Thursday: Purchased a new dining room table that was in a clearance section for more than 50% off. Our old table had been chewed up by a dog before we even got it. It was sturdy and useful though, so we passed it onto Micah, who really needed the set.
Saturday: Andrew won his last regular soccer game 5-0. He’s playing that same team tomorrow night in their first playoff game. This is the first year I’ve felt they had any chance of winning the tournament. Crossing my fingers!
Later, mom drove over in her brand new golf cart. I’ve never ridden in one before this, let alone driven one. It is totally fun! The top speed of 19 mph feels exhilarating. Technically you’re supposed to get a special permit from the DMV to drive it, but we haven’t got that far yet. Ahem. Back at mom’s house on her dead end road where nobody would be around to write us a ticket we let Andrew drive it. He absolutely loves that golf cart. I was surprised by how well he handled it. Must be all those NASCAR Playstation games.
We finished out the day by raking the front yard. We have a lot of sweet gums, so there is a little wall of leaves out by the road waiting for pickup. Every fall Richard talks about how he wants to cut those trees down. My neighbor was kind enough to let us borrow a rake, and of course we broke it. So we headed to Lowe’s to buy her a new one. Luckily, we found the exact same brand and everything so I don’t think she even knew what happened. Rich is going to repair her old one, so we can still use it next time.
Sunday: Time to get started. Since we haven’t a big empty space where our dining table used to be, we now had room to empty out the office and get ready to put down that cork floor we bought a few months ago. The plan is to do that room first because we’d rather make mistakes in there than the living room. We moved everything out; took down the closet doors, ceiling fans, and switch plates; pulled up the carpet; removed the baseboards; and filled in holes in the wall with putty. I got a horrific allergy attack. I actually got a breathing mask for all of us for next time. Rich said his lungs burn as though he had just taken a hit on a joint, but without the fun effects. This makes me more excited than ever about getting rid of all these carpets for good. They’re 15 years old, and we really should have pulled them up long ago. I forgot there is linoleum under there, so that was exciting to see the old floor from my childhood. The kids told the neighbors there was marble under the carpet. 
They just didn’t know.
Monday: Chess club! Andrew enjoyed himself. Alison had no intentions of playing or learning. It was at the library, so I told her while they are playing we can go hang out in there and look at books. She wanted to quietly sit back and watch all the chess players. After watching all the fun the kids were having, she decided she wants to play chess, so I sat down with her to play a game. By the time we each made two moves, chess club time was over. She is determined that she wants to learn before the next session, so that’s our next project.
This evening we sanded the walls and applied the first coat of primer. I thought one coat would be plenty, but the walls were a hideous turquoise blue, so we’ll have to do another coat tomorrow.
