I had this post typed once, but when I hit submit, it was timed out & *poof* it was gone. Control Z didn't work to restore it either. So, here we go again...

My 3-day holiday weekend was far from relaxing. In fact, there was NO relaxing to it!

I had decided that in order to protect my outbuilding, I must paint it - especially since I had new doors built for it last weekend, & they were bare wood. The building is 10x12 & shaped like a barn. It was red stained with white trim, but fading from the sun & exposure for 5 years. Friday evening, I bought the primer, paint & a couple of brushes/roller pads for the job.

9am Saturday, I was out beginning the priming process. The humidity was up so high it would slap you in the face just walking out the door! I thought I would go out there & just whip it out & be done with the priming that day. Boy was I wrong. This was a bigger job than I had bargained for. The boards are textured & soak up a lot of the primer. I was out there working until about 2:30. I came in to cool off. I went to pick up Scott after he got off of work. We went back out & stayed until the sun started going down. We were SO ready for our cool showers!

Armed with brushes again, were were back out working Sunday morning by 8:30am. I had him finish up the primer on the back while I started painting on the front. We painted solid until about 1:00, when we came in for lunch. We decided to go back & hit it until we finished! It was about 3 when we came in. My legs were so sore from standing & squatting over & over for days. Once again, we came in soaked with sweat, burning up & ready for showers. Ahhh it sure felt good.

Scott gathered his stuff up for me to take him back home. He had to work Monday so there was no holiday for him. On our way to his place, we stopped at Logan's & had us a steak dinner to reward us for all of our hard work. It was yummy!

Now my building is silver-gray with white trim to match the house. Problem is, I forgot to buy the white trim paint. I have NO idea why I spaced with that, but I did. We decided that we'll do the trim work in two weeks when he comes back over for the weekend. That's his Saturday off, so we'll have time to rest then too.

The kids were all gone to their dad's, so I didn't have any big Memorial Day plans. I had intended to do my laundry & rest before coming back to work. Do you think that happened? Nope! When we were finished up the building, I noticed just how much the grass had grown over the last week. So, I spent my holiday mowing & running the weed-eater! I also did my laundry so we'd be ready for the new week of work & school.

After my shower, I ran to the store for a few things. Just as I was getting well in to cooking dinner I received a call from Tay. It seems that there was a parent's meeting for the girls ball at 6:00. Can I go? *sigh* I stop dinner, place it in the oven & am off to the school. Luckily, the meeting was only giving out summer calendars & signing some consent forms. Once the kiddos arrived, we ate our dinner, got baths & ready for bed. I was exhausted when I finally hit the bed!

Going outside & looking at my freshly painted building, & my nice clean yard, I was proud of the work & yes, it does pay off!

I hope you all enjoyed your holiday. Have a safe & happy week!!

I haven't really watched much of this year's AI program due to time (& lack of interest, I guess), but I did catch a few of the shows. From the start, I had my picks to be David Cook/winner with Carly/runner-up. Well, I got the first part right anyway. You could tell he was nervous. I was afraid that all of the teeny-boppers would have their fingers in pain from texting for David Archaletta, but I guess there weren't quite enough of them. Cook won by 12 million votes. There were about 97 million votes casts for the final round! That's a record, I do believe.

They had some good guest stars on last night & the top 12 were there to perform. My fav was probably Cook singing with ZZTop. He did a great job & yes, they still look the same.

I'm sure Rubble will have more details on her Idol blog as she's the AI queen of Blogstream.

Anyhoo, it was really heartwarming to see David's tears at the announcement, & then those of his mother & brother. His brother was the one who pushed him in to trying out. Look how that turned out! I'm sure he'll do great. I expect good things from him like Kelly Clarkson, Carrie Underwood, & of course (my favorite) Chris (yummy) Daughtry.

So, congrats David Cook!

Last night was the last game of Lulu's regular softball season. We had to be there early so we could have our team pictures made.

It started raining on us so they had their individual pics made inside the varsity field house. I hope they turn out good. We did get the team pic made outside, but it started raining again just as he was getting ready to take the second shot.

Our other 8 y/o team was in the middle of a game & had to keep stopping due to lightning. They finally finished playing about 7:30. Our game was supposed to have started at 7. This put us very late.

The last two games we have really just played good ball! I was proud of the girls as they won again 12-7. However, there was a "Bad News Bears" few moments at the end where some balls were thrown around without someone to catch them - which allowed them to get 4 runs in with only 1 out to go! We finally did get the last out & the game was over. It really was a good season & we watched the team grow & learn so much over the last many weeks of play.

Lulu did make the All-Start team again this year! It doesn't look like she'll actually be able to play in the games because they were moved up to earlier in June when she'll be coming back from the beach & will be at her dad's. I don't think he'd take to her game, but we'll see.

Tay's coach is taking the All-Star team to a big tournament near Birmingham over Father's Day weekend. He wants them to see what they're up against in the near future. These teams are travel teams & travel to games mostly year around. We don't do those cuz I don't have time! It'll be good experience for them & she's looking forward to it.

Her cheer camp will be the week immediately following this tournament, so we'll be full force in to cheerleading starting the 16th.

Tay is having basketball tryouts tonight & tomorrow night. Softball tryouts will be Friday & Saturday evenings. This is for next year's teams, but he wants to know who made the team(s) early so they can start working next month. It's a year-around process but the work shows in them. Seems my "work" is never done....

Thanks for reading & have a great day!

Lulu had another game Friday night. She is the first batter, so she was standing there warming up. Suddenly she looks up & waves. I look behind me & lo & behold there stands her step-mom & the baby! I look around & there is her dad & the other daughter. I couldn't believe my eyes!! This is the first game he has shown up for all season. Needless to say, she was happy. My thoughts were...it's about time! I had seen him at one of Tay's games as his daughter had a game at the field across from us. Why does he think it's ok for him to go to her games, & not this child's? He adopted the other girl during the 9 month period when he didn't see her. I'm just bitter with him, as you can tell. Anyway, I'm glad he finally came to see her (for HER sake). It's a shame it's the end of the season & she has 2 games left.

The game was pretty close the whole time, them we got ahead 4-3. It was bottom of the 5th, so we thought the game was over as we play 5 innings. The ump didn't really know much of what was going on, & made up his calls according to who the call was for. NOT right, but.... They came back & said that there was still 8 minutes left to play, so we started another inning. Well, THEY wanted another inning, so they GOT it! We went back out on the field smoking & won this game 12-3!!

My outbuilding doors have been slowly rotting for awhile now. It's really not old enough to be doing this, but wasn't caulked & built correctly so water seeped behind it. One of my customers owns a company that builds the wooden buildings. He came out Saturday morning, took my doors off & to his place, & returned that afternoon to install my new doors. They look so good, the close all they way, & are whole doors! Yeah!! Now I'll have to get some primer & paint this coming weekend as it's bare wood. But I have new doors!!

Hope you all had a great weekend, & will have a wonderful week - even if today IS just Monday!