Remodeling and Decluttering

I love long holiday weekends when my hubby doesn't have to work. We get to do whatever we want with the munchkins. We went swimming, played in the sprinklers, saw some fun fireworks - from inside our van due to a horrid, drenching rain - had friends over for games and ice cream . . . and also did some much needed work around the house.

My hubby is the super clean geek at our house. Every Saturday by noon, our house sparkles and shines because Mr. Clean (my hubby) has put the kids to work and whipped the house into shape - all while I get to sleep in! I love Saturdays! On top of being Mr. Clean, my hubby also turned into Mr. Fix It, too.

I had a small chunk of money set aside I had planned to use to travel to Utah for my book launch and also for my three week book tour. Now that my book is no longer coming out with Valor, I was wondering what to do with that bit of moolah. After some discussion - and also after a frustrating day of opening and closing our old sliding glass doors so the kids could go in and out of the house to play - we decided it was time to replace those pain in the tush doors with new patio doors. So we did our research, then hit Home Depot. We bought two sets of patio doors (one set to replace each of the sliding glass doors upstairs and downstairs) and all the accessories needed for proper installation.

My very handy hubby had the first set of patio doors installed on Saturday.

We went from this:

These are actually the upstairs doors that still need replaced, but are exactly the same as the ones that were downstairs. The wheels were broken and stuck inside the door - so literally not fixable. And a HUGE pain to open and close!

To this:

I love that the new doors can be easily opened and closed by the kids. I also feel much better knowing the doors now have a deadbolt and a door knob that locks. The sliding doors just had one of those stupid latch locks. We still need to finish the trim and paint the door - but it's been raining since Sunday here. We're hoping for a dry spell this weekend so we can finish the upstairs door.

This past weekend, I also decided to do some decluttering. Each year, I save the kids' artwork they bring home from school. During the summer, I photograph the pictures and upload them into a digital scrapbook (I prefer www.mypublisher.com), then have the book printed. I have some really gorgeous books filled with the kids creations. They love looking through the books. I only keep a few select works of art for the kids keepsake bins, then recycle the rest. A fun tip: I also add fun titles to each creation such as, "Rhythm of the Music by MJ Ferguson" for a watercolor her art teacher had her paint while listening to music.

What I'm reading: I just finished Divinely Designed by Rachel Renae Anderson. My quick review: This is a fun, quick read. It's funny and quirky, but not much character development. There were a few spots when I thought the main character acted more like a teenager than a college graduate. But overall, it was a fun read.

I'm now reading Band of Sisters by Annette Lyon and Altered State by Gregg Luke.

Now, I'd like to know - How was your 4th of July weekend?