Things I Should Have the Authority To Do

1.  Make Traffic Stops- like when the lady in front of me is clearly texting and not paying attention and keeps swerving all over and then slamming on her brakes.  


2.  Take aways people's drivers licenses and cell phones when I make traffic stops.


3.  Give adults "time out" when they start acting irrationally.


4.  Sanction "Nap Time" at work from 1pm-2pm each work day.  PAID nap time.


5.  Fine people for passing their work off on other people... let's say your first offense is $100, your second is $250 and your third is a $500 fine and 1 week doing your job and everyone else's job as punishment.


6.  Sanction "National Zombie and Zombie Apocalypse Awareness Day" so people can prepare for when this isn't just a strange incident- Actual CBS News Article


7.  Take Your Kids Away- like when you are sitting in your front yard reading a book and not paying attention to your TODDLERS playing IN THE STREET where the garbage truck is trying to get by.  Good parenting.


8.  Tow Your Car- like when "someone's" neighbor has plenty of room in their own damned driveway and in front of their own damn house but insists on parking in front of MY HOUSE every time that spot is open, Asshat!  I have a 1 car driveway and we have 2 cars so one of them MUST be on the street and I prefer to park in front of my own house and not down the block in front of someone else's house and take their spot.  Weird that I only want to take up my own space... hmmm.



 

Things That Make You Go "EEEEE!!!!!"

Tuesday night was just a weird one.  I don't know why, it's like it's a full moon or something around here... is it?  I don't know.


First, Baby Girl (Nora) peed on the floor while I was getting ready for work.  WTF?  We haven't had this issue with the the dogs in such a long time, it was completely random and totally threw me off, not to mention that I don't LOVE cleaning up dog pee.  So that was just the start.


Then things at work were moving fast and furious and never slowed down.  I was so busy that 5pm came and it wasn't until someone asked what I was still doing at my desk that I realized it was time to go home!  Definitely not a bad thing since it makes the day go by so quickly.  When I got home BF and I made dinner and it hit me how tired I was from the day.  We had already made plans to go to the bookstore and to the grocery store after dinner, so we did that but I was ready for a break!


When we got home I put on the classiest most worn-out sweatpants you've ever seen and sat on the couch surfing the 'net.  Also, who says "Surfing the 'net" anymore except me?  Yeah.  I think it's just me.  Anyhow, so I was Pinning things for our bedroom that I want to decorate soon and then I Googled something random (I don't remember what) but the image search was interspersed with pictures of the cutest baby animals you'd EVER. SEEN.  EVER.  So then, of course, I started image searching "cutest baby animals" and giggled for 45 minutes straight.  And lest you think I was completely alone, I was not! BF was sitting on the couch next to me reading or maybe watching TV; I don't really know because I was so engrossed in my baby animal picture search that all I knew was there was a warm body beside me that I could poke every few minutes and say, "look at how cute this is!!" to.  BF still wants to marry me.


This was possibly the cutest and most awesome 45 minutes of my entire life.  Those pictures were so adorable I was giggling and kicking my legs and making that high-pitched "EEEEEEE!!!" sound that girls make when something is so cute or exciting they don't know what else to do.  Oh come on,  you know what sound I mean... every girl at some point in her life (and some more frequently than others) makes the "eeeeeeeeeeee" sound out of sheer inability to express how she is totally overwhelmed by cuteness or awesomeness.  I am not ashamed to tell you that I do this, probably not as much as some, but I definitely participate.


Also, this was probably the weirdest night of my life that I can remember because who does that?  And I seriously laughed the entire time.  I laughed so hard my feet were tingling and I even started laughing at the fact that I was laughing so much.  I swear I hadn't taken anything, not sure if BF believes that one.  


If you haven't giggled and "EEEEEE!!!"'d in a while, I highly suggest it.

It Really Was a Monday

Sometimes this happens:

And then I sit and wait at Les Schwab and pass the time by listing things that I like and that I probably couldn't do without, and count my blessings that my biggest problem of the day is a flat tire.  Not doing too bad.


Here is the list that I came up with:


Beauty Products:
Weleda Almond Face Lotion
Maybelline Soft n' Full waterproof mascara in black
Acure Facial Argan Oil
Burt's Bees Acne Spot Treatment




First Aid, etc:
Mrs. Greenbalm's Healing Salve
Colloidal Silver gel
Tea Tree Oil
Aveeno Hydrocortisone Cream


Food:
Annie's Organic Cheddar Bunnies
Eros Greek Yogurt with Honey
Strawberries
Pink Lady Apples




That's all I came up with because they told me 45 minutes, but I thought, "No way, it'll be more like an hour," but really it was 45 minutes and I spent part of that on the phone with my mom.


BTW, Les Schwab is the best!  They were able to patch the tire and get it right as rain and did it for free!  Love that place.


In other news, I need to win the lottery.  Having a new house AND trying to book and pay for wedding stuff is EXPENSIVE.  We'll manage even if I don't win the lottery, but I can have dreams, right?

Grandma's Say the Darndest Things

BF's grandmother, Nana, is a character.  This woman has some hilarious stories and will also blurt out whatever is in her head, regardless of the audience or context.  It makes for some very awesome visits.


A couple of weekends ago, BF and I, along with BF's parents, drove up to Chehalis where Nana and her husband live to help out with some yard work.  They are getting older and have a hard time keeping up the outside of the house like they used to so their neighbor kindly mows their lawn and every once in a while family will go weed and prune and rake the yard back into shape.  


Upon arrival, Nana greeted us and ushered us into the house to chat before we started working.  She offered us beverages, but apologized because all she had was water, milk and Coke.  Since we had just arrived and had pretty much just eaten breakfast we declined.  Because she's Nana she kept pushing the issue and here is the conversation that ensued:


Nana: "Are you sure you don't want a Coke?  I have plenty!  You are gonna get awfully warm working outside"


Me:  "Oh, I'm alright for now.  I can always grab one later if I get warm"


Nana:  "Yeah, you could.  I don't normally drink Coke.   Well, I do, but just not when I'm at home... mostly when I'm out and about."


Me:  "Yeah.  I don't drink a lot of soda in the first place, mostly water.  I'll have a soda once in a while if we are out for dinner or something".


(a few seconds of silence as Nana applied lotion to her hands and as I rummaged through my bag looking for my gardening gloves)


Nana:  "I do all of my Coke in the car!"


Me:  (silence as I try to process what she just said)...


...


... "Oh!  You mostly drink Coke or SODA in the car!"


Nana:  "Well, yeah!  I need it to keep me awake when we are driving around!"


Me:  (laughing internally and trying not to say anything until I can get my giggles under control)






A few minutes later I walked up to BF out in Nana's yard while he was setting up the powerwasher to hose of the deck and said, "Nana does all of her coke in the car!  She told me!"


BF just laughed and laughed when I recounted the conversation between myself and Nana.  Apparently when you are from the midwest you may call soda or pop "coke", even it's it's not Coca Cola.  And it gets better.


Later in the afternoon when we were taking a short break from the yard work, Nana came out to inspect our work.  We were just speaking in generalities about what type of work each type of plant needed and what BF and I were planning to do in our new backyard in regards to landscaping, etc.  Nana then recounted stories about her neighbor that sometimes helps out by mowing her yard.  Apparently he gets a little upset when the hedges and shrubs aren't trimmed because he has a hard time maneuvering the riding lawn mower around them and therefore misses patches of grass (Nana has a fairly expansive yard).  The conversation went as follows:


BF: "Now we know what types of shrubs we DON'T want!  Some of these are high maintenance!"


Me:  "Good to know before we buy and plant them."


Nana:  "Yeah, you know Dick was over here complaining about those bushes again. Good thing you guys are here!"


Me: "Yeah, glad we could help out!"


Nana:  "I said, "If Dick doesn't like the way my bush looks he can trim it himself!" (brushes her hands off as if she has been cleaning)


Me and BF:  (trying not to completely crack up in front on Nana and the family, knowing we are the ONLY ones that heard it that way... because obviously)




Awww... I have to start writing these down so we can look back and them and laugh.  I'm sure her funny quotes could fill a book!


So I feel like this post is going to be a recurring one every time we have a visit with Nana.

Censorship- Let the Floodgates Open!

BF and I had an interesting conversation in the car last night, and it went a little something like this:


BF: "You are pretty funny when you don't censor yourself"


Me: "Yeah, I know, I'm HILARIOUS!!!!" (Laughing out loud to myself)


BF: "Like on your blog... you tell these awesome stories in real life and then you censor them for all of your friends that are Mormon or conservative.  You shouldn't.  It's your blog, tell your stories your way!"


Me: "Huh, I guess I kind of do that..." (no longer laughing)






So I guess that's my way of saying the censorship ends here.  I will apologize ahead of time if it offends anyone but I will not be leaving out the more hilarious bits of my life any longer because I'm afraid of offending someone or that one of my stories is too racy for someone to handle... because we all know how racy I am...

On Babies and Birth

It seems like 99% of the people we know are currently pregnant or have just had a baby.  I'm not even exaggerating, you guys.  I think BF and I are the only childless ones in our circles at work and in our personal lives (and we are completely fine with that for the time being, but yet, we are planning to have kids eventually, thanks for asking).  Other than the CONSTANT baby topics in our everyday conversations with these folks is also the talk of delivery  and child birth care.  Despite not having had children myself yet I have extremely strong feelings and opinions about how I will care for my body and my child through my pregnancy and through the delivery itself (and beyond, of course).


I bring this up because I am becoming increasingly frustrated with the people around me and their seeming lack of respect for other people's choices.  To each his own, of course, but when talking about your own child birthing experience, STOP TRYING TO TELL ME HOW I SHOULD DO IT.  


One may look at me and assume that I am the "norm" of women my age and that I probably fall into a lot of the same schools of thought that other women in their late 20's do.  In some areas this is completely true and in others it could not be further from the truth.  I don't think anyone (that doesn't know me very well) would assume that I try not to take medications unless I absolutely need them and that I try to avoid harmful chemical additives and use  more natural or alternative products because I don't go around shoving what I do in their face.  I do what I do for my own benefit and peace of mind and if others agree with it, then great and if they don't, well that's their choice.  


On this same topic, I feel like I do not fall into the societal norm category for child birth "planning".  My plan, when I eventually get there, is to try to have the best birthing experience possible by not giving birth in a hospital, by not having an epidural or pitocin, and by finding a midwife or practitioner that I trust to help me design a birth plan and follow it as best as possible for my health and safety and for the health and safety of my child.  It is my opinion that a woman's body was designed specifically for giving birth and that interfering by adding pain killers and medications is very risky and will detract from the overall birthing experience.  I am NOT saying that I look down on or judge women that choose to have an epidural or any medications, or give birth in the hospital etc.  There are sometimes circumstances that call for medical intervention and that will also be built into my plan in case things do not go as planned (which I am fully aware that they may not).  What I AM saying is that I do not need to be told that I "should get the epidural right away!" when I give birth or other little advice "gems" along those same lines.  It is also interesting that after that little nugget of advice was pushed at me the person then proceeded in the same breath to tell everyone that giving birth still really hurt even with the epidural and that it probably didn't make much difference.


At the time I held my tongue, but what I really wanted to say was, "Maybe you felt pain because your doctor had you in a seated half-reclining position in which was not conducive to giving birth.  Of course it hurt, you were pushing while your body was in a position that didn't allow for your pelvic bones to move out of the way! Also, maybe it hurt because you expected it to hurt?! Hmm".  But I did not.  Next time I will.  


Again, we all have our own opinions and feelings about what we should and want to do but they are OUR opinions and feelings and we need to respect that other people may (and most of the time, do) have differing opinions and feelings, and that's ok.  We should not be going around telling people what they should do, and instead listen to their experiences and let their learnings shape our plans for ourselves... however that may look.




Thanks for letting me rant today. 

A BIG Sigh of Relief

Wow it feels like my days are super full right now!  I've decided that I need to take a little break from things so I took a few days off so I have a nice long Memorial Day weekend to enjoy next week.  I cannot wait!  I am forbidding myself from doing wedding stuff that weekend because that is partially what I need a break from!


BF and I got Round 2 of the invitations sent out.  Now we are only missing addresses from a few random people that have moved recently so we should have them all out before the weekend starts.  Also, I ordered some acorns, etc as vase fillers to play with and see what I like the best for center pieces that finally came yesterday so this weekend I was hoping to play around with those and figure out what I'm going to want to really do.


Besides Wedding To Do's and yard work, I've been trying to run more consistently since it was something that sort of fell to the wayside this past winter.  I had been having trouble running outside a lot because my allergies were getting so severe. Even if I would take Benadryl before going out I would only last 5 or 10 minutes before my eyes were watering so much it looked like I was crying or sneezing about a million times in row; not too fun when you are trying to run.  About 2 weeks ago I went for an evening run and when I came home my chest felt really heavy and I could not stop coughing.  I felt pretty awful and had to just sit on the floor because I was too out of breath from coughing to do anything.  It took about an hour for me to feel ok enough to get up and shower and eat a snack!  


The next time I ran I made sure to take allergy meds an hour before I went out so that I knew they would have time to work.  Again, I came home coughing and exhausted and this time the rest of the night I felt super wheezy and even woke up the next morning feeling out of it with a heavy chest.  I called and made a doctors appointment since I was a little worried (with the wheezing and coughing) that it was more than allergies and wanted to get it checked out. My doc listened to my lungs and took my pulse ox and everything seemed fine, but she had the suspicion that I had allergy induced asthma that was being exacerbated by exercise so she prescribed an inhaler and then also gave me some other allergy meds to take.  I started taking my new meds (some steroid nasal inhaler, a sinus medication and then some really awesome allergy eye drops!) the next day and waited a few days before giving running a try.  When I did run, I was sure to take my inhaler BEFORE  I went out.  I had been warned that it may make me feel a bit jittery at first, but I was not ready for it when it actually happened!


 I took 2 puffs before my run as I was told to do and then off I went!  A few minutes in I started feeling... jumpy... I guess is the best way to describe it.  My lungs felt great and I wasn't wheezy or coughing or anything, but my heart was starting to race more than it normally does during exercise and my limbs felt not-quite-numb-or-tingly-but-not-quite-right, it was totally strange.  I was about 1.5 miles out when I decided I needed to pause my run and sit for minute until my heart rate came down a few ticks.  It was a totally strange experience, but my heart rate did slow back down after a few minutes and I didn't feel so weird.  I also didn't wheeze or cough or anything when I got home.  


I'm hoping that this inhaler takes care of the problem and that I can get back into running like normal again.  I'm also very grateful that my symptoms weren't signs of something more serious!

They're In the Mail!

Last night BF and I got down to wedding business and addressed about half of our wedding invitations and then stuffed envelopes while watching , "The Sitter".  I thought it was a pretty fun movie, and I am glad to have gotten a chunk of the addressing and envelope stuffing out of the way.  I put the first wave of them in the mail this morning, so here they come!


BF is so funny and as we closed the invites and put the stamps on he said, "Well, no backing out now!  You are stuck marrying me!".  Ah, that guy... we are in love.


So this weekend I'm hoping to chase down the rest of the addresses for the remainder of the invitations and then start looking for a florist... oh yeah, and continue looking for shoes.


In other completely unrelated news:  it's actually Spring here in the NW, complete with sun and warmer temperatures!  While I love living in Oregon, sometimes I just want to quit life and get the heck out of here to somewhere warm and sunny and not as wet.  But it's weeks like this when its sunny and everything is in bloom that I remember I live in a pretty fantastic place. 

Sunless and Sunny-less

Ok, so no new pet squirrel, which sort of depressed me last night.  I went home and told BF about it and moped for a few minutes about not having a pet squirrel, which then paved the way for me to mope about not having a mini tea-cup pig for a pet either... BTW, way cleaner than a dog (or two dogs).  Just saying.  It was not meant to be, Sunny the Squirrel and I, and so I move on.  I also raised the subject of BF and I eventually buying a place further out with more land so we could have a mini-farm of sorts.  I would seriously love that.  Also, I would work only part time because farms are serious business.  It wouldn't be a money making one, just one that can sustain our little family.  And I guess at that point it wouldn't be such a little family because I'd have myself, BF, the two dogs, Sunny the Squirrel, Poppy the tea-cup Pig, some chicken (because we go through a lot of eggs) and maybe a goat or two (hello, who doesn't love some goat cheese?).


I digress (probably for the better).


Anyhow, it's Friday!  Which is great because I have about a million things I want to get done this weekend and I can't do them while at work.  Tonight BF has his first 2 softball games of the season (rained out?  we'll see!) and the tomorrow Project Yard Demolition Day begins after the boys pick out their wedding attire.  Once the yard destruction and a run to the dump has been completed I need to log a few more miles and then get cracking on addressing wedding invitations.  I'm still missing a few addresses but I can't wait forever so some will just go out later than others.  At least the majority will go out at the same time.


Also, big news today- BF got an awesome summer job teaching at OMSI!  We are so excited because this is like his dream summer job- he gets to teach kids at OMSI for their summer camp programs (not sure what classes yet) and utilize their awesome space and supplies!  He's worked for summer camps before that were fun but not as well funded so some of the activities were limited.


Hope you all have a great weekend and are able to enjoy the end of sunless days!

Busy Days and Restless Nights

I feel like I've had completely FULL days, if you know what I mean.  Days where from the time I get up and get going to the time I change for bed I'm running at 110% to get everything done and when I'm not moving I'm mentally tallying everything I got done and everything that I still need to do.  None of it is bad stuff, it's just... stuff... all the things that make up one's life.  We have wedding stuff going on (and will until the actual wedding ceremony so that's not a new thing!) and we have house stuff happening which will probably continue for the next year or two until we get thing the way we want them and then I have work stuff going on.  I'm happy to say that I like where I am in all of these areas even if everything isn't perfect because I have a purpose.  Who knows what I would do with myself if I had no "to do" list (probably  be in amazing shape... or 500 lbs, who knows). 


Anyway,  you would think that I'd be sleeping like a baby, and usually I do, but the last few weeks have been challenging.  My allergies are difficult to handle right now and it seems that even though I'm keeping up with my medications and my prevention routines I'm still suffering some unpleasant symptoms that sometimes keep me from sleeping soundly through the night.  I've frequently woken up in the middle of the night with a nose gushing all sorts of unpleasantness onto my face or such itchy eyes that I have to get up and take a benadryl and eye drops in order to get back to sleep.  I've also noticed that my allergy meds make me super thirsty which means I've been drinking even more water than usual and that has lead to frequent nighttime bathroom trips.  My new approach has been to take a benadryl if I'm already having a bad allergy day as I go to bed and that way I don't wake up with icky symptoms at 2am... the meds usually last until about 5am and we wake up at 5:30 or so, so I'm not losing that much sleep.  


Aside from the allergy issues, BF has had a few restless nights where he has tossed and turned, therefore waking me up each time he wakes up.  Yesterday it was my intention to run after dinner, but as soon as I sat on the couch to let my food settle before the run I was out!  I guess sometimes sleep has to trump exercise.  


In other news, I finally measured our backyard so we could start planning out what exactly we are going to do there when we get it all cleaned up.  I took some pictures as well, so you can see what we are working with:

Looking from the patio out to the yard... but you can't see the whole yard.  I think they ran out of money and bought the cheap building bricks instead of paving stones to finish the walk way.  Also I wouldn't recommend walking on this "walk way" as it is not even and the moss makes it pretty slick in spots.

Further out into the yard... where most of the destruction/demolition has taken place.

The view of the largest part of the yard.

The pit of DESTRUCTION!!! that used to be a "water feature"...

Part of the paving stone patio that was next to the "water feature", along with our completely full bin of yard debris and pretty good pile of debris next to it.  Oh yeah, and the janky old trunk that was left for us to clean up.

More of the yard, but facing the house.

The view from the far back fence toward the house.  We have a completely unusable corner on the left side of the photo... we may be building a tiny shed to hold  yard tools for that corner.  Who knows.

Anyhow, so that is what we are working with and what we've been up to.  I wish I had an aerial photo of the yard so I could mark all of the areas where we dug up dead or dying plants.  The rose bush you see above by our window is literally the ONLY bush we left since it seems to be pretty hardy and just in need of a good pruning.  

As I mentioned yesterday, we are planning on getting all of the junk out of the yard on Saturday afternoon so I will take a few more pictures of the "clean" yard and then progressives as we do more work this spring and summer.

And on a completely unrelated note, a squirrel followed me in the parking lot at work today.  It was SO WEIRD.  At first I thought it was just hopping along doing squirrel stuff, but then I realized that it was actually following ME.  I stopped and it would get close to me, but not too close, and wait.  And I would walk and it would walk.  I would walk and stop a few times, just to be sure it was, indeed, doing what I thought it was and I was correct.  A guy walking behind me stopeed and said, "Hey!  I think that squirrel is following you... did you feed it?".  Of course I hadn't, but I DID take a picture because I'm pretty sure it was a baby squirrel.  I debated taking it with me into the office because it seemed sad and like it needed a human friend but then I got all paranoid that maybe it had rabies and thats why it was acting all weird and following people OR maybe it was a domesticated squirrel that was abandoned, like maybe that squirrel on the news that can waterski. I struggled with it for several minutes before I entered the building and then again when I got to my desk and decided that if it was still out there when I went out again I was taking it to the vet and possibly keeping it as a pet (providing that it didn't have the rabies).

I haven't left work yet, but you will know tomorrow if I have a new squirrel pet named Sunny.  It just seemed like the correct name to give him/her PLUS its unisex.  Also, I've never brought a pet home to BF unannounced so I wonder how that would go.  I feel like it would go much better than it used to when I lived with my parents... who, I should mention, now own 2 cats because I brought them home unannounced as well.  What can I say, cute animals are hard to leave.  This is also why we have 2 dogs.  I don't know if I've ever told that story, but when we got Nora we were just planning on going to SEE the puppies, not take one home.... hahaha.

Mental Unloading

 I haven't posted for a while so I'm  in need of an unloading of sorts to get my mind back in order and to get everyone caught up!


As I last told you BF and I had picked out our wedding cake flavors and ordered the cake.  A few days after that we met with a potential photographer who we absolutely loved and booked him as well.  Because it's still a little icky out we decided to postpone our engagement photos until mid-late June when we will be more likely to have a few nice days (fingers crossed!).  I went to the craft store a couple of days ago and got a few center pieces elements so I can try some ideas out and see what we actually want to do.  I've been putting Pinterest to great use for floral arrangements and center piece ideas so I'm confident we'll be able to pull together some great arrangements!


I've also made an appointment for later this week to meet with a hairstylist and start building a wedding day look.  We meet tomorrow and I have TONS of pictures and ideas for her and I cannot wait to see what we can do.  Nothing too complicated, just a nice polished look for the day.  I'm starting to address the invitations this week which is surreal and I am realizing that this wedding is actually happening.  There are a ton of little details that I'm still working on this week like finding a pillow or box for the ring bearer to take down the aisle and finding myself some shoes.  I think I'm leaning towards some cute flats so I can dance the night away and not have sore feet or a twisted ankle at the end of the night.


BF and the boys are going suit shopping this weekend, and I'm tagging along of course, so I'm confident they will have that buttoned up as well.  BF and I need to go wedding band shopping to pick out our bands, but I feel like that is not a pressing detail at this point.  I also still need to find a florist, and I've found a few online that I think I might like so I just need to set up time to go visit them and see what they offer and if one will fit better than the others. 


Moving past wedding stuff, I've had a REVELATION of epic proportions because of Zooey Deschanel regarding my iPhone.  I've had my iPhone 4S for a few months and I've never used Siri.  It wasn't until I saw the iPhone commercial with Ms. Deschanel using Siri for a multitude of things that I said to myself, "What am I doing NOT using this?  I am insane!" and have proceeded to use her to create appointments and reminders and to check the weather and to find stores close to me, etc, etc ad naseum.  And it was all because Zooey is the most disgustingly adorable human being on the planet (I mean that in the most complimentary way possible).  Also, the other day I caught another iPhone commercial with Samuel L. Jackson that made me laugh so hard and now I'm quoting it even though it doesn't make much sense to quote... only BF gets it because he was there when I laughed at said commercial... this is why we are getting married.  Anyhow, Siri is AWESOME.  Also, she understands what I'm saying when I get excited and speak rapidly or mumble a  lot little bit.  I'm impressed.  And what reminders and I having Siri put on my To Do list?  Mostly wedding stuff and yard work stuff.  


Which leads me to what we've been doing in our spare time that isn't wedding related:  yard demolition!  This past weekend BF's dad came over and helped us tear down all the crap that the previous owners piled and "built" in the back yard.  I use the term "built" very loosely because mostly things weren't built as much as half-stuck.  I pulled up every single bush that they planted up and it's no wonder most of them were dead because the root balls had not been undone when they were planted so most of the plants came right out of the ground easily without any digging in a perfect round container shape.  We left the one rose bush because I think it can be rehabbed.  We also tore up the "water feature" that was in the corner of the yard and now we have a gaping hold that we need to put dirt into.  BUT along those same lines the corner of our yard that was behind the water feature is a good foot and a half higher than the rest of the yard because I think that is where the previous owners dumped the dirt that they dug out of the hole for the water feature in the first place.  SMART.  Not, but my solution is that when we re-do the sod, etc in the yard in a couple of weeks that we also build a little retaining wall there so we don't have to move the tree to level the yard in that corner.  I think it will look kind of cute, plus that corner isn't really usable space anyway.


I have yet to pull up all of the bricks and paving stones from the yard because when I started to we realized that there were millions of ant colonies living under them so we had to spray for bugs FIRST to kill them and then we will probably pull the rest of them up this coming weekend.  The plan is to rent a truck on Saturday so we can haul all of the crud to the dump (I seriously  need to take pictures of some of the stuff in our yard because it's insane... or maybe I just have high standards).  I'm excited to be cleaning it all up and creating a nice space for us to enjoy this summer and fall.


So those are the goings on with us right now... next time I'll update you on all of the work events I'm currently working on as they deserve a post of their own!