The experimental results

Well I think it is safe to say that this experiment is a failure.  
I don't want to get ahead of myself though.  Let me first re-cap the Memorial weekend To Do list and share what was completed.

The List:
- assembling and staining the adirondack chairs

- strip the dining room table and re-stain

- strip the bench in the backyard, fix the slats and stain
- power-washing the flagstones from our old path and create borders with them
- why not power-wash the entire exterior of our house, the deck (to prep for paint), and the drive-way?  I think we will try
- finish the bookcases (not the mantle yet)
- do battle with the enormous ant clan
- plant, plant, plant
- grow grass on the other side of the fence - never before has the term "the grass is always greener on the other side" been more true - seriously.
- pick out a paint color for the living room - this has got to happen......


So as you can see this experiment was a failure with a whopping 50% completion rate.  I believe that would be a big fat F.


However, with anything, I do have excuses.

A very large storm rolled through on Memorial day, all day, which prevented us from completing a few of the tasks.  We were hoping to do some planting, grass growing, and power-washing today.  

Instead we did a lot of cleaning, laundry, and organizing.

Which was actually very, very necessary so I guess the storm came at the right time.

Fortunately, we had wonderful weather all the other days.  We got a lot of work done and even had a chance to escape to the lake.

Our first project was the adirondack chairs.  We have been wanting to invest in a nice set for some time now but when we found these at Home Depot for $30 a pop we had to try them.  Of course for $30, some assembly was required.

And some staining.

And I think it was worth it.

Next we tackled the flagstone.   I am going to tell you right now, while it was fun to power-wash them, I really don't like the look.  We are leaving it for now but eventually I would like to line each bed with the same stones that outline our garden near the path.

In between I battled the ant clan and stripped the said bench above.  I have not finished it and there are no pictures because it needs more work than I anticipated.  I will share more with the bench later.

Then we tackled the built-ins.  Kind-of.

The one bookshelf needed some more holes punched out to accommodate all the electrical cords for our TV stuff.  We still need to build a mantle and surround which will incorporate the built-ins and make it all look seamless.

So there it is.  Some of the items we were able to cross-off our list.  Hopefully we will be able to finish the list this next weekend.  Or the weekend after that since this upcoming weekend is our youngest siblings high school graduation. 

 Congrats Kate and Connor!

not sure what this means....

The Evidence:

The Culprit:

perhaps she was trying to "ingest" the Word of the Lord

yes - she just wanted to read it.

Experiment

Let's try a little experiment.
This Friday I am taking the day off to celebrate with Bran (he's halfway through the CPA as of today - yay!) making it a very long 4 day weekend for me - gotta love Memorial Day.  So what do we do when we celebrate??  Yes, we work on the house.  The exciting lives we lead.  Well, we are throwing a quick trip out to the lake in there too.  But only a real quick one.
So the experiment.....
We are making our weekend To Do list right here, right now and then on Tuesday we will post how much of it we actually accomplished.  I know what you're thinking.....boring.  And yes it is.  But who are we kidding.  Most of this blog is boring.  Anyway, this is more for motivation for us.  Plus I'll post other things in between.

The List:
- assembling and staining the adirondack chairs

- strip the dining room table and re-stain

- strip the bench in the backyard, fix the slats and stain
- power-washing the flagstones from our old path and create borders with them
- why not power-wash the entire exterior of our house, the deck (to prep for paint), and the drive-way?  I think we will try
- finish the bookcases (not the mantle yet)
- do battle with the enormous ant clan
- plant, plant, plant
- grow grass on the other side of the fence - never before has the term "the grass is always greener on the other side" been more true - seriously.
- pick out a paint color for the living room - this has got to happen......

So that's the list.  It's on.  Let's see what actually happens......

a revamped garden

My garden use to be less than inspiring.  It served it's purpose last year when I first discovered that I am a gardening goddess capable of growing edible plants but my successful garden had me wishing for more.  So I did what all wives do.....I sat down with the hubby and had a reasonable conversation in which I explained the benefits of re-paving the walkway and expanding the garden at the same time I played the damsel distraught by the state of her walkway, the constant flow of mud and dirt dragged into her house by the dogs and did I mention the safety hazards - I mean the lawsuits coming our way.  Somehow it worked - I think deep down he felt the same way - it was just plain ugly.

Can you spot the cinder block in this picture?  Yeah....

Do you see how uneven those stones are?

I cannot even begin to share how awful it was when it rained....sooo muddy.  Plus the garden was pretty small.

So when Bran gave me the thumbs up for the project, I called in the forces and bribed them with lots of good food and beer.  Between Brandon, his brother Tyler, our good friend Herbie and even our cousin David fresh off the plane from Scotland they had the path and garden well underway.  It was quite a task too.  They worked so hard to make this for me - I so appreciate them!  They are the best.  And they did a good job too....

Look at those studs!  

The path is pretty too.

And it is hard to see but I gained about 3 cubic feet of dirt  I wish I didn't have to have the fence but unfortunately the pesky puppies love to trample through there - gotta protect my veggies!

Thank you boys!!

In Bloom

The sudden surge of heat this weekend caused all the flowers to bloom. It is so lovely.  I wish I had more.  Everything in my yard is still in infancy - and there is a lot that is still to be planted.  Just recently I planted two rose vines to climb the fence by my bench.  They are sprouting little baby leaves and buds but unfortunately it will be ages before they become the full, luscious plants I hope.  I also planted two rose bushes and those are in the same form right now.

The peonies on the side of the house are in bloom and spreading.

Can you see the baby little sprouts in front?  

And then there are the two rose vines that already existed on the side of the house. They seemed dead last year from so much neglect so after some tender loving care they are coming back.  Unfortunately whoever planted them must not have known they were vines so they just fall over.  I am trying to reshape them now with sticks and string to see if I can get the one to grow on the fence and the other on a trellis up the fireplace.  That will take some time too but at least they are blooming!

You can kind of see them back by the air conditioner.  

There is one on each side.

Here is a basket on my porch.  I just like the colors.

And then there is my new favorite perennial.  The English Daisy.  I found four at Home Depot and had to scour nursery after nursery for more.  Finally I hit the jackpot at this nursery - Hacker's!

Maria and I with our stash! She just bought her first home - so fun!

   

There they are pre-bloom.  I bought 2 trays of them that is 36 plants!  My mom and Aunt Sally bought several off of me because they fell in love with them too.  Here they are when in full bloom.

In a few days this will be FULL of the little quaint blooms.  It is so charming and they just keep blooming.  I love it!  Can you tell I like them?

Can't wait to do some more planting!  

Productivity - the results

I mentioned in my last post that we did a LOT of mulching yesterday - 4 yards worth.  I must say though that it was absolutely worth it.  Our yard looks a thousand times better.  I am really excited to keep adding to the layers of our yard too.  This is only the beginning.  I have become very interested in this gardening/landscaping business and have been busy at work laying the foundations for our yard.

Here are some before and after shots of our yard with the mulch.

Before

After

Since that is a terrible after here is a close-up.

As you can see our house and the house across the street have great difficulty growing grass between the sidewalk and street.  I am told it is due to the acidity of the trees there.  It is quite a nuisance.  We have been trying to figure out what to do here.  I was thinking perhaps a cute little path to the road and some ground cover and more hostas.  For now fresh mulch will have to do.

Before

After

Before

After

So as you can see the mulch has helped a lot.  Now the plants just need to grow and fill out!  They are still babies.

While we are doing the before and after thing I might as well update you on the grass.

Quite awhile ago I posted here about our saga trying to grow grass.  Well - mission accomplished!

Before

During

After

So lush!!!