Emily and I decided to not let this be a typical lazy weekend. The weather was great – nice and cool with the sun shining. With all the wind storms over the last few months we had a yard scattered with broken branches – some so large, they even looked like little trees! Then we trimmed a ton of dead branches from the trees. I made a pile in the driveway about 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide. Going to take a while to get that scrapped and into trash cans.
Emily cleaned out the gardens – weeds, dried leaves, dead plants, and straightened up the boarder rocks. She filled two trash cans with crud. While she did that I gave the yard its first mow and spread some leftover mulch in our side garden. Mowing this yard is not a quick task. Very thankful for the in-laws riding mower. If I had to push mow this yard, I’d probably invest in a whole lot of ivy!
This morning I got out and put down some Scott’s weed and feed fertilizer. With all the work the previous owners put into the house, I don’t think they did much with the grass. I’ve never seen so many dandelions and “bad” grass. Probably going to take a couple feedings to take them all out.
Emily and I also started on our first project for the backyard. With the advice from my mom, we decided to start on a small project fist to get us motivated. The back yard needs TONS of work, but we picked a small 10×10 area just behind the house next to our stairs that come into the yard. It was a bit of an eye sore because the previous owners dogs used it as a sleeping area and it has a large cement slab that covers an old cistern. We are building a retaining wall there with 8 inch lodestone blocks and will fill that area with Irish Moss. Behind that, we plan to maybe put in some hostas, and a vine to grow on the trellis covering the stairs. We may also do another trellis against the wall for the vine.
So we laid down part of that this evening – at least the test run. Then we will need to back fill.
Glad we got that done this weekend as the weather is now predicting snow and rain Monday and Tuesday and low 40s-50s with rain the rest of the week.
That will sure make going to Florida Thurs – Sunday more worthwhile 🙂
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Happy birthday Brian (Uncle Bri). Hope you have a great, relaxing day! Looking forward to dinner tonight 🙂
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Trying to prep the Yamaha FZ6 so its in a really good sellable condition. The battery died from lack of use over the past year so it needs to be replaced. I went to three different places to buy one tonight – Wal-Mart, Parts Plus, and Pep Boys. No one carried them! They carry motorcycle batteries, just not for the one for mine. Apparently its a yamaha factory battery. I’ll still look online, but so much for riding the bike any time soon. Ugh.
Anyone want to buy a motorcycle? 🙂
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We had Steph Carson over 2 weeks ago to do some family pictures, and some of Sean at a year old. She put a few of them on her website last night, which means that we’ll probably be getting them in the mail in a few days! They look great! As soon as we get them, we’ll post them and if anyone wants to order any, just let us know. For now, click here to see Steph’s page, and some of the pictures she took of us. Scroll down past the post about the shoes 🙂
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The weather was amazing today, so Sean and I spent about an hour outside. I got lots of pictures of him hanging out on the porch, and in the yard. See below:
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My mom and I were hanging out with Sean after school (we call his daycare “school”) today, and I was going through his little after school routine of snack, then playing with him and my mom was laughing all the things he was doing and understanding. I guess I didn’t realize how much he’s really picked up lately, especially in understanding what we’re saying to him. He talks through his snack, asking for more, and a drink, and pointing toward his goldfish crackers when he wanted some of those. After our snack, I told him to head into the kitchen and find his music (his car wash toy on the fridge), which he did, and played with for awhile. I then asked him if he wanted to give Megabyte a cookie (which he LOVES to do), so he headed right over to where the cookies are and held up his hand toward the box. He grabbed a couple, called Megabyte over to him (he calls out “Rey-right” which is how he says Megabyte) and then gave her the cookies one by one. Then I said that Meg had to go outside, so he walked over to the back door and pointed at it and said “ow-dye” (outside). He lets me open the door and let Meg out, then closes the door behind her. Then I said “ok, let’s go back to the kitchen and play” and he turned around and walked back to his fridge toy.
I guess I’m so used to it, that I fail to notice how much he’s comprehending and talking these days. It’s amazing how much he’s learned in the past month or so.
Also, when we saw Reagan over the past weekend, she had a really neat picture book that Sean liked. I , of course, got it for him, along with one more. He’s already starting to learn to point to pictures and say what they are. Check them out:
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ResorRides.com
A local VW club member is doing a charity ride for Bikes Not Bombs – he is riding from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean on a bike to raise money. On a Bike. 3000+ Miles. ON A BIKE. He doesn’t have his donation link ready, but will soon I am told. The donations are tax deductible I believe. The link above is to his personal blog about his trip.
Here is a brief statement about Bikes Not Bombs from their website:
Bikes Not Bombs promotes bicycle technology as a concrete alternative to war and environmental destruction. For 25 years, BNB has been a nexus of bike recycling and community empowerment both in lower income neighborhoods of Boston and in the nations of the Global South. BNB’s programs involve young people and adults in mutually respectful leadership development and environmental stewardship, while recycling thousands of bicycles.
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This website gives an interesting perspective on what a trillion dollars physically looks like. LINK
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Happy birthday Ashley (Aunt She-She)!! Hope your day is wonderful!
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Aunt Karen and Uncle Ted (Paul’s godparents), sent Sean an awesome Adidas jumpsuit for his birthday (along with some other fun stuff). He wore it today and later tonight, when we went to my mom’s for dinner, we put a black necklace with a big gold earring on it (to look like some bling), as well as one of Paul’s hats. Check out the pictures of our little gangsta:
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