What a Day!
A big THANK YOU to all who participated in the blog experiment in my last post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading everyone's comments, laughed many times, and even linked onto some new blogs from a few people who commented because of a connection through my sister-in-law. For the record, though I am a competitive person, my intent was not to try to receive more comments than any certain person (Holly, I know your blog self esteem was not hurt at all since you always get lots :) .) And I know that starting tonight, my comment level will return to normal - a part of me wanted to wait a couple of days to see if I could get any more responses, but I wanted to let everyone know how much I appreciated the response, and I had a lot of blogworthy things happen today, so I wanted to post again. I also thought about ending the blog, kind of like the athlete that retires after winning the world championship so he can go out on top. But with so much more to say, I have decided to continue. I do have a topic to post about that is a continuation of a post from a couple of days ago, but like I said above, quite a few blogworthy things happened today, so I will put that on hold for one more day.
This post could get a little lengthy, because my day was divided into four parts, and I have something to comment about each. I'll start with the a.m. My parents have a cottage out at the Wesleyan Campgrounds in Fairmount, and my mom commented to me a couple of days ago that the wallpaper in the living room/kitchen was peeling. She casually mentioned that for their anniversary, maybe I could volunteer to scrape off the wallpaper and repaint. That sounded great to me - in fact, I still hadn't gotten my father a father's day or birthday present yet (I know, I was supposed to do the golf thing, but I hadn't yet), so I offered to not only do the labor but pay for the supplies, too. I know it sounds like a big project, but my guilt from the father's day/birthday issue spurred me on. The area isn't that big; combined it may be the size of an average sized living room. I went to the cottage yesterday to assess the situation and began the work. Scraping wallpaper is fun for about the first fifteen minutes - the time period where the easy stuff just peels off and you think that it will take no time at all. Then the next 5 hours are a drag. Quite a few hours and blisters later, I had 75% off as of last night. So this morning, after the girls got up, we headed to the cottage to begin painting. I had to start painting even though the wallpaper in the kitchen isn't off yet just for peace of mind to see something finished. Let's just say that the project is a bit more than I had anticipated, and the girls and I will be spending every free moment there until it is finished (which hopefully is by Saturday since Family Camp starts Sunday.) Kelley, I am definetely still there for ladies night, though. Chalk this up to another project that I mistakenly thought I could whip out in a couple of days. Mom, if you are reading this, even though it is more work than we both anticipated, I am enjoying the process and will love the finished product even more.
Onto part 2 of the day - we could only stay at the cottage until 12:30 because we had family pictures (us, my parents, and my brother and his family) scheduled at 3:00 in Wabash. We ran through a Wendy's drive thru (which, by the way, Wendy's has the speediest drive thru ever, but in their haste mistakes are made - I ordered two kids meals - one with french fries, one with mandarin oranges, and instead I got two mandarin oranges with no spoons and no fries) and took it home. The kids ate and watched t.v. while I was supposed to be getting ready. I had a time frame all worked out in my head, but my fatal mistake was checking the blog. I spent way too much time checking comments and linking to other blogs, and before I knew it, it was 1:20 and I still hadn't showered. So I hurried and got ready, got the kids dressed, did hair, and we were out the door at 2:15. I could leave the explanation at that, but let me delve deeper into what really happened. Getting myself ready for a family picture that will be hanging in my parents' house for who knows how many years (our last one was taken when Elizabeth was 5 months) is very stressful; getting two girls in dresses and doing their hair adds to the stress. Then consider that we are all rushing around in a non-air conditioned house - we were upstairs in the bathroom, and downstairs was registering 84 degrees. By the time we left the house, I am pretty sure all the make-up on my face was a sweaty mess. All that said, we arrived at the photographer's in plenty of time and the pictures went well. The next stressful time will be when we all gather to look at the photos - the odds of all 12 of us looking great in one picture are pretty slim, and everyone secretly hopes "THE PICTURE" that is chosen is the one that they look best in. I'm sure there will be a post about the "viewing day."
After pictures, we went back home to change clothes - the girls were off to Grandma Wuertley's via Grandma Porter, and I was headed to the YMCA. Shelli Rowley and I are training for a local triathlon sponsored through the Mississenewa Reservoir, and it is classified as a "sprint triathlon." This entails a 500 yard swim, 16 miles of biking, and then a 4 mile run. Let's just say this body won't be "sprinting" any of it. I may be a little on the slender side, but I am not in shape. I am really hoping this 8 week training plan prepares me for this. I have always wanted to do a triathlon, and when I mentioned it to Shelli and she wanted to do it, too, we decided to go for it. I am not going to be competitive about this event - I just want to finish it. Today's training plan had us running for 30 minutes. I set the treadmill at a staggering 4.3 miles an hour which translated into 2.1 miles for the 30 minutes. I'm obviously not out to set any world record! This body was feeling it (and I have a feeling I will be feeling it even more tomorrow.) Well, I didn't have time to revel in my accomplishment because it was off to the...
Golf course, the 4th part of my day. My brother and set a 5:00 tee time for him, my dad, and me to play 18 holes. We always go golfing one afternoon of family camp, and we decided this year we would do a practice round before camp. Thankfully we had a cart and it had really cooled down. I was a little concerned how our round was going to go when after my brother's drive on the firt hole didn't even make it to the ladies tee off station, my dad said "You know what they say, if you don't drive it past the ladies tees you have to take all your clothes off." Thankfully we didn't play by those rules, my brother kept his clothes on, and we had a great time - Dad shot a 100, I had a 104*, and Doug had a 115. *does not include one whiff and one ball that was under a pine tree and I kicked it out into the rough. None of us are going to join the pro tour any time soon, but what can you expect for only golfing 1-2 times a year? It's funny how we all would get mad at ourselves for a bad shot, when in reality we should have been jumping for joy at the good ones.
I was supposed to head back to the cottage after golfing to do some more work, but it was 9:30 and I was pooped! So I came home to find 2 mini-disasters - #1) A strong wind must have come through last night, and 10 of my tomato cages were on their side, taking my tomato plants with them. I had staked them down, obviously not good enough, so I had to set them back up and put concrete blocks on them to hold them up. I don't think the roots were pulled up - I'll be pretty frustated if I lose them because I have lots of green tomatoes. Then disaster #2) Neither girl had eaten much of their lunch which was still in the playroom (they had a "picnic" while I showered, and I hadn't had a chance to clean it up) and a litany of small, biting ants were enjoying the leftovers. I did leave them to enjoy their last supper before I sucked them up in the vacuum - I decided to sit down and watch Treasure Hunters with Jason, though, before I sent them to their death.
So there's the day - WHEW! I'll leave you with one final important life lesson that I was reminded of yesterday when I finally made it to the store for toilet paper and milk (a full 24 hours after my post) - no matter what, always get a shopping cart at the grocery, even if you are only going to pick up a couple of items. I went to Marsh thinking "I am only getting 1 package of toilet paper and a gallon of milk, one item for each hand. Once I was in the toiletry section, though, after getting my toilet paper and milk, I figured I should pick up some kleenex since we had used it all up. We need 4 boxes to be fully stocked. So now I was carrying 1 package of toilet paper, 1 gallon of milk, and 4 boxes of kleenex. Of course I dropped the kleenex, right in front of a lady with a cart, who asked "Can I help you?" "No, I should have gotten a cart," I mumbled - reiterating this important life truth.
This post could get a little lengthy, because my day was divided into four parts, and I have something to comment about each. I'll start with the a.m. My parents have a cottage out at the Wesleyan Campgrounds in Fairmount, and my mom commented to me a couple of days ago that the wallpaper in the living room/kitchen was peeling. She casually mentioned that for their anniversary, maybe I could volunteer to scrape off the wallpaper and repaint. That sounded great to me - in fact, I still hadn't gotten my father a father's day or birthday present yet (I know, I was supposed to do the golf thing, but I hadn't yet), so I offered to not only do the labor but pay for the supplies, too. I know it sounds like a big project, but my guilt from the father's day/birthday issue spurred me on. The area isn't that big; combined it may be the size of an average sized living room. I went to the cottage yesterday to assess the situation and began the work. Scraping wallpaper is fun for about the first fifteen minutes - the time period where the easy stuff just peels off and you think that it will take no time at all. Then the next 5 hours are a drag. Quite a few hours and blisters later, I had 75% off as of last night. So this morning, after the girls got up, we headed to the cottage to begin painting. I had to start painting even though the wallpaper in the kitchen isn't off yet just for peace of mind to see something finished. Let's just say that the project is a bit more than I had anticipated, and the girls and I will be spending every free moment there until it is finished (which hopefully is by Saturday since Family Camp starts Sunday.) Kelley, I am definetely still there for ladies night, though. Chalk this up to another project that I mistakenly thought I could whip out in a couple of days. Mom, if you are reading this, even though it is more work than we both anticipated, I am enjoying the process and will love the finished product even more.
Onto part 2 of the day - we could only stay at the cottage until 12:30 because we had family pictures (us, my parents, and my brother and his family) scheduled at 3:00 in Wabash. We ran through a Wendy's drive thru (which, by the way, Wendy's has the speediest drive thru ever, but in their haste mistakes are made - I ordered two kids meals - one with french fries, one with mandarin oranges, and instead I got two mandarin oranges with no spoons and no fries) and took it home. The kids ate and watched t.v. while I was supposed to be getting ready. I had a time frame all worked out in my head, but my fatal mistake was checking the blog. I spent way too much time checking comments and linking to other blogs, and before I knew it, it was 1:20 and I still hadn't showered. So I hurried and got ready, got the kids dressed, did hair, and we were out the door at 2:15. I could leave the explanation at that, but let me delve deeper into what really happened. Getting myself ready for a family picture that will be hanging in my parents' house for who knows how many years (our last one was taken when Elizabeth was 5 months) is very stressful; getting two girls in dresses and doing their hair adds to the stress. Then consider that we are all rushing around in a non-air conditioned house - we were upstairs in the bathroom, and downstairs was registering 84 degrees. By the time we left the house, I am pretty sure all the make-up on my face was a sweaty mess. All that said, we arrived at the photographer's in plenty of time and the pictures went well. The next stressful time will be when we all gather to look at the photos - the odds of all 12 of us looking great in one picture are pretty slim, and everyone secretly hopes "THE PICTURE" that is chosen is the one that they look best in. I'm sure there will be a post about the "viewing day."
After pictures, we went back home to change clothes - the girls were off to Grandma Wuertley's via Grandma Porter, and I was headed to the YMCA. Shelli Rowley and I are training for a local triathlon sponsored through the Mississenewa Reservoir, and it is classified as a "sprint triathlon." This entails a 500 yard swim, 16 miles of biking, and then a 4 mile run. Let's just say this body won't be "sprinting" any of it. I may be a little on the slender side, but I am not in shape. I am really hoping this 8 week training plan prepares me for this. I have always wanted to do a triathlon, and when I mentioned it to Shelli and she wanted to do it, too, we decided to go for it. I am not going to be competitive about this event - I just want to finish it. Today's training plan had us running for 30 minutes. I set the treadmill at a staggering 4.3 miles an hour which translated into 2.1 miles for the 30 minutes. I'm obviously not out to set any world record! This body was feeling it (and I have a feeling I will be feeling it even more tomorrow.) Well, I didn't have time to revel in my accomplishment because it was off to the...
Golf course, the 4th part of my day. My brother and set a 5:00 tee time for him, my dad, and me to play 18 holes. We always go golfing one afternoon of family camp, and we decided this year we would do a practice round before camp. Thankfully we had a cart and it had really cooled down. I was a little concerned how our round was going to go when after my brother's drive on the firt hole didn't even make it to the ladies tee off station, my dad said "You know what they say, if you don't drive it past the ladies tees you have to take all your clothes off." Thankfully we didn't play by those rules, my brother kept his clothes on, and we had a great time - Dad shot a 100, I had a 104*, and Doug had a 115. *does not include one whiff and one ball that was under a pine tree and I kicked it out into the rough. None of us are going to join the pro tour any time soon, but what can you expect for only golfing 1-2 times a year? It's funny how we all would get mad at ourselves for a bad shot, when in reality we should have been jumping for joy at the good ones.
I was supposed to head back to the cottage after golfing to do some more work, but it was 9:30 and I was pooped! So I came home to find 2 mini-disasters - #1) A strong wind must have come through last night, and 10 of my tomato cages were on their side, taking my tomato plants with them. I had staked them down, obviously not good enough, so I had to set them back up and put concrete blocks on them to hold them up. I don't think the roots were pulled up - I'll be pretty frustated if I lose them because I have lots of green tomatoes. Then disaster #2) Neither girl had eaten much of their lunch which was still in the playroom (they had a "picnic" while I showered, and I hadn't had a chance to clean it up) and a litany of small, biting ants were enjoying the leftovers. I did leave them to enjoy their last supper before I sucked them up in the vacuum - I decided to sit down and watch Treasure Hunters with Jason, though, before I sent them to their death.
So there's the day - WHEW! I'll leave you with one final important life lesson that I was reminded of yesterday when I finally made it to the store for toilet paper and milk (a full 24 hours after my post) - no matter what, always get a shopping cart at the grocery, even if you are only going to pick up a couple of items. I went to Marsh thinking "I am only getting 1 package of toilet paper and a gallon of milk, one item for each hand. Once I was in the toiletry section, though, after getting my toilet paper and milk, I figured I should pick up some kleenex since we had used it all up. We need 4 boxes to be fully stocked. So now I was carrying 1 package of toilet paper, 1 gallon of milk, and 4 boxes of kleenex. Of course I dropped the kleenex, right in front of a lady with a cart, who asked "Can I help you?" "No, I should have gotten a cart," I mumbled - reiterating this important life truth.
posted by Deb at 11:20 PM
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13 Comments:
If you still need help painting tomorrow (Thursday), I could help. And, the next time your house is 84 degrees...COME OVER. Our house may not be exciting or huge; but it does have central air, which contributes to my summertime survivial with young children. See you tonight. Are we doing pies?
Deb,
I hope after the triathlon that you "slow" down!Thanks again for the cottage make-over gift for Dad and me. I know we'll appreciate it for years. Thanks to you, Kelly, too, for the inspiration for the wall color. Deb said yours looked classy!
Turn on your air conditioning units! We love you all lots and lots.
Jaena-I am bringing stuff for sloppy joe pies, and Shelli mentioned to me a couple of days ago that she was bringing stuff for pizza pies. I also have some apple pie filling to throw in. As far as the painting goes, I'm not going to turn down help, but don't feel like you have to help me out of my predicament!!! We will be out there most of tomorrow - I will have Elizabeth and Anna and Maria and Sophia - can you say playground?
Hey Deb! The whole comment competition is hilarious. I'm glad Jo and I could inspire some healthy fun! 35 comments, WOW! Loved it, really!
Okay, I'm curious...what color are you painting? Loved the post BTW. Sounds like it was a very full day. Is there anything I need to get for all these fire delights? I don't mind picking up some things if I need to. Let me know.
Kelley-the living room is going to be a "red" similar to the one in your kitchen, I think. We were initially going for a more rose color, but we settled on this one -I don't remember the exact name of it, maybe cherry something. Your kitchen may be a tad darker. I was also pulling for "harvest orange" which was similar to your living room color. Am I remembering your color scheme correctly? I do remember that your house looks awesome! We are going to pull up the carpet/linoleum today and are hoping the wood floors are as in good shape in the center of the room as they are on the edges where we looked already. This was a last minute addition to our project - we had no choice after we shredded the linoleum moving out the stove. I think when estimating a time frame for any project, you should automatically add double the time for unexpected happenings such as this!
Okay third time is a charm. Apparently my computer is having issues today, so if you end up with three messages that say relatively the same thing - it's just me! Jim and Jaena have been after me to start blogging - and I keep saying I do not need one more addiction - and that is the truth! But Jim must have gotten tired of my procrastinating because today he started one for me. I identified with your picture saga - the day of my senior pictures, our air went out, and I had to get ready in the stifling heat - with all that hair I used to have! I kind of resembled an over-sprayed drowned rat by the time I landed in front of the camera. But what I actually wanted to comment on was your post from a long time ago about your fear of the rapture. I was in the same church service you were when that movie was shown. If you were 6 or 7, I was 3 or 4, and it scarred me for life!! I'm not even kidding - until I was 16 and forced to be alone for driving purposes, I absolutely refused to be alone at any time for any reason. I was afraid the rapture would happen and I'd miss it and not even know it! I would even walk in to the gas station with Mom or Dad to pay for gas because I did not want to sit alone in the car and let either of them out of my sight!! I'm glad to know someone else was scarred when I was - it makes me feel better. I enjoy reading about life in Deb-land. Keep blogging so I can keep being addicted!
Deb,
All I can say is, you are too busy! I hope I never schedule a day like that!
Wow, what a day! and I thought I kept busy! You must have a lot of energy...but I am sure at the end of the day, you can say "that was a fun one"
I'm glad to see people are reading Deb's blog...yesterday was just way too fun!! I kept checking in to see what # you'd be up to. I was probably checking more than you were, considering what kind of a day you had! 35 comments is amazing!!
Super color scheme, I like it! Good job. Go on.
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Hey Deb, that comment above would be an indicator that you might need to have the "word verification" turned on so we all have to input a crazy word and random people cannot send you a comment...you must really be getting popular. ;)
Yes, I noticed that - he left me a weird message on all my previous posts. At first I thought it was legit, then when I scrolled down and saw, I knew the time had come. JoEllen warned me of this day.
yep, it may be time!
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