A weekly list of things accomplished, enjoyed, learned, tried and remembered.
1.A need to replace. I don’t like to have to replace things, but sometimes it’s necessary. In the case of a blind for the boys room–it was VERY necessary. As I sat duct taping their roller shade back together, Super Rockstar looked incredulously at me and asked “Are we really that poor? Can we really not afford to get a new blind for their room?!” I sheepishly admitted that yes, yes we could afford to. It’s just I would rather spend the money elsewhere–like ordering some take out so I don’t have to cook or maybe a couple of trips to Starbucks. I know, I know–I’m selfish.
The bad news is that a new roller shade was going to be pretty costly, but the great news was that I found these mini blinds at Home Depot instead. I’ve never been a huge fan of mini blinds, but these are not the obnoxious clanging metal ones. They’re flexible plastic AND they are cordless. To tilt them, you just use a wand. But, the best part is the lift–you just push them up to raise them or pull them down to lower them. They are super cheap and although I realize that you the get what you pay for–I’m all in on these. My boys break everything anyway so I love having something that they can use easily and the replacement cost is pretty minimal–no duct tape required.
2. Trying to make it feel like summer on a cold rainy day. The month of May is always unpredictable weather wise here in Colorado. It’s hard to get ramped up with summer type activities when it’s 45 degrees and raining. We have a YMCA membership, so swimming is something we can enjoy year round since most all their pools are indoors. One of the ones here in Colorado Springs is great because it has all the features of an outdoor swim park–but inside. There’s a wave pool, a lazy river with a whirl pool in the middle, and a fun slide. The boys had a blast, but afterward we had to make a run to get hot chocolate and their favorite warm chocolate croissants. Even though we could pretend it was summer while we were inside, coming outside we were faced with the harsh reminder of “nope–not yet”. Sigh.
3.Feel the Thunder. One of the highlights of living in Colorado Springs is the Air Force Academy. We love going to the football games every fall, but their graduation is the most special. Most every year the President or Vice President will come to give the speech–so there’s always a lot of excitement over that. But, the highlight is that as soon as the ceremony is finished the Air Force Thunderbirds fly over the stadium and do an amazing show.
Super Rockstar’s work place is directly East of the stadium and is a perfect viewing spot to watch the Thunderbirds. So, every year they open up their parking lot and grounds so that employees and their families and folks around the neighborhood can come to watch. We all set up lawn chairs and blankets and have a picnic while the kids love running around in the fields playing as we wait until the big show. It’s so exciting to see them coming in from the distance– flying in perfect formation. As they turn out to circle around for another pass you can feel the rumble in your chest. It’s AWESOME!
4. A project. It’s summer, so this naturally means outdoor projects for our household. I love them. Super Rockstar–well…not so much. Our first one of the season is one we’ve needed to do for a while. We put up an above ground pool each year that we all enjoy. In the past it’s been put on our sand area in front of the pirate ship Super Rockstar built many years ago. We decided that we no longer want so much sand and instead would like a paved patio area so we can use it for the pool in the summer and as a fire pit area the rest of the year. We won’t be putting the pavers in until the fall, but I wanted to go ahead and move the sand and level out the ground.
Like all project that I insist that we do “right now”–it took A LOT longer and was A LOT harder than I thought it would be. (Super Rockstar is giving me one of his best “I told ya so” looks right now). When I start projects–I just want to get them done. It never really occurs to me until after the fact that maybe I should have done some research first.
First, I had to move all the sand out of the way. Then I dug out and moved 30 wheel barrels full of heavy soil to our front porch area (I needed it to complete an upcoming paving project there too). It was then that Super Rockstar joined in the fun and we dug up the 14’circle, raked the dirt in place–eyeballing it as best we could hoping it was level and then tamped it all down. We thought it might work to get a long 2 X 4, place a level on it and drag it around the center point to see how close we were. The good news is that it worked, the bad news is that we were WAY off. So, we had to dig up the dirt. Again. And then we had to bring back some of the dirt I had hauled to the front yard–10 barrels full in all. Ugh!
When all was said and done my “I think this will only take a couple of hours” project –took all day. We were sore and tired and grumpy. Super Rockstar vowed for the billionth time that he’s done doing these projects. I just gave him my best sympathetic head nod murmuring how much I appreciated his help.
Have a great week!