My Staycation

I took a week off work around Columbus Day. I told my boss in September that as soon as the weather cooled off and it wasn't going to be rainy that I was going to take a week off so I could do stuff around the house. And actually enjoy my time being outside, unlike all summer long.

It's not that it's so hot here in Houston, and it does get very hot and humid. It's that it stays hot and humid for so very, very long. I put up with it in May and was still taking Declan out to the playground in the evenings in May, and even in June. By July, our outings were limited to the park on the weekend mornings, early, and we were still both sweating like crazy after 30 minutes. By August, we were mainly outside just to go to the car, or for a few minutes after dinner. By September, I had given up. Declan brought me his shoes and I just said no. Six months of super hot, super humid is just too much for this transplanted Yankee.

Anyway, the first week in October the weather finally changed. The humidity went away and the temps cooled down. Hallelujah!

Saturday, I went to the Galveston County Master Gardener sale to get some native plants to put in my yard. It was fun, and a bit of a madhouse. Apparently, the fruit tree sale in February is ten times as crazy. Anyway, I got some pretty ginger plants for all my shady areas and some spider lilies for the front flower bed. Once I got them all in, my front yard looks a lot nicer suddenly. I think I need to put some more flowers in, but not right away. I spent a lot of money that week, between the flowers and all my numerous trips to Lowes/Home Depot.

I also ended up building a raised bed and putting in tomato plants and my one cone flower plant from the master gardener plant sale. Then Daniel suggested that I build a second raised bed that was half the height and twice the area and put it around the first raised bed. I thought that was a capitol suggestion and made one that afternoon. I put it out, but I still don't have any dirt in there, and the herbs I bought for it are still in their little store pots. On the plus side, my lettuce seeds I scattered around the tomatoes are growing. I've started thinning them out. Hopefully I'll have lots of greens through the winter.

I bought some more wood to make a raised planter, but I haven't had a chance to put that together yet.

I also finished constructing the first cubby drawer for Declan's new bedroom furniture, and I built the second cubby. Still need to build the second drawer and paint the drawer front. After that's done, I can move them in and move the baker's rack out. And then...I can build the hutches to go on top of the cubby drawers. It's taking me a while, especially since I can only work on it a few hours a week at most.

As for the decorating front...I finally (!) finished painting our bedroom. The old wallpaper is gone!!! I have yet to put up anything on the walls, even curtains. We have some temporary paper blinds on the windows while I figure out how to cheaply hang the Ikea curtains I got. I'm going for a romantic, dreamy, white bedroom with hints of pink and green. Hopefully Daniel won't think it's too girly. I'm going to hang an old lap-size quilt on the wall, and I've been collecting picture frames and old pictures of roses to hang up. The picture frames need repainting, so I'm playing around with that. I don't mind playing with a $2-5 picture frame. If I screw it up, it's only a couple of dollars, and it lets me experiment with paint and color and techniques. Eventually, I plan to make a new quilt for the bed in the colors of the bedroom, but for now, I've got a pretty white duvet cover (also from Ikea). Hrm, maybe I should check out their curtain rods and shelves next.

I also got some naps in, and I started rereading the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and I watched a lot of movies. Oh yeah, I got to spend a lot of time playing with my son and we got to take lots of walks outdoors, now that the weather is tolerable. I have to say, it was one of the most relaxing and fun vacations I've ever had.