skipping pool....

 ...not really skipping, it's closed this morning, no life guard available. I had a good workout this morning anyway, a dog named Suri, our almost eleven year old Labrador, pooped...all over nice shag rug over in the play area.  Well. I started out optimistic, and I'll spare you the gory details, but I realized pretty quickly that it wasn't going to clean well....so that rug has been rolled up and placed in the trash can.  It wasn't until I sat in my comfy chair with a steaming cup of coffee, and oh dear, is that?  oh no, it IS.  Now, I couldn't just ignore it and drink my coffee, although, shh, I did try...but nope, I had to get up and take care of it.  When I carried the rug out, the dogs wanted to go out, and what did Suri do?  She ate a bird.  (I know, blah and ugh, right?). I'll spare you the details of THAT too, but she would NOT DROP IT.   I don't know where it came from, or who was the culprit in catching it, but there are feathers all over out there.  

Such joy, having pets.

I told her she was never coming in the house again, but she didn't believe me, and she's snoring on the couch right now.  

Yesterday we had a curry/chili cook-off, or something like that.  Emily and Mariel invited us over, and made a vegetarian curry, a tikka masala, (oh with roasted sweet potatoes on the side too!), and another curry dish with a spicy oil to drizzle....they were so good.  I made a chili with no beans, to eat over rice, with lots of peppers and onions.  (it was pretty good, I added a jar of cilantro lime salsa to it).  Sam and Grace brought bakery half-moons, and we had a big bowl of Cadbury eggs...those yummy little candy coated Easter ones.  (What?!  They were 70% off at Target!!!)

Emily is such a good sport...she got the lawn mower out and turned it on for the boys...

Tennyson is 2 and a half, and he has a one track mind.  He wanted to go outside and see that lawn mower, that was all there was to it.  So, grandma brought him out, then Grant and Wulf joined, then Emily came out...she played t-ball with them after this...

Saturday, we worked hard up at the house. I finished up priming, and cracked into the trim paint.  It went on so nicely, it is a joy to paint with good paint. The house is so very old, and the original window framing is old, has character, and is getting another coat of paint.  The door....oh, the door...Paul wrestled with it for hours.  He used paint remover, which foamed up and removed lots of the paint, he scraped, he sanded...he bought a pane of glass for it...(these particular renters were evicted after not paying rent for months and months and months...there were four broken windows by the time they left....and they were staple addicts. They must've liked privacy, they stapled things on the insides AND outsides of the windows. Nails, tacks, staples, they loved them all.  It took going to court to finally get them out...they smoked in the house, we had to use oil based odor blocking primer to neutralize the smell, and the windows were coated with brown, can't imagine how their lungs look)

This was before, just a board, no glass...it had so many tack and nail holes...

It doesn't look lovely yet, needs more sanding, then some primer, and a few coats of paint, but it has glass!  I'll prime and paint that door handle too...we re-installed it to keep the house secure.

We have tons of loose ends left.  The cabinets are painted, the doors are still here, I put wood filler where the previous handles were, have to sand that off and add some paint...the hinges have to be spray painted, and all the new door handles installed, drawer pulls too.  There is the front porch to paint, some of the steps need to be replaced.  Light fixtures, some yard work, trim...it seems like we're almost done for SO long before we're actually done.  

Anyway.  This fine morning I've done a few loads of laundry, changed the couch covers, moved couch and cleaned under it...having grandchildren here all the time has made cleaning under the couch interesting again.  Blocks and cars and marbles and Nerf bullets...back in the day, there were lots of barrettes and Barbie shoes.

I washed a few windows, bleached the kitchen sink (iron water, the joys of living in the country), dusted and polished the coffee table, and puttered around putting things away.  I was gone so much of Friday, Saturday, yesterday....and yesterday before I left, I made a triple batch of naan bread (rise it in the oven, then flatten the pieces, add olive oil to the panini maker, sprinkle the pieces with garlic, salt, pepper, and voila, naan bread.  I also made a pan of rice, packed it up in a mini crock pot to bring to Em's, and made the chili stuff, put it in the crock pot...gathered up seltzers, cold brew and cream, ect...so I wasn't cleaning the house, is my long round-about point.)

This morning was the reckoning, ha.  I give many props and accolades to working women.  Especially moms!  I don't know how you ever get caught up.  My daughter Margaret, Wulf and Tennyson's mom, works from home full time, and takes care of those boys while she does it.  (plus she's 20-something weeks pregnant!).

Anyway. Now I'm having my break, and enjoying the heck out of this dark rainy day.  We have a metal roof, and it's insanely cozy with the rain hitting it.  

Tomorrow, Camille has a check up with the ortho surgeon, then we'll go "quickly" into Aldi, because it's half a block down from the medical center.  When you live 15+ miles from everything, when you're near a store for an appointment, well....you run in.

When we get home tomorrow, Grace will be bringing the kids over for me to watch while she goes to an appointment.  Margaret might come here for the afternoon so she can work from here and the boys can play with their cousins.  

When I say there's never a dull moment, remind me that sometimes, like today, there IS a dull moment...and I enjoy it immensely.