random weekend wrap-up

Yesterday was a day with three parts, and all of them were long and busy. There's a yard sale that goes from northern Kentucky to Alabama, and it goes through where I live, so we thought it would be a good day to get out yard sale-ing. Saling. Sailing? Ha. Anyway. We didn't buy a LOT of stuff, except that my husband bought himself a lawn mower that is self-propelled. We live in a hilly forest, with moles, and our yard is very hard to mow with a regular, ancient push-mower that my parents gave us. So says M, I don't mow. Did you know that the honest-to-goodness first thing that M taught me to say in Swedish was "Jag vill inte klippa gräset"? (I don't want to mow the lawn.) Of course, my parents have six acres and they mow all of it, so big surprise that I didn't want to mow. It takes one person about five or six hours to do the whole thing with a riding mower. So, the mower--hope it doesn't suck--and some books for me and some speakers for M--who has no idea what he wanted to do with them but couldn't pass them up and perhaps this is why we don't go more often--and a natural keyboard for $3 (solely for a backup in case one of ours breaks) and a purse. It was a lot of fun, although by the time we got home, we were hot and sweaty and tired. Also, my fingers were swollen like sausages. They looked really creepy.

We spent the hours between twelve and six (part two) cleaning the house and cooking dinner, so we were basically worn out when part three rolled around and our friends, J&A (the ones with the birds) came over. I guess it doesn't count if you tell people that you clean heavily for company since the idea is to make them think that it looks like that all the time but actually, we pretty much use our infrequent guest appearances as an excuse to actually clean the house. So now I have a clean house, no laundry to speak of, and an entire day to myself tomorrow with very little physical labor. Yay! Also, we had a lot of fun with the friends, except for at the end when the boys sulked because J and I kicked their butts at Rook. Again. ;)

M and I had the Big Discussion today. You know. The "Now that we've finished the bedroom, what room should we work on next?" discussion--big decisions! Ahem. I think we're heading into the guest bathroom to put up some.. wallboard-type stuff above the shower, so as to prevent and repair the paint from peeling due to humidity, and maybe replace the vanity and refinish the floor. And we did not pick this room to do next because it is the smallest, or the one with the least work required, no, no, of course not. Really. Okay, we totally picked the smallest room we have, but at least we're talking about what to do next again. ;) That's a start...

I am really excited because my husband is researching and planning furniture-building. I am a sentimental slob (also, a cheap one) so I would love an entire house full of handmade furniture. Also, I dislike furniture shopping and I am kinda picky. You know what being semi-picky gets you? Ironically, a house full of mismatched furniture and particle-board because you keep thinking.. eh, I'm not paying that much for something I don't really like. But right now, we are desperately in need of furniture. We have too much house, too little furniture. And besides that, I have now bought him a boatload of tools by now so I might as well get some payout from it. ;)

Of course, wood isn't exactly cheap, either. My dad went to buy mandolin wood for M this week. M asked him to pick up two boards for him. It was kind of funny because after my dad ended up crawling around all over the place with the guy who worked there in search of this wood, he decided to just go ahead and buy four boards instead of two. M has been asking him to stop by to pick it up for him for weeks now. Imagine his surprise when they then charged him $98! Dad was thinking it would be quite a lot cheaper than that, and then I think he felt bad when he spent $50 that we really didn't ask him to spend. M will use all of it, though, and then some--he just didn't want to ask my dad to lug around all that lumber for him. Have I mentioned that he finished his second mandolin, and is nearly done with the third? I don't brag on him much for it but he really is good at his woodworking. You know what they say.. luthiers are good with their wood.

Okay, I totally made that up just now, but they should say that because it is awesome.