The "Perfect" Project Day

It's not uncommon for Aaron to hear this phrase from me most Friday evenings -

"So, what are the plans for tomorrow?"  He has learned to interpret layers of meaning behind such a question.  And he is such a good sport!  

While it's helpful to ascertain the general direction of our Saturday family time together, things rarely go as 'planned' around our place. Yesterday, however, was about as close as it gets to the perfect project day.  Since this is our family journal, here's the run-down.

I woke up before everyone else so I could have time to prepare my lesson for sharing time in primary the next day.  As the others were getting up for the day, I went out for a 4 mile run - in my favorite morning weather.  Upon returning (quick shower), we rounded up the troops to delegate assignments - another yard day (in addition to the regular scrubbing bathrooms, bedrooms, music practice, etc.).  Brinley helped me transplant some shasta daisy starts we picked up from the neighbors - keeping our fingers crossed on this one.  Still have to run a drip line to them so it's watering by hand for now.

 After spending 8 hours on the HOA mower Friday, Tanner added another 10 hours of work on Saturday to his ledger by scraping and staining the split-rail fence at the entrance to our neighborhood.  We kept him supplied with water bottles, lunch/dinner, etc. but his stamina was a sight to behold.  He couldn't even listen to books on iPod due to the nature of the task at hand (no pun intended)!  As he continues to look for more regular employment this summer, he is really grateful for the odd jobs he's been able to secure.

My kids could have built a snowman with all the thawed ice.

 We were long overdue on maintenance - the defrosting routine of our deep freeze meat freezer.  The ice build-up was getting out of control and since we were tackling the garage anyway, we added this project to the list.  Fortunately, Bob and Janene had quite a bit of freezer storage available in their garage.  After loading up all of our meat and rearranging the contents of their freezer, we were in business.  Hours later, I was able to steam clean our freezer before driving back to Bob & Janene's to pick up our meat and re-pack it all again.  Since we get a cow/pig each year, we keep our freezer full year round - which means there is never a good time to do this project. But - it's done for now and it feels great!

Top shelf is salmon/cod in case you were wondering about the orange color:)

This may sound strange (or not), but I have had my eye on purchasing a pressure washer for a long time.  Last year, we were able to fulfill this 'dream' of mine - though it sat patiently for a time - yesterday we put that dream-machine to work.  

 Oh yeah!  Clean garage floors.

Hauling it all out is one thing - sorting/organizing and putting it back in is another.

While Aaron kept the garage project moving along, I (reluctantly) had to attend to other matters.  It's always hard to leave a project with rockin' momentum -especially when my skill set is helpful.  I drove the girls to fulfill their responsibilities -Anna and Elsie had play practice to attend and Brinley went to clean for her great-grandparents.  Afterwards, we purchased sewing supplies for them to begin their summer 4-H projects this coming week.  In route, the younger girls decided they REALLY wanted to do a lemonade stand so we picked up ice along the way.  I don't know why I'm not excited about such projects, but I decided it would be a good day for them since Tanner was already working in the vicinity.  In order to have customers, the girls have to position themselves out near the main road nearly a mile from our house - and I do not have a visual on them.  I helped them set-up shop and after making several runs back to the house for miscellaneous items and a bathroom break, they were on their own (with Tanner nearby and Brinley ended up taking a book to read in the shade) for nearly three hours.   

With the generous contributions from a few good neighbors (and Aaron), they each earned just over $6.00 for their labors.  It was a win-win for everybody - I think:)

It never ceases to amaze me how dirty the inside of our house becomes on the days we spend working outside.  Truly a strange phenomenon!  Regardless, after dinner/dishes/baths/bedtime, I decided to quickly put the main floor back together again and get the filthy floors mopped before calling it a day.  I know myself well enough to anticipate that it's a lot harder for me to enjoy Sunday when my feet are sticking to the floors.

Earlier in the week...

 ...rock was delivered and installed in the beds around the house.

 We had forgotten to prep one area so I rushed to the nursery with Jantzen and Quinn to pick up five more shrubs - while the 'worker guys' got busy.

We are hoping for the best in the survival department for these shrubs - it was a brutal wind week for them and we've had a few watering issues arise. 

 I'm confident they'll rebound but I told the kids it wouldn't hurt if they would talk to them and pray for them (the shrubs).

Jantzen is in-training to take over all lawn-mowing responsibilities around our place.

I think he's happy about this - sort of.

  He was definitely happy about receiving a reply to a letter/request he sent to the Utah Jazz basketball team a month or so ago.  Now he's just waiting for Michael Jordan's signature to arrive in the mail:).