August -- pleasant with weather, but tempestuously busy

August this year was wonderful when it came to the weather.  We hardly ever turned on the AC.  We opened all the windows many days of the month and just let the cool summer breeze come through the house.  It was glorious, and I am enjoying the reduced electricity bill because of that.

But when it came to life -- it was CRAZY!

I was busy working on a few projects for the house.  I got three 8x10 inch picture frames from friends (for free!), spray painted them, bought glitter paper from JoAnns ($1 total for two sheets), used left over burlap from a project last year, and created these:

I also decided to paint some glass milk jugs.  There is a local dairy here that still uses glass jugs to put their milk in.  How cute is that?  Now I just need to find a pint size milk jug to make it more eye appealing.

Another project I worked on (that I had lying around the house) was re-painting a clock, and painting a clear glass block.

Here is a before picture of the clock:

And the after picture (with the painted glass block next to it):

Now I just need to find a small green plant to put behind the glass block, and a nice ribbon to outline the block too.  Maybe that will be September's project.


One of our good friends cat had some kittens last month, and so we went over to go play with them some.  Hannah was in absolute heaven.  She was so excited to play with the kittens, and I think she was happy that she could pet them without worrying they would scratch or hiss at her (like Kronk does.  He is still not a fan of Hannah).  They were so darling and cute.  And NO! We are not getting another cat.  After Kronk has passed this life, we are officially done with pets.

Speaking of Kronk, this is his new found enjoyment in the mornings.  He likes to go and lick the dew off the deck chairs.

I had a friend give me her old (but very nice) crib bumpers.  I got them all cleaned up and Hannah kept asking me what they were for.  I tried to explain, but she was still confused so I showed her some pictures online of what crib bumpers are used for.  Hannah immediately took off to her room, came running back with her baby doll, and did this:

First she put the baby in between the bumpers, which I thought was hilarious.  Talk about SIDS.

Then she had a better idea and placed her baby on top of the bumpers and put the blanket on the baby so it could take a nap.

Then, she put this little pillow underneath the baby's head to make it more comfortable.

Hannah takes very good care of her baby doll.

This was yet again a very busy month with our church callings.  Nathan traveled 3 of the 5 Sundays for his high council responsibilities (speaking and auditing).  I was busy as well with presidency meetings, help organizing visiting teaching interviews, cleaning peoples homes for service, cleaning up records, and getting information on the 14 new families that moved in during August.  Sigh.  This month, we put over 600 miles on our car alone for church callings. Like I said, it was a busy month.

Another thing that I managed to do in August was read 3 books (actually, I listened to the audiobook). I read the first three volumes of the Anne of Green Gables series, which is something that I have always wanted to do.  Mid-month I received some depressing news in our ward, and I just wanted to get distracted by something else so I decided to dive right in and read the books. My goal was to just read the first of the series, but I ended up reading three of the books.  Not only did I find them enjoyable, they also helped me get back in a more cheery mood.

Anne of Green Gables picture courtesy of blogs.slj.com