Year 5, June 19th-21st, 2020: Projects Galore!

Yeah! We are painting Keturah's room! I've been wanting to paint her room for 8-10 years! I did all the prep work today after I did my workout. I'm exhausted, but I'm not touching a paintbrush tomorrow, so all will be fine. Keturah will help Grandpa while Jared takes Abishai and Justin on a field trip to go fishing and hiking and what not. I surprised myself by getting everything ready pretty quickly tonight, from lunches, to extra clothes, to lots of water, to bug spray and sunscreen. even a hat! Oh and paper towels and baby wipes. I know, I know, most men just take their wallet, a water bottle and away they go. Jared took Benaiah and Justin for a little guys night fishing thing at Chad Sloan's house a couple of times, so it's appropriate that he takes Abishai now. He's actually having a guys' night with Jim Smith and Co. I'm glad he can, although it makes me look like a prude because I didn't stick around after Bible study this week nor have I been invited to do things with the women outside of Bible study. But, I'll skip the pity party.

I took the rest of the nails and screws out of the wall and taped everything up in Keturah's room. I made sure everything was vacuumed up so we wouldn't have dust in there. Then I had Jared show me how to do the mudding to cover holes and I'll sand them down tomorrow. I kept saying teasing things like, "The spouses who spackle together, stay together." Jared wasn't impressed. It's not often that we work side by side. By we can do this! Having Gary do a good chunk of it helped with making decisions about color and how much paint to get, etc. And it gives us all the push to be ready for him to come and do it. And he'll be more patient with Keturah than Jared or I. I'm glad it worked out that the boys will be gone tomorrow, although I'm sure Abishai would have liked to help paint, too. Hopefully we'll get it all done and then move her stuff back in on Sunday. Then Benaiah and I will start tackling his stuff and getting it over to Gary and Leah's or storing it in the garage. Once his stuff is somewhat out, I can start rearranging other furniture after I get the bunk bends. Then Justin's bunk bed can be moved to Keturah's room, etc. One step at a time. I made sure to clean Keturah's room the best that I could, like the windowsill and taking stickers off the door, etc. It feels so good to be doing something like that again!

Otherwise, the kids swam a couple of times and I let them watch some Veggietales after supper. I insisted that it be something Bible related instead of more violence on a video game. We watched some silly songs and then Larryboy and the Rumor Weed. It was interesting to see the differences in computer animation 20-25 years ago! Abishai did get a little bit scared with the Rumor Weed. He doesn't seem too scared during live action movies, but he does cry during animated ones. So weird. I had a hard time getting everybody to settle for bed because Justin was slow making his lunch and then I saw lightning bugs outside when I let Socks out. I quickly gathered the kids so we could go catch them! And Abishai caught his first lightning bug! Even Justin had a blast doing it! Yeah! And it was on our list. I had read somewhere that lightning bugs were in short supply this year, so I'm glad we caught them early in the season.

But now I'm sore and exhausted. Again, I'm not painting. I can't do the repetitive motion, although I really like painting. And I'm trying to delegate jobs as well. And I know I do the majority of the other work. I neglected a few things I could have gotten done today, so I'll tackle those tomorrow. But just like with Benaiah, Keturah's birthday became a birthday week. Part of Grandpa's and Grandma's gift to her is the paint and a new fan. I'm so glad Grandpa is home to do it! Get 'er done! Woot! Woot! I think we've done more projects in the last 4 months than we have every done in years at any place we've lived. We've used our time wisely. We might be slower than a lot of DIYers but we'd made more progress in a shorter amount of time than we've ever had. It does makes me happy because it means we are taking care of what God has given us. We aren't looking for the newest and greatest. We've always been pretty content with old houses that are falling apart and just making do. But it always feels nice when we can actually improve something. It makes me feel more normal.

I did have some painters' tape that I used on a project. Yeah! I'm glad I was able to get that done earlier in the day.

Milk plus strawberry plus hand blender equals strawberry milk without the added sugar.

Lots of bubbles.

Sister convinced him to come aside and ask for mini ice cream cones. He was already cold, but he didn't care.

I got some good "before" pics of Keturah's room. Here it goes! First wall in this house to be painted by house. We moved in 3 years ago. We didn't want to make this decision back then and lacked the funds. I'm just glad we can do this now.

Keturah's "Before" Room Tour

The artist even drew on the ceiling!

Abishai wanted me to have his blankie so my body heat could warm it up for him.

Keturah got some of the glitter glue off herself. But I had sprayed it again today with Thieves cleaner and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Tada! One swipe and it came clean! Yeah for Thieves Household Cleaner!

See, I can do things like unscrewing things mounted to the wall and then painted over. It wasn't fun, but I did it!

Looking out through Keturah's window, I got to see a little wren in the grass.

Oo! I spy with my little eye, a gorgeous flower hiding!

Getting my spackling face on.

I took this picture while I hovered over it blocking the sun. I like it better than the next one.

I stepped to the left and let the sun hit it. Way different results!

There's more ready to bloom!

I know, I know, I think this is grass, but I let it grow to see what it would do.

Where did the bunnies go? Well, there's no signs of struggle or dead bunnies anywhere, so hopefully momma moved them to under the shed. I don't think they were quite ready enough to be on their own yet.

As I was walking around the shed to see if there was any bunny trails, I came across this scene. I tried a few different angles but didn't have time to make the shot all glamorous.  But it is kind of rustic looking.

This is my 8 yr old niece Rosie. Um, when did she grow up? And that pout. That's P-M's pout. And his guitar.

Silly songs with Larry! Abishai did laugh a couple of times.

Justin was super excited about the lightning bugs and I'm so glad he was. Both he and Keturah easily caught lightning bugs, which means we've done this often enough that they remember it. Warms my heart. We caught our first one, but then accidentally squished it when we put the lid on the jar. Whoops. There was a few other casualties in those 15 minutes.  Whops.

Abishai holding a lightning bug. Don't squish them! He was so excited to run around to catch them and when he couldn't do it, he just flopped his hands down and sighed heavily.

He caught his first lightning bug! Yeah!!

Keturah and I tried the hula hoop tonight as we were picking up the yard toys. And yeah, we got do the lightning bug thing. Yeah!

Woot! Woot! It's done! The painting part at least! And everything is back in her room in spots that we are to be permanent. Daddy will have to help Keturah hang her stuff again, but yeah! (See all the pics below). Meanwhile, I worked out, cleaned up after Grandpa and Keturah, weeded the garden, did a load of laundry, made another photo order, gathered addresses, and picked up the clutter around the house. Oh yeah, after I sanded the mudding we did last night. My back hurts significantly (and despite it being 80 degrees in the house, I have heating pad on it on low and it makes a world of difference. I don't like using ice.) and my shoulders also from starting to use the weights I bought. But I did workout three days in a row, so that's good! Now I'll have two days off, maybe. Definitely tomorrow. Benaiah snuck to his computer without saying good morning to anyone and Grandpa was put of by that. I'm sure Jared gives Gary a gruff form of good morning every day as well. And Jared, Justin and Abishai went for their father/son day at a friend's cottage.

Justin said there were about 20-30 boys and men there and he spent most of the day swimming in the lake. I didn't know they would be swimming, so I didn't pack that for them. Jared hates being in lakes so he wouldn't let Abishai in because he didn't want to go in. It was almost 90 degrees today, so everyone came home exhausted. Abishai told me all about the wiggly fish that was caught and that he jumped back away from it when it moved. It was about 6 inches long. He said he also played lots of games with the kids using balls. I think he played that ladder toss game where there are two balls attached to each other with a string and then you throw it and it wraps around a run of a ladder. They had hot dogs and Sprite and some of their lunch. They had access to a bathroom and lots of water. I was grateful it wasn't me out there in the heat this time, but Jared came out miserable. Abishai fell asleep of course, so Jared laid him down on the couch. He slept for a little bit, but we kept rousing him. And then he pretended to be fully asleep, but I could see his eyes squeeze together tighter and his eyelashes flutter and I knew he was awake. I made him smile and then he ripped out a huge bubble (fart) right in my face and started laughing! Hey, dude! Justin wanted to just go hide out in his room for awhile and got really mad when we kept going in and out putting things away. I guess the introvert was done for the day. They both are now gaming and Jared is eating dinner. We hope to put Abishai to bed early because he "slept in" until 8am this morning when I woke him up. He kind of wanted to stay sleeping but within 60 seconds he was raring to go.

Meanwhile, I got the sanding done and Gary was here right at 10 and he was raring to go (yes, he and Abishai are twins). It Gary about 5 1/2 hrs to put the primer on and two coats of paint on the wall. 30-60 minutes of that was putting the new ceiling fan in with Dan Craft's help. When in doubt, call Dan. But instead of Dan doing it, he showed Gary how to do it. Yeah, Dan! Gary also painted the ceiling. Keturah helped do the corners and clean up the brush and paint pan in between the different paints. And it dried really quickly, too! And boom, it's done! See, that's why I called in reinforcements. I knew that Gary would knock it out for me. Perhaps he can help with bunk beds in August. Or we can get one of the other men to help like Jim or Andrew. It's always better with extra hands that aren't your family so you don't feel the need to argue with each other, lol. Now, Benaiah said as soon as I get Keturah's stuff out of the way he would tackle his stuff. So, I made sure all her stuff went back in her room. His turn! I would like to go through his clothes ASAP so they fit in the drawers better and I can move his underwear and socks to the other drawers and give Justin another dresser drawer for his junk (at least for now) that was in the drawers of the loft bed. That is after I go through the junk. I guess that will be next on my personal list, to go through the stuff with Justin and make sure Keturah isn't throwing away anything I deem worthy of keeping. So, 1 step down, lots more to go!

And my favorite part is the color she choose. It's a very pretty blue, bright, but not neon, and calming/soothing/cooling. Like the sky, or the sea, or it's name which is "infinity blue." She used her new Lego dolphin to get the right color. Oh, which reminds me, Grandpa reminded her that they could see God's hand in their purchase yesterday because they prayed before going into the store to find a good deal and they walked out with a fan that was 30% off and a B1G1 cans of paint. He also prayed again before they got started. I hope Keturah was listening, because I was. I just don't always attribute those little things to God because I'm not looking for them or I assume everybody experiences and they are just the luck of the draw or I didn't pray for them. Lesson heard and learned. I made sure Keturah said thank you multiple times. And then when Grandpa left, she complained that we had mudded over the holes and then painted them. Don't yell at me, kid, just because Grandpa isn't here anyway and I interrupted your screen time so you could me put your room back together before the boys came home! Sigh.

Boy, I'm exhausted. Jared is, too. So are the boys, including Benaiah. But that's because I did other work besides fixing food, breaking up fights, and telling people to wait for screen time. No wonder I'm happy! When I cleaned something up, it stayed cleaned up! No wonder everyone else has a clean house because they aren't home. Bliss! And tomorrow we have church here, at Smith's or at Gary and Leah's, and then dinner with Gary and Leah, so the house will stay cleaner then, too. Woot! Woot! That's why I like to clean everything up on Saturday, it stays nice on Sunday, and then we are ready for Monday. It's a win-win!

Today's prayer. I hope he had a peaceful day. I think he did. His body hates the hot weather like mine does, but I know he enjoys being outside and with his boys.

Abishai "slept in" until I woke him up at 8! He groggily said, "Thank you, thank you." and I said, "What for?" And he said, "For the kisses (I gave him)." Awwww.....

All ready to go!

Dan to the rescue to help put up a new ceiling fan!

But he made Grandpa do it!

Primer is on!

 Painting with Grandpa!

Ooooo, it's so pretty! Eeek!

Keturah primed and painted all the corners as high as she could reach. And she helped Grandpa if he needed something.

Awww, memories made!

I kept going into my room today at various times and finding this fan not in the spot I left it. I was bewildered because no one was at home to kick it out of place. And then, I realized, it was rattling and migrating on its' own across the floor! Check out the video!

Is the sky, blue?

Working together.

Gorgeous new ceiling fan. First coat done.

Tada! It looks so much better in person. We had trouble with coverage in some spots. I wonder if there's damage in the plaster somehow. Hm,....

This is more true to the color.

Proof that she did paint a little bit today.

Abishai made a trampoline prison! He started off with the white "wheels" and a few red squares. That's when he said it was a trampoline. So I grabbed a washcloth to make the trampoline mat in the middle. Then we added more red squares up the sides to make the "net." We didn't have enough red pieces to finish the top, so I improvised. Ta da!

I weaved the washcloth in and out of the sides so it wouldn't slip.

It's not bouncy by any means, but it's innovative!

The only picture Jared took of today. Sigh. I asked him to take at least a few. But, at least I see Justing having a blast out there in the middle of the raft and Abishai on the lawn. Oh, I completely forgot to write that they did go out on the boat and Abishai sat in front of Jared like he would in the kayak at Ron's lake house. I'm sure Abishai loved it!

Happy 18th Father's Day, Jared!!!! Eventually, all the kids did say, "Happy Father's Day" and signed his card. Yeah! We had church with the Smith's and then dinner with Gary and Leah for Father's Day/Keturah's birthday. Gary preached for Indian Creek (via prerecorded video) AND a church in Seymour, Indiana today. Benaiah graced us with his presence for meal time only and then went out with Ethan when we got up from our Sunday afternoon nap. Sigh. Teens. Young adults. Whoever you are. I'm hoping I/we weren't that rude to my parents or his parents when we were that age. Perhaps we were, but we certainly didn't do it on purpose. I'm sure Benaiah isn't either. But now I know how hurtful it is. I'm sure my parents wished I had paid more attention to them in my college years/early years of marriage. They didn't grumble to us about it if it bothered them. I'm trying not to take Benaiah's aloofness personally, but it still kind of hurts, ya know? Especially when I'm trying to finish out his graduation and open house stuff. One last push here on all that. Invites go out tomorrow now that I have all the adressess for family! But I digress.

We hung out after church for a little bit with Jim (Adrienne had to go to the grocery store) and had some great conversation about some things that he and Jared have been discussing for awhile. Jared has to keep reminding me that the women in our group aren't purposefully leaving me out. I just need to make more effort.  So, I'll try again.  I always do better with one on one conversations or even two on one. But any more than that and I can't seem to nudge my way into a conversation. The best advice I got from one counselor about this was to just stand there and listen. Soak in what they are saying. Learn about them. Then, later on, you can follow up with them if you have a one on one conversation or message them later about something. That shows you were really listening and trying to get to know them instead of talking about yourself. And it does help to think that way. Part of the message today was on two battles that the Israelites had in Joshua. God's presence, God's power, and God's pattern (you've got to love a good tag line like that. I do miss how Gary does that!) And I was reminded how Gary was telling Keturah to see how God provided the paint for her room (I explained in yesterday's post). I'm grateful he did that because I severely lack seeing God in the little things. I was going to ask Adrienne something since it was just our families, but she left, and I texted her later about it. That's the key. I need to send individual texts. I send to a group and then want the whole group to respond thinking I'll get more responses that way. But each relationship is unique and different. So I need to make the effort to develop each one. I can do this, right? I hope so! Well, with God before me of course.

Ok, lunch with Gary and Leah was fine. Lots of fan favorites like shepherd's pie, corn pudding, fruit salad, pink stuff, ice cream cake (in the form of a taco!), a little mini sized thing of ice cream for Abishai, and fried cabbage. Oh, and a bacon explosion for Jared for Father's Day dessert. Then home for naps (Jared and I) and screen time for the rest. Then a mish mash for supper, some trampoline time, and now a movie. I'm glad Jared went with the boys yesterday. I didn't hesitate saying yes to it because he'd rather do that than paint at home. So, Keturah's room might have been a gift from Grandma and Grandpa, but it was a gift for Jared, too. And that's how it goes! Father's Day 2020 was much better than Mother's Day 2020. And that was my goal. Now we turn our eyes to graduation this week! And a few appointments for me. Like three of them. And a dentist appt for Keturah and Justin. And a few other odds and ends. Eek! Here goes!

Justin and his small group buddies and some other kids did a little video for Father's Day saying what they loved about their dads. Justin said, "Respectable." Great word! He said he had to choose something different than what the other kids had already said. Nice!

Abishai couldn't sleep last night because he had napped on the way home yesterday, so he set up his bed in the sunroom, I think in part, to be nearer to me. He missed his mommy! And he claimed, "It's comfy, Mama!" Um, not really, but ok. He also still fingers the edges of his blankie every night. Not only did he bring all his things in, he put his music box on. Yes, it's a part of a crib mobile we got in Canada for him. He still uses it to fall asleep with. The other pieces are in the baby stuff boxes in the shed. And of course Doggy Song and Dinosaury.

And Socks joined him as soon as he came out from his last potty run.

Soon he was fast asleep with his real puppy watching over him. Oh my babies! Abishai is so spoiled. I say that every day. But it's not worth the fight. We did put him back in his own bed, ok, his tent bed, tonight. I do want him to eventually go back in the boys' room for maybe one or two more nights in the Thomas bed before I give it away.

Abishai is getting so big! Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

Abishai did stay there all night, too! And added more stuff in the morning.

I sat at the table today for church so I wouldn't fall asleep. It definitely helped! Abishai was back and forth a bit. I could hear Justin rattling his colored pencils.

I was surprised Jim didn't say anything about Abishai's feet on the table. Cutie makes himself right at home. He played with Lucky, the dog, too.

I spay with my little eye, another Johnson graduate! The banners are up on US 31 and Southport on the east side of the road if anyone wants to see them! Ok, here's a provision from God. I was going to get one of these for Benaiah and the school did it before I got to doing it! Yeah! Now we can use this one and his two other small yard signs at the grad party! Woot! Woot!

Ignore the hair situation because wow, it's rough. She will get it cut but she also needs some smoothing spray or something.

Grandma looked over at the Dairy Queen ice cream cake freezer when she was there for something else and saw this! She just had to get it! Keturah was trying to figure out what part represents what, right down the "grease" at the bottom. Um, are you saying I make greasy taco meat? Why yes, yes, I do because I don't drain it. Happy 12th birthday, Keturah!

Abishai doesn't like ice cream cake Grandma got him his own little tub! He ate the whole thing!

There was a leftover gift from Christmas (they had bought too much for her). She already was working on it, tonight. She likes that the nails are already punched in for her. Yeah!

Bacon Explosion "dessert" for Father's Day.

And catching baseballs before it drizzled rain. Keturah did quite well. I bet she could play a bit of softball! I was actually thinking about how each kid has played one season of one sport, so that was their PE for school, lol. Benaiah had baseball and Justin and Keturah had basketball. I think I'll put Abishai in soccer when he's old enough for the homeschool soccer league. We have a very vibrant soccer league that some of the families I personally know play on and I think within 30-45 minutes. We'll see! We have a few more years.

Again, spoiled last kid! Jared ran Abishai home to get his bat so he could try it with Grandpa. Aw!

Most expensive card on the planet, and the galaxy, and the universe! But worth it! "The Child" aka Baby Yoda

It's a company called "Love Pop" and I saw ads for them for months and finally gave in. I bought a few different ones for different people because they were cheaper that way. They are the "gift" because they are expensive. Just look at that face though! Abishai is "The Child" and I think Jared is "The Mandalorian."

You pull out that tab and you can write a message on it.

Scribbles for Dad

I fudged on a couple of them because I wanted to get 5 in a row. I'm not sure if he likes a particular type of set or not. But yes, we are that Lego loving family for sure.

This was the Somers Family's post (they live in Alaska) on Instagram. Oh my word! The land of the midnight sun is gorgeous! They actually had a "midnight run" short running race the other night. Their 10pm is like our 8pm and it doesn't get any darker. It was crazy! Oh, and that top picture is probably how low the sun gets at in the dead of the night. So, they go from only 4 hrs of daylight on some days in the winter and 40 below zero to almost 80 and the sun is still up at 2 or 3am! That's nuts! Maybe someday I will get to experience it! They also said that they just go, go, go all summer long because their bodies don't really want to shut down when the sun is up like that. So cool!

Watching a little bit of live action "The Jungle Book" from 2016 before bedtime. Great end to a great day!

The End