Today is officially the last day of my summer break. On Monday I head back to a new school and to about 65 new students. While I am sad to see summer end I am excited for this new beginning for a consistent schedule. A few weeks ago someone asked Seth and I how we had been filling our summer vacation...I think they may have imagined us sleeping in every day, wearing our pajamas until noon and watching trashy daytime television...not so. We think about each day in the same terms Hugh Grant's character did in the movie About A Boy:
"I find the key is to think of a day as units of time, each unit consisting of no more than thirty minutes. Full hours can be a little bit intimidating and most activities take about half an hour. Taking a bath: one unit, watching countdown: one unit, web-based research: two units, exercising: three units, having my hair carefully disheveled: four units. It's amazing how the day fills up, and I often wonder, to be absolutely honest, if I'd ever have time for a job: how do people cram them in"
Luckily it takes way less than one unit for your hair to look disheveled...but seriously we have had a busy summer. June brought us trips to the Smoky Mountains, a backpacking trip, a move, a trip along the Southern United States and our eventual settlement back in Utah. July brought us apartment hunting, apartment finding, apartment moving, furniture buying, family BBQ's, a two-year anniversary, a family reunion, a trip down the Provo river, a tea party and a reunion with Clemson friends. August brought us another family reunion, the Kimball Arts Festival, 3 days with 3 little boys, new job orientation and several summer movies. Those are the main highlights but we have also been busy with all the other projects.
I refinished our kitchen table. The picture in the top left corner is the only one I could find of the table before refinishing. The legs were painted burgundy and the top was stained wood. I inherited this table from a former roommate...so I had not made the original decorating decisions. I started with a paint stripper...after painting it on I gave it a little time to work and then went back to scrape it off. I was sad to see that there was a layer of white paint under the burgundy. It took a couple different rounds of stripping to finally get it all off...then it took a lot of sanding to get the table down to the natural wood color. I was quite delighted in how the table turned out once I stained it and gave it three coats of polyurethane.
My next summer project was finding chairs to go with my newly refinished table. I have been searching the KSL classifieds like a mad woman. Earlier this week Seth and I spent an entire afternoon visiting antique stores and thrift shops. All of the chairs that I loved were well out of our price range and it was nearly impossible to find a set of four. I had pretty much given up on the idea that I would ever find what I want...and then then I checked KSL one more time and found a listing for 4 chairs for $30 dollars. I was so excited...we headed out right then to pick them up. They didn't fit into our trunk so we put three in the back seat and I rode home with one on my lap. The front legs aren't exactly what I would have liked...but when they are pushed up to the table you can't even tell. I may end up refinishing them at some point...but for now I think they fit great in our little place.
Another project was to cut down an IKEA dresser. If you didn't know...IKEA furniture apparently is not made for moving. Our little dresser didn't take the move well...and we didn't have a great place for it in our new place as it was. So we decided to cut it down to just one drawer so it could function as a computer table below our window. Seth took charge on this one and proved to be quite handy with his old tools. I was quite impressed.
I have spent quite a bit of time canning this summer. After picking nearly a gallon of raspberries at Jill and Peter's patch I made 10 pints of raspberry jam. Then I found a great deal on strawberries and made 5 pints of strawberry jam. Our neighbors gave us a bushel of pears and I canned 19 quarts. Then I bought a bushel of peaches and canned 25 quarts. When I saw "I canned" I mean that I was supervised and aided by my mother...what would I do without her.
Almost every other Saturday mornings I can be found volunteering at my local Bountiful Baskets Fruit Co-op. I was delighted to move less than two blocks from a site...in South Carolina the nearest site was about an hour away so I didn't make it. I head to the site about an hour before the designated pick-up time and with a group of volunteers I help unload the produce truck and then divide the produce between the baskets. We have both lost a few pounds...it may be due to the abundance of fruit and veggies that fill our fridge...but we think it may just be due to the lack of moisture in the air.
I also helped Seth tie a new quilt. It took us two days and several movies to finish this project off.
We have spent quite a bit of time familiarizing ourselves with our new neighborhood and admiring the architecture of some of the houses. It was difficulty to walk anywhere in South Carolina but not so in our new place.
We have spent quite a bit of time shopping for a second car. I equate car shopping with apartment shopping = not fun. We have learned that not all car salesmen are created equal...some know there stuff and others should seriously consider a new career. We have yet to make a decision but are seriously leaning towards a Honda Fit.
Seth has spent quite a bit of job applying to jobs, searching for jobs, networking for jobs, etc. I admire his persistence. We have practically spent 24/7 together since June and I am sad to see that come to an end.
The rest of the summer has been spent attempting to catch up on time we lost during the last two years. We have loved being close to our family and being able to be involved in their day to day lives. So long sweet summer we will miss you.
