I'm Back!!!

It's really not that exciting, actually, but I'm back to my blog post. Since I last wrote, we've had a few accomplishments...

1) New lighting is installed (you won't notice it, but all the lights turn on when I flip the switch - wow, that's progress!)

2) My brother came to house-sit and shop-sit while I was on vacation and he was willing to work! He scraped the porch posts which is pretty thankless, hard work. Now I'm in the process of patching, priming and painting. A huge thank you to my little brother! To the folks at Strand's Decorating Store, another thank you! They are always willing to help me out and answer my dumb questions.

3) We finished one of our biggest jobs to date. In the past few weeks we've had over one hundred projects come and go through our doors. We were thrilled to help out East Marshall School District (about forty of those projects) as they re-framed class composites of graduating classes dating back to 1922.... pretty cool!

4) On my side of the family, a sister who has lived oversees for four long years is now back in the States. We had a "welcome home"/"moving to a new city" party back at the farm where I grew up. I can't describe the huge sense of relief to have her and her family back home.

5) Of course, school started and it's always an achievement to figure out the new year's schedule. Every year is a little different, but it's always busy! All in all, we had a great summer, but I'm one of those moms who gets a little crabby by the end. I like the structure that the school year provides and so I'm always ready for it to start again. Now I have a little more time to devote to... writing blogs!

6) A general pre-holiday clean-up of the entire building inside and out is in progress. Once October hits, priorities really shift to completing projects. A fall cleaning gets us ready for the next few months because the next time we'll focus on clean-up is after Christmas. I close up for the week between Christmas and New Year's to clean, sort, inventory and breathe a bit.

Now, it feels like fall. We've been busy in the kitchen making soup, chili, bread... all the foods we don't bother with in the heat of the summer. I hate to say it, but our busy holiday season is coming up. I'm not going to think about that too much though. I want to enjoy the beautiful fall weather we are having while offering up our thoughts and best wishes to those who have been affected by crazy storms and wildfires. I am thankful all of our loved ones are safe and sound!