Busy Projects, and Sick...

The closest thing we get to cold here in Florida in August and September, is the sick kind of cold.
Harumph!
The kids have been in school for 4 weeks now.  I guess it is that time.

Last week, my husband came home from work not feeling well.
He was off on Friday and we just lazed around - he didn't feel well, but wanted company.  Saturday we spent the entire day helping our friends move.  I can definitely say that I know their kitchen better than they do, since they ran out of boxes, and we had to empty them so that they could be recycled.  On Monday (Labor Day), we labored.  Literally.

A friend posted on FB that they were getting rid of some household items, and we called dibs.
We rented a handy van from Home Depot bright and early Monday morning, and picked everything up.
Dropped off the van, then commenced getting things done.

We moved a desk and small filing cabinet into our youngest daughter's room.
Moved the table out of our room, and a media stand into our room.
Ruined the tv moving it. Spent several hours trying to soder it back together - to no avail. (It was a door prize in 2000, so we weren't TOO heartbroken about it - and we possibly use the tv in our room, 3 times a year).

My husband decided to tackle garage projects, and also pumped up the tire on the wheelbarrow, and transported 10 bags of the lawn that we had ripped up a couple of weekends ago.

Several weeks ago, we decided that our pineapple plantation needed some help, so we ripped up all of the lawn that surrounded our pineapples.  Then a week later, I mulched the heck out of our yard and planted all of my herbs in a planter bed that we also disrobed of a bunch of non-flowering plants.  

We had a lot of yard waste.  We filled our composters completely with it (possibly breaking one) - and still had 10+ bags to tote out to the curb...they were too heavy to carry or drag.

Meanwhile, our oldest daughter began to lament that SHE didn't get a desk (I told whoever got their room cleaned first would get a surprise...one child attempted, the other didn't).

We decided to repurpose the old table that we had moved out of our room.  Let me be clear - this table was in bad shape.  Our friends gave it to us in 2001 when our dining room table was broken in a move.  It was second hand, and had been used by a family with 4 kids, and it wasn't in great shape.  It had residence in our Colorado home in the basement as our 'craft' table - thus receiving lots of paint and glue spills.  And then there was that cut in the side, when I was woodworking and I sawed into the table, thinking it was the wood I was cutting... Yeah - not the greatest piece, but still serviceable.

So - our eldest and I got out the sandpaper, and began to sand away, and rough it all up.  It took a while, and I was dripping sweat everywhere (Florida - sheesh).  We vacuumed it off, then wiped it down, and then pulled out the black paint (that we had stenciled her room with) and put on a couple of coats.

After it dried, I added a couple of coats of polyurethane, and it now, is a beautiful table.

While it dried, I moved indoors - a woman with a mission.  We tackled our youngest's room.  Her definition of clean, and mine come in two different dictionaries.  We threw out a lot of junk, but got it organized and beautiful.

And then we moved into our eldest daughter's room.  Before collapsing in a heap, we moved the beautiful black laquered table into her room.

Then we jumped into the pool for a quick cool down, and then collapsed.  For the linger longer at church the next day, all I could muster was a couple of packs of cream cheese, covered with my hot pepper jelly, surrounded by crackers.  

I had hopes of tackling the rest of the house on Tuesday, but my husband stayed home sick, and I worked on getting photos re-organized, so that I can get them into albums...like since 1998.  The kitties knocked over my organized piles previously.  Wednesday, I pretty much stayed in bed, nursing my cold, and Thursday, I began my reemergence into the world slowly.  I watched youtube videos on how to set up our automatic sprinkler system, and reset it all.  I also spent 2.5 hours on the phone trying to set up new phone service with Centurylink.  A little frightened at their customer service and hold times. We shall see...

Today though, I awoke with vigor, and have begun to find my countertops.  Our daughter may have been on time to early morning seminary, and I actually saw her go, and made her a bit of breakfast.  Made some banana bread, and tortilla eggs and sent my husband to work with a full belly and food for lunch.

I'm glad to be alive today, and despite my sneezing (and a few coughs), I'm excited to meet a friend who moved out of town, but is back for two days for lunch at our favorite Turkish restaurant.