Productive day

Today turned out to be a pretty productive day for me.  Jamie headed to the university to work on something for one of his masters classes, so it was just me and the boys.  My mom had to work today (her job is about 10 – 15 mins from my house), so I went to meet her at noon when she got off to give her the candy she ordered from Owen’s school fundraiser.  She asked if  she could take the boys home with her and bring them back at 4, so I agreed.  I have a huge list of stuff I need/want to get done, and having them gone for a few hours was perfect!  First thing I did was drag out the push mower.  I tried starting it several times with no luck.  Eventually I gave up on mowing the grass and moved on to weeding out the front landscaping.  I had several large piles by the time I was done.  I still have one small corner left to do, but I kept hurting my hands because I didn’t have gloves, so I decided to finish that spot when I get a pair.  I took the clippers and trimmed some of the bushes.  They could probably use another once over. After tending to that, I cleaned out my car.  It was in desperate need of it.  The toys and trash that had accumulated in there was ridiculous.  Also, the boys had gotten so much grime on the doors and windows, and crumbs all in the seats.  I vaccuumed, wiped down the interior and cleaned the windows.  Now all I have left to do is wash the exterior (maybe tomorrow??)!  Cleaning my car makes me want to drive it somewhere (in which it will get all dirty again).  Next I started tackling cleaning the patio.  It seems to accumulate things rather quickly, and things don’t get moved that should in a timely manner.  I carried the snow shovel and ice melt bucket down to the building.  Hopefully we are completely done with snow for the season and won’t need them!  I also carried the dog crate down there and the grill cover.   Now that the weather is nicer, I hope to start grilling a lot.  I swept out all of the leaves, dirt and pine needles that had collected along the wall of the patio and moved the trash cans back behind the house.  It looks so much cleaner now 🙂  You take so much pride in your home when you put effort and work into it.  After the patio, it was getting closer to 3:30 so I went inside to pick up the house and wash dishes.  Jamie stopped to meet mom to pick up the boys on his way home, so atleast I didn’t have to drive back into town.  It’s amazing how much you can get done when the kiddos aren’t around.  A couple of my neighbors stopped to chit chat for a minute or two while I was out there. It was nice having some interaction with other people. LOL

I made some pretty yummy beef nachos for dinner. It was a little bit salty, but definitely something I want to make again.  I prefer them so much more than tacos! I don’t care for taco shells.  The tortilla chips I bought were thin and pretty good.  I still need to wash the dinner dishes, but I am so tired I may leave it for the morning.  I’m hoping all of the work I have been doing today will burn off all of the calories from the nachos! After dinner I had Jamie start the mower for me, and managed to get all of the front and half of the back yard done.  I ran out of gas, and decided the rest can wait til tomorrow.  Since mowing, I have done a load of laundry and vacuumed.  I am really tired now, and ready for bed.