Honey Do...

Travis and I finally took a week long trip away from home...we went to Boston to visit our friend. I will post about the trip in the next day or two, but the thing I have been wanting to post about is the gift we got when we arrived home.

We had some concerns taking a trip in the middle of our time with Jay, but my parents agreed to come and stay with him so he could still go to school while we were gone. This solved multiple concerns with our elderly dog, our crazy cat and our temporary son.

My Mom suggested we leave a list of "honey do's" for my Dad...didn't have to ask me twice.

This is my list...once I started thinking about it, I couldn't seem to stop and the list just kept growing. I felt a bit guilty, but at the same time, I thought these are projects I would probably try to get my Dad to come up and help me with anyway, so why not just leave a list.

It is not easy to read, so let me outline all the projects with visuals...

1) Hooks in master bath. I have tried to secure these hooks and, if I had a before picture, you would see they were missing or hanging by a severe angle and would fall out if we tired to actually hang a towel on them:

2) Gate at side of house. Our old gate was just resting against the fence because the old parts had rusted out. I didn't know how my Dad could fix this, but thought he could at least secure it as best he could for the winter so my dog didn't escape - My Dad is very creative, so I had a feeling he would figure it out. He actually searched all over the house and found an extra gate hidden in a "spare parts" area by our storage space...nice:

3) If you have time...you can fill up the water barrel that you gave us for Christmas last year. We want to get that handled before we disconnect the hoses this year. My Dad filled up the water barrel AND disconnected all our hoses on top of that:

4) We have a broken stair on the deck...DONE!

5) We have a rail that go broken by falling ice 2 winters ago that needs to be fixed...DONE:

Not only did I have a "preferred project list" but my parents had their own agenda - GREAT!!

6) Every laundry room needs shelves and curtains, especially if there is a weird window that goes directly to the entry...MOM - I LOVE the curtains and I cannot believe how much extra storage those shelves make in the room!! I am SO excited about this and can't believe we did not ask for your assistance with shelves and curtains before...THANK YOU!!!

7) My Mom called me while I was in Boston and told me my sister Amy was at the house visiting with her kids. I made a big show of how it would be great if Amy came up when I was actually there, etc. just having fun with them, but when I got home and looked at my "honey do" list I saw a note that says "sew quilt - Mom/Amy" - I immediately ran upstairs and saw this:

It was on my bed, but I neglected to take a photo at the time. I just need to cut some additional squares and I will have the full bedspread. It looks beautiful and I heard after the fact that the quilt is SO heavy my Dad had to help feed through the last sections and my beautiful sister's needle broke on the last square. I am so grateful for the effort that went into this quilt. It is hanging over my loft railing right now and I love looking at it every day. I understand it will be that much more amazing when it is on my bed, but I know I am loved every time I look up there.

8) My Dad also did a ton of work in my yard...there is so much to do, but he cut out a bunch of over growth that is evidenced by this photo:

I'm not even sure if I got it all, but I am SO GRATEFUL!!! These projects probably would have taken me 5 years to do on my own or several visits from my parents on several weekends. Travis and I still cannot believe how lucky we are to have such generous parents and siblings.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!

I Am SO Grateful,
HB

Diva Quote: “In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance.” -- Dieter F. Uchtdorf