Monday: cleaning

I got so much done today!  As with most days, I went into the day with a plan and feeling ambitious.  That ambition doesn't always turn into actually accomplishing as much as I'd like (and sometimes things just take longer than expected).  But it went the other way today!  Things took shorter than expected, so I finished up the try-hard-to-do list and added several more things.

As part of O:CtH I started working on the oven.  After the first ten minutes of cleaning the top of the door I almost gave up...the stain was just not coming off.  It came mostly off with the fourth cleaner, so while it took a while I was excited to see it finally looking better.  I also realized that a butter knife is ideal for cleaning the crack between the oven and the counter.  I'm not planning on cleaning the inside of the oven very well, but I did vacuum it and got several charred pieces out.  Sadly, I'm expecting to stay with the oven for quite some time, because I really only got the door finished today.  Maybe things will go faster than I expect.

Sunday: normal

It was a pretty normal day today and so not much to write about.  The church clay was almost stiff, but not quite, so the kids split colors and enjoyed having two colors at church.  It did eventually end up as a slightly lighter red, but it was interesting to watch the marbling in the clay as they worked it.

Saturday: kitchen

 Joshua made a fruit Pikachu today.  He decided to do it based on the cake.  

Friday: O:CtH

This afternoon I decided the only way I was going to get anything done was if it was 'fun' work.  So I cleaned one of the kitchen cabinets.  I decided to do the drink/spice cabinet.  I had done it a few years ago, so I didn't expect too much change, but I had gotten some new spices for Christmas and I wanted to change them out for the old spices.

In the end though, I got rid of so much stuff.  Probably at least 1/4 of the stuff that was in the cabinet, which was amazing to me.  The weird thing was getting rid of a few tea boxes, but I haven't been drinking tea lately and it's pretty old.  I also have two small boxes full of water bottle tops.  I put them in a few years ago and haven't looked at them since then, so I'm going to assume that I don't actually need them.  There are also some candlestick holders; they came with the house and I don't think the previous owners are going to care anymore. 

The saddest thing I am getting rid of are unopen but well used tea bags.  I had them in a different cabinet when Isaac was small and he found them.  They became a favorite toy but I kept them around because the foil wrappers had never actually been opened.  Since I'm getting rid of tea though, I decided I could take a picture of them and remember that way.

Thursday: errands

This morning was supposed to be a work morning, but it turned into an errand morning.  I got the oil changed, I picked up some auctions, dropped off some stuff at UPS, dropped off the compost, and went to the library.  Some errands were very fast and some were very slow.

I also went for a walk with Aunt C.  It was rather misty out, but we still had a lovely time.  We went to Ottawa Discovery Center to walk.  We found the birds of prey exhibit!  I haven't gone to ODC that many times, but I guess the times I have gone we've skipped the exhibit.  I thought it would involve a building that you go inside of, like nature centers.  So imagine my surprise when a Bald Eagle starts squawking at us!  There were two bald eagles and they were both quite vocal.  One made normal bird screeches and one...didn't.  

Anyway, I've never been that close to a bald eagle before and they are beautiful.  There were also owls, hawks, and a few other assorted birds of prey.  (FYI, most of the birds were in an accident and now can't fly or hunt anymore.  I think there was one that was imprinted on humans.  But none of them would survive in the wild, which is why they're here.)

Wednesday: wig

About a week ago I got pictures of the wig that was made with my hair!  It was my hair and hair from three other people.  And while I think the mannequin is ugly, I think the wig is really cute!  (Also, it's supposed to just be a partial wig and worn with a hat.  They're less hot and take less hair.)

Tuesday: last day

Today was the last day before the kids go back to school, which is a bit sad and a bit happy all at the same time.  We didn't do anything all that special, although we did go rock climbing and stayed a bit longer than normal.  I also tried to bring some returns to UPS and the line was about 5x longer than I've ever seen it.  While it would still probably only take 10 minutes, since I had two kids in the car I decided to come back later.