Finish It Friday

Today is "Finish It Friday" as dubbed by the great and wonderful Katie who I still need to email back (and I will! I promise!) :) Actually...maybe...yeah...maybe that's something that should be on my Finish It list. Finish my email! :)

On my list for finishing projects today is my van. That's actually towards the top of my list for a couple of reasons. Number one being that my van is actually my MIL's van. My MIL is the one who bought it and paid for it and takes care of the insurance and maintenance, etc, although she did buy it for us. We are extremely grateful for it too! Anyhow, I guess she went to a yard sale recently and bought a table and chairs and maybe some other items that she couldn't fit into her car. So, she called us and let us know that we were going to go pick it up today. But it is also the vehicle we use the most as a family. So, we had to pull the seats out, clean it out and make sure there was enough cargo room in there for what she needs. We have done that part, but it still looks messy. It needs to be vacuumed out and wiped down and the glass cleaned on the inside. It's kind of a vanity thing, but I want it to look really nice before MIL gets in there. Anyone who has little kids knows how messy a car can get when you spend a fair amount of time in there. Which is worsened even more if you car doubles as storage for some things. For us, that would be where we regularly keep our bowling balls. Hubby and I each have two and Boy A has one. Plus bowling shoes and other equipment. Plus our sporting equipment. We haven't seen the carpet in back of our van (behind the back seat) for a long, long time.

The other reason we need to get it cleaned out is because FIL's company just closed. So, we get to go over there on Saturday and pick out things that the company hasn't been able to sell yet. Namely, chairs. Although, we might have a chance at some pictures or other items. But I do know we are specifically looking at chairs. I'm excited about that too!

And the third reason, is because on Saturday, my son is having a girl over. Boy A is 8, Girl L is 8. Their birthdays are 3 months, 1 week and 5 days apart. Girl L is the daughter of my best friend, BFF N. I am older than BFF N by 2 months, 2 weeks, and 5 days. He and I grew up together. We "met" when we were two years old, though neither of us remember it. We just grew up together and have always been friends. His ex-girlfriend, L's mother, and I were pregnant together. L's mother and my BFF N didn't work out, but that's okay. BFF N just got married this summer and his wife is pretty cool. L's mother doesn't live in our city though, and BFF N only has her every other weekend and two weeks in June and two weeks in July, plus every other holiday or something like that. So, we don't really get to see her very often.

This summer, I finally got to meet L. I just never wanted to infringe on BFF N's time with her and felt that their time together was special and important. So I finally met her and then the next week, she came over while BFF N and his wife went out and played pool. They were on a league. When BFF N came to pick her up, she begged him to be able to stay the night. I told him it was fine by me and it was fine by him, so that's what happened. BFF N and I used to stay the night at each other's houses until we were twelve years old or something like that.

Boy A has been wanting to see Girl L ever since then, but it hasn't worked well with our schedules so we haven't had a chance to see her again. I texted BFF N to check to see if he had Girl L this weekend and he said he did. I asked him if Girl L could hang out with us for awhile on Saturday and he said yes. And then he told me that he actually had a birthday party to go to for one of his friends in another town and would we just want to keep Girl L overnight? I talked to Hubby about it and he said, "I suppose" so we have Girl L overnight on Saturday night.

Kind of a long way to say that is the third reason I want to get the van super clean. Plus it gave me a good excuse to post some pictures.

I also was able to borrow my mom's camera for the weekend (or maybe a bit longer than that even) so that I can take some new and fun photos to share with you all.

Some other finish it items include:
*carpet cleaning the boys' bedroom (also because Girl L is staying over)
*getting our playroom into shape (also because Girl L is staying over)

And I honestly think that those three items alone will be plenty for me to finish up today. Actually, Hubby will be doing the carpet cleaning in the boys' room and we will all be pitching in on the playroom, but its on the list, so hopefully, by the end of the day today, I will be able to cross them off as finished projects.