I never posted an “after” photo of my backyard home-improvement project…
Also, here’s my sister and me at my party from Saturday night.
And last but not least, here’s a photo of Harley the Wonder Schnoodle, asleep in my lap. The feet on the left are mine, the feet on the right are my sister’s.
One more thing… my beloved Baylor Bears made the NCAA Tournament! Yea! We play Thursday night–I’m putting my money on the green and gold.
Am I ever too old to post a good grade on my refrigerator? That 15-page research paper (actually, HALF of a research paper, the rest is due next month) was SO hard for me to write. I felt no confidence when I turned it in… I think I always assume everybody else in the class is so much smarter than me, and once I turn in a real paper, my professor will realize I have no business being in my program. But somehow I made a 97! And I must say, I’m a little giddy!
I love, LOVE my new patio. Tonight after I got home from school and ate my late dinner, I took my Bible and sat out on the back porch to prepare my Sunday School lesson for this week. We’re expecting a big storm tonight, and I’ve been listening to the wind howl and watching it make my decorative twinkle lights dance as they hang from the roof. We’ve been bracing for this storm all day… the weatherman promised a doozie, and I was worried I wouldn’t make it home before it hit. But now I’m safe at home, and as long as it doesn’t blow my house away, the sound of the rain will probably help me sleep. That is, if I don’t fall asleep right here in my chair… it’s so peaceful.
Today after church a bunch of us went to the park and played soccer. I’m terrible at soccer. I’ve only played once or twice. Ever. But it was a blast. I can cross working out off my list for the day, and it was a lot more fun than running mindlessly on a treadmill. The weather was beautiful, nobody kicked me in the shin (although I did hurt my big toe… no pedicures for me until it heals!), and my teammates kicked me the ball, even though we ALL knew there was absolutely NO WAY I would ever have a chance of scoring.
I guess it was worth missing my Sunday afternoon nap for. But I still snuck in a 20 minute snooze. Otherwise it just wouldn’t be Sunday.
Then tonight, I did my homework outside on my back patio as I listened to the wind blow in a storm. I am absolutely loving this warm weather.
I love to throw parties. I just love having people over, whether it’s two people or 75 (like my Christmas party). I love cooking for and getting to hang out with people I like in a comfortable, laid-back setting like my house.
A few weeks ago I got the grand idea to cook dinner for a bunch of my friends and have a game night. At first, I figured it might be 10. Or 15. It ended up being 25. That’s a lot of food!
When I went to Target Friday night around 9:00 and bought FIVE packages of chicken, FIVE bags of chips, FIVE packages of rice, TEN avocados, FIVE bags of salad and a gazillion other groceries (you get the picture)… the people at Target thought I was nuts. And I had a new appreciation for those ladies who have ten kids and have to cook for them every night. I just couldn’t do it. All these years of living on my own, I couldn’t imagine cooking for that many people on a regular basis. Or doing their laundry.
But one night was fun.
I served four big casseroles of my favorite King Ranch Chicken, plus all the sides, home-made guacamole, and dessert. It was so much fun preparing everything Friday night and Saturday morning, and when my friends started showing up (and kept showing up… even more than I had originally planned for) it was so much fun to serve them and then play games with them. My new motto… feed ’em then beat ’em!
Tonight is my first softball game! Yea! I was supposed to play last week, but it snowed. Tonight it’s going to be beautiful, and hopefully I can hit a few homeruns to propel my team to victory. Or something like that.
On another note, I randomly helped our local children’s theater, Casa Manana, get a defibrillator today. My friend who does P.R. over there called to ask me about it, I called a lady who raises money to buy them, and ba-da bang, ba-da boom, she has an extra AED that she’s willing to donate (normally they cost $1500… yikes)! Now those kiddos will be all set in case of an emergency. I wish everything was that easy.
My dad, the saint, came and finished my patio today while I was at work… which means the project is done! Well, actually, projects are never done… but this one is pretty close. I still need to add some more flowers to my new garden (those roses look kind of lonely), keep shopping for some patio furniture, and start saving for that grill. But the hard part is out of the way, thanks to my wonderful dad who worked SO hard on it.
And the best part is… tonight I am enjoying some beautiful bright pink roses on my kitchen table, cut from my garden! Not that I can take credit, since they were already there when I bought the rose bushes, but they’re officially my very first roses from my rose garden! Yea!
On another note… Today some of my coworkers and I went to the Reata for a lunch. We’re using them to cater an event in two weeks, so we had an excuse to go do a “tasting.” These are actually very important–at the tasting for my gala last month, the dessert turned out to be NASTY. If we hadn’t done a run-through, then my 180 guests would have been served a terrible dessert. Instead we made a last-minute change to something much better. Whew.
So back to the tasting… Reata is my absolute FAVORITE place to eat in the whole world. It’s kind of pricey so I rarely go, but I really do love it. Even more than pedicures. And today, because we were choosing between several different entree options for our upcoming luncheon, they served us THREE meals for TWO people! And on top of that, we just HAD to get dessert (their molten chocolate cake is to DIE for, as is their ice cream tacos, peacn pie… I could go on…). I got to take tons of leftovers home, so I enjoyed Reata for dinner tonight, and I’ll be having another meal for lunch tomorrow. Sometimes my job is really nice.
We’re almost finished with the patio/rose garden. Today was day three of work. Here are the “before” photos:
Here are some work-in-progress photos from Sunday of dad and me working on the patio:
I swing a MEAN pick-axe!
Here are photos of us building the rose garden:
Last night I finished the rose bed, although I’m going to add some decorative flowers around it later. These tiny rose bushes will supposedly be 4 feet by 4 feet in just three years. That is, if they can survive my green thumb.
Today dad came and finished laying most of the rock, and then started grouting. Tonight I have been sweeping and washing the rocks and grout every hour to get it perfectly smooth. Tomorrow or Thursday we hope to finish the rest. Here’s what it looks like with the wet grout:
This has been a much harder project than I had originally thought. I guess that’s how most home improvement projects go. I couldn’t have done it without my dad–he has done about 80% of the work, maybe more (today he worked on it while I was at work!). He’s such a good dad, and I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to hang out with him and learn how to do this project from him. I definitely lucked out in the parents department.
As soon as we finish, I’ll post the “after” photos.
Ingredients for my backyard make-over:
6-80 lb. bags of concrete
12-50 lb. bags of concrete
3,000 pounds of Arkansas red flagstone
2 hoes
1 pick-axe
1 shovel
8 bags of rose planting soil (aka–fancy schmancy cow manure)
3 rose bushes
Another ton or two of rock to border my rose garden
And we’re half-way there!
It’s been a busy two days. Yesterday my dad and I worked like dogs all afternoon, ripping out grass, pouring concrete, laying rock, and never stopping to rest. We did make a quick trip to Home Depot half-way through the afternoon, and we were so dirty we were barely recognizable. Homeless people look more presentable than we did. But who cares when you’re having fun? We really did have a wonderful time working together. My dad is really good at projects like this, and I enjoy learning how to do new things.
Tonight I finished off my rose garden… I have three beautiful (although small) rose bushes happily planted and watered and ready to grow to their projected 4 feet by 4 feet in the next 3 years. That is, if they live that long. The folks at Calloway’s promised me they would be fool proof. You basically stick them in the ground and water them every once in awhile, and they live all by themselves. I made friends with one of the nursery emloyees and he taught me all about how to take care of them. Hopefully my flowers will be as independent and low-maintenance as he promised!
I took lot’s of pictures, but I had friends over tonight and we stayed up late talking and now I’m too tired to upload them. But I promise to post before-and-after photos tomorrow! (hopefully)