Why Does It Work This Way?

Today is Sunday - the Lord's Day - I'm not supposed to work. But honestly, I usually do laundry after church. And sometimes I cook. But today - today, I worked my butt off. My back even hurts.
Tomorrow, painters are coming so I had to clear out the china cabinet. While I was at it, I cleaned all the glass on the china cabinet and polished all the wood surfaces. I walked back and forth to the living room 200 times while I transferred dishes to the coffee table in there.
Then I completely rearranged the laundry room. Maybe now it is the way I want it? Every time I rearrange in there, I think, "Why didn't I arrange it this way the first time? This is so much better." Why does it work this way? The fifth time organizing something, I get it right. So okay, I won't ever get a job as a professional organizer.
One of the reasons I had to re-do the laundry room is because I have moved the kittens (and all their paraphernalia) out of the guest bathroom. I love the new kittens, but I don't love all the extra poo. I am hoping they will like their litter box arrangement in the laundry room. If Abbie and I scoop their boxes twice a day, maybe it will smell as fresh as a daisy in there??!!??
Then I had to clear all of my sewing projects out of the sun room (where the painters will be working). And I had to move all my indoor plants out of there. Evidence was found of kittens playing in the dirt! I just finished mopping the sun room and the hallway (wood floors). I am pooped!
Once those floors dry, I have to go back and change the water and mop the tiled areas. Got to have the house looking neat for the painters, don'tcha know.
One thing that I am excited about is that the painters are going to finish (fix) the wall that Paul drywalled and left in an unfinished state.
I have to admit that I can be pretty lax on housework (the big jobs anyway), but once I decide to work on it, I work hard and do it right. I hand mopped the laundry room on my hands and knees so I could get all the nooks and crannies. Everything looks pretty clean in there.....until the cats decide to track litter everywhere. I predict that that will happen today.
Once I finish mopping, I will be mostly done. Except I do have a large stack of flippin' paperwork that I need to do something with (like organize, put away, work on). Maybe I'll do that after supper.... If only I had a fairy godmother who would "bippity bop" my stacks of clutter away!

A smidge of the kajillion kitten pics we've taken

Guiness book record for the fattest? No, and she has actually lost 2 pounds. The vet is happy. I'm talking about Baby - not me!

This is the little girl that my mom babysits. She's holding Angel.
Not kittens! This is my younger brother, and his wife, Beth. She is due any day now. They are going to name their little girl, Kylee Ann (Ann is after me - yay!).
See his mitten paw? Those are his extra toes.
Sweetness. Paul says he is as soft as an angel's wing.
Snuggle wuggle

At Annie's Request

I have finally posted pictures of my corn patch. The corn is much bigger now - there are tassles on the top and several stalks have ears with silk sticking out. The beans are at the base of the stalks and they are really starting to grow too.
It's just a little baby garden, isn't it? This is about all I can handle.
In late August, I am going to plant beets, carrots and spinach.

My tomato plant (which is hanging on the swing set, upside down, in an empty litter container) is doing fabulous. I hate tomatoes, but I guess I will make salsa or homemade spaghetti sauce???

With the fresh blueberries we picked today, I made a pie. With Abbie's help, of course. I froze several bags for blueberries. We're going to have some with our waffles tomorrow. And tomorrow, Abbie and I will make blueberry jam. I'm pretty excited about that.

We had a good time picking the blueberries today. The bushes are taller than us. They weren't loaded with berries because this family fills lots of local orders for restaurants and such. After they pick a lot, they let a select few of the public come in and pick. Paul, Abbie, and I each took a bucket and waded into the bushes. I think we picked about 11 pounds? I gave about a 1/3 to my sister. I hope we can make this an annual tradition. By the time we were finished, Paul was a little overheated. We'll need to take some water next time, and Paul should have worn the hat I brought him!

Cross Stitch

There is something wrong with blogger because I can post, but I cannot actually go to my blog home page.
Oh well, I found links to my cross stitch projects.
This project I did years ago and hangs in my hallway.
This mermaid is the project I am currently working on at home. Too bad the colors aren't so hot on this link.
This is my "to-go" Chrismas Tree project.
I wish I could find a picture of the fairy that I stitched that hangs in Abbie's room.

Twilight

Tonight is the book party for the next book in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. The party starts at 10 pm and the book goes on sale at midnight. I am going to the party, and I thought about dressing up as a vampire, but I decided not to do that. So I'll just be people watching.
The Barnes and Noble "reservation ticket" said that there would be a coffin there for photo ops. That is so Anne Rice! The vampires in Twilight do not use coffins (if I remember correctly).
In other news, I have started - not one - but two - new cross stitch projects. I love to cross stitch, and I have not let myself start anymore of these projects since before Abbie was born. I prefer the really detailed projects by Mirabillia. I bought two kits because one is for home - it is set up on my scroll stand. I can watch TV and use both hands to stitch. This project will be a beautiful mermaid. The other kit is my "to go" project. I can work on it in waiting rooms, in the car line at school, or anywhere around the house. This kit is a Christmas tree with doves sitting in the branches, and it will have quite a few beads stitched into it.
More crafty news - my niece and I recently got together and sewed some really cute purses. I was at the fabric store (which is like going to the candy store), and I found a really cute purse kit. I'll have to post a picture b/c it came out so great - Vera Bradley, eat your heart out! And not only did I buy this purse pattern and material, but I spied an apron pattern that I just had to make too. So I bought that pattern and enough fabric for THREE aprons. I have cut out one apron, but I haven't sewn it yet. I need more projects like I need a mustache. I really don't know what I'm thinking sometimes. I must think I'm supergirl or something.
Painters come on Monday to paint the kitchen and sunroom. Today - Friday - I finally went and got the paint samples. The kitchen will be Georgian Green and the sunroom will be Westminster Gold (Benjamin Moore). I pretty excited about it, and I hope we can live with the colors we chose. I think it'll be alright. But I still need to take everything out of the china cabinet and get all my sewing stuff out of the sunroom. Chores that I will probably procrastinate until the nth hour. While the painters are here, I am going to have them give me a quote for painting the guest bath and master bath (which will include wallpaper removal). I will like those rooms so much better once the wallpaper comes down. We've lived here almost 8 years, and I have never decorated the guest bath, master bath or sunroom. These rooms have no curtains, no true deco elements. The sunroom has some plants and some pictures that are just "these-don't-go-anywhere-else-so-I-guess-I'll-put-them-here" leftovers. Once I get the rooms painted, hopefully, I can decorate each room one at a time as I save up the money.
Tomorrow, Saturday, we go to Greeneville to pick blueberries. Depending on the cost and how many we can pick, we are going to make a blueberry pie and make some blueberry freezer jam. Paul is going with us, and he's really looking forward to it. This is the same farm where I bought the Mulberry Jam.