February is finally over!

We awoke to snow again on Wednesday.  It was a light cover and it melted soon after the sun was up and it was really pretty on our walk.  This photo just doesn't do it justice....

I have good news about my work.  The other part-time employee is able to pick up my Tuesday shift from now on AND, I don't have to report to work on Wednesdays and Thursdays until 3:00 (instead of 2:00)  Meaning I have just reduced my work obligation in half - from twelve hours a week to just six!  I am SO relieved because it is now March and my timeline has us with just one month before we put the house up for sale.  I realize it might not be a realistic goal but I won't know that until the month progresses.  As of now, it seems possible.  Although if our contractor, James, continues to be sick, then we WILL have to reevaluate.  He was sick all last week of the flu.  He did come over for about two hours on Friday to pull the toilet from our bathroom so we can finally paint.  Here it sits in the hallway....

And, he finished painting the living room ceiling so we were able to pull off all the plastic sheeting covering the couches and the piano.  As far as our progress last week: we finished the downstairs bathroom, we painted the two big walls in the kitchen, and we prepped and started painting the sports room and the Noah's Ark room downstairs.  

Friday was a St. Louis temple day and we babysat the Southerland kids through Saturday as Joe had a presentation in Springfield and Emily had a girl's weekend in Potosi.  We got to see Emily for about an hour Friday after lunch before she left.  She had three pages of instructions and she had Friday dinner all ready to go (Aldi pizza including a gluten-free one!).  Larkin is still potty-training and she has an iron bladder so I think she only went on the toilet two times while we had her.  She had a double whammy accident in her panties after her nap on Friday and, per Emily's suggestion, we put her in a diaper for the drive to Columbia on Saturday morning.  We had to go to Columbia because I had a Civic Orchestra concert in the afternoon with a full two-hour rehearsal just before at noon.  We arrived at home at 11:00 and, thankfully Elise was able to come over to help Steve with the kids and a picnic at Stephen's Lake Park and to let me use her car to get to rehearsal.  The kids had a grand time at the park and they were very well behaved at the concert.  Steven was on hand by that time to also lend a hand and he ended up sitting at the front with Noah and Lucy (who both play string instruments and were very engaged with the music).  Larkin loves her Aunt Elise and she was happy to be in the back of the theater with her and Grandpa and Quinn.  Because our Honda Element only seats four, we drove the Southerland van back to Columbia so when Joe got back to Ballwin Saturday afternoon, he picked up our car and drove it to Columbia to get the kids as Emily was not going to be back until Sunday afternoon.  He was there when we got home from the concert.  After they all left, Steve and I had a wedding reception to attend, a friend to visit in the hospital, and a payment to make at Home Depot for some replacement living room windows.  Then, I had to make a dessert for today and I actually sat and watched a movie on Netflix (Faith, Hope, and Love) until 11:00 because I was just weary of doing things that I HAD to do and not able to do anything fun for me (well, the concert was pretty fun for me but you know what I mean).  

Parting shot from the concert....