Vacation???

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July, no matter where in the world you are! I missed my Aunt Pete's cookout....and seeing my cousin's Sheryl, Janie, Will and Toni. It ended up being a day of work here. I know...but it was a good kind of work. I will share about that in a minute. First I want to show you my mom's new kitchen and guest bedroom. I spent all day on Thursday helping her get things in order. First, remember her old kitchen?
Now the new....
Even the switch plates got a new make over. She is still waiting for her sunshine yellow curtains and some sunflower accents she ordered. It turned out beautiful. All her cupboards and the wood paneling needed to be cleaned with Murphy's Oil soap. The tile and counters all got cleaned also. I am trying to convince her that "less is more" and a clean surface is a happy surface, but she likes her "stuff". At least she keeps it all clean.

The guest room got all new bedding and curtains. I hung those and put the dust ruffle, sheets and comforter on. It got a thorough cleaning and is now ready for her company to arrive today for a 3 day stay.

The other spare room got a fresh coat of paint, new curtains and a change to the computer room. She'll kill me for posting that picture. That chair is now replaced with a new one we bought that same day. A beautiful camel color suede high back.

The rest of the house got a once over too, with Charlotte pitching in. Those wallpaper people really made a mess with all the sanding of the walls!!!

My mom's dog Ike (we all name our dogs after Presidents), watched from his favorite spot...note his bed in the corner, yet he sits in Mom's chair.
Afterwards, we headed home to do some work on our own house. The new valance had arrived and I put it up right away. I really like it!

If you need curtains or valances, check out Swags Galore. They have great prices (though shipping was high) and I got my package in 3 business days.

I also washed out my new salt and pepper shakers and filled them up! Aren't they wonderful??? Another treasure from my childhood. I am certain these go back to Byron when I was Charlotte's age....maybe even older. Now onto another subject. I LOVE to journal and have done it on and off for years. I usually get bored and stop for a while. Since I have been blogging I have not done as much...I blabber all my thoughts right here!!! I was so impressed with Cheryl's scrapbook journaling, I thought I would give it a try. Here are a couple of pages. This one is done during my quiet time this morning. It was actually a very close time with my God.

Yes, I know. Unlike TJ, I am no Picasso, but it is just my doodling....

This next page was done this morning too, and shows some things I would like to do in my home, along with a food goal for the day.

Now comes the reason I missed my family get together...
Though it does not officially start til Sunday, Sweetheart is on vacation. Not the kind of vacation where we go on day trips with the kids, or spend time off somewhere else...that one comes closer to fall. This one is the "take a week off of work to WORK" vacation. All those things every year that need time to get done. Sweetheart never has 2 days off in a row, so this work week every year is very important. Today, we made the list...I put it in my journal, and have several things crossed off already. There is a list of "need to do's" for me and Sweetheart, a list of "want to do's", just incase we get to them, and a list of things we need to purchase. Today we spent alot of time on the front yard and porch. It is not finished yet, but it is getting there. I will show you when it is done. This picture in my journal was taken from the Diane Phalen calendar my Aunt Pete bought me. I took it from April and look forward to using other past months in the future.
It will be a very busy week here. Exciting too...we really want to be done by Wednesday with our list. This gives us a couple of days to rest, but if not, we will be taking Thursday off at least. That is the day Niki is coming. It is getting so close...can you stand it???? Me, either!!

If you are at all interested in the scrapbooking journal, visit Cheryl's post where she explains exactly how she does it! It is great fun. A wonderful way to keep track of quilts, and even your thoughts during the creation of the quilt. I am going to make a separate one just for that! I felt inspired by the pictures I cut out of my Country Homes magazine (dated June 1993).