Free Weekend

Ryan took the kids camping over the weekend which left me with a blissfully quiet house for a whole 48 hours.  It was heaven on earth.

Sydney thinks I spent the entire time they were gone watching "Pride & Prejudice" and eating chocolate.  Does my kid know me or what?

Alas, I did not do that.  Well, not the entire time.

I'd promised Ryan that I'd do some yard work and I think he was surprised to find that I actually did it.  Well, most of it anyway.  It started raining halfway through so I didn't get as much done as I'd planned.

I went through our various stashes of medication*, cleaned them out and took all of the vials of expired ones to the nearby recycling center for the drug take-back day.  We still had a vial of painkillers from my c-section with Evan and he turns five next month.  Pretty sad.

I played with the dog, despite my still being ticked at him for eating all of the berries off of my brand new blueberry plants last week.

I made some pumpkin granola bars with chunks of chocolate in them.  I had to keep myself from eating the entire batch in one sitting.

I gathered up items for our church's upcoming garage sale.  I teared up a bit at the thought of giving away the little kitchen that my kids played with for years.  I did not tear up at the thought of giving away the breast pump that tortured me for months on end.

I finally checked out the Indian grocery store/takeout place in our neighborhood and picked up some yummy chicken tikka masala.  There was so much that it served as my lunch and dinner.  And the naan that came with it was scrumptious.

I did some pre-emptive laundry before the campers brought home a couple of bagfuls of dirty, sweaty clothes and sheets.  How exciting, right?

I tried to claim a boatload of boys' dress-up clothes from a mom who posted them for sale on our neighborhood message board, but someone beat me to it.  :(

And I painted these to decorate the kids' newly painted bathroom:



They're supposed to be bluebonnets and a sunflower to coordinate with the blue paint I used in the bathroom.  I think they look pretty good for someone who doesn't really know how to paint.





They're also meant to go along with the tissue box I painted last month:




As it was my last free weekend until the next camping trip in September, I savored every moment of peace and quiet.  I just hope I can channel that calm come this summer when the kids are driving me crazy!


*Yes, I know you're supposed to keep all medications in the same spot and out of reach of children, but I bet even the head of the FDA keeps a bottle of ibuprofen in their kitchen cabinet for easy access.