June 21, 2016: Crazy Days!

Things are bit crazy around here! You have to be careful where your walking! I went to the kitchen one night after the lights were out and rammed my shin into Anya’s American Girl doll chest. Ouch! Now, the pathways are so narrowed, we turn on the lights all the time! Perhaps they are rabbit trails, taking us down seemingly unproductive ways!

The Swedish(!) Kirsten doll is being passed on to a dear friend with two daughters with Scandinavian roots.

Sunday after church was again celebrating Midsommar (Swedish spelling) at Vasa Park with the Grette family. (Eric worked construction with the Grette’s, and they did our remodels.)

Midsommer Festen i Vasa Parken
Midsommer Festen i Vasa Parken

IMG_3437 (400x300)

The afternoon was demolishing the zipline and tree house in the back yard. Janet and Mark were wonderful workers! Janet will reuse a lot of the wood for a shed project. However, my demolition work gave me tennis elbow on my left arm. (Fortunately, my left arm, as I’m very right handed.)

The last demolition project was tearing out the old fireplace with Marv in 2013. I ended up with tennis elbow in my right arm. So, where in this chaos is my tennis elbow strap/brace?

Monday was construction with Marv. It was hilarious! An English major and a theologian, with help from a music major! Now anything project with Marv makes me laugh, but at one point I was laughing so hard I almost peed my pants!

Construction at its funniest!
Construction at its funniest!

We built a divider wall in the garage. My stuff will be stored in about 4/5ths of the garage, leaving a galley for emergency exit from the kitchen and storage for the lawn mower and other yardwork tools.

While we weren’t very efficient, we have a very nice wall and had a great time making it! Jean’s brother, a retired engineer, came in the afternoon to help with a plumbing and electrical project. He was wonderful! These are tasks that when they got beyond my skill set, I’d have Eric do. (It usually meant that I’d start the project, get as far along as I could, and then have Eric come with his construction experience and muscle to fix, and then, I’d clean up.)

The new renters are Young Life staff moving up from Colorado, who also served in Uganda. I’m sending pictures to them to determine if they’d like any of the furnishings. Anything I leave make life easier.

Anya spent 12 hours painting yesterday.

Anya (right) and her friend, Annaliese, prepare her room for painting, pulling off glow-in-the dark stars.
Anya (right) and her friend, Annaliese, prepare her room for painting, pulling off glow-in-the dark stars. (They approved this photo.

She isn’t very efficient yet as a painter, but that is partly due to developing skills and I’m paying her by the hour! Though, Eric put his way through college painting, and he always said, “You can’t rush painting.” It did take two coats of primer to cover the orange and yellow waves on her room.

So, today, we hope to reduce the chaos! I will have to take a break and be with Anya as she practices driving. Her test is tomorrow!

With blessings,

Beth

 

One thought on “June 21, 2016: Crazy Days!”

  1. Love your stories Beth! And all the special people you mention. Blessings on your driving test Anya!

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