Weekend Labor

My parents were at my house this weekend, primarily to watch Sully for us so we could attend our fantasy football draft on Sunday.  However, I am not a fool and don't let an opportunity go to waste.  So I put them to work helping me transform a corner in my kitchen that has been an eyesore since we moved in.

Here is the said corner.

I needed the corner to look prettier, function better, have some storage and still hold the kennel.  And I didn't want to spend hardly anything.  Tall order, right?

Originally, I had a small bookcase just sitting on top of the table for awhile to see what I might want shelf-wise and storage-wise.  It did function ok but it looked ridiculous and I still needed more from it.  Of course I had told my parents about it so when a friend offered them the top of a large desk that they were getting rid of anyway, they immediately accepted.  Oh yeah, it was free.

I forgot to get a good pic of it but I got a pic of my mom in front of it when we were painting it.

I wanted to cover up the countertop so we found some plywood in my garage and a bunch of chair rail molding and painted everything a unifying "botanical green."

Intermixed in with the corner project was this...

Oh yeah, my nephew Jack showed up with my parents.  He likes fans and vacuums.  We put him to work too.

Guess who drew these?

Ok, back to the project.  Here if the finished product.

Fantastic, isn't it?  And the only thing it cost was $25 for a can of paint.  I love it!  I am going to go look at it again.

Sharing this project at:  Thrify Decor Chick Before and After Party

Alumni

Now that I am completely recovered from the weekend, I can finally get a blog post up.  This past weekend was the annual alumni softball/volleyball tournament in my hometown.  I have always loved that weekend and it is always something to look forward to near the end of summer.  I think it is a pretty unique annual event for a small town and it certainly draws a crowd. 

Per standard alumni friday fashion, there was lots of energy put toward drinking 32 ouncers.  Although I exceeded in that category, I had some epic fails in others (remembering the end of the night, at least making an attempt to drink in moderation).  It was a "blatto" (per my hubs) friday night.

And it did not go without some repercussions on saturday.  Mostly in the form of head pain, head fog, fatigue and general body aches.  Luckily, the weekend was not a total bust since I did get to spend lots of time at the Shangri-La De Machak. 

Papa Donny's newest creation, his custom outdoor fireplace that he just finished.

Every time I go there, there is something new to see.  I keep forgetting to do a pictoral tour of their new house each time I am there.  I will get to it, eventually.

Sully got to spend lots of time with his little friends, cousins and Papa and Gamma.

Diner days with Lucy...

Mustang Mavens.

Punch it, Lucy.  I will get us some tunes going...

Big boy biking.

Cool cousins.

Ahhhh, good stuff.

Community

We spent the weekend living at some one else's house, with them, neighbors and others.  We ate, drank, were merry....and community parented.  It was fantastic.  The question of why we just don't buy a big house and all live and parent together was raised and I honestly can't think of a good reason why we have not already done this.  Yes, there are some people that you know you could never live with but I am pretty sure I would not mind living with any of these people.

On Saturday, after some of us showered and the rest of us pulled on our clothes from the night before, we ventured to the farmers market on the square.  And we immediately regretted it.  It was packed with people and strollers and we became desperate to get the hell away from the crowd.  We ended up going to brunch at Brocach.   Most of the adults indulged in bloody marys with beer chasers while the toddlers ate raisins (Sully hand feeding Sean and Sean totally going along with it), smashed dishes and cried making the dining experience slightly less than enjoyable.

We ended up going home for a nice 3 hour family nap and some showers.  We were back for more fun that evening.  Ava has a talent for occupying toddlers and she doesn't even get bent out of shape when one of them continually sasses her.  Love her.

After the jammies were donned, there was another round of toddler running with non-stop giggles.

In the morning there was composing and Cheerio eating.

After this pic I gave in and used the damn flash.

After Sully forced me to spill coffee all over the couch, I decided we had worn out our welcome and we headed home.

For being a homebody and enjoying alone time, I found myself surprisingly regretful that we had to leave all the fun and energy of a house full of people.  I had the same feeling after coming home from our lake house vacation.  I guess that just reinforces the fact that yes, we do indeed need to buy a big house and live and parent together.