Weeds, Weeds & More Weeds

Ugh, weeds. Plural. Thriving in the disaster of the "landscaped" area next to the stone patio/terrace under the Maple tree in the backyard. 

 

 

This picture was taken a few weeks ago so you'll have to use your imagination to picture how weed-infested it was. Um, because I forgot to take a true "before" picture. Doh!

 

While Chris and Craig got to work on installing the garage door opener, Shari offered her assistance for weed-removal and I took it. For about 1-2 hours. We did some serious damage!

 

 Let the wild muddy rumpus begin...remember all that rain we got (and in the basement)?

Weed bouquet anyone? Look at all the baby Maple trees trying to grow in the Vinca vine...

And now, notice the lack of baby trees...Thank you, Shari! 

I found a baby walnut tree...where the heck are the walnuts from??

Isn't that kinda cool? I obviously thought so. 

After helping rid the darn Lily of the Valley (which we have in spades), Shari helped transplant some...um...I think she said they were Black Eyed Susans. 

Much improved, made satisfactory progress, and so on. It was a job I had been trying to avoid but went a lot faster with some help!

After our weeding adventure, Shari and I made a quick trip to Costco and I snagged some instant curb-appeal improvement (the hanging basket) for a mere $17.99. Now, I just have to remember to water it...regularly. 

I also got to put some of our new tools to work today. After watching Chris balance enormous Hostas on borrowed shovel while carrying them to the desired transplant spot, it became clear a wheelbarrow was needed in our garden tool repertoire... since, ahem, the neighbors don't have one (but we'll share). So with the money from our garage sale, Chris and I bought a bright orange steel wheelbarrow and shovel at the good ole' Home Depot.

Garage Project #2 : New Garage Door Opener

Who got hooked up with a new garage door opener this morning? 

This girl. This very happy girl and her very tired but happy husband.

The father-son duo stepped up to tackle Garage Project #2: Install new garage door opener. 

 Since our garage has a solid-wood door (read: fun to lift when the old opener died), we had to get a heavy-duty 3/4 HP opener. 

In about 3 hours, Chris and Craig got us hooked up. Down with the old, busted dinosaur and up with the new, functional system. 

Ain't it pretty? You should hear it...or try to hear it. The "Whisper-drive" system is no joke. It's as quiet as a...well you know, those rodents that make me scream and jump on tall things. 

It's got a laser beam to show you how far into the garage to park...pretty fancy.

This is the best safety feature which our last model lacked...the "eyes" on each side of the door that will automatically stop the door if something or someone gets in the way of the closing garage door. And, remember the darn thing is solid wood. No smooshed tools, bikes or people. Makes me happy. 

And...Chris' favorite feature. Dual openers. He gets one for his car now. Guess who's on cloud nine? As the gentleman he is, he gave me the one and only opener for the last opener. It's also got a wireless keypad on the outside of the garage...gone are my days of balancing coffee cups, purses and lunches while trying to maneuver lifting the garage door.

Firsts...

There's a first time for everything...

Chris mowed our lawn for his first time this morning. 

(insert: applause, a happy wife & most-likely happy neighbors who have nice lawns). 

It takes approximately 12-15 minutes to do the yard (minus behind the garage that's currently trying to grow grass). 

It also takes the neighbor's lawn mower, thanks again J.J.

A: Rubbermaid tubs and Shop-Vacs

Q: What saved us this week?

Someone once said a picture is worth a thousand words. These shots may give you a better idea of what I found Thursday morning when I ran down to get a frozen dinner for lunch at work.

Um, we had been getting torrential rains...and so was the basement. 

The water was coming in from the ground under the Bilco cellar doors...

and the foundation walls...

Can you see why I'm a Rubbermaid fan? 

(Note: I've been branded since I was a little kiddo because my dad's company makes molds for Rubbermaid but now I have renewed admiration and appreciation for the plastic maker for keep our stuff dry.)

  And here is why we love our Wet-Dry Shop-Vac, Big Blue. 

 And, why I admire Chris and his water-removal skills. 

 To give you a better idea of the amount of rain we got this past week: this planter is about 2 ft wide and about 1.5 ft tall. It's half full of rain water...and it wasn't catching any water from the roof either. Downright soupy this week. We're still drying out. 

Garage Sales and Flea Markets...

 So our town has a city-wide garage sale every spring and my neighbor, Jena, and I decided to get rid of our junk. I have been reading Peter Walsh's book, "It's all too much" and it helped me purge quite a lot of stuff that I didn't need or love and could definitely live without. Shari, my mother-in-law, helped me price items the weekend before. She's in the "know" since she volunteers in her school's resale store.

 We both took off Friday from work to sit around in camping chairs (that reclined) and watch people take away our clutter...and pay us for it (best part). Marvelous. Chris was around in the morning before he had to leave for work and helped out a lot. He also transplanted some Hostas to other parts of the yard (pics to come later). We had a pretty good turn-out on Friday and made about $150 a piece. It helped that Shari visited and assisted with product display (she does the windows at the resale store). People kept commenting on how nicely organized our sale was which was nice to hear...even if they didn't buy anything. Plus, we traded a few items between the households.

We had this cutie stop by on Saturday...Jena's son, Finn. Unfortunately, he was not in the market for a purse or any teacups. Around 10:45 am, I offered Jena a deal that we could close up shop if we didn't get any customers for 10 minutes. We got one customer around 8 minutes but I still was done. 

 Why the rush? The Kane County Flea Market started at noon. And, we had to drop all the items we didn't sell off at Goodwill on the way. P.S. Thank you to Jena's hubs, JJ, for the use of his truck to make the trip to Goodwill possible and thank you to Chris for helping us pack up the truck.

 Oh my goodness gracious. The flea market was packed with both vendors and customers. Much better vendor turn-out compared to the first weekend in March. 

It was crazy. Crazy busy. Crazy overwhelming. And, I was having a hard time parting from my well-earned cash. I searched the furniture vendors for a kitchen island piece with no luck. At the end of the adventure at the fairgrounds, I ended up with two veggie eggrolls and a can of Coke, in my belly. Oh yeah, and some amazing kettle corn. 

On the way home, we stopped by Home Goods. I saw lots of goodies but I was feeling rejuvenated by the ridding of excess stuff at home...and again, had a hard time handing over my cash.

Eventually, I splurged on some root beer from Maine. It was the same kind Chris and I drank on our honeymoon to Maine. Isn't that sweet? And, know what's really sweet? I paid for it in change. $5.04 in 20 quarters, 1 nickel and 3 pennies. My wallet felt much lighter. 

On the way home from Home Goods, Jena and I stopped at a nail salon and pampered ourselves with pedicures. I finally handed over some cash...and it was well worth it. My feet were very happy. And so was I. I held out and didn't buy anything I didn't need, love or couldn't live without. And that makes me happy. One small step for home-kind.