I think it's finally spring -- ?

I think it is finally spring! I've got the windows and doors open to screens today and should be cleaning......but, I guess the mess is not in any hurry, so I've got a few minutes.

I need to clean this place up and purge it a little before I head out to the barn to bring up summer clothes. I really need to get to that by this weekend, too, because we are running out of short sleeved shirts as the weeks progress. With both little boys needing decent ones for school all week, I find I am washing and recycling in the same week.....meaning Curtis may wear the same t-shirt to school on Monday and on Thursday. The have LOTS of t-shirts; so many, that I had packed them away for the winter into tubs stored in the barn. Out to get the clothes this week and then wash them all and put 'em away. Good thing they are all big enough to help a little!

I also should get ready to have a garage sale here pretty soon. I can put all of Cole's old clothes in it, since no one after him needs them. And, I need to purge the other boys clothes, too. They have quite a few that just don't get worn -- weird, don't fit right, don't like, etc., etc. Toys also need purged, as does my kitchen and knick-knacks. I'm just in the mood to get rid of things and have a house full that can go -- perfect recipe for a garage sale, huh?

I picked up idea books from the paint section @ Menard's the other day. I really want to get the carpet out of my living room and paint the front-room, hall, and kitchen. I'll leave the kitchen for last, b/c that seems the most ambitious and the one that needs to be done the least. The front-room, is the one room (besides my UGLY bathroom) that I did not paint right away when we moved in. It has these peach colored walls -- "Pumpkin Spice", I think -- and a funny little birdhouse wall paper border. Not necessarily anything I would have put up, but not ugly at all and, obviously, livable, since we have lived with it for 8 years! I'm ready for a change. The yellow kitchen, which I absolutely LOVED when I painted it, is starting to annoy me after 8 years. I think I want to paint the front room an icy blue with the wall w/ the picture window in brown. White trim is already in place, just needs touching up. The hall needs to be a lighter color than the green I painted it. I think the blue from the front room or a shade lighter will go well into the hall. Then, the kitchen can maybe be the same color as the hall, since they share a wall.........and I'll add some red in there too. We'll see how it all goes. I am bad a choosing colors and my worst decisions ever have been with blues and reds......... I may be setting myself up for failure here. The failure may be in biting off more than I can chew. The walls, and the ceiling, need washed, primed, and finally painted. I may have to recruit some help in the washing part -- that's the part I dread and cannot move onto the rest of the plan until that is done....augh!

We are heading to Champaign for Eli's dedication at church on Mother's Day. It will be nice to get together with everyone again. Busy day on Sunday with the newspaper first, with some help from Joe this week, I hope, and then get ready to drive to Champaign for church and lunch. We'll need to leave by 8, so will have to get organized a little on Saturday night.

I played the organ in church for the PM service on the last Sunday in April. It went pretty well. I got my feet a little tangled during part of the offertory, but just quit with them and started back up when I had it figured out. It was better than continuing to screw it up and as long as my hands kept moving, no one was really the wiser. The last week in May, now, I have to play again -- it will be a hymn sing before church instead of a prelude, (4 hymns) and then the rest of the service, too, I think....4 more hymns, offertory, doxology and postlude. The most nerve racking part of all of that is the offertory. It's a lot like a performance, even though it's not supposed to be. So, I've been working on the hymn sing part of the service here already and of course, the offertory.

Will post more, here, I'm sure as things wind down -- school programs, preschool graduation, etc. and other things start up -- summer vacation, swimming lessons, Day Camp, etc.