Spring!

This morning was gorgeous. I spent most of it outside, repotting plants and watching the cat race across the yard like a maniac. It was glorious.

Easter Weekend

I'll say it again, three day weekends are where it's at.

The weather here is finally starting to feel like spring, so we spent most of our weekend outside. Eric moved the gas line (in preparation for our new back door), and I did a few little projects around the house.

The first was inspired by these planters from West Elm Market. I really like black pots (which are super hard to find) and I've been wanting some herb planters so this was the perfect opportunity. I bought three terra cotta planters from Home Depot, and an hour later, voila!

 The only thing is, chalkboard paint is like...three times as expensive as regular paint so I used cheap, black matte paint for the first few coats, and then re-coated the rims of the pots with chalkboard paint.

And then, on Easter Sunday, we had a few friends/co-workers over.

It was really relaxing. I'm looking forward to more spring weekends ahead!

Garden Update

Look what has happened in the last two days!!!!!!!

The corn and zucchini are the most noticeable plants, but the carrots, basil and chives are coming in nicely as well! The only thing I'm worried about is the squash - only one little plant has come up in that region... So exciting! Now we just have to keep from killing them!

Landscaping

I totally forgot to show what my parents and I accomplished while they were here (over a month ago). Ta Da!

We have to get a stump grinder for the big stuff, and poor Eric still has some littler stumps to dig out, but this side yard should soon (and by soon I mean, "most likely next year") be a lush patch of grass.

And this area....I'm not sure....we planted some grass that Bill Murray gave us, it should grow to be pretty tall....maybe a couple of low-ish bushes...? We'll see.

I have continued the rock removal on my own.....

We still have no wheelbarrow so I've been using the flowerpots in this picture to carry the rocks. It's a super good workout :) I've gotten all the way up to the tree in the corner; I'm waiting to finish because the poppy plant plant the other side of the tree is about a day away from blooming. After that happens, I can finish 'er up!

This area was so full of weeds before; it will be really nice to have it turned into low-maintenance grass!

Easter Weekend

This weekend was so much fun! I love not working! :)

Eric and I had Friday off and, since it was sleeting out, we pulled up the carpet in the back bedroom. I love ripping up the carpet in this house. The hardwood is so gorgeous, it's like tearing into a really great present. Another birthday present! 

A.G. really likes when we work on the house. He finds all kinds of new places to play.

Joe arrived just as we were finishing the back room, so we hung out with him before putting him on rock removal duty the following day.

You would not believe how many rocks there on are this side of the house. We didn't even come close to finishing this up; we kept finding roots upon roots of trees that had been hacked down, and more and more layers of rock and weed barrier. All this FINALLY convinced Eric (for reals this time), that this area is a mess and that we need to get rid of everything and start over with grass. FINALLY. It's going to take a while, though.
After we had some lunch, Joe took a nap while Eric and I made our garden!

Eric's version of American Gothic

We really wanted a garden this year, but the soil in the back of our yard is much too rocky and dry for anything to grow. So we built some boxes, stained them, lined them with weed barrier, and filled them with dirt. Voila! A garden! We were really excited when we finished, then realized that we had just completed some really classy cat toilets. We'll have to fence them in somehow. Maybe with the fencing we're removing from the side of the house....?