It is soooo quiet around here...

The house really has been pretty quiet around here. The hooligans have been gone the past couple of weeks visit with their Grandma Mawmaw and family in Houston.

It is so very strange to have them gone for so long. I miss them. A lot! I know that Hubby has been missing them a lot too. I miss the snuggles and hugs.

But I've been trying to struggle through... by sleeping late without interruption, watching ANYthing on TV without concern for who might also see it, eating a cookie for breakfast without getting the hairy eyeball from someone under the age of 10 who wants one too... it has been torture. LOL!

But just so you don't think its been all fun and no work!

I planted a bunch of stuff in the backyard to kind of finish out the big raised bed on the left side of the yard. Still have the raised bed along the back fence line to plant with something... I'm think of transplanting some of the HUGE tall grasses that have tripled in size in the front garden bed along the street. They really have gotten HUGE. The left side yard is also still a mess, maybe I'll get to it this summer... or maybe not. I really want to plant Passion Vine along that fence because I think it will grow really well over there and be nice and fragrant. So I should probably wait until September to plant them after the heat.

I have also cleaned out and re-organized my workspace in the dayroom. You can now see my computer desk, though I've rarely seem to use my desktop much anymore I'm usually on my laptop in the living room. My sewing desk is also nice and cleared off of all the clutter junk that just gets dumped on it by everyone.

I got totally caught up on the laundry. It has now taken over a week to create enough laundry to really justify running two loads (1 clothes and 1 towels). It is mind blowing just how much laundry those hooligans create on a daily basis.

I have also been working on all three of the childrens bedrooms. I have cleaned out the shelves in Child#1 room, there are no longer books that she doesn't want on her shelves taking up space. I carted off a huge trash bag of torn up scraps of paper and cardboard. I moved a bunch of puzzles and games to the downstairs dayroom which created a ton of nice space for her chapter books and three shelves of space for a bunch of Lego that I had packed away that I set up for her to have. Castles and Dragons. I think she's gonna be pretty excited. I've also gotten the paint to repainted her dresser and the shelf ends. We've started prep work on painting her nightstand (to match the dresser). I've gotten some more drapes to put up in her room and to also make some pillow covers out of the fabric to match. She's is going to have as "grown up" a big girls room can be for a 10-year old.

I have also cleaned out the shelves in the boys' room. Re-organizing a bunch of the toys and such... especially eliminating any broken or no longer played with toys. I also created a special shelf for each boy that will be for only his personal things. Hubby and I finished striping what was left of the ugly wallpaper border (that Child#2 had torn most off) and prepped the wall with Kilz primer to cover the Sharpie that Child#3 felt compelled to use on the wall because he didn't like the green paint. I didn't like the green paint either but that wasn't how I really wanted to change it. We also started painting the walls the two new blue colors to cover up the dingy blue and fugly limey green that was on the walls. It is AMAZING how much better the walls look with the new colors. The new bunkbeds for the boys room were delivered but we haven't assembled them yet until we are done with all the painting. We need to finish up the second coat and put up the new border trim... once I figure out how to cut the roll of wallpaper in half... or something like that.

We are going to have to repaint the molding in the boys bedroom (and about half the house) because the previous "painters" and I use that term loosely did a horrible job when you really look at it. But that is gonna be for a later date, maybe in a couple of weeks.

And just so the little princess doesn't feel left out... I cleared out some of the junk that had accumulated in Child#4's bedroom. Various toys that didn't belong and re-organized the shelves to hold the stuff that does belong. I've also been working on the pit of a closet that is in her room between a bunch of clothes that Hubby has in there (from when the room was still his office) and the piles of outgrown clothes from various other children... it was pretty scary. I have a sketch print of Tinkerbell that I bought a few years ago that we were going to hang in the dayroom but never got around to it, so I'll frame it and put it up in her room. I also have a bunch of fairy & flower blossom prints to put up into her room in the place of all the Classic Pooh prints to create a more Tinkerbell-esque styled bedroom. I'm hoping she will really like it especially since she is ALL about Tinkerbell right now. I also have a mirror to hang on her closet door so she can see herself when she plays dress up. She loves to play dress up... I've almost finished up painting and decorating her treasure box so she'll have her own special box for her favorite little things.

Its amazing how there is at least one box of stuff from each bedroom full of stuff that doesn't belong in there.

Sadly even with all this time, I haven't gotten it together well enough to organize a garage sale while the kids are gone. Its amazing how quickly the time has passed. There is also just sooo much stuff, I will be taking it slowly I think over the next month or so of sorting and pricing stuff for a garage sale.

Or to organizing the garage...