Daddy's Little Helper

Joe & I got finished removing the dry wall. Now Joe is preparing the room for hanging new dry wall. It should look awesome when down. The middle of the ceiling will be 9 feet with a bulk running down the east & west sides.




Robby helped out with his very own Bob the Builder tool kit! He was very in to it! Joe let him hold his hammer and he about fell over. "Whoa! I think I'll use my screw driver," he told Dad.




On the sports camp front, Bridget performed in a play today at camp. Joe & I thought she did a great job. She was Hospital 1 and the chorus in 1000 Cranes. She projected very well and was fabulous! Next week will be her final week at IUPUI Sports Camp. Her and Katie will be in the Chinese Culture Camp during July and part of August.

All the dry wall is down from our bedroom! Yeah! I am so glad because I hate, absolutely detest, wearing those stupid little white masks. I'm sure they are perfectly fine for those who do not wear glasses, but trying to maneuver around with fogged up glasses is near impossible! Add to that the glasses have so much moisture on them that the dust permeating the air sticks to your glasses making viewing worse still (hard to believe that's possible!) I hope we have no more demo work.

I was hoping that the previous owner had stashed a bag of $100 bills in the wall somewhere, but that was not to be so we are still poor. Darn the luck. At least, we still have our health thanks to wearing those little white masking and managing NOT to trip or injure ourselves while we couldn't see!

More Demo Work

Well, we decided it was best to tear out the drywall in our bedroom and start fresh, so that is what Joe & I did last evening. Bleech! We still have a little to go tonight. I will try to get some pictures (wish I would have taken a before shot - but that's life!)

I wish I were at home....

I wish I were a SAHM. I've said this I don't know how many times. Maybe it's because I really dislike this job. I sit here thinking of all the fun things I could be doing at. You know fun, like laundry and dishes. And while it's sunny out, like now, I could be weeding. I could get all the house work done and maybe, just maybe, have time on the weekend to do really fun stuff like sew. Or read. Or any of the numerous projects Joe and I have in mind. And I wouldn't be paying $1200 a month for daycare.



I'm sure it would take a while for me to get into my groove. The house wouldn't be spotless. There would still be dirty dishes. But I like to think that eventually, my house would be like clock-work. Especially after Bridget and Katie start back to school. I'd have my little morning routine: drop the girls off at school, come back home, get a load of laundry started, sit back with a cup of coffee and the morning Sudoku to watch HGTV (this of course, contingent upon getting cable!) while Robby would play with his toys or read books. I'd get the laundry put away (now there's a concept - put the laundry away into drawers/closets rather than letting it sit in the basket until desperately needed!) and work on a project for awhile - maybe sewing, scrap booking, or refinishing a table. After Robby and I enjoyed a nutritious lunch we would head to a park. Maybe even meet up with Kim and her kids. Afterwards, we'd pick up the girls from school (North Lot, of course!). I'd let the kids play outside for a while and then drag them in to do homework while I fixed dinner. Just think - we could eat dinner at 6 every night. Ahh... everyone needs a dream and that is mine. It won't happen in the near future, but it is nice to think about.

Construction Update

Everyday we get a bit more done on the house. Joe took a little time off from mudding, sanding, and priming to plant the garden. I don't think he has everything in yet, but he has started. I just hope the rains don't wash it all away!

The air-conditioning was hooked up Friday. Yippee! When the tech left at 4 p.m. it was a 89 degrees in the house! It took quite awhile for the house to cool down. Joe has also started finishing the doors. They are going to look fabulous! One of us needs to start staining the window sills, etc... Until that is done I can't install mini-blinds. Daylight Saving Time is playing havoc with the kid's schedules! It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't work and they could sleep in, but since we have to be out of the house before 7 am I need them asleep by 9. I start putting them in bed at 8 and I can still hear them at 9 - 9:30!

We have all the furniture (with the exception of the bed) cleared out of our bedroom. This will allow Joe to finish the drywall and install a new ceiling in that room. At the moment, we are sleeping in what will be the girls room. All three kids are in the same room. I am not sure Robby will know what to do with his own room!

Due to generosity of others, our floors look great! Larry gave us left over tile which was installed in the upstairs bathroom. Our neighbor, Brian, gave us (and installed!) tile in the kid's rooms and last week Rich and Edie gave us enough tile to do my sewing room. It is a real nice oak parquet.

I need to get some updated pictures.

Sunday Dinner & Dinosaurs

Went all out for dinner tonight - roasted turkey breast, mashed potatoes and greens. My husband is the only one in the family who truly loves greens. I will eat them for the nutritional value. Bridget and Katie managed to clean their plates, including the not-so-enjoyable greens. They were a little bitter this time. Last time I made them, I actually enjoyed them. This time? Not so much. Note to self: get the European greens, not the country greens. Big difference!

Anyway, Robert was the last hold out. Not even coaxing him with jello was working. I finally hit upon the solution. "Hey, Robby, these are kind of like the tree stars that Little Foot and Sarah eat on the Land Before Time movie." He liked the idea of eating dinosaur food and soon his plate was clean!

Sunday Evening

Here it is Sunday evening. I resorted to picking the strawberries myself, eventhough I do not like picking. I must admit, the strawberries cooking on the stove smell awesome! Add to that aroma the roasting turkey and it might put you over the edge!

The kids are out picking strawberries. Well, they're supposed to be. I suspect they are actually on the swing set again. I don't think I will have enough strawberries to make jam. At the moment, Bridget, Katie and Robert have managed to pick a grand total of 25 of the red, juicy nuggets. No clue as to how many were devoured instead being placed in the basket.

It is a beautiful sunny, although very hot and humid. Hopefully, everything will dry up from the torrential downpours the area suffered Friday and Saturday. We were lucky, no floods in our neighborhood. To the South of us it was bad. Someplaces had as much as nearly 12 inches of rain!