Stuff I’m doing

Things are going well. I have finally finished with all of the trips with my youth for the summer (well, except for a short planning retreat, but that is only a two-day trip). It feels nice to be finished, but things are starting to get a little hectic as I gear up for the fall, and a little sad as we all realize that this has been my last summer with the group. It will be hard to leave next spring.

I’m still working hard on the house. My mom and I finally settled on a date for the housewarming party I need to have for my family, so I have a month to get everything done that I want to get done before the party. A lot of it may not happen, but it is nice to have that as a motivator. Inside I would at least like to get the foyer painted and a screen door hung (on the back door). I also need to get some new shades hung in my bedroom and a mirror hung in my dining room. I should be able to get those things done without too much trouble…in my dreams I would also like to put up the crown moulding and chair rail that I have planned for my dining room, but I am certain that that isn’t going to happen. Outside, I really just need to get the yard cleaned up a bit, and plant some nice containers and hanging baskets for the porch, which shouldn’t be too hard. There’s a lot more than that to do, but I need to be reasonable about what is going to happen when. I keep trying to remind myself that I have years to do all of these things, but I still kind of want to get them done now!

Ryan is doing well. I did end up getting him the PSP for his birthday (I got a rebate check in the mail that I wasn’t expecting). It was a lot of money to spend, but the look of shock on his face, and the jig he danced around the living room made it all worth it! =) I worked really hard this year to make sure he had a great birthday, and I think it was a huge success. We had to celebrate a couple of days early because I was headed out of town on his actual birthday, but we really did it right. We slept late, went to IHOP for a big breakfast, went to an afternoon movie, then came home and had a great party. Almost all of Ryan’s friends came…we grilled a lot of food and drank a lot of beer, and a good time was had by all.

This week we are finally taking a couple of days off to go spend some time together. We are going to trivia tonight, and then we are leaving straight from there to head up to the mountains. Some friends of my family have a house in western North Carolina and they are letting us stay there. We only get to stay until Wednesday night (Ryan couldn’t get any more time than that off), but it should still be really nice. I can’t wait to just spend some time relaxing together!