Busy day.

It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you get up at 5:30. I managed to squeeze in 2 hours of work, 4 loads of laundry, a pan of lasagna for tomorrow, pumpkin bread for daughter #3 and friends, enchiladas and Spanish rice for dinner, and vacuum the house. Oh, and cleaned the bathrooms. Oh yeah, and helped daughter #3 write a rough draft of an English paper. We had to analyze Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." Want to freak your little kids out? Read that story to them with feeling. Go ahead— it's short. Read it and decide whether you think the main character is insane or not. Let me know and I'll tell you what we said.

In any event, ole Edgar was a kook.

On top of all that, Ben and the man-boy did an amazing amount of stuff.

They ripped out the trim in the laundry room Pete had chewed when he was a puppy. Yes, I know that was 4 years ago. We're just making sure he's out of the chewing stage. Man-boy put in new trim. Sanded, mudded, and sanded again the sunroom, getting it ready for painting. Ben picked out an awesome yellow and it's going to look amazing. They grouted the tile in front of the French doors and by the front door. Again, awesome. And cleaned the chimney.

Speaking of awesome yellows, years ago when my brother and sister-in-law were expecting their first baby, they were decorating the baby's room and decided to do bright, primary colors. They chose a nice, sunny yellow for the walls and spent hours one night painting. The next morning dawned brightly and the phone rang rather early. Jim answered it to hear the neighbor across the street asking, "Are you really going to leave it that color?" Yes, with no blinds up yet, the neighbor was concerned the baby would be blinded.

I hope the neighbors don't call about our yellow.

Man-boy is out playing airsoft now and Ben is on the couch sleeping. So it was a good day for everyone except Pete, who had to stay in Man-boy's room because he wouldn't stop getting in the way and walking through wet grout and piles of wallboard dust.

Oh, and Sticky Bean figured out how to climb on the rocking horse his great-grandfather (my daddy) made for him and how to rock. Deb heard him giggling and turned around to see him rocking away!

And now I'm going to climb in bed with a good Agatha Christie novel.

Be thankful ~

Karen