Projects

Usually at the beginning of the summer I have a list of projects I want to get done before the heat gets the best of me and like the rest of Phoenix, I turn into a lump that doesn't want to move. Well, maybe because I was gone for the month of July, I still had energy in August. I'm quite sure that has never happened before in the 26 years I've lived here.

So this week has been all about projects I hadn't done at the beginning of the summer. I started subbing again this week and I worked for a teacher who was gone all week taking her daughter to school in Texas (I know that drive!) and she only has afternoon classes. So every morning I spent working on projects around my house.

This first project I'd been putting off for quite some time. I want to put molding around our window and hopefully give it a finished look. I had all the wood but just didn't have it cut, which I got done this week. The harder thing has been to get the correct stain color to match the rest of the wood in the family room. I finally figured that out yesterday but the wood still isn't stained or varnished yet. Next week!
Other projects were Christmas and baby gifts. Of course I can't show you those because some of you reading this may be the recipients of those projects. So here is a picture of Raquel and Dave from last Christmas. Aren't they cute even if they were sick?
My next project was to bottle 26 jars of blackberry freezer jam. Preston did help with the smashing and straining of the berries. I had never done this before and it is a mess!

Preston's project was to work on homework all week. He has done a fine job on that - I think that Jason's ipod helps him concentrate better, or so he says. Personally, I think it is a way to not hear me ask him questions.
One project that really took the whole day (I had just a little break while I went to school) was bottling chili sauce. Our family can't eat roast without it, so I peeled and cut up tomatoes for two hours, then added onions and everything else and let it cook half the day. Nothing smells better while it is cooking than chili sauce.
About 8:00 at night, I had 18 bottles of it!
Yesterday, I had two projects. The first was helping at the Humanitarian Aid Center pinning and trimming quilts. Like my boys, I love working there with the old people that can work circles around me. I help them get the hundreds of quilts that are tied ready to be bound.

It is an endless job because as soon as it looks like you are making head way, someone comes and delivers 20 more quilts that need to be bound and they are just added to the five shelves that are already waiting to be trimmed and pinned.

The second was making Olympic rings for Pack Meeting. I help with the wolf den and our theme this month was "Go For the Gold." The hardest part of this project was going to the pack meeting and helping the new cub master try and keep 35 cub scouts engaged!
Oh what will I do next week? Oh yeah, finish the molding and maybe start my 2007 photo album.