoo!)
- make one last Christmas decor project
- wash and return couch cover (this is a day before project...we should have taught the dog to just not get on the couch but well...eh...we like her too much)
- clean up craft room (this will obviously have to wait since I will be trashing it to finish projects)
- make giant batch of cinnamon rolls for all the neighbors (we are christening my friend K's new kitchen for this project! yippee for new double ovens...!)
- wash and put away clothes prior to company arriving
- figure out where another chair can go in the living room since we remove one for the Christmas tree and need the space for rears now that family is coming!
- acquire Wooby and Gwen's Christmas presents - a new long leash for Gwen so she can roam the backyard without chasing the neighborhood dogs and probably some cat grass for the Woobster. Gwen broke her leash and long leashes are cheaper than fences (which is on our "someday" house to-do list)


Surely this list will grow and shrink as the time goes on...I'll refer back and keep you updated (like you are really interested!)

can't wait!

I only have to work one day before I get to see my mom and my sister!
They will be here late tonight after my Sis gets off work and then will hang out with me until probably dinner time tomorrow night. We have our appointment to blow our own glass ornaments (I have my 2nd interview at 1pm!!) and hopefully our real estate agent will be able to show us the two houses that top the list. She hasn't been feeling well so I emailed her and asked if she felt better, could she maybe show us those two so I can get an opinion from my mom and sister.
Everything I planned on getting done this weekend pretty much got finished - with the exception of cleaning out my car which got about half done as I watched the Oscar's last night (those were pleasantly short commercial breaks!) and finishing cleaning up our bedroom. I folded and put away a bunch of clothes yesterday so I just need to clean off the 2 chairs in our room (which stay that way for about 6 hours once it gets done) and it will be done!
Beth's baby shower invites are going in the mail today - I think they are really cute! I will show you a picture as soon as people start getting them in the mail.
And for the sake of pure honesty here, I would like to report that I just busted my lip on the edge of the desk. Yep. I'm super clumsy this morning. Don't ask me how that just happened but I was trying to take something from the cat and I guess I was looking at her instead of where my face was located and now I have a fat lip (and it hurts so bad I thought I broke a tooth...that is how hard I hit my mouth). Awesome. "Hi, My name is Paula. I would like to work for you. And no, I don't normally have an huge lower lip". Cool.