New Look

So they've got some new template and customization options available. Which is why I haven't blogged. Keep spending my free time "designing".

I'm not sure I really like this one. The light green background makes me squint. Maybe. It's very gray/cloudy out right now so I'm depending on just the flourescent lights overhead, and have been staring at different color options and layouts for way too long. My eyes may just be worn out.

Did a major project with Shanni over the weekend. Added a 4' deep x 8' wide patio in front of the house, to the right of the door as you enter. It's basically where the flower bed used to be. Bought these stones from Hom.e Dep.ot (they're more a whitish gray in person)

It was quite a challenge. Took us about 4 hours, and 3 trips to the store. That includes the original trip, a second trip for the remainder of the stones (couldn't take them all in one trip - too heavy) and a third trip because we needed another bag of sand.

Shanni and I did squabble, both of us being so hard-headed, sure of ourselves and stubborn. ;) But surprisingly it wasn't as bad as some projects we've done.

She thought I was being too "anal" about leveling the stones. Especially when it meant the last three stones of the last two rows had to be re done. It was slanted backwards toward the house. Which would have caused water to pool in the middle. Just not something I wanted to deal with. Better to fix it now than later!

An Excellent Weekend

The weather was wonderful this weekend. Up in the high sixties, just a little rain Saturday afternoon/early evening.

Did a little grocery shopping Saturday morning, got some things to fix up the yard, and then spent the rest of the day until dinner crashed on the sofa. Started on a head cold last week. In an effort to head it off I took some cold meds that clogged up my ears. Nothing is working. Not Sud.a.fed (the real stuff you get from behind the counter), not the Mullein Garlic drops. My head hurts from doing the "fish" face trying to get my ears to clear. So this pm I'm off to the doc for stronger meds. Four days is long enough!!!

Little Sis and her family came over Saturday for dinner and cake. All of which they cooked. Including the cake in my brand new 9" spring form pan. (Thanks Sis!). That was awesome. No struggling to get the cake out of the pan. Then they came back on Sunday for my birthday present. This year they gave me, drum roll please, free labor. Yep. They spent about 3 hours working on my yard. Doing that wonderful spring cleanup stuff. Raking, mowing the weeds (hate hate hate Foxtail), and raking that up. Amazing how much stuff gets piled up against the fence on the inside of my yard. Especially considering I don't have any trees! Edging got done, too.

Along the west side of the house, where it's only 3 feet between house and fence, Little Sis and I got the weed blocker put down. At each end I put up decorative border. Now just need to get the pea gravel/rocks to lay down in there and it'll be done! No more weeding, no meters blocked. Love it.

Spent a considerable amount of time blocking holes so Leia will stop escaping. Bad thing is most of the chain link fence bottom is just against the ground. So she can dig a little and then push her way out. Sigh. But we got the worst of it blocked off, I think. Also got the gazillion rocks (former flower bed border) picked up. Now just need to get someone with a truck to take them to the dump. Going to call a landscaper/sod company about extending the yard along the garage. Hopefully it's within my budget. Otherwise, it won't be happening this year!

Only thing left to do is the front flower beds, and creating my patio out back.

Oh, and used the clippers I got for my bday (thanks Mom & Dad!) to cut the hair on Little Sis' Westie. The grubby little thing. Worked great. It was like a knife through butter. Amazing. And this dog has a LOT of coarse hair. :) All in all, it was a good weekend.

What's white with green splotches and red bumps?

Sitrep: 1x Lawn Mowing, Trimming, Edging

My legs after trimming/edging the lawn, that's what. They look like I was attacked with the blunt end of a pencil while being eaten alive by giant bugs. I've got little round bruises and red welts all over my legs from mid calf to mid thigh. Mostly around the knees/thigh area. Who knew trimming and edging the yard was so hazardous?

I admit to trimming only once last year...this year the quack grass has made it a necessity to trim just about weekly. This is the first day since I've had the trimmer/edger that it was warm enough to wear shorts. Actually, warm enough to require shorts. Too bad the stupid thing is so noisy, or I'd trim earlier in the morning before the heat gets too much for yard work in jeans...I guess I'd better get some light weight yard work pants.

But my yard looks nice. Mowed, trimmed, edged. Just don't look at the flower beds. Eeek. Gotta buy some weed killer and tackle that tomorrow. If it doesn't rain. It's already clouding up.

So I think I mighta upset my dad yesterday. Political stuff, naturally. [rolling eyes] I just never know when to shut up. It was about the political candidates and taxes and the housing crisis, and you know me. Run off at the mouth....or the email, in this case. ;) But I think all of 'em - Dems & Reps alike - have some stupid plans that will just waste money, and result in the taxpayer paying more. They might not officially raise taxes, but the end results will be the same....I was in a rush when I replied and referred him to one of my favorite sites - http://www.factcheck.org/ - and think I came across harsher than intended. :( I'm sorry Dad.

Well. Maybe I'll tackle the flower beds today...It's still lovely outside, and I'm actually feeling like being outside...even if the lilacs are blooming and the sky is clouding up. Maybe I'll get lucky and another team of fighter jets will fly over...that was spectacular this morning...there were 5 or 6 of them I think. Enough to have many of the neighbors coming outside to see what was up. An unusual sight and sound around here, even with the Fort. They were painted differently than I've seen before...maybe they were from the airshow up at Malmstrom last weekend. They definitely looked like an airshow team. And the way they were moving, the speed and maneuvers, coming from all different directions...Thrilled this AF Brat. :) It wasn't the Thun.derbirds or the Bl.ue An.gels. Maybe the Canadian team? The name escapes me momentarily, darn it, but they were at the airshow last weekend. I should make plans to take Shanni to it next year. That would be a blast!!

PS - Everyone repeat after me "Nat, you do NOT want a Pla.ystat.ion 3. NO YOU DON'T"

Petunias aren't Pansies

Although they may look similar. At least, they do to me. Do they to you?

Pansy - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pansy

Petunia - http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG1120.html

They're both pretty, so why does it matter? Well, here's what happened.

Sunday I made another return trip to Wa.lmart to get yet more items I'd forgotten to buy on my grocery run last Thursday. I decided (inspired by the gorgeous weather we've been having) to plant some flowers in the two large pots either side of my front door.

I've been thinking of getting pansies, because I've grown them before without problems, and because they are fragrance free. Yes, I get non-fragrant flowers...otherwise it's heck on my allergies, not to mention migraine inducing.

Yet while I was there, all I could remember was that the name started with "P". When I saw the Petunias, I thought "Hey, those look like them!" I made my little sister and her sibling smell them for me, both of them swearing they didn't have a scent. Then after yet another discussion on why I didn't want pink flowers (or pink anything!!! My little is no longer allowed input on paint selection or anything else involving colors.) I selected the ones I thought looked the best and put them in the cart. The rest of the time in the store and in the car, I kept thinking I smelled flowers, but thought it was just my sensitivity to the ones I'd been around in the garden department. (Those places are as bad for me in spring as candle & perfume aisles are year round!).

So we get them planted and I said "I could swear these smell". Both girls said again they didn't smell a thing. [g] So that night I decided to sit outside in the quiet evening air on my front step and soak up the ambience. Just relax, you know? And what do you think comes wafting up from both sides of me? Flower pefume. Yep. Those darn petunias smell. A nice spicy scent. Yet not so nice for my head. Sigh. And my migraine meds are too pricey at $60 per nine pills (yes, that's with insurance!) to justify keeping the flowers. So I now have $15.00 worth of petunias I need to relocate. Sigh. Problem is, only people I know that would take them would have them in places I frequently visit. And I still have to buy the pansies. That is, if I want to take another chance on planting flowers by the front door.

I'm second guessing that decision. :)