My day off...

Last weekend Tyson had to work (I mean last last weekend, you know, like over a week ago), so I had a Saturday to keep myself busy.  I used it to clean the basement up.  FINALLY got the Christmas stuff put away, the rest of the holiday stuff sorted out with a box for each holiday, the rest of the food sorted out, and most of the shelves straightened up.  It's almost there, I tell you.  And.  It. Felt. Good.  To have it done.  Especially after all of the snow melting and all of the RAIN we have had again this week.  A good portion of the basement floor was covered in water when I went down for something in the middle of the week.  And it still has some puddles, which I don't expect to go away completely for awhile because of all the rain we are still getting, even though Tyson did pump out the cistern to see if that would help with the water level in the ground.  So you can be sure I was glad that I took that day to get everything put away off of the floor. 

I also had the following Monday off because of Presidents Day.  I thought to myself, "Yes!  I can knock the basement and the attic out in one weekend and finally feel like our house is in order (for the most part)!".  Um, yeah.  Well, my intentions were good.  And I was feeling pretty good about it after getting so much done in the basement, but then when I went up to the attic early Monday morning to clean up "my" space, I couldn't get past the mending pile.  Literally.  It was blocking the doorway and covered my desk and the floor.  And that didn't include the laundry basket that was in my bedroom full of mending - including the suit pants that came with the suit I gave Tyson for Christmas 2 (or was it 3?) years ago.  Ahem.  So I gave up my dream of getting the attic cleaned and broke into the mending.  It probably sounds like I am complaining.  And I am.  But I did enjoy having the excuse to sew all day, even if I wasn't breaking into any actual projects for now.  I was so impressed with the list of things I finished that I thought I'd post them here, if only to make myself feel good :).  So here goes (if you don't to read them, that it perfectly understandable, just skip to the bottom for a pic of Grace):

Refinished the edging on a towel and a washcloth that had each frayed badly on the edges.
Reattached the button on Libbie's NEW coat that had popped off a couple of weeks ago.
Added a new loop to an apron where the old one had broken out of the seam.
Fixed a hole in some footie pj's.
Resewed the bottom of a tote bag that had been ripped out.
Rejoined the limbs to each of 2 stuffed nativity people (can you guess when they were drawn and quartered?).
Reapplied a zipper to an old but favorite jacket just before I patched it's holed (I really like it, okay?).
Closed up the seams in ANOTHER Build A Bear animal that had come unstitched.
and a small bear that had 2 seams that it seems never got caught when it was made.
Mended the big hole in my oven mitt that burned me EVERY time I used it where the seam had come undone.
Hand stitched the shoulder seams back together on a second-hand home-made nightgown that both of my older girls have literally loved to pieces.
Reinforced some clothing to a doll Grace received for Christmas so that the clothes could not longer come off (because we have enough dolls running around our house naked, and I'm mean like that).
Used a needle and thread to close up the back of the Gloworm that the twins keep taking the battery pack out of.
Stitched the bottom of a zipper in a jacket belonging to Emmalee on which the teeth had been messed up and the zip piece kept coming off of.  Now she has to put the jacket on over her head like a shirt.
Restitched the trim on a navy blue and white sailor dress that my grandfather gave me when I was a little mite.  Grace wore it to church on Sunday - SO cute!
Sewed the robe ties to 4 (YES 4!) robes so that they can no longer be used to tie toys, siblings, furniture, or other objects to other toys, siblings, furniture, or objects in any combination.
FINALLY hemmed Tyson's suit pants from how long ago?
Managed to do something with the neckline of a dress that has now been through all 3 girls and is still otherwise going strong.
Armpit hole in pj's: fixed.
Armpit hole in top: NLE (no longer existent).
Took in a bit on each of a pair of slippers that kept "slipping" off my feet because the holes were a little big.
Reattached some decorative trim on a skirt that was snaking it's way off.
Rehemmed a pair of work pants.
Repaired a large hole in the lining of a quilted work jacket.
Mended a huge hole in the butt of a pair of jeans (haha, laugh with me there :).
Patched a knee hole in each of 2 pairs of work jeans.
Added to the scrap pile a pile of jeans that I decided weren't worth repairng.

Whew. Not bad for a day, eh?  I think I remembered everything.  Oh, yeah.  Except that pic of Grace that I promised.  Ok, here it is.  (This is the sailor dress she wore to church on Sunday - super cute, except for all of the holes in her tights that were also falling down by the time we got home, along with her ponytail :)

The next person that tells me how moody GIRLS are gets Jasper for the day :)

Lib loves the spotlight.