Productive Weekend

I finished cleaning, photographing and listing dozens upon dozens of eggs.  To keep myself from getting burned out on the eggs AND to more effectively use kiln space while I work, I have been working on other bead orders between every 2-3 mandrels of eggs.  I am almost caught up on non-egg orders and they are mostly keeping pace with the eggs as to when the orders first came in.  Big sigh of relief!

The kids' last soccer games were on Saturday, then a little awards ceremony and grill out afterwards.  I found Chloe poking at this guy and giggling when he moved.  To save him from the torture of five year olds, I rescued him and released him far, far away from the action.  Before I let him go, I asked her if she wanted to kiss him to see if the frog would turn into a prince, but she politely declined.

When we got home, we found the downstairs of our home flooded with about a half inch of water.  The hardwood floors are now showing signs of warping and wrinkling. :(  Chloe left the bathroom sink running by accident before we left for the soccer games.  Which wouldn't have been a big deal, except the drain plug had been removed last week to pull out objects blocking the flow of water and clogging the sink (your kids don't clog your sinks with rocks, dirt or the rolling art eyeballs, do they?).  So the water leaked out of the bottom of the sink into our bathroom, the hallway, the foyer, the living room and the family room.  It took nearly a dozen large beach towels to mop up the mess.  

After that mess was cleaned up, I started in on cooking for a big birthday dinner bash with barbecued ribs, that wonderful pasta from ThyHandHathProvided, asparagus, corn and then a chocolate cake.  While I cooked, Todd spent a good three hours in the backyard pulling weeds, straightening landscaping bricks and cleaning off the back porch.  We can now eat out there again and the backyard looks soooo much nicer!  What do you think of this close up shot of my echinacea/cone flower? Pretty cool, eh?

On Sunday we were all supposed to drive downtown to walk for Autism and a cure, but the boy child was on Todd's last nerve and a little separation between the two was needed.  So he ended up just taking the girl child and spoiling her with fun on the kids' bungee jumping, moonwalks, face painting, hair beading and spraying (her bathwater last night was BRIGHT ORANGE!).  While she got spoiled, I put the boy child to work cleaning out Maggie's crate (first time that has ever happened in the 7 years we have had her) as well as the cat boxes.  He also cleaned out his room and re-organized his bookshelves.  The best part was he was HAPPY to help me with all this cleaning.  While he was cleaning out his room, I cleaned up the guest room and it is not useable/viewable again.  Yay!  It is both Todd's and my favorite room in the whole house.

So now I'm back to working on more eggs as the weekend is over.  The last of the extras for Karyn are in the kiln and I'm now working my way through the colors that Gail noted on her wish list.  I don't know if it is the satisfaction of completing orders, getting the house and yard in order or just the promise of summer coming soon once school ends this week, but I am filled with excitement and anticipation.  There really isn't anything big or exciting happening in my immediate future, so this feeling of contentment and positivity coming out of me isn't sparked by anything in particular.  Perhaps I am doing better at living in the moment and enjoying each moment with my family.  I feel like I have more patience.  I am happy with how so many paths in my life are moving and don't recall another time in my life where everything just felt so at peace.  Someone please slap me and let me know this isn't a dream, ok?  It makes me a little nervous, like this is too good to be true!