Home Again

Well, we've made it home, thus concluding our "vacation." The kids still have a week off of school, but I am trying to get back to work and back to the normal routine. We did have a fun time in the warmer weather, but I definitely did not get as much "work" done as I had hoped to. The kids were disappointed to leave a couple days early, but excited that we would be spending 1 night at a condo in St George. The night at the condo did go better than the night at the hotel on the way down, but still not the best. Hopefully next year Adalyn will do better.

We returned home to the mess we left, though I was not surprised as I had not left a detailed list of cleaning assignments for Andrew. At least he took good care of the pets while we were gone. It was a bit overwhelming, but I was glad I had the weekend to get things cleaned up and a little more orderly before getting back to work on Monday. Once I got all the garbage out and half of the laundry washed, I was feeling much better and things smelled better too.

I am quite encouraged today as I have gotten such a good start on my work, with probably only about an hour-and-a-half left to do. YAY!! The kids are all gone playing with friends this afternoon, so I should be able to almost finish it up before dinner. (This would be quite an accomplishment for me :)

I have decided to once again try to make a dinner menu, as I am not very good at coming up with balanced meals last minute. I think this will be easier while Ryan is out of town, as the kids are usually easier to please with simpler meals. I think that has been my biggest discouragement in the past, coming up with something that everyone will eat.

Having Ryan gone I have found I have a little more "me" time than I know what to do with. So, I have started doing little projects here and there. First of all I ripped out the "wall" above my kitchen cabinets and turned it into additional shelf space for my infrequently used kitchen items. I also made a nice little curtain to cover this area so it didn't look sloppy. Next, I made a frame around the TV in the wall in our room, which looks much nicer than just the jagged edge that was surrounding it before. As I was not very tired Saturday night, I decided to paint the aforementioned frame with some peach/orange paint that happened to be lying around. I then proceeded to paint the door frame in my room. Then, I cut a sponge in the shape of a heart and used it to make heart prints all around the upper border of my room. After all this it was midnight and I was ready to go to sleep. It's kind of fun to have something different to look at, though I probably wouldn't have picked that particular color if given a choice. I think now I need some other wall decorations to balance it out. As a result of all my recent "projects" I have heard an awful lot of "Mom, what did you do that for?" and all I can say is "because I felt like it."

Looking through the pictures saved on my cell phone, I found several pictures of a little Lego man in the snow. I can only assume Austyn was the photographer here, but I am unsure of the desired result. Anyway, here are a few of those lovely shots.