Why I don't attempt more...

Have you ever noticed that as soon as you start a project, your kids begin to fight, want you to watch EVERYTHING they are doing, want something to eat, spill something, get hurt, and open the doors so a tornado can blow through the house...?

Seriously. This week has been a nightmare. I attempted several projects and have learned a very valuable lesson: These are not the project years.

Project #1: Jenna and Kesley's princess bed
Results: Kesley was "a little disappointed", and Jenna almost...well, she got a hold of this drill I was using and was sitting on the ground pushing the button making it turn. I thought it was the regular screw gun until I heard her screaming! She had pushed the button and the drill caught her diaper. From the first glance I thought the gun was going right into her--privates--CAN YOU IMAGINE! She was screaming bloody murder! I couldn't get the drill to come out! She wouldn't let me touch her! I took off her diaper and was SO RELIEVED that the drill came too. I still couldn't tell if she had cut herself and she was so traumatized, she wouldn't let me touch her. I unwound the diaper and found that the drill had stopped at the very last layer--the one that is pretty much transparent. It was that close. I can't even think about it. Here is a shot of the drill bit I was using....Here is what the living room looked like when I finally came out of that room with a finished project...it was clean when I started...I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of the kitchen.

Project #2: Clean the house.
Results: Gavin snuck out front to ride his bike, fell over and somehow got his foot stuck. I tried to free him for 15 min while he screamed, and finally realized there was no way I could do it. I didn't have ANYBODY who could help. No neighbor. Brent was at work. What do you do? I called the fire department. Not 911, just through dispatch. I was sure they would show up and free him in 2 minutes and I would feel like a total idiot, but I needed help.

I don't know why it made me so happy, but it ended up taking 4 firemen, 20 minutes to free that kid! They had to take apart the whole bike! They were so great about the whole thing and even stayed to put the bike back together!Project #3: Mow the lawn. Sounds easy, but it is an acre of very tall weeds.
Results: 1. Broke the $500, borrowed lawn mower. 2. Lost my debit card filling up the gas can. 3. Left the gate open and the dog got out and was hit by a car--she's OK, but it cost $600! 4. The house was a once again a complete disaster by the time I got back from the vet.

I didn't take any pictures of any of this, and I hope to never think about this day again.

Project #4: Take today off and not try to do anything.
Result: I almost broke my neck--really.

The girls were invited to a play date this morning, so I decided to let Gavin bring a friend home from school to keep him occupied. What do I do with all that free time??? A project I cannot do with all the kids around! I decided to prune our huge trees out front. They have lots of dead branches that have always bugged me. My neighbor lent me this saw on a stick thingy and I got out my 6 ft. ladder and went to work. I guess I looked pretty ridiculous and was really worrying a few people driving by. I had one lady stop and say, "Your going to kill yourself!" I had another lady stop and ask me to please come borrow her ladder which was a Little Giant and much more sturdy. I didn't even know her! I totally took her up on it and put it in the upside down "V" formation and sawed away. Wonderful! After a while I decided to make the ladder into the straight formation which would allow me to climb way up into the tree and get those pesky top branches. Try lifting one of those heavy ladders sometime. It's hard enough when it's all compact, but out in this straight formation--IMPOSSIBLE! Just trying to lift it up into the tree made my tired arms shake. Somehow the ladder got stuck on some smaller branches and totally threw me off balance, making the ladder fall backwards. There was no way I could stop that thing from coming down! I tried to let it down slow, but my arms were too tired. The ladder ended up on my shoulders with my head in between two rungs, which pulled me all the way to the ground and totally tweaked my neck. It was all in slow motion and I really thought my neck was going to break there at the end!

Let's just say I put everything away and I have no plans to attempt anymore yard work...maybe forever.

No pictures of this, but here is a cute one of Kesley and her newest makeover accessory: STICKERS! Maybe she could use my attention, like to learn how to put on makeup without looking like a clown...hmmmm....is that what mom's are supposed to be doing?