Morning Enthusiasm

Do you ever wake up in the morning with such enthusiasm for the day? Thinking you can get so much accomplished and that everything will just work out? That's how I felt when I got up one non-rainy morning (not too long ago) to find the sun flooding the yard! I gleefully picked-up the yard, raced around with Reese and his favorite ball for a bit and then when he wasn't quite ready to go in yet, I figured I would put in the edging to create the triangle garden bed around my scrawny maple tree that is actually growing the year!! See the two levels of leaves? It makes me giddy knowing it's finally growing!

Anyway, the bed is a triangle because of the boulder in the yard. Too high to pull grass up over (that would look silly) so I figured, why not make a garden there and make the most of the break in the lawn. Lawn is a term used loosely at my house - it means green stuff since it's not all grass :-)
So my perfect morning was moving right along until I whacked my hand with the rubber mallet I was using to put in the edging. OUCH!

I'm not sure how well you can see it here, but I really got myself pretty good on the inside of my thumb and first finger. Hurt like the dickens at the time but the pain went away fairly quickly..... then the bruise started growing. and growing. So I stopped the project and took Reese for a walk instead. 

On a slightly related topic (yards and gardens).... This is the way a few of my neighbors divide the 'woods' from the 'yard'. I was thinking it was interesting in the spring but was curious as to how it would fill out.

Here it is again all filled out with summer leaves! I think it's really pretty and a nice long stretch of low maintenance plants/garden bed that creates the border. Granted, we have a LOT more border and 'woods' but something to think about as I finish clearing out the brush under the trees along the driveway this year. The soil there is very sandy and there isn't much to it, but hostas in a bit of good dirt over the top might just be the answer!

Happy Birthday, Mum!

This is last year's celebration since we'll be getting together this weekend :-)
I'll be sure to post a new picture!

Part 3 of the Deck (saga!) - C'est Fini!!

TA-DA!

in celebration - we grilled!

so to re-cap - Part 1 = icky deck

Part 2 - power washing truly shows how much dirt accumulates (GROSS!) and how it hides the wear and tear of the deck

Part 3 - ENJOY THE BEAUTIFUL DECK! wahoo! We are now good for another 2 yrs!

Time to eat yet? :-)

Part 2 of the Deck (saga!)

All Hail the power-washed deck!

and no more black black mildew

but now it definitely needs some new stain!

hello wear-and-tear on my deck stairs!

YEP! a bit of sanding is due as well.

Part 1 of the Deck (saga!)

This is from the real estate photo when the house was new

Here's what it was when we bought it -
you can already see the boards wearing

So we power washed it and stained it ourselves!
one of our first home-owner projects - Woo!

but after 2 winters it now looks like this - ICK

and this. Super ICK. it's almost green in some places!

The deck has not worn well and several boards are cupping and holding standing water along with lovely mildew and waaaay tooo much dirt for my liking. So it needs to be power washed, sanded, nails pounded back in and re-stained/sealed.
Next post I'll be back with progress pictures!!

Father's Day!

We met up with my parents at the Burlington Mall for a late lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

Then Mum and I managed to get in some shoe shopping

before we rounded out the day at the Cheesecake Factory for dessert and coffee - YUM! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day!

Filling in the Blanks

I planted some new lilac shoots this morning while it was cool and the ground was damp. They are white lilacs to add a bit of spice to the classic purple.... that is if they ever get old enough to have flowers! but anyway, I needed something to fill in some of the spaces left by little shoots that didn't make it.

I put 3 in the biggest hole by the edge of the garage

One in the middle of bulbs which I put to there to help fill in gaps

and 2 more on the other end - the deck is to the right of this photo

I hope they all grow fast-fast! The plan for this garden bed along the boring/ empty garage wall is to fill it with  a lilac hedge of sorts :-)

I'm just checking off the little projects as I go!

Wisconsin

Last week Matt traveled to Wausau, WI for work leaving Reese and I home to work, walk and hang out by ourselves. Wausau is apparently small enough that they turn off the traffic lights at night and true to WI style, smother everything in cheese!! Matt came home asking for something light and crisp with no cheese, no cheese curds and no fried anything for a few days!!

While Reese & I missed Matt (of course!) we spent our early evenings walking & playing in the yard

never far away, Reese kept a close eye on me all week

I couldn't go anywhere without my shadow :-)

And even if his constant company made him a bit 'underfoot' at times, he certainly made the house less empty and kept me moving and laughing! I only wished I could have kept him with me all the time!

Learning About the Septic Tank

Ah, the joys of home ownership!

I don't know about you, but this is our first house and the first time we've had a well and septic system. The well we learned about during last summer's lightening strike (yikes!) and this summer? well, we get to learn about our septic tank...nothing happened, just a discussion between neighbors that made us realize we should know more!

Our house isn't that old (4yrs) and we've been living in for 3. Before us it was empty. Also note, that we share a leach field and secondary tank with our neighbor and condo association partner. This means that each unit has it's own small tank which then feeds into a large tank that leaches grey water out into the yard under the grass.

After speaking with numerous colleagues (owners of septic tanks), a home inspector and a septic tank company there was a decision to be made about how often the individual smaller tanks should be pumped. Some colleagues said every year, while some said never (ummmm?!) but we really felt that somewhere in the middle is where we should be going. This is where the home inspector and septic tank company came into play: The home inspector said that for only 2 people in the house and because of the double tanks we could probably have the septic pumped every 8-10 years and be safe while the septic company stated that to ensure we have no issues, the smaller tank should be pumped every 4-5 years.

So Matt and I talked about it and we are going to have it pumped next summer. ie, 4yrs for people living in the house, 5yrs since it was installed. Ultimately, it's your own decision but Matt and I figure, rather than waiting for an issue that costs thousands of dollars and requiring digging up the back yard, we'll cut our losses and have it done every 4-5yrs. Our neighbor? She just had her side pumped yesterday (3yrs).

Here's to the learning of septic tanks and decisions made!

What has your house taught you lately?

Isabelle Visit

Friday after work, I went over to Street 360 in Portsmouth to meet up with Aunt Maggie, Lisa and Isabelle for a yummy dinner!!

Aunt Maggie's Killer salad!

Lisa's yummy burger :-)

Isabelle's chicken fingers

My bun-less burger and tapioca chips - gluten-free!!

Iced Tea was great for cooling off and there is no pic of the
SUPER tasty Curry Fries because they were so good they vanished!

After dinner, Maggie and Lisa went home and Isabelle climbed into my car for a weekend of lazy fun. ie, how can we stay cool in 94 degree HUMID heat icky-ness?
We hit up the grocery store early Saturday morning and spent the rest of the day sitting in the wonderful AC watching TV and making these delish no-bake (no oven for us!), healthy chocolate coconut coffee balls. Don't worry! They don't take long to make :-)

The recipe comes from Mark's Daily Apple: To read more: http://www.marksdailyapple.com/cocoa-and-coconut-snacks/#ixzz2VNF6r1uw

1/2 cup each:

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Pecan nuts
• Hazel nuts
• Pumpkin seeds
• 3-6 dates
• 2-4 tablespoons virgin coconut oil

To taste:

• Unsweetened cocoa powder
• Freshly ground coffee
• Shredded coconut

Instructions:

Run the nuts and pumpkin seeds in a food processor until ground into a fine flour.Remove the nut flower and grind the dates and shredded coconut in the food processor until smooth. Mix these ingredients together with coffee and cocoa powder according to taste. Finally, add the coconut oil and mix it all together by hand. Roll the paste into small nibbly balls and sprinkle them in shredded coconut.

By Saturday night we were ready for a change of scenery but knew we'd still need AC, so after a quick review of what was playing at the  local theatre, off to the movies we went! We saw EPIC, which was fun and light-hearted. It reminded me of Fern Gully - I know, I'm dating myself!! - but the music was good and the cast was great to listen to. We gave it two thumbs up!

Sunday was filled with sleeping late, BRUNCH!, a quickly sorted basement project - Isabelle is super fast! and playing with Reese - who truly enjoyed having 2 people chase him for the ball :-)