Really, it's been more than 10 days?

Oh my goodness - I didn't realize it had been so many days since I updated.

Well, I've been locked in a room - painting - for the past two weeks.

First I had to scrape the paint off the walls, which was the entire reason we were embarking on this painting project. The paint has been peeling off the wall for years. So, I scrapped and the paint just popped off with almost no effort - all the way to the plaster - 12 lbs of paint.

Then it was sanding the spots that didn't come off, washing the walls, priming, taping/painting, remove tape, let dry, repeat.

But all I have to do now is check to see if everything I painted last night was properly covered, tape the top so DH can paint the ceiling, then move Sarah back.

Sarah is very excited as now she gets to put everything in her room any place she wants - nothing has to go back where it was.

But, now I have to clean the house because I'm having a stamping party on Thurs, Sarah has skating at 10:30. They started this wonderful thing call small group lessons. They are a cross between the larger group of the community programs and the private lessons. They are perfect. Sarah is guarenteed time with the professional skating coach rather than the high school aged kid who can't always motivate the tired kid and she is in a group with 2-4 kids rather than 4 -6. She's really enjoying it.

Sydney has skating lessons at 5:15 tonight. She's still in the community program basic programs, but it great for her. Sarah's best skating friend "I" is still doing the night lessons and her dad started lessons this week too. During practice time, she was working on 'helping' "I"s dad with his skills and taught him the rules of the red light/green light game they play at the end of lessons.

It was too cute!

And Sarah's very excited because I set up a playdate for her to go the I's house between her lessons and I's.

But, now I need to go make coffee and clean the kitchen before I have to wake Sarah for lessons.

Success

Last night, we had a friend of DHs over for dinner with her family. They are moving here in a few weeks as she is joining DH's department.

Slowly, over the past few weeks, I've been working on getting the house put together so it's neat, properly decorated (a visit to my sister's house does this to me all the time). So, as a result we didn't have a ton of cleaning to do, but still more than I managed. The good news is that my ILs are due in sometime in the next few weeks and I'm that much ahead.

DH knew that when he told me one key piece of information, he knew I was going to be thrilled. A and her 2 y.o. daughter are vegetarians! Her husband was, as A put it, a carnivore. So, I planned this lovely menu to meet everyone eating desires (and that my girls would not complain too much about whatever they had to eat).

The menu was:

* veggie kabobs of zucchini, onions, mushrooms, and tomatoes marinated in a french vinaigrette
* flank steak marinated in my special marinade
* grilled potato wedges
* green beans
* artisan bread
* rustic peach pie w/ vanilla ice cream and fresh whipped cream

Well, at 4:30 (they were due sometime after 5:00), I still hadn't made a pie crust so the rustic peach pie turned to a peach crisp. Still wonderful.

As I was cooking the veggies on the (newly cleaned) grill, I noticed that the flame wasn't very high. One peak at the gas indicator showed that I was about out of gas. So, the steak was grilled in the broiler.

Dinner was wonderful, conversation was fun, the two year old was a little out of sorts but was completely darling (and we know what it's like to travel with a out of sorts kid so we managed fine.

Syd was in her element - she was able to play big sister to the little girl. She was teaching her to color, gave her a princess crown, and a bob the builder ball.

We had a great time. I look forward to them moving here. And I'm not completely sorry to no longer be traveling with a cranky 2 y.o., no matter how cute.