Wrapping Up July

I did get the CD of family pictures finished before Doug left for our nephew's wedding. He was able to take a number of completed CD's with him. Summer school at the high school ended the same week that Doug left. I was in the last two weeks of teaching my online class. I was busily grading the latest papers before Doug left so that I would feel less stress managing the household. It not really the stress, it's my ability to care out a chunk of time to work in peace. I don't do well with little bursts of starts and finishes.

I managed to accomplish one goal, which was to paint the main rooms of the house. After much debate over paint color and multiple trips to the store getting samples, we went with a golden yellow color for the family room and dining/computer room. We painted the hallway a very light yellow that is almost white. The golden yellow goes well with my curtains and couch, yet I'm not sure this is THE color. I was hoping for a darker tone. So days I really like the color and other days I think I need to repaint. Oh well. I was afraid this would happen. I just love the colors I used in the kitchen. It is just what I envisioned. I just had this feeling that the main rooms wouldn't be as easy to decorate.

I had hoped to paint the little girl's room this summer too but I ran out of money (and energy). Maybe next spring. I still need to repaint our master bedroom, bathroom, and family bathroom. I'm debating between a Tiffany Blue and a tan/taupe color for our room. The main bathroom walls need a lot of prep work. I'm not sure what I'll do there. I'm trying to decided whether to cover the yuck with a faux finish or sand down the walls and have more options available. I've done the sanding before and it is such hard and time consuming work.

My second goal was to clean up a CD of research and pictures that I had gather prior to and during Spring Break and goal three was to continue researching my family history. I did make a bit more progress with goal three in August (more about that later). I only had three goals this summer and still didn't accomplish all I hoped for. Although, at the time I made my goals I didn't plan on the Hatch CD or teaching a summer class. ....Tomorrow is another day.

Fourth of July

We don't have a traditional Fourth of July activity or plan. Most of the time Doug will Bar-B-Que a meal and we'll go somewhere locally to see fireworks. A couple of times in the last few years we have gone to the local pool to celebrate. The pools celebrate their opening anniversary on the fourth with games and cake. Later in the evening we go to the local high school and sit in the field to watch fireworks.

Last year we were in WA and celebrated the holiday with family at the lake. This year we helped sell glow lights at the park attached to the local zoo. The boys are Jr. Zoo Keepers and if they stay in the program they'll have an opportunty to travel with members of the Jr. Zoo Keeper Organization to Costa Rica. (The oldest is going in December.) The boys earn a percentage of money for helping sell the glow necklaces and that is placed in their Costa Rica account at the zoo.

The park has an outdoor ampitheatre, lake/large pond, playground, pavilions and picnic areas. For the Fourth of July the park has a musical performance and a fireworks show. There were about six or eight groups of people helping sell glow necklaces for the zoo. The boys with dad headed to the far side of the lake to sell glow necklaces. That left my girl and me to sell on the other side of the lake near the playground and ampitheatre. It was quite hot and sales were slow during the daylight. As dusk arrived sales picked up a bit. It seems that the boys faired better than us, selling more than 100 necklaces while we girls sold close to 50.

Once the first of the fireworks began we headed back to the side entrance of the zoo. We stayed inside the gates of the zoo, enjoyed drinks that we had left in a cooler in the zoo classroom, and watched fireworks from the gazebo. We had a great view and the booming of the fireworks was muted, which made the youngest one happy since she can't stand the loud booming sound. It was a wonderful relaxing time.

Summer Project

I'm back..... I thought I'd fill you in from where I left off in June. When Doug returned from Washington, he brought back a lot of family photos that his father still had. Doug wanted me to scan them and put the images on a CD. Doug was returning for our nephew's wedding in July so he wanted to be able to return the pictures to his siblings at that time.

I got busy scanning those photos, some photos that Doug's dad had given us many years ago, and some photos that one of Doug's sisters loaned us. Approximately 300 photos later I'd say we have a pretty nice product of images that span six or seven generations. I have to thank my youngest boy for sharing his computer with me. I felt so "techo-savy" using two computers at the same time, one to view the images and the other for typing a document to identify the images.

Although it was time consuming and threw off a couple of my other summer project plans (kept me from blogging, too). I really enjoyed going through those photos. I find the clothing, the environment, the objects in the pictures fascinating. I feel like the photos provide a connection to those past lives that can't be compared to anything other than the memories we hold in our heart.

Here I am working. I did paint the living room, computer area, and hall this summer. One of those summer projects on my original list. Like the color?