In anticipation of the family visit, we bought a futon for our office/sewing room.
We had been planning on getting one for some time, but the visit pushed us into action. Here is the futon spread out as a bed. As you can see, the kitties are big fans.Also in the week before the family visit, Mark installed drawer pulls and knobs onto the cabinets. He did a great job.
The pulls and knobs are brass with a "chesnut" finish. I was nervous about getting them straight if we did them ourselves, so I was relieved when he offered to do them for us.Our next goal is to finish the pantry.
You may recall that, way back in March, the plumbers cut a hole in the pantry wall in order to vent the kitchen and pantry sinks. Dave drywalled over the hole recently, and I think it looks better already. We would like to add a tile backsplash around the pantry sink. Fortunately, we have a bunch of beautiful tiles sitting in the garage waiting to be used. 
Jess and Glen, our friends from when we lived in Socorro, gave us a bunch of seconds from the tile-making operation that Jess's family was running at the time. Lots of the tiles are in great shape, and we are sorting through them to choose the best ones for the pantry. Mom helped us out with this task when she was visiting. This the tile sorting progress on the floor of the garage.Finally, the garden is growing at full speed these days. Within the next week or two, we will have more tomatoes than we know what to do with! Mom bought us a garden hoe when she was here, and now we have been attacking the weeds like never before. (Mom also bought us a tree for the front yard- I'll post a picture when we plant it next weekend.) Here are some photos of the garden:
