Labor Day Weekend - my labors!

I got a fun treat for Labor Day weekend - just me and the baby at home! Kannon took the other 2 and spent the weekend in Elko. Ben even got to skip school that Friday. They had a good time playing with cousins, yard sales, uncles, etc. I had a super quiet weekend! It was almost weird. I didn't really want to go anywhere anyway, but we had peaches coming in that weekend that I needed to pick up. So, in my quiet time I decided to do some projects. This was a last minute idea, but I thought since the kids were out of the way, it would be a good chance to paint my dining room floor. This floor has had many previous colors. Most recently was the blue. That pink was hidden under a carpet we took out.

My plan came about after deciding I wanted the black and white checked floor in the kitchen (a project still to come). Then I thought, "hey, I can paint the back floor to match!" Yay! So, I started with 3 coats of white floor paint. Then I spent a night drawing lines and the next morning taping. The taping took FOREVER!

And then I about cried when we took the tape off. It, of course, had bleed lines every where! I've since discovered the trick. If I had painted white again, over my tape it would have bled and then the black would not have. Or you can paint a clear acrylic paint first and then your second color. Haven't tried these tips yet, but the DIY sites say that's the way to go.

So, then I went back over the whole floor with a small sponge brush and fixed the white and black til they were perfect. My choice of companion while completing this was "The Lord of the Rings" movies playing in my bedroom. Since I had the issues with the paint, I didn't get this finished before the kids were around. So, they got to watch more TV than usual, too. (The dining room has the door to the backyard, and I wasn't letting anyone on this floor!)

I wish it could have stayed so pretty. Who knew black and white would show so much dirt!?

My other project began with this mirror that I found at a yard sale that weekend. I only bought this - found it for $5......

.....and transformed it into this! Clever me.

The floor kept me pretty busy, but I also found time to make Kannon's salsa. I got about 20 pints of it and think it's one of my better batches. I spent Sunday afternoon with my parents and Susan & Stephen for my Dad's birthday. We also went over on Monday, after Kannon got home, to celebrate with cake. Sarah had been planning Papa's birthday for about a month. I made him a homemade cake and decorated it the way she wanted - with his name and boy sprinkles. She had a picture for him in a gift bag. It was really sweet. Now, she is planning her daddy's birthday.