Friday, August 31, 2012

The best-laid plans

In May, I had some big plans. I was going to paint my kitchen cabinets on Memorial Day weekend. Three days, I figured, would at least get me a good start. But, no. Family plans arose, and we ended up spending the weekend out of town with my in-laws. No problem, I thought. There's always Labor Day weekend. As the summer progressed, the promise of freshly painted cabinets became more appealing. Every time I walked into or looked over at my kitchen, I'd envision the final product. I couldn't wait for Labor Day!

Last weekend, I reminded everyone of my plans. I don't care what YOU do with your Labor Day weekend, but I'm not leaving the house! You can go to the football game, visit family, go out to eat....whatever. But I AM painting the kitchen cabinets. All week this week, every evening, I have reiterated my intentions.

Then, last night, my husband, very calmly and kindly said, "Have you looked at the forecast for this weekend?"





 While my house is air conditioned, the garage (where I will be painting the cabinet doors) is not. And I'm really not convinced that doing it in high humidity is a good idea. So, I'm keeping an eye on the weather. If it rains, my plans will once again be foiled.

Which means I need to come up with an alternate plans. If it rains, what should I work on instead? The wall in the dining area needs to be painted, but I don't want to pick a paint color until AFTER I do the kitchen cabinets. The master bedroom needs some serious attention; it tends to be the catch-all in our house. Not sure where to put it? Toss it in the bedroom. It's really getting on my nerves. Victoria has expressed interest in redecorating her room. We could put together a plan for that, along with some organizing solutions she will actually use. She's 14 years old. She says her room is "floorganized."

Ultimately, I really hope the rain doesn't happen! I desperately want to paint my cabinets. But, if it does? Well, I think I can find something else to fill my time.


Sunday, August 26, 2012

Where did summer go?

I'll be the first to admit that I don't love summer. I really don't. It's too hot (and boy howdy was it hot this summer!), too sunny, too allergy-inducing, and just too icky. The one and only redeeming quality about summer is its relaxed energy. I work for the Purdue Libraries, and much of what we do revolves around the school year. We are busy from mid-August to early May, and we treasure those few months in between. We have time to work on projects--like repurposing a little-used basement office into a reservable group study space or weeding duplicate books that haven't been used in 10 years or sending older issues of journals to repository storage. We have time for training staff how to use new resources. We have time to take vacations.



But this summer went too fast. Between cramming in a last-minute family vacation in June, my daughter's enrollment in Summer PE in July, and marching band camp the first week of August, our summer was eaten up in a flash.



My daughter started high school and my son started his last year of elementary school last week. This week, all the Purdue students are back. Don't get me wrong! I love fall! I love the energy the returning students bring with them. The sense of possibilities and potential is almost palpable. I love that my kids are back in school, learning and spending time with their friends. It just seemed to get here much more quickly than I was expecting.



I had a list of big things I wanted to accomplish this summer that just didn't get done.
  • Paint my kitchen cabinets
  • Build a sectional daybed thing for the front room (I know this sounds weird, but trust me: it's going to be way cool)
  • Learn how to use my knitting machine
  • Paint the dining area (really just an extension of the kitchen)
I'm hoping all of those things will be done by Christmas, in addition to my list of fall projects. We'll see.

So, sayonara summer. I hope when you return in May your stay will be more pleasant.

Hello, fall! Even though you're here sooner than I expected, your cooler temps and wonderful smells will be a welcome change!

In closing, check out the adorableness we discovered in our front shrubs Friday afternoon:



Sunday, August 12, 2012

Claire

This morning, I was surprised to find that Diana Gabaldon, the author of the amazing Outlander series of books, tweeted about MY Claire's Shawl!!!

Currently, the pattern can be purchased through the River Knits Yarns website. However, I'm hoping to have it available for sale through Ravelry very soon!

Ah! I'm so floored!