Beginning to wonder...

I'm beginning to wonder whether or not the bookshelf project will actually get done.  Seems to be just one little setback after another.  Dishwasher, Sandy, I got sick, and now I find that the boys knocked over one of the doors that I had painted and smashed the corner.  It's fixable, but it's another setback, and I just want to be done with the cabinets so I can build the shelves and finish the project.  These cabinets were supposed to be the quick and easy part, and 3 weeks later, ugh, not done.

So that's my little rant.

Sandy

We lost Sandy a couple of days ago.  It was unexpected. I had typed up the whole story, but in the end it's not important.  All that matters is that Sandy was so very sweet.  And as much of a giant pain in the ass as he could be I would rather have that than not have him at all. He died in my arms knowing he was loved by many.

Tooting my own horn...

The dishwasher died a couple of weeks ago.  We ordered a new one.  It was delivered.  I installed it.  Yep, me.  Alllll by myself.   And it works.  So yeah, I'm just a wee bit proud of myself.

Confidence Booster

I'm no stranger to building things and using tools and all that stuff.  But it's been a really long time since I've gone beyond tinkering in the garage.  This bookshelf project is mine and given the nature of our household, I'll be the one doing the vast majority of the work.

So the cabinets I bought were staring me in the face and I decided that the best thing to do would be to build a little furniture dolly to help scootch them around.  Off I go to Lowe's to pick up a 2x4 and some castors and yay, it's time to build the dolly. I had no plans, didn't figure I would need any, I mean how hard can a project like this really be, right?

Well, I was right.  No plans were needed, it was not hard, and I successfully built a very useful dolly, complete with carpeted ends so that there is some protection for whatever I put on it.  The only stumbling blocks I encountered had nothing to do with the actual construction.  I couldn't remember how the darn saw went back in the box, and it was just silly and took forever to figure that out.  And of course we had a million screws, but none were the right size so in the middle of this project (on a hot day in the garage so I'm very good and gross) I had to go and buy more screws.

Anyway, this very simple project went a long way in boosting my confidence to tackle the shelves.  I did in fact take the saw to the cabinets over the weekend and cut off the bottoms.  Happily they sit level and more importantly at the same height!  Sanding and painting them is next.  One is sanded, the other I have yet to do.

I think the thing that gave me pause was that for so many years now I have had a partner to do thing with at all times.  This is the first time that a very large project has come along that I am doing solo.  Of course Mike wants to help.  We also want this done as quickly as possible, so that requires I spend my days working on it while he is at work.  So I'm ready to tackle these shelves.  Seriously. I think.  Maybe...

This & That

Vacation seems like a lifetime ago, yet I will at some point, write about it a bit, throw up a few pics.  In the meantime, here's what's been going on in our little world.

It's hot, it's Texas, it's supposed to be that way.  I'm still tired of it though.

As of tomorrow we will have successfully completed 1/12 of the school year.  Only 33 weeks to go.  Sigh.  Not like I'm counting or anything.  I have been minimizing time spent up there thus far, and it is working out great.  Lots of teachers are asking me to read with their kids though so I imagine I will start that next week.

Speaking of school, bedtime is the time for the confession of transgressions for the older kid.  Tonight's confession - he got a warning for playing with his ruler.  A warning is an improvement, he's already had it taken away once this year for an extended period of time.  This from the kid who has always been a perfect angel.  He says he is bored, which I totally get.  I asked if he could just read a book or something, apparently not because the boredom comes during lecture time when he should be paying attention and not reading or apparently playing with rulers.  Sorry kid, have to follow the rules on this one, and you better get used to boring lectures.  Still have 8 more years of schooling before college.

I sort of unofficially started on a little house project I've been wanting to do for several years now.  We are going to build some swanky new bookcases for the library/music room.  Got the cabinets that will serve as the base a couple of days ago.  It will be lots of work, but should be fun.  No doubt there will be updates to follow.

And our dishwasher died last night.  It served us for the last 12 years and another family for 8 years before that.  I wouldn't say it served us well, maybe earlier on, but not anytime recently.  But, it has worked and now it doesn't so a new one is undoubtedly in our future.  In the meantime I've put some scrubby sponges to good use. I always think of my grandma when I have to wash ALL the dishes by hand.  She never had a dishwasher and would always wash the dishes first thing in the morning, never wanting anyone to help her.  She would say that it was relaxing and a good way to start her day.

Oops...

I didn't intend to let August slip away without a single post, but it happened anyway.  I knew there would be a gap because of vacation.  I did not intend to let the last week slip by though.

Vacation was lovely, so very lovely.  Three parts, two full weeks and not nearly long enough.  We found another city to love and explore, a return to a favorite spot at the beach, and much needed and unexpected rest and relaxation in a home from long ago.  I will eventually put up some posts about all of it, complete with pictures.

The rest of August ended in a flurry of back to school activities and illness recovery, all at once!  So many people at the beach had various bits of whatnot lingering it was inevitable that we would catch something.  I did not share it at the time, but I managed to also catch the strep that was making the rounds.  I managed to fend it off with my little oily pharmacy.  Chalk up another few points for essential oils!  The boys only suffered fevers for a day or so, again put to rapid demise by the oils.  I credit rampant use of oils for keeping the strep from spreading to them.  Mike managed to end up catching some variation of the strep as well.  His official strep test was negative, but something definitely gave him the same symptoms.  Sadly, I had exhausted my oil supply and had only enough to help him survive his business trip.  After a long week of suffering, a trip to the doc and some antibiotics finally cleared him up.  And yes, more healing oils are on order, in fact maybe they are sitting in my mailbox right now.

School started off with a bang for the boys.  They have some fabulous teachers this year and are very excited to be back amongst their friends.  My days are most certainly quiet without them around.  More on back to school later.

To wrap up loose ends, Tucker bounced back from whatever little episode he had at the end of our vacation.  Confirmation from a vet today that it was an idiopathic vestibular episode.  In other words, old dog disease.  He's hanging on for now, looking pretty good for 15.  We'll keep fingers crossed that he makes it through the winter, the cold is always so hard on him.  The other animals are also all doing well.

Heading into fall I'll try not to wish my life away - wishing I was someplace more exciting and fun, wishing the boys weren't at school and Mike at work, wishing I didn't have to do the mundane school things I have to do.  I'll try to enjoy my time, maybe tackle a few projects here and there, try to be productive at least some of the time.