New Flooring

The floors are done, more or less. They are coming back to fix a few things next week, and we haven't finished putting all of the new baseboards on, but other than that we are good to go. I realized that I always take pictures of projects at night, because the kids are down, and the house is the cleanest, but then you don't see all of the wonderful light that we get from my large windows. Well, pictures at night may not be such a bad idea because the sun streaming in made the picture hard to see the colors of things, the floor is not as red as it looks in some of the pictures. I have also realized that my kitchen pictures have given the impression that our cabinets are black, they are not. They are actually a really dark brownish color, so I threw in a picture of the cabinet next to a black frame so you can see the difference.

Aaron is mowing the lawn now, I caught up on bills, and all of the laundry is folded and put away, so we are well on our way back to our normal life, we hope.



Aaron thought we would be able to pull up all of the old flooring ourselves. HA! Long story short, we will never be doing that again. We tried to keep our TV area in tact for as long as possible, cutting the carpet out around it until the last minute.





We are putting in the new baseboards ourselves, and it has been an interesting learning process, but I am happy with the way it came out, the ones that are done at least.

See they are not black, but really dark brown.

Playing Catch Up

I am a fairly organized person, I can pack a lot into a day, and I am often asked how I do it. My routine is the best answer. I have a way that I need to run my day in order to accomplish what I want, and have things running smoothly for myself and my family. Take away my routine, and I am worthless. We are in the final touch ups of having the flooring replaced in our kitchen, dining, and front room (our main room we use in the house), and needless to say, my routine has been shot to hell. I am a all out of sorts, I didn't get my "quiet time" (a MAJOR part of my routine) for 6 days! I used to feel that quiet time was a nice, pampering thing to do for myself, but now I know, it is a completely necessary part of my day if I am going to function. Now that the furniture is more or less back where it belongs, and quiet time can resume, I am playing catch up. Yesterday was laundry, I lost count afer 6 or 7 loads. I guess today will be a lot of folding. It may take me a while to get things back under control, but I will get there. Pictures of the new flooring will be coming soon, but now I am going to take what I hope will be a nice long quiet time.

Xander the Great

We have a new newphew and cousin! Aunt Sara and Uncle Dave welcomed baby Xander on June 12. He is healthy and beautiful, and we are thrilled he is here.


Uncle Dave is a proud new Daddy.

Natasha was excited to be able to hold her new cousin when he was less than 4 hours old!

Doin what comes naturally!

It is not my fault, I come by it honestly. Many of you wonder, and I am sure worry a bit about my unconventional stress level when faced with disorder, untidiness, and dare I say... dirt. But really, I come from a long line of freaks when it come to the cleaning thing. Never did such a reality slap me in the face as when I was at my parents on Memorial Day while my mom's parents were visiting.

We had a great meal with some type of bread, I don't remember what though, and afterward dish duty came. You never have to worry if the dishes are going to be done when my family is around. To leave them for an hour is pure craziness, and overnight, well, that is not even an option. So there was the packed kitchen with people trying to help out, "many hands make light work", my grandma says. Well, the HORROR of the pan the bread was cooked on became obvious at this point. You know how cookie sheets get after a while, no matter how hard you try, and believe me we do, to keep the "crud" from forming on the pan. The only way to avoid it I have found, is to buy a new pan almost every month, or just use the jelly roll pans instead, which is what I do.

So, the awful pan could not go through one more cycle while the Mead clan was in the house - that is my mom's side of the family. Out came the "bible" of cleaning books, and a remedy was found.

1. Place your dirty pan on your stove top, centered over two burners.
2. Pour in warm water till the pan is about half full.
3. Sprinkle a generous scoop of POWDER dish detergent (this I don't have, but I am learning it is a necessary thing according to the cleaning bible).
4. Stir the soapy mixture with a wooden spoon (don't use metal, this will scratch your pan and then you will have a rust mess on your hands) while you try to get the water to boil using the two burners it is laying on.
5. As you get a good boil, and a good soap/water mix going, the awful marks on your pan will start to float off the pan as you stir/scrape with the spoon.
6. You will eventually have a clean, almost new pan again.
WARNING - it may be MUCH faster to just go down the street to Kohls and buy a new pan, but where is the fun in that?

I know what you are thinking, "They are nuts", and even I, although born into the cleaning cult thought it was a little over the top, until I was awarded my turn with the wooden spoon. It is sick but true, it really was a rewarding experience... We are all crazy, I know, but hey, my pans are cleaner than yours I would bet, but you may have more free time... so it is a trade off.

My first baby girl is all grown up

My little sister, Jordan graduated from high school on May 30. I am nearly 12 years older than her, but we are extremely close. She was my first baby girl, and has certainly been the most well behaved baby girl I have ever had. I was there when she was born, on her first day of school, for her first formal dance (which I flew in from PA for), and I am very glad that I was there for her on this important day as well. I love you Jordan and am very proud of you! Good luck at Utah State in the Fall!


We were lucky that all of the grandparents were able to be with us.

Cassie wanted to join in the fun.

My three baby girls!


This group has been friends for YEARS!!! They all live within a few streets of eachother, and are a great group of kids!

Jordan looked beautiful in her graduation dress.

Natasha wanted to pose just like her aunt.

Cassie was amazingly good at the long graduation, but when it came to the dinner afterward, all she wanted was her "PASSA!"

Jordan is leaving for a trip to Europe in a few weeks, and we thought a set of luggage would be a good gift. Maybe I went a little overboard, it is so huge she can fit in it!