Kathy asked where I’ve been so I’ll give you a little rundown…..

A month ago my mom decided she wanted a new bedroom set. You’re probably wondering why that would affect me, right? Well. She decided she wanted *our* bedroom set! So, I had to go shopping for a new one. Fortunately she had already spotted one that would go better with our safari/jungle bedroom theme so I didn’t have to look long. I really don’t have time for shopping and because of that I don’t like to shop. My mom bought the new bedroom set for us in exchange for our bedroom set. I LOVE IT, but it was sure a lot of work to move everything out of the dresser drawers. It took me an entire WEEK to go through drawers of things, some of which I hadn’t even gone through in over x years…… you didn’t really think I would admit to a # right here for all the world to see, did you? Anyway. I did have to buy a couple of things – a new lamp because my big elephant one was broken when Nathan was trying to walk through our bedroom. He lost his balance, grabbed the lamp, and they both fell over. Fortunately, Costco had one that just happened to “fit” in our bedroom theme so, again, I didn’t “really” have to shop. And, I needed a flower arrangement to go over our bed… you’ll see why when I get around to uploading the pictures. In a roundabout way, this also caused a problem in the boys bedroom since two of their “dressers” were actually the nightstands from our bedroom set. I’m still on the hunt for new dressers for their bedroom. So far Costco hasn’t had any and I’ve only had time to quickly stop in and shop at any of the stores right near Costco. I may have to branch out further one of these years (LOL). For now 1/2 of their clothes are on the floor in boxes… sigh… In the midst of all of this we decided we may as well go ahead and buy a new mattress and box springs for our bed since that was on the list and I was planning to look for one in January when Costco has their mattress sale. The ones they have on hand all of the time seem really nice and I did do a quick comparison while I was at the furniture store where we bought our bedroom set and decided we should just go with the Costco set. So.. all of that to say that this bedroom change also had the ripple affect down the hallway and into Emily’s bedroom. She took our old mattress set which is a queen. Her set was a twin. So, you guessed it. We had to move not only her mattress/box spring out, but also her bed which is a very heavy handmade oak bed. I won’t mention any names here, but I told them that I remembered standing it upright to get it out instead of trying to make the sharp corner into the hallway lengthwise and I was laughed at (LOL) until they decided to give it a try before taking the whole thing apart (LOL). I didn’t say I told you so (LOL).

I remember back 10-15 years ago I liked shopping. That was before I always had a million things on my to-do list. Nowadays. If Costco doesn’t have it I don’t need it. And, if Costco gets it in and it would work “perfectly” then we have to BUY IT NOW!

Those of you who have read the blog for very long know that we are remodeling the downstairs bathroom. Next in line after the bathroom (remember the bedrooms discussed above were NEVER on the list for redecorating) for some serious redecorating was the dining room. I say “was” because now we’re almost done with it. We’ll finish it long before the bathroom is ever finished. The dining room has been in the back of our minds for a mere five years or so. The holdup was that I needed to go shop for a dining room table and just haven’t had time. Emily and I made a quick stop at Costco the same day we were in getting the bedroom set and we found the PERFECT dining room table. I already knew it was a great price because I did stop in and look around at a furniture store one day earlier this summer when I was in the parking lot of the furniture store doing something else. So, we bought the dining room table/chairs and hutch which meant we had to start on the redecorating. Emily tore off all of the wallpaper. We have painted the ceiling, the walls, all of the trim, and the door heading into Tim’s office which is off from the dining room. We have new wall sconses and a new mirror which my mom found while she was shopping for our bedroom set. And, I picked up a new lamp when I was in doing some paperwork for the mirror. We brought a wrought iron bench down from my mom’s house and now I just need to recover some pillows and upholster the cover for the bench. The only other thing I’m waiting on now is the new chandelier that will hang over the table which is on order and should be here sometime next week. I must have looked at over 1000 lights before finding one that had just the right features to match the other lighting in our dining room. And, I need to find one more picture for the walls. I also need to purchase more frames for our family pictures. I found the ones I want at Michael’s so it’ll take me a few weeks to get as many as I need since I only have so many 40% off coupons at a time (LOL).

Oh… and that dining room table purchase led to changes in the living room because while the girls were sitting there waiting for me to decide on the dining room set (both IRL and blogosphere friends KNOW how long I procrastinate) they fell in love with a very comfortable leather living room furniture set. We had the trailer in town already getting all of this other furniture so we just loaded up the couch and loveseat as well. That prompted only minor changes in the living room which was already decorated in our lodge theme a few years ago. We were planning to buy new living room furniture a long time ago when we did all of that decorating, but I never got around to shopping for any (LOL). SO you might say after all of these years that our living room is finally “done.”

Now.. those of you who REALLY know me will not be surprised when I say that the bathroom remodel affected the PORCH of all things. LOL. Yep. Way back when we redecorated the porch last winter I never got around to painting the outside of the corner cabinet to match the wall color. I wanted to do that so it would blend in instead of stand out. Well. I never got around to it because for starters I really don’t like painting and it had to be primed… so we’re talking 3-4 coats by the time it’s all said and done. If we would have had it when Tim was painting the walls in the porch it would have been done at that time. Since we didn’t have it that meant I had to do it some time later.. and well.. now later is here!

And… seriously… the list goes on. I seem to thrive on living in some sort of deranged state of needing to have HUGE projects going on all the time. So, it wouldn’t seem right to redo the downstairs bathroom if we didn’t do *something* to the upstairs bathroom, right? A couple of years ago one of the boys dropped a little dab of whitening toothpaste on the floor… ugh… when I tried to clean it up it bleached the carpet. We’ve been planning to replace that carpet with linoleum, but incase you haven’t guessed it yet. I never took the time to go shopping for new linoleum. My mom bought new linoleum for their camper and it will work just great in our bathroom. So, I didn’t have to shop for anything and next week when the installers come to do the downstairs bathroom floor they will also do the upstairs bathroom floor. But that means I need to freshen up the walls with a new coat of paint and touch up the ceiling where we had to retexture a little bit when we took out some lights and put up new ones a few years ago.

whew.. THEN you know Lisa’s been having all of these room clean up challenges. So, I tackled the music room and finished up the parts of it which weren’t finished last fall when we redecorated it. Lisa’s latest challenge is the school room clean up and that’s going to take me awhile since our library has at this moment – a bathroom sink, dining room furniture, bedroom lamps, twin mattress set, and more….. And, then there is my own blog challenge of cleaning up the scrapbooking room and I’m happy to say that after yesterday I’m about 80% done with it. I know I’m a little slower than the rest of you, but it turned into a MUCH bigger project than I anticipated since I was determined to go through every single little pile of pictures, memorabilia, etc in there so that I can work chronologically without worrying that something will be missed.

And… what about the outside of the house you ask? I couldn’t keep up with everything so we had someone come and clean all of the windows INSIDE and OUT including the screens! My mom drove up later in the day and said our house looked like it was “smiling.” Some of you might remember me talking about Grandma Bonnie here on our blog. She has been coming out to help me do a fall cleanup of the flower beds and YARD! Oh.. and I’ve been looking for about 2 years now for a sign of some sort for the front door entry and finally found one. Of course, I haven’t had time to hang it yet but I will get to that one of these days. One day earlier this summer when Bonnie was here she finished some painting and a few other things in our 3rd bathroom and now it’s completely finished.

All of this reminds me that I don’t think I ever got around to posting any pictures of Tim’s office from early this spring when we redecorated it… new wallpaper, curtains, paint, etc. I still have a few things left to hang up in there which came from other parts of the house. I’m going to try to finish that this week as well.

There are only 3 rooms in the house that have not had SERIOUS redecorating or decluttering. The kitchen – which we plan to completely remodel “one of these days.” Amanda’s room which she takes care of herself. She did make some new pillows for her bed this summer if you want to count that (LOL). and the utility room which is the room I always work in whenever someone calls me on the phone – IOW, I work in there everyday keeping it up.

WHEW… I think that’s about it. Now you see why I haven’t had time to blog. I’m DESPERATELY trying to get as many of these projects completely finished as possible before we start school next week and co-op the week after.

Add in all of the above to an already busy schedule of weekly payroll and paperwork, co-op planning, curriculum buying, a bike ride through Yellowstone Park, worship team, a visit from my aunt who lives in Germany, trips to the waterslide and lake, etc., and well…. the summer just disappeared before my eyes!

Sorry that there aren’t any pictures here. I do plan to get around to posting some very soon, but for now I’m full steam ahead with all of the projects listed above. Speaking of steam….egads.. I’m also CANNING some sweet relish! I guess I better go check on how that’s coming or we may be remodeling the kitchen sooner than I anticipated!

PS: Kathy how’s that for an answer to your question? I bet you’re sorry you asked what I’ve been doing all summer (LOL).