Blissfully Unaware of the Chaos the Surrounds Me

Happy Day . . .

I'm sitting in the backyard, with my feet up on the ottoman. There's a light breeze blowing. The sun is out. John is napping. Halle is napping (although she wasn't tired . . . not one it!) Dylan is playing on the xBox.

My car is freshly washed . . . a late Mother's Day gift from my amazing firstborn. I'm drinking a Fresca, out of a mason jar, with frozen fruit for ice. My flowers are blooming. My groundcover is growing. There is evidence of last night's fun with the chalked hopscotch fading on the patio. The side yard is cleaned up, as done by my husband who possibly was still drunk when he got up this morning. He rocked it. (Both the drunkenness and the recovery!) More on the drunkenness later . . . I'm collecting iPhone pics and video clips as they come in. 

Tonight we are driving down to Live Oak to my very favorite eatery, Pasquini's.  (Yes, really. If you've passed them a hundred times on 99 and ever wondered if it was decent? I'm here to tell you that they are beyond decent!) We are meeting up with John's Dad to celebrate his birthday. (Happy birthday, Poppi!)

For the first weekend in months, John doesn't have any homework or school projects or tests. That feels beyond amazing to me! I know it feels even better to him!

I am just soaking in it. Reveling in it, really. Love me some happy, easy Saturday.

Serious Yardwork . . .

the kind that you pay someone to do! Involving rocks (lots of rock), stone (yes, there's a difference), shoveling, moving and changing sprinklers . . . you name, it, they did it! Sadly, we ran out of time and product, so we still have a ways to go. But it's a start!

The rock wall along the back is finished. The sprinklers are done. My new 15 foot tree is in. The play area is compacted and fairly level. The path next to the play area is done, complete with rock edging. The path to the back is about 1/2 way done . . . maybe a little more.

Anyway . . . it's progress. Every night I've sat outside and just looked at how far they've come. We've got a long ways to go, but I am so excited about it!

Yardwork . . .

On Sunday, amidst parties and pool time and errands, we managed to pull the backyard together. Just a little bit. We still have about $4,000 of landscaping to be done, but hosing, re-arranging and putting out the new furniture was a start. Pool toys got cleaned up and a whole bunch of them thrown out. We even got a couple of lanterns hung up! We're getting on it and gosh, it's only July. LOL!

As you can see, I settled for the Costco umbrella. Boring beige, but you just can't beat their quality. Plus, there is plenty of color going on with the new cushions. Cushion #4 will be picked up in Redding on Thursday!

I'll catch up with the 4th of July details tomorrow, but I'll leave you with this red and white teaser . . . 

Ahhh, Friday . . .

how I love thee! Although I sepnt most of the day running around like a chicken with my head cut off, I actually had daycare. For the first time in a few weeks. Which made it good. Reeeeeaaaaallllllllyyyyyyyyy good! Who knew that errands and meetings could be so enjoyable?

I managed to do a little personal maitenance today, long overdue, specifically a pedicure and some waxing. We'll focus on my eyebrows and just note that it's been a while :)

I then met with our facilities committee and the project architect. Very productive and encouraging. Maybe more so than our school site tour on Monday, since we were able to actually "draw" our site needs (via the fancy software) and have the image appear almost instantly on the big screen. Fancy and very useful, all at the same time!

I also ran by OSH to check out patio furniture. A "conversation set", to be specific. I'd been liking their stuff in the weekly ads and went by to see if I liked it in person. I ended up buying a set (without poor John even having a chance to see it first) because they had put up a sign prematurely about this weekend's upcoming sale. So they had to take that percentage off of the current sale price. Score! On top of that, I asked my Dad to bring it home for me (it was 3/4" too long to fit into the back of our Acadia) and he and a friend spent most of the afternoon assemblying it for us! How cool of a bonus was that? Super cool! This is what we ended up with:

   

Then tonight, we had dinner with my BFF . . . Chipotle and margaritas . . . hard to beat for a Friday night! We also had a landscaper come over and talk with us about sod/paths/irrigation/cement stuff in the backyard. He's coming back tomorrow to measure and give us a quote. I'm also trying to convince my Dad that a small raised deck with a small shade awning would be the perfect gift for our 5th anniversary. He's not convinced as of yet, but I'm still working it!

Tomorrow we are putting up our WT pool (before 11:00 am, if I have my way), doing some other stuff around the yard and hopefully going to see Mr. Popper's Penguins. We are helping with a fundraiser for Team Scotty on Sunday, so it's going to be a full and busy weekend. Yeah! Just like we like 'em!

 

Perspective . . .

and other random thoughts of mine . . . 

The subject? Yard work.

To understand my perspective on such a seemingly innocuous subject, you would have to have insight into my familial history. To sum that history up for you? My parents . . . although I love them both dearly . . . are/or can be . . . anal-retentive perfectionists! (Love you both, by the way . . . ) And that, my friends, can jack you up as a child/young adult/almost 37-year old! My parents always had a house with a PERFECT yard. (Interior was spotless as well, lest you think they lived like secret pigs ...)

And altough I graduated with a degree in freakin' agricultrure AND have been a horticulture teacher . . . I have a (whisper it with me . . . ) black thumb. And no real plan when it comes to planning landscaping, knowing what to plant and how in the world to keep it all alive. But it doesn't stop me from heading off to the nursery each and every year, to spend $$$ and try, yet again, to have the yard of my dreams. With minimal (or almost no) effort.

So this was my annual weekend to give it yet another go. Thankfully, I had some Lowe's credit to spend . . . it makes it less painful to realize what a likely waste it's going to be :)

But, this year, when I was squatting down, planting my billionth section o ground cover, I saw a different perspective or possibility.

This dismal view:

could be become (if I get my way) a whole 'nother deal when we replace that side of our fence this summer. I'm thinking it could be an entryway . . . a pass-through to our backyard. Thereby eliminating the necessity of people walking through our house to come into our backyard. Which makes the idea of backyard parties all that much more appealing :)

What I'm working on right now is the border to what will become Halle's play area. We have two robust young men coming to work with John this Saturday morning to continue clearing/moving dirt/changing drainage/moving sprinkler lines in that specific area. We can easily integrate a path from the front yard, through a new gate and into/around that area as we go.

I'm liking the idea. I'm excited about the possibilities that someday, our yard will be everything that we want it to be. Lush and green, with pops of color . . . designed for everyday fun and use . . . great and easy entertaining, with minimal upkeep.

(And by the way, don't burst my bubble. It will happen. Someday. Starting now!)