I just flew in from Chicago and boy, are my arms tired.

Seriously, they are. But that's mostly from the painting that I did while at my mom's place. She and my step-dad are working on getting their apartment ready for sale (t's a co-op in Evanston). I flew up there for a long weekend to help them out since I am the sweet lovable daughter always available in a pinch.

I did get to take a day off (of sorts) as we went downtown on Sunday and walked around the new Millennium Park. I guess it's not all *that* new, just new to me. We also took the architectural river boat cruise, which we'd never done before. Both were enjoyable events but we did so much walking that I got shin splints and my ankles really started hurting. It sucks when my soon to be 60 year old mother is in better shape than I am. But who am I kidding, really? She has *always* been in better shape.

Anyway, I had a nice time with them, even if they did make me work most of the time. I took a bunch of pics but haven't bothered to upload them yet. My house is all torn apart right now and I had to string the coax line across two rooms in order to get internet access. Sid has been sanding and refinishing the wood floors in the office & dining room while I was gone. The floor still needs two more coats of poly and a couple days of dry time before we can move furniture back in place. Oh and did I mention that the in-laws are visiting this weekend? And that everything in the house has a thick layer of dust on it from all the sanding?

Me panic? Oh, not at all.

My dad and step-mom were here last weekend. Dad & Sid ripped out the guest bathroom floor in a flash and installed granite tile. We still need to grout but I think Sid's going to handle that this weekend. All in all, it's going to look stunning when we're finished. Of course, we did things a bit backwards again. Putting the new floor down before painting is a bad idea all around. And yet, that's exactly what we've done. *sigh* Well, when we get around to our bedroom, we'll do it right. Top to bottom, that's the way it should be done.

My sister is flying in tonight from Atlanta. We're driving up to northern Iowa for our cousin's wedding. I can't think of a time when we've down a sisterly road trip together before. I'm looking forward to it. Well, except for being in northern Iowa. Thank goodness we'll have the wedding festivities to keep us occupied. There is nothing to do in my cousin's hometown. The nearest grocery store is at least 20 miles away and it's in Minnesota! So I'll definitely have knitting with me. Kara may even feel compelled to learn (doubtful, really). I also have a couple of Harry Potter audiobooks checked out from the library to listen to during our drive. Not sure how Kara will feel about that, but she usually puts up with my quirks without too much fuss. Oh, there will be teasing and mocking, of that you can be sure. But if she can't tease her big sister about her HP obsession interests...well then who can she tease?

Oh and thanks, Lisa, for talking with me last night. It helped to vent a bit. Your friendship means a great deal to me and I'll never be able to fully express how much you mean to me.

We celebrated Independence Day today by freeing ourself of much clutter. I'm exhausted. We spent much of the weekend cleaning and/or shopping. We have been searching for the perfect tile for the guest bathroom and have finally decided on a black and white granite tile. My dad will be here next weekend and he's helping my husband rip out the bathroom floor. There are some weak spots in the floor and they need to replace some of the subfloor.

We also did a thorough house cleaning and purged a bunch of old towels and blankets to take to the animal shelter. We stopped by Animal Haven over the weekend to visit all the kitties & puppies. It's always hard to leave without taking another new pet home. There was a beagle that was especially sweet and loving that I really wanted to take home. But since he'd only been there a couple of days, I knew he'd go to a good home soon. So we help them in other ways...donating things they need and Sid signed up to be a volunteer.

The guest bedroom is clean again which is great but the craft room is a disaster. I have too much stuff and I need to get rid of more of it. *sigh* Looks like I'll be craft room cleaning/purging every night this week.

Looking forward to seeing my dad and step-mom though. They haven't been to our new house yet and we're now ready to show it off. Plus I think my dad is going to love hanging out in front of the new bigscreen tv. Hmmm...wonder if we'll be able to pull him away long enough to help with the bathroom.