What Progress Looks Like

The landscaping project is coming along a little bit ahead of schedule, despite being out of commission for a few days due to a nasty cold and some other work projects.  Thanks to some nice weather and an even nicer Dad who went to the lawn supply store and picked up 13 bags of mulch and drove them to my house for me, I have accomplished more than I expected at this point.  As of this evening, everything is weeded and ready for mulch and one area is completely done.  After using 5 bags of mulch on just one relatively small area, I can tell that I grossly underestimated how much I would need.  Dad, if you're reading this, we may need to talk about an extra shipment.  Aside from that, I haven't really run into any problems.  Even the weed extravaganza that is growing next to the garage hasn't been the horrible project I thought it would be.  Weather and time permitting, I'm hoping that all of the mulching and garden bed outlining/cleaning up will be done by the end of next week.  After that is the fun part--planting flowers in pots and baskets and adding color.  I refuse to buy any flowers until the rest of the work is done; that will be my reward for finishing everything else. 

Today was busy.  This was my setup while I finished weeding the backyard flower bed:

This lasted all of about 15 or 20 minutes, until she decided that being in Pack 'N Play jail was torture.  She would have much rather played on a blanket in the grass, but I didn't want to worry about her rolling away (that's her preferred method of transportation: rolling.  And she's fast.)  Thankfully naptime came soon after so I could finish this section:

This is the area that took 5 bags of mulch, somehow.  I also trimmed everything like crazy, dug up an old tree stump that was in the middle, and tore out 3 other bushes that no longer fit and/or were not healthy.  I plan to put a big flower pot with bright white and red flowers in the middle of this to finish it completely.

Also done today:  more tearing out of weeds, ugly/dying/ill fitting bushes along the side of the house, clearing out the flower bed in the back of the house, trimming bushes, and cutting down and clearing out those mini maple tree/weeds along the side of garage.  Phew.

Thankfully the ice cream stand at the beach opened just in time.  I think I earned this today:

Mitchell's Ice Cream, how I love you so.  And it seems like I'm not the only one--a certain little girl sampled some today.  Here she is waiting for Daddy to give her a taste:

YUM.

"More?"

 After ice cream we went for a drive, but not all of us could stay awake that long.

 I hear you, girlfriend. 

 

All of my yard tools and lawn bags are still outside.  It's not supposed to rain, so they're staying there until tomorrow; I'm beat.  Time to lay on the couch and watch Waiting for Guffman.  If you're not familiar with it or other Christopher Guest movies, you should look into it--Best in Show is a good starting point, and my personal favorite :)

Good night.

~Stacy