Well it sure has been awhile hasn’t it? Lots to catch up on I guess…

First of all, I was able to tape together my Bible and for now anyway it will be fine. And in case anyone was wondering, the missing corners were from Job :) How funny is that?



The play went very well. The sound drove us all nuts and Tim's expertise in that area could have been utilized well, but all in all it was good. Everyone did great and fun was had by all. Hannah is the third from the left in the picture (which didn't turn out too good but is what I have to offer :) ).

My mom came to visit over Mother’s Day. It was a short visit but we all had a nice time. We went to Boulder Field (That great picture of my mom is from there) and on Saturday spent the day at Knoebel’s. I’m so glad we decided to go. It is a really fun place. Just like the old time town carnivals. The crowds really weren’t too bad and everyone got to ride several things. I will eternally remember Faith on the little race cars. Oh my goodness… right out of the gate she ran straight into the wall. The workers hopped on board to help and she just let go of the wheel and let them take her around the track. Definitely a princess in the making. Which does remind me of a latest quote of hers. Tim: “Faith are you going to grow up to be a responsible citizen?” Faith: “No, I’m going to be a cheerleader”.

We are continuing to work on the house (nothing new in that statement). It is safe to say that I’m getting rather tired of living in a remodel, but the end is in sight. After much deliberation, we decided to go with a Mohawk laminate in the entire upstairs area (living room, dining room, hallway and kitchen). We got a great deal on a discontinued oak look that matches the kitchen cabinets and have it all ready to go. The last several days have been spent pulling up the remaining wood tiles. These, for some unknown reason, were glued (with what seemed like gallons) to the subfloor. It took much patience but all the tiles are up. Next we began work on the very crooked, very ugly, very pink-grouted kitchen floor. This had a ½ inch concrete backer board on it on top of a ¼ inch subfloor. All in all the “step” up into the kitchen was about an inch. It has been an eyesore since we moved in. Prying up the tile has taken longer than we thought (doesn’t everything?) but it is all up and already looks a million times better. It made a huge mess and we (Tim) carried around 20 boxes of debris downstairs. Thankfully a guy from church in Philly is letting us throw the mess in the dumpster, so we don’t have to pay to take the stuff to the dump.

The Memorial Day weekend was rather quiet in the Trails here. It bulged with renters, who in past years have been rather loud and disruptive, but we made out pretty good this time. We held a yard sale on Friday and Saturday which made us over $300. A nice little bit of money for a couple days of sitting in a chair talking to people. Lots of stuff left our house which was the point and for which I’m happy :) I took the profits and paid for some summer clothes for the kids, Chinese carry-out and Tim and I went to see the new Pirates movie.

As far as the Pirates movie goes, I enjoyed it. I held off watching any of these movies until just before we left for Disney. I have to say I enjoyed the first one WAY more than I thought I would. It is actually now one of my favorite movies. Tim picked up the Jack Sparrow accent immediately and continues to make me laugh with his lines. Anyhow, about the third one… I read several very negative reviews. They said it was too long, too confusing, even too dark. I found it quite fun. Of course it’s a confusing story line, that is part of the point. No one is on anyone’s side…. for me, that is much of the fun of it. It was a bit on the dark side, but no more so than the second one in my opinion. I was quite surprised by the ending, which I liked. I hate knowing what is going to happen. There were some great lines and some classic Johnny Depp. My only gripe might be that there was not enough scenes with Keith Richards. He was a hoot and does have the best line of the movie (again, in my opinion.). So in conclusion… if you are after great drama and serious story lines, choose Lord of the Rings. If you are after Princess Bride laughs and a fun movie, go see At World’s End. So much for my movie review :)

It’s a stormy raining night and I am worn out from prying up tiles. I think I’ll go finish cleaning up and take a shower :)

The last picture is of all of us with Mom. We stopped to look at the lake at Hickory Run after our trek on the boulders. Mom got a big glob of tree sap in her hair from leaning into the tree. Oops.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I broke down and bought new mixer attachments. Mom tried to bring me some from the KitchenAide outlet near her, but they sold her the wrong size. Evidently all of the parts do NOT work on all of the mixers, contrary to what the salesman thought. Anyhow, I found them on ebay and am now back to being able to mix things :) My oven is fixed too :) Things do appear to be looking up again, one month later.