Day 21 Summer July 2

Friday morning I gave up on the accent wall and Kenzie and I moved all of the furniture around to it's new spot. It started to look a little better and not like such a train wreck, but there was no way to get everything done before Becca came home at noon. Unfortunately I was in the shower when Becca was dropped off! Can you believe it???? But she ran into the bathroom to tell me she loved it! Whew.

Five minutes later Becca ran over to visit the neighbor and decided to stay there for the afternoon instead of running Kenzie to class in the next county.

I dropped Kenzie off at class and decided to come home because I was really sleepy. Becca and Kiera came back home in the late afternoon and then all three of us went to get Kenzie.

Kenzie really enjoyed her art class. It was admittedly a pain to take her and pick her up each day, but I think it was totally worth it. Plus it got Becca and I out of the house! We were probably much more active than we normally would be. Although the credit cards got a bigger work out than we did!

After we picked up Kenzie we went back to Home Depot to get new paint. Same color, same brand (because the Behr Premium Paint and Primer has worked so incredibly well for us in the past!) and then came home and ordered calzones from Cheech's. Yum. If you are not jealous, you should be.

Becca headed back to Kiera's to spend the night and I painted the stupid wall again. But this time the paint worked beautifully. It took two coats, but it looks great!

Day 20 Summer July 1

Well, I remember updating my blog in the morning. Becca was gone at the FDs and when I called she was happy to stay for an extra day. And I don't think she suspected a thing. Mid-morning Kenzie and I ran over to the MVs to borrow their carpet cleaner. We stayed to visit for a bit and it started to rain really hard, so no reason to leave until it was over. Kenzie and the girls were out in the rain and decided to just go with it since they were already wet. They had a great time jumping around on the trampoline in the rain. Wish I had gotten some pics! Shoot.

Kenzie and I stopped for lunch at Chick-fil-a, not a place we usually go and now I remember why. :) They put pickles on my sandwich unbeknownst to me and I ate one. Bleck!!! Days later and I'm still trying to get the taste out of my mouth. I like cucumbers, I like vinegar, I hate pickles!!

While Kenzie was at class, I headed back to the FDs to give Becca some more clothes and I had a nice long visit with Michelle. I love her! She is such a great friend to me. Of course we work together, but we teach at opposite ends of the school and she lives about 30 minutes away, so we don't get to see eachother that much other than an odd dinner out here and there and we nearly always have the kids with us. (Sorry for the run-on!) Becca and Rachel were engrossed in the TV in the other room, so we actually got to visit.

After I picked up Kenz we went home and started working on Becca's room some more. By we, I mean Mike and I because Kenzie didn't so jack squat! Ironic, considering it was her idea!!! I say that in jest, but really I was very irritated with her.

Mike finished painting and I did the trim and then I started to paint the accent wall. The walls are lavendar, Orchid actually and the accent wall is a raspberry color. Well the raspberry paint was like painting with grape juice. It looked horrible! Even with two coats!! So I decided to see if I could paint it lavendar and maybe that would block the orange better and then I could paint the raspberry. So I painted two coats of lavendar to cover the bright orange and then a coat of grape juice, oh I mean raspberry. Nope. So six coats of paint and it still looked bad. Like really super bad. Crappy in fact. Ugh.

So frustrating.

Day 19 Summer June 30

If you have been following my posts you have probably been wondering what happened to my plan to clean a room each day. Well, it pretty much didn't happen. We managed to do four rooms. That's a partial success, right? After we decided to redo Becca's room, everything else kind of flew out the window. Life kind of happens like that, doesn't it?

Wednesday we left a little early for art class. We went to Tuesday Morning to return the comforter (I decided it was just too freaking heavy even though I love it), canisters (two were broken), and two chair cushions (not big enough). Then we stopped at Arby's to grab a bite before dropping Kenzie off. Then Becca and I went to JoAnn's to find some fabric for curtains and to Home Depot to look at paint chips. And then it was off to the FD's for a nice chat! Becca spent the night there so I headed back to Stuart on my own to get Kenz.

While driving back home I mentioned to Kenzie that the way I did Becca's room last time was that I sent her out with Mike for the day and I just did it! She had picked out the pink walls but nothing else was really gelling and she couldn't make up her mind! Of course, she was only five. Kenzie said we should just do that again. Send Becca away for a night or two and just surprise her with a new room. Crazy, but crazy enough to work! I had a good idea what Becca wanted having spent three days shopping, but she is just too picky! Or she picks things out that just don't go. Well, since Becca was already gone for at least one evening we decided to go for it. So Kenzie and I stopped by Home Depot and picked out the paint and we headed home. Surprise Mike! Guess what we are doing tonight???

It took an hour or so to clean out Becca's room and then we started to paint. Mike got two walls done and I got about half the trim painted. Not quite as far as I wanted, but a start. Wow. . . what did we get ourselves into??

Day 18 Summer June 29

Tuesday I think we went to Tuesday Morning to return a few things but that might have been Wednesday. Okay, yeah I think that was Wednesday. So Tuesday? Hmmmm. . .

We must have taken Kenzie to class, then I think Becca and I went to Home Goods to look at some accessories for her room and to look for artwork. I think Becca found a silver box. Then I remember going to Kirkland, a place that just has artwork and accessories. It's really overwhelming but so cool. We found an art piece for Becca's room, black wrought iron tree type thing. Pictures may help. I'll work on that. And I found two pictures for my office. They are big, probably 30 X 30 each, beautifully framed, old maps. They go great with the wall color in there and with the carpet and they were only $35 each. Funny that two cheap pictures and a really cheap old carpet can make the room look like a million bucks!

I think Becca and I headed to Goodwill and the Salvation Army next and prety much struck out there. Oh yeah, I remembered more about Monday! I'll have to go back and fix that!

Day 17 Summer June 28

Oh no! I got totally behind! Yikes.

Well, I may have forgotten some of the details, but I will try to do my best remembering what we did each day.

Monday I remember as Target Day! Becca and I dropped McKenzie off at art class and Becca and I headed for Target. While we were there, we finally found some bedding that Becca and I both agreed that we liked and the horse was finally out of the gate! With bedding we finally had a color scheme, theme, etc for redoing her room. Becca has been living with the same colors for five years - hot pink and orange - and it was time for a change. But every time we have been in a store she either doesn't like anything or the things she has liked do not go together at all. Like really, not at all.

I'm sure we were not at Target until 5 but I'm having a hard time remembering what we did after that. Wait. I think we went to Michael's first, then Target? Yeah, I'm drawing a blank.

After we picked up McKenzie we went back to Plato's Closet so Kenzie could look around. She wound up picking out 2 tank tops and two pairs of jeans for $16! And I found a necklace and earrings for $6! And I talked to my dad for a bit.

Then we met Mike at a new Mexican restaurant in Palm City. Pretty good food and very friendly waitstaff. We'll probably head back there since it's not too far from home.

And that night I remember watching The Bachelorette. One week! One stinking week and I can't remember jack crap. Getting old sucks.

Day 16 Summer June 27

Another day when I planned to tackle the kitchen! What is it about the kitchen that I keep avoiding? It's not that bad! And the girls can help a lot with wiping counters, cabinets, etc. Ah, the art of procrastination!

Kiera came over to play with Becca around 11 and brought "Alice in Wonderland" with her, so I watched that with them. Pretty good, although it didn't seem to have much to do with the original book. Of course, I didn't really enjoy the book, so no big deal to me! Becca seemed to love it so that's good. She had been wanting to see it since it came to the big theater. Kenzie spent the day hibernating in her room and Mike has been reading tons. Some series Kenzie lent to him. So he spent the day hibernating in our room. :)

Kenz and I stayed up late to watch Design Star and Color Splash Miami! Gosh, I wish that was on earlier. There is no way I could stay up to midnight on a Sunday during the school year!

Day 15 Summer June 26

Well the big plan today was to clean the kitchen and it never happened! I kept waiting for the cleaning urge to strike me and it just never did! And of course, my family never gets the urge to clean! I did get caught up on all the laundry. That's worth something, right?

Mike went golfing early in the morning and I took Kenzie to her drawing class at 10:30. Oops. It started at 10? Really? We are signed up for the Friday afternoon class but rescheduled because of Kenz's art class. Oh well, she got a little bit of time anyway. The girls and I stopped by Sam's Club on the way home to do some grocery shopping and get gas.

In the evening we met Michelle and Rachel at Port St Lucie High School to see "The Sound of Music." I thought it was delightful. The girl playing Maria went to St Lucie West when I was first teaching there and I remember how well she could sing the National Anthem. Well she has improved even more and she was very very good. It was a really amazing production for a high school. They actually use kids from all over the county, so I guess they get to choose the best of the best, but it is still really amazing. Afterwords we went out for pie at Perkins, something we used to do as kids all the time. Yum, strawberry pie!!

Day 14 Summer June 25

So today we planned on tackling the kitchen but we ditched the cleaning project and headed to the beach with friends. After all, what is summer for?

The girls and I headed out around 11 and stopped at Subway for lunch before pulling into Jensen Beach. It was already very warm, probably close to 90. The water was refreshing, but the surf was pretty rough, so I didn't stay in for long. Our beach umbrella broke last summer and I really need to get a new one if we are going to go to the beach very often. Thanks to my friends for providing me some shade! Otherwise, I wouldn't make it more than 10 minutes! It was fun visiting with Sophie, Claudia, Dawn, Kathy and Jen, my school peeps. The girls had fun, too and we didn't even get suburned this time!

We left at 1 to take Kenzie to her class (which is just down the road). Then Becca and I headed to the movie theater in Stuart. We were just in time to see Shrek 3D. We were the only ones in the whole theater which Becca thought was pretty cool. Cute movie, but two hours of 3D gave me a bit of a headache. I wonder what they will do when the movie goes to video? Will it just be normal or can you watch it on your TV in 3D? Just curious. . .

The movie was over at 3:15 so Becca and I had a bit of time to kill. We ended up dinking around at the Treasure Coast Hospice Thrift Store. I actually got a really cute purse there for $6. It looks brand new and it's a great summer look which I had been searching for. If I get really ambitious I'll snap a photo of it.

The girls and I picked up a pizza at Little Caesar's on the way home and spent the evening vegging out. Why is it that sunshine can take so much out of you?