The Weekend's Accomplishments

It's the first weekend in a long time which was not at least partially devoted to accomplishing work-related tasks, and there was a long list of home chores needing attention: hair maintenance, car maintenance, plumbing repairs, house cleaning, among other things. Most important, there was an important movie to watch.

But more on that in a moment.

First and foremost, it was time to catch up on the car maintenance. The van needed an oil change, and, since we are a DIY family, we did it ourselves. It took a bit longer than normal, owing to the fact that there were constant interruptions and distractions, like taking Adam down to the barber shop to get his hair cut. Then getting the boys started on the lawn maintenance (filling the gas tank, starting the mower, unravelling the cord for the weed-whacker, finding another cord for the backyard part of it). Then moving things around in the garage, unpacking the summer stuff from the upper storage area and figuring out what needs to get thrown out versus saved. Then vacuuming up the piles of sand brought in by the ants who were trying to make a nest underneath the concrete. Then tearing down all the extra boxes. Then helping Cheryl with her new laundry drying racks. Then trying to work on the sprinkler system. Then discovering that the vacuum backpressure valve (or whatever you call it) had blown out and needed replacing. Then discovering that one of the main water valves had cracked during a freeze and needed replacing.

Sneezing all the while. (Yes, the pollen is out, and in force!)

It was a long day, Saturday. Then Sunday came, and after church, after lunch, we headed out to the movie theater to (finally!) watch the new Pirates of the Caribbean flick.

We'd read that it was 'busy' - long on plot twists, short on character development. Somewhat true - there is a lot going on - but still quite a ride. The kids all enjoyed it immensely.

Afterward, it was home to rest up (and sneeze some more!) and eat the snacks we couldn't afford to buy at the theater, and then the kids went back to reading the books they'd borrowed from the library, and I went out to dig up the broken plumbing, and Cheryl worked on her studies.

Tomorrow, our summer home school starts. Something simple, I hear. Cheryl is going to have the kids write up a "what's next" scenario for the Pirates, to let them write their own ideas for movie #4.

And I'm going to try to catch up on work.