This is why I keep him around...

....because sometimes, he's just so darn funny. Frustrating, but funny.

So yesterday I talked Chris into working on the grout removal in the bathroom. It didn't take him long to agree with me that the HCL didn't do a darn thing (except stink up the place!). But then he had a great idea....and got out the Dremmel. A rarely used device in my house, so sometimes we forget we have it. Anyway, after much trial on an extra tile, he found just the right tip to take the grout off but not damage the tile. I went in to check things out and after showing me how easy (but tedious) the job was....he attempted to poke me in the butt with the Dremmel.

I jumped away and glared at him that he would "rip a hole in my favorite pajamas!" (Hey, it's vacation here, remember?) He obviously didn't believe me and to prove his point stuck the Dremmel on the side of his shirt. It immediately ate the shirt up, wrapping the whole thing around it until it just couldn't pull anymore. He just looked at me with a look of shock and amazement and exclaimed "I didn't think it could DO that!" Sure enough, once he got his shirt unwrapped from the monster Dremmel, there was a big hole in it.

Anyway, since I stuck him with the suck job and it was a beautiful day, Celia and I went outside to work. And by beautiful day, let me just say I could not have made a better day myself! Somewhat cool and breezy so I didn't even have to get sweaty when doing my yard work, but sunny enough to be pleasant.

I got all the weed eating done (on a side note, my arms do not hurt when I use that thing, but for about an hour afterwards, I seem to lose all fine motor skills in my hands and arms....does this happen to anyone else or is it just me being weird?)
Then I got to spread more mulch on the last area of my side garden that needs it. I don't know if I've shared the mulch saga with you.....but we have a mountain of free mulch right outside out fence that needs spread. See, there's a guy down the street that cuts down trees for a living. He mulches them up, but has to pay a dump fee somewhere unless he can give it away to a neighbor or someone.

That's where we come in. Anyway, a few weeks ago he brought a really nice batch of hardwood mulch and dumped it off behind the fence. It makes me feel all green and environmentally conscience to use it....since it's all natural and untreated and stuff. Plus, I feel all radical, bucking corporate America and spitting in the face of Walmart and their overpriced bags of mulch. But only in the backyard. I love my black much in the front of the house so out there I'm an ozone sucking capitalist pig.....but in the backyard we're all green and earthy.

Now, this fresh, natural mulch looks great, but it has a few drawbacks. First, it's still decomposing. Which means it's got this....smell about it. Not as bad as manure or anything, but still, not all that pleasant. But only around the big rotting pile. Once you spread it out, it seems to dissipate the stink.

The other thing, it's hot. It seriously puts off some heat. Our good friends down the street put clear plastic over theirs. Between the trapped heat of the sun and the heat put off by the chemical breakdown process, you could seriously burn your hand on that thing. No joke. It steams and everything!



I'm afraid of spontaneous combustion, so I leave ours uncovered. Plus it helps keep those pesky neighbor kids out of the yard!

My mom tells me that it's really not good to put that fresh, still decomposing mulch on growing plants because it uses nitrogen that my plants need. I tell her to shush up with that science talk before my plants hear it. See, they don't seem to know the difference and are doing fine with my free mulch. All I need now is for someone to clue them in on the fact that they could whither and wilt and demand the store treated stuff (or that I patiently weed around them for a whole year and spread the mulch next year).

Here are some more pictures of my plants, doing well!

My monstrous pumpkin plants. Look at this guy! He's huge! Reaching out into the driveway even!



And in the mornings, they are covered with the huge, gorgeous yellow-orange flowers.



These are my peas that were so teeny tin y when I put them out....they've taken up every inch on the tee-pea I made them. I'm definitely going for a bigger one next year.



And here is an actual pea pod. Actual food, that could be eaten by people, growing in my garden. Amazing.



This is the final section that I finished laying down week block fabric and mulching yesterday. You can see a slight color difference between the new and what has been out for a few weeks, but after a few days of sun and rain it will all look the same. There's a baby Clematis at the foot of that trellis. It saw in a box in my kitchen for well over a month, but still looked a little green to I tossed it out there on a whim. We'll see how that works!



Here are some bright new arrivals in the front of my yard. Some lily thing...



And some summer crocus-y thing. I don't remember exactly what they are, because I didn't write it down. But I think they are pretty! And even better, they will be back next year. And multiply!



Alright. So here are the as promised photos of the front. Isn't it awful? I've got all this disorganized stuff in the back (those spikes are Gladiolas....I think they'll be fabulous when they bloom ) and nothing but bare mulch in the front. Some neighbors down the street have a beautiful patch of poppies that I'm in envy of....but those are quite tall and really don't belong in the front.....


Thoughts? Ideas?

Vacation

Well, Chris finally took some time off work! After I got over my brief panic that maybe hell was freezing over or Armageddon was coming.....we settled down to do some work.

See, our (my) big plan is that we use this week to get a bunch of home improvement stuff done...plus do some fun local things later in the week. Jordan has school through tomorrow afternoon, so we have some time to kill around the house.

Yesterday went really well. I got the ceiling painted in the new bathroom, he put up some of the lights. I got a LOT of weeding done and cut back my daisies. I have some new flowers to show you. I know some of you are wondering why I only give close ups...well....while I have some really nice individual flowers, the big picture is still a work in progress. I'll take some large shots and share with you the sad shape of of my gardens overall soon. My big problem in the backyard is that the daisies are in the front of the bed (they are too big to be there, I'm moving them next year) and the peas have grown too big for for the cute little tee-pea I built. I just couldn't fathom them being so big when they were seedlings, so I went with the 4 ft bamboo. Should have gone for the 8 ft!

The front is just kind of unorganized chaos.....which isn't a total bad thing except there are spaces of nothing but mulch, and spaces of total flower overpopulation. Give me a few years and I think it will look nice. Luckily my neighbors aren't all uppity about things like curb appeal!

Today I stuck Chris with the nasty job of removing grout from tiles. I've been working at it a little each day, but it's a messy job. Frankly I'd like to take a shower today and stay clean for awhile.

Here's my aside on laying tile. It's pretty easy. BUT, don't, under any circumstances, let that grout dry on your tiles. Start wiping right away. That's what I did with the floor (you know, after I learned on the walls how fast it dries!) and it came out beautiful. But the walls, we were too slow. And now the grout won't come off. I've found the best way it so scrape at it with a wooden shim (won't damage your tile like metal might). I've got most of the grout lines themselves looking pretty good things way. Chris is not fond of this method and is trying ti remove anything left in the center of the tiles with a grout remover. Hydrocloric acid. Very stinky. No thanks.

We did take the kids our to the rail-trail again last night and walked 2 miles on the MCTrail. It includes a really nice tunnel. Celia actually walked (okay, ran) over a mile of it! Anyway, I forgot the camera, but I promise (PRO-MISE!) that I'll take it next time to share with all of your the beauty of the northern WV rail-trails.....or more likely, the beauty of my kids playing on the rail-trail.

Curly Girl

Well, Friday was kind of a down day, so Celia and I decided to play with her hair. We put it up in the cutest little twisties (because it was also blooming hot all day!) and by evening, she had some curls!

She still has that soft, thin baby hair though, and after sleeping on those curls all she had left the next day were a few pretty waves. I'm sorry, but have you ever seen a little girl quite so pretty?

Don't be fooled by that pretty face though. Chris says she was wretched all during the game. Even my friend who usually compliments Celia on her sweet nature commented that she was a fireball. In fact, at one point she was so loud that she distracted me from my coaching from all the way across the field. Apparently, two games within 24 hours is just too much soccer for a toddler to watch.

Stay tuned for highlights from our weekend games and other escapades!

Hubby has a blog!

Well, he talked about it forever ago, then got bored with thinking about it and forgot. Now he has decided to jump the bandwagon and get his own blog.

He's telling me it's going to be about recording and mixing and all that sound stuff he's into. But I'm sure he'll mention me. At least once. Especially if I bug him nonstop until it's blog about me or kill me.

So without any further ado, please check out what Chris has to say at Sound Thoughts!

Amy Winehouse - Rehab

Seriously, what is up with this song?



I had Chris's car going to the store the other day. Since I barely know how to work his radio, I just left it on the station he listens to....WVAQ. Which I usually dismiss as pop crap, but every once in a while something will come on that surprises me.

So this song starts up. It's got a cool retro 50's laidback rhythm, and some almost Blues Brothery horns. This girl starts singing....and she's got a real unique voice. I like that, being different. Not like the 1001 other half breathy - half throaty pop starlets out there today.

But then I start listening to the lyrics. Seriously, my first thought was "Is she making fun of Nicole Richie?" Guess not, but they are slightly disturbing nonetheless. It's another one of those "pop icons are responsible for the message they send out" rants. Really. Kids today have problems. They are getting in trouble. Please don't encourage them to avoid rehab.

That aside...the timing is off. HER timing is off. In just a few spots, but it bugs me. It must be on purpose, because you can produce a song so that an atonal girl with no rhythm sounds great and sings right on the beat. But I can't fathom why someone would put that little 1/2 beat catch in there on purpose. Just to bug the crap out of me.

So I had to watch the video, just to see if it gave me any insight. Not really, but I did get to see her hideous eye makeup. Again....I know this girl has a stylist. Who looked at her face and said "Yeah, that's good. That's the look we're going for!"?

I must be really old and out of touch.

Domesticated Flowers

They are by no means wild. These are some very tame and well-behaved. They are also examples of survival of the fittest. I am not a gardener. No green thumbs here.


This is the Gerbera daisy in a flower pot on the porch. I love this thing....but it guzzles water like nothing I have seen before! It's also in need of some more Miracle Grow...it's looking a little dull.


These are the roses in the front of my house. They were here when we moved in 8 years ago. That alone tells you how hardy they really are!



This flower is a favorite of my husband. It's called a Red Hot Poker. He can't even look at the thing without snickering. Enough said.


This is my new favorite. It's called Nasturium. Or something like that. Anyway, my friend told me that you just throw the seeds down anywhere...preferably in the wort soil you can find. And they will grow. And don't you love it....I threw them down and they grew.



These are my daisies. They were my very first gardening triumph. I started them from seed about 5 years ago . They've been divided and transplanted many times. And next year they will move again. For some strange reason I planted them right in the front of my new bed. You know, completely blocking anything else from sight. Next year I plan to use some with tall grasses at the front of my porch and move the rest to the back of this bed.

Remember these guys? I started them from seed back in April...and here they are doing well in my garden. I'm so pleased!

Here are the pumpkins:



And the peas:



Lastly, this is a box of cactus on my front porch. Someone dropped them off a few weeks ago....and I have nothing to do with them. I don't want to put them in the yard because, well, the kids will probably fall in them. I'm afraid to throw them out in the trash because I'm afraid the trashmen might get poked. So there they sit. Celia picked one up last week and I got to remove the teeny little spines that you can't even hardly see. It was fun.


Notice that even though they've been sitting in a box for three weeks, with no soil or water, they are still growing. New little buds all over this bugger.

A Week in Pictures

Here are a few photos from the last week that I haven't got around to posting.


Jordan opening gifts at his party.



Yeah, here's the Wii!



Celia splashing in her new baby pool!



Squirting some duckies!


Chris playing the Wii!