pictures of a really nice weekend...

The baby cousins see each other for the first time since June...Wulf and Grant. (my two grandsons, and Wulf had on overalls that Benjamin wore, and Ben just turned 30! All of my baby boys wore them!)




Little Grant fell asleep in my arms...precious.


Babies crawling on the bed at our hotel...we spent a lot of time there, the pool was fantastic, and the babies loved going swimming. They were then wrapped in warm towels and got their little feetsies splashed with the warm water of the hot tub.


Grant with his daddy, Samuel.


Sweet baby Grant.


It was lovely in Virginia, warmer than here. We went to a little town called Occoquan, circa 1734, just parked and walked around. It's on a river, so it was a pleasant walk. I spotted this...

Mom's Apple Pie Bakery. "We're going there!", I told everyone...Sam and Grace, Grace's sister Georgia, little Grant who was done with the stroller and was in his daddy's arms, Margaret and baby Wulf, Evelyn, Suzanne, and Camille...with a larger group, there's always the indecision, no one knows what they want to do or where they want to go, and if someone does have an idea, someone else is sure to sigh and roll their eyes. But when I saw this place, we were going.

It didn't disappoint.

The minute I walked in the door, my new diet went right down the drain. I wanted all of it, but we chose only: a black and white cookie, 3 molasses cookies, two apple donuts (huge and dense, these probably weighed 6 or 8 ounces, drizzled in maple-y glaze...), and a million dollar cookie, which was oatmeal chocolate chip with pecans. We found a table in the sun near the river, and started passing things around and breaking off pieces. Evelyn also had a gingerbread cookie, and Grace and Georgia had some pie...it was amazing. In retrospect, we shouldn't have even gone in, but oh dear it was yummy. I didn't go totally hog wild, I saved most of that million dollar cookie and the second apple donut, and stuck them in Sonja's lunch today, she can share with her friends.


Suzanne, Evelyn, and Camille


Evelyn, Suze, Cam.




Have you ever stopped at a Crispy Creme bakery? They fry those donuts up right behind that glass, and the conveyor belt glistens with fresh yummies, and the smell is simply heavenly. We were traveling back from Virginia yesterday, and I was talking to Sonja on the phone, asked her if she wanted some donuts, and yes, she did. We had to stop anyway, so why not in Clark's Summit? The whole town smells like one big donut, to me. We picked out a dozen beautiful donuts, but I didn't eat any. I just got a coffee. We stopped at Moe's and got some healthier food...:)


Will I ever grow up?

Anyway, it's a long trip, we left at 10:30-ish, and got home around six. Evelyn is an amazing driver, she drove the whole way there and the whole way back.

So here's my bathroom renovation nightmare...it was a rush job, because that's how I operate. Give me a deadline, I'll start dangerously close to it, and forsake all else to get it done. I had it in my head to get the resin/topping on that countertop by Friday before we left for the weekend, because so few people would be at home, it would be easy to let it set and dry. So all else had to be done before this final step. So:

Ceiling washed and painted. (ceiling paint)
Walls spackled, sanded, washed, painted...edged, rolled, repeat. (Sea Salt in eggshell, Valspar Signature)
Cabinets primed and painted. (Zinser 1-2-3 primer, Sherwin Williams Pure White for cabinets, leftover from kitchen)
Wood trim and door primed and painted (Zinser and white enamel, which I went over with the Pure White because I was using too many different paints)

So I was juggling all these projects at the SAME TIME, washing out brushes in between because I didn't have enough for each different paint. I did have Paul get me some extra rollers so I could ditch the ceiling paint ones and use new ones for the walls.

Painted the countertop...first primed it, then painted it pearl essences white, and was going to glop it with some bronze and gray and try to make it look like quartz...but the white didn't cover it well, so I re-primed it and just painted it gray. I was running out of time, it was Friday and I hadn't packed yet, hadn't washed my hair, and the rest of the house was getting messy. I needed to just get to the point where I was ready to do the final topping, so I just found a jar of sample paint, and rolled on a coat, waited half an hour and rolled on some more. I NEEDED to top it off, so I did, 45 minutes before I had to leave to pick up the high school girls, so we could pack that van and leave, I poured on that resin.

If you've never mixed up Envirotex Lite, you haven't experienced anything. I was stressed, and in high gear. Jonathan, bless his sweet heart, told me to relax. You have to measure it perfectly, and since I had crossed "Outing To Town" off my list, I didn't buy anything to mix this stuff in, so I had to sacrifice two tall coffee travel mugs, and two nice plastic pitchers. You mix it together for two minutes, then transfer to a second container, mix for one minute, then pour! It's clear and thick, and you have to use a piece of thick paper or a flat sided object to spread it, and work fast! In retrospect, I had more time than I thought I did, and I should have done a better job, but I get frantic, and I am one of those I'm-cleaning-the-living-room-but-also-washing-the-dishes-and-wait-the-laundry-needs-to-go-in-the-dryer-but-I-still-have-a-broom-in-my-hand-which-is-soapy-from-dishwater kind of people, scatterbrained and doing all sorts of stuff at once...so I didn't know where to start, and I should have had a better method of spreading it. Jonathan's side came out way better. He wasn't as emotionally invested, ha, he just calmly spread it on, while I spread it here and there and went over parts that I should have left alone...I ended up missing a few spots, and the backslashes aren't covered very well. I don't love the color, and overall it isn't great...but hey, it's better than the burgundy! It has to be caulked before we can use the sinks, but here's something:

It actually hardened! It's clear and glossy with only a few dog hairs in it.

(Sonja texted me on Saturday night right as I was falling asleep...Mom, there's a huge spot on the countertop. (I was concerned it wouldn't harden up, because that's one of the issues a lot of people in the reviews had...the measurements were supposed to be so exact, and I rather tend to eyeball things, ha. So I was asking frequently for updates about whether it seemed still sticky. So Sonja sent me this pic:

Oh how frustrating! A spot, after all that work!

The next morning, I woke up and thought about that spot, and it seemed ridiculous to get so worked up about a spot on the countertop, in the big scheme of life, of all things that are important. So I let it go, and decided to just be thankful, and not silly about it.

Fast forward to last night...I got home, and yeah, went straight to that bathroom to take the plastic off the sinks and see how things looked. The counter was very nice and hard, and not too much dust in it, and then Camille announced that she had wiped that brown spot right off. ha.


Before!!!
and...



I wish I had taken a true "before" pic, with the old unmatching chrome faucets, all chipped and corroded, covered in hard water stains. (These will be wiped off more often, hopefully won't get like the old ones did.)

Anyway...here I am home again, bathroom almost done. I need to get new hardware for the cabinets and I want to remove the doorhandle and spray paint it, but other than that...phew.

Lydia is coming over later today and staying until Saturday, her momma has some night shifts then a root canal. Next week she'll be here Monday through Friday, which will be our new normal. If it gets really snowy she can just spend the night.

REALLY SNOWY? Yes, it's snowy...




The quiet morning kitchen, piles of dishes to do still, but so peaceful.



We never did cover the pool...oh well.