Summer is Over!

Summer is almost over! Hard to believe! Summer just didn’t seem long enough! We just didn’t have the heat that we have had most summers. Sure, we had a few hot, unbearable days, but not so many that we were counting the days until fall. And now, August is ending in near record lows. We even had days in July where we did have record lows! Isn’t that amazing? Yet, weather stations have said that July was only the 5th coldest, so there were even colder Julys sometime since the late 1800’s, when they started keeping record of the temps!

Traditionally, I don’t ride in August because of the unbearable heat. But I had no excuse with the cooler mornings. I still didn’t ride very much. After County Fair the first week of August, I spent the 2nd week in Colorado. I did ride for 4 days while I completed the Centered Riding Level 1 Instructors Course. Since coming home, I have spent the last 2 weeks not riding. I had to take a few days to recover from jet lag, then I spent the last week and a half doing odds and ends around the house.



I caught the “Organizing Bug” while my parents were here in July. My parents came for a 2 week visit to see their 2 newest, then 7 ½ month old, great-grandchildren for the 1st time! (This makes # 17 and 18 for them! Isn‘t that wonderful!). While they were here, I refinished the downstairs family room, which I love! I said good bye, no, I said good riddance, to the 70’s look. No more orange not-quite-shag carpet. No more dull walls and ceiling. Every day, we did something different in the mornings. I worked my tack store in the afternoons. The first Monday, we went carpet shopping. The rest of the 1st week, we packed up books, moved out furniture, tore up the old carpet, and repainted the walls and ceiling. The 2nd week, new carpet was laid, furniture was rearranged, bookcases were filled with books, and a toy area was established. I love my new family room!!! Nice, padded, soft carpet for the grandbabies to crawl on, and for grandpa “Pop” to lay on also!!!
Back to the present. Or at least, back to the last 2 weeks. I really had no excuse to not be riding for the last week and a half. Cooler mornings. ½ days at the store. Needing to prepare for Fall CTR’s. But I just wanted to get some odd and ends done in the house. I don’t know if I ever had the “nesting” bug when I was pregnant, but it was kind of like that. I just wanted to get some things done. Maybe because, when my parents were here, I started cleaning up the house and bedroom closets. The family room was emptied out, and the pool table was ladened down with all that stuff. One Sunday, when Sara, Jake and Makenzie were home to see grandparents, AND Jacob, Amber and Caden were here, AND Micah was home also, it was almost a free for all!!! LOL I told the kids that everything on that table was going. Take what was yours, and if there was anything left, whoever spoke up first got it! It was amazing how much stuff did go!!! But I wondered why I had some of Amber’s old stuff here, and not at her parent’s house! LOL And, no Sara, you can’t have the NEW horseshoe towel bars - they are for the bathroom! LOL

The one spare bedroom is the office now, but we had set up the bunk beds again, even though the grandkids won’t be able to use them for years! A bookcase and computer hutch were taken out, but the desk and closet was the pits! I went through boxes of “stuff” and got the closet organized and now I can see the desk again.

And I put the kid's baby pictures back up on the wall. I can't wait to add Makenzie's and Caden's baby pictures above the parent's baby pics!

Then, this past week, I wanted to work on Sara’s old bedroom, which is now the spare bedroom/baby room. I needed to make more room for a crib, and still be able to walk around the room. At first, I though I would repaint. But I had repainted after Sara was in college, and the walls still looked nice. It was amazing how much bigger the room looked after I de-cluttered.

A cedar chest went to the family room to sit beside the toy area and one of the bookcases.
Breyer horses, that were still in their boxes, and that were stacked on the floor, were taken down to the family room. 3 large stuffed horses were taken to the bunk beds.
The rocking chair was taken to the family room, to a corner beside the furnace room door. (Tom said the family room is looking cluttered now, but I think it looks just fine, and horsey!)

Now, I had to get Tom help me to rearrange furniture. He loves doing this with me. Not! We do have a wall filled with a dresser and my old vanity, but that opened up a wall for the baby crib.
Now, we have a portable crib,
but I’m ready to set up my old crib when we get a new crib mattress. And I hung some of my old paintings that my mom had done for me. They are from the old, paint by number sets.





One year, both my sister and I got them as a gift. I thought they were special then, and I think they are doubly special now. I haven’t had them hanging in a long time, and now they frame the large bedroom window. I just have to hang another hook for the new curtains, that I had for about 2 years in a bag under the bed, that I found when I started de-cluttering. It's great to find things that you forgot that you had! The room is ready for family and grandbabies to come visit!

Tom and I spent the morning cleaning the large windows in the 2 bedrooms, and cleaned 4 ceiling fans throughout the house. While Tom finished putting shelf hooks and the shelves into the closet, I hung curtains that I washed a few days ago.


Tom attached a book case to the wall and I vacuumed the living room. We changed the water filter. Tom starting working on getting a larger frig to fit into the smaller frig opening in the downstairs kitchenette. I put the finishing touches on the bedrooms.

Time for chores. It was already 6. The day flew by, and still no horse time, except for feeding them their grain. Maybe tomorrow….

Come along for the ride, when I get riding! I better start riding soon…