Vacation {Day 1}

We realized early on this year that our usual spring "vacation" (a few days at Lake Catherine or Petit Jean and a few days in Conway/Little Rock) just was not going to happen, for a variety of reasons.  Billy decided to take some time off anyway, and we began to make plans for a "staycation" at (and around) home.  We would spend some time working on projects around the house, take some short day trips (hiking, fishing, etc.), and spend some time just vegging as a family.

Our mock orange bushes are blooming beautifully!  We brought them home from Conway this time last year when dear friends shared some from their yard while we were there on vacation.  It was a miracle they survived the trip home, much less the last year! 

Today was Day 1 of 11 days (including weekends).  Let me just say that I never can keep track of what day it is when Billy is on vacation, but I can already tell that starting this thing on Thursday is going to make that worse than ever.  I have alternately thought that today was Saturday, Monday, and Friday...but never once have I felt like it was Thursday!  I need a wall calendar with a big red arrow on it. :)


Billy hopped out of bed bright and early this morning to start marking things off his "To Do Before It Rains on Friday" list.  He took his morning walk, came home and worked in the yard, did some work on Peter's window, and dropped off an old lawnmower at Mr. Spradling's house...all before I got out of bed. :)  (In my defense, I had planned to get up a bit earlier than I did, but I've had two nights in a row of serious insomnia, so I didn't get up until close to 9.)


By then the girls were up, and it was time for the painting to begin.  One of  the projects Billy had planned for vacation was to paint our front door.  He gave me carte blanche on the color, and I decided on turquoise. I am loving turquoise these days. We all got so excited about the beautiful door that we decided to paint a few other things while we were at it.  Pretty much anything that didn't run screaming the other direction was suddenly in danger of receiving a few coats of turquoise paint. :)  

Our front door is rough and worn, but I love it!  It is truly vintage...it's been there since before I was born, and I've loved it since I was a little girl.  I can't even remember all the colors it's been through the years...blue, red, several shades of green, and maybe black and/or gray years ago?  Today it has a new color...turquoise!

This chair belonged to Granny Kitty's kitchen table set, made by my Uncle Ben.  I have so many memories of those chairs over the years...eating breakfast many mornings with my Papaw before anyone else was up, Daddy and Cousin Bill playing chess for HOURS, telling Granny Kitty stories from work during the years I lived with her.  My mom gave Bayley this chair, and she decided it needed some new color...so it got a few coats of turquoise, too!

My daddy made this when he was in school.  It sits right by my desk.  It has had the same two-toned green/taupe paint since I was a child.  Needless to say, it needed some freshening up!

In the meantime, I decided to try a new breakfast recipe.  It was very good, but I think it would have been better with cheddar cheese in place of, or maybe in addition to, the mozzarella.  I'm going to experiment with some variations on this soon.

Billy continued to work through his list while I did a few chores, spent some extra time on today's She Reads Truth Bible Study (we just started Hosea, and that is challenging to me!), and actually took a short but much-needed nap. Then the two of us went out to run a few quick errands (including picking up a few more cans of turquoise spray paint...yay! :))

After supper, Billy completed his last "project" for the day, and now he and Bayley have gone to do her C25K training run/walk.  Hopefully I'll be able to stay awake long enough after they get home to watch last night's Duck Dynasty season finale.  In the meantime, I just realized that I have PT in the morning, and I haven't done my "exercises" today.  Guess I'd better hop up and get this shoulder stretching! 


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