The living dead...

So I haven't been able to blog in a while because I was busy either caring for my 2 sick kids, or trying to get some rest so I could feel better myself. Last Wednesday I came into work with a pretty bad sore throat, but was ready to push through the day. Unfortunately, I jinxed myself by joking with some coworkers about how I was sure the school would be calling me about either Bubba or Na-na because they were both on the hairy edge of sick when I dropped them off that morning. The school did call... and so it began. My kids are real go-getters and overachievers. They can't both be sick with the same thing, NO. Na-na had some sort of hacking, coughing, upper-respiratory disease, and Bryan had what I will call a spewage issue... from all ends...eeeewww. Na-na actually healed up pretty quickly and was feeling better by Friday afternoon. Bubba....not so much. It was a poop bonanza. It was like watching the exorcist, but from the other end. It was so bad, we ended up in urgent care on Friday morning. He's feeling much better now. Wish I was. My kids love to share, so somewhere over the course of the last 4 days, I caught both sets of germs. Yippee! Of course, my darling husband, Eugene, somehow managed to stay immune to both disorders...bastard.

Oh well, at least we'll all be over it before my big sis "Beaner" and her kids come to visit in a few days. We've called her Beaner since we were all kids because she has always been as thin as a string bean. It's disgusting really - unnatural. Still, I can't wait to see them - it's been a year since their last visit.

As for our yard project, quite a bit of progress was made in spite of my recently incapacitated state. The concrete has all been poured, and it looks pretty good! All that's left now is the cosmetic stuff. Can't wait to see the final product!

FRONT VIEW THIS MORNING

CONCRETE AROUND HOT TUB

Progress...progress...progress...

We've seen lots of progress in "The Yards". Here is what the new wall looked like as of last night: Stucco complete. Still need to grout the stone cap and pour the concrete walk.

Here are some new before and after shots...we've finally started working our way around the house:
BACK PATIO BEFORE

BACK PATIO AFTER

Note: all the ugly old bricks have been removed. We plan to put stone in their place that will match the wall cap.

FRONT PATIO BEFORE

FRONT PATIO AFTER
Got rid of all the brick out front too!

BACK WALL BEFORE

BACK WALL AFTER

Fence down - to be replaced soon; Wall has been stucco'd to match the new wall out front; ground leveled and trees removed; Still need to add stone cap.

When this wall and fence are finished, I will have to decide what to do in the dirt area. I was hoping to plant some shrubs to form a hedge along the fence line, but I'm afraid that the ground will be loaded with roots from the neighbor's trees. Probably going to be a bear to plant anything large on our side. I'm also worried because the area does not get much direct sunlight - shaded for most of the day by the trees. Darn trees! Not sure what else I can do here... maybe some flowers and/or river rock or something??? Any suggestions, let me know!

:)

Day 19....

Day 19 was Friday, and things keep moving forward slowly but steadily. The walls were prepped for the stucco that should be put on today. Then concrete, and this piece of the project will be done!

On a side note, our little family of birdies has left us. Sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning they all left the nest. We knew it would be soon... all of the babies had been peeking their heads out over the edge of the nest for a couple of days. They were definitely assessing the situation pre-flight. Now it seems so quiet and a bit lonely out on the patio. :(

Oh well. I'm sure there will be more next year.

Hope everyone had a great Father's Day weekend!

Lots of little friends

So right now I think that there are between 3-5 bird nests affixed to the exterior of our home in various locations. A bit annoying, yes. But, I just couldn't even think of kicking out this little family. They have made their home in the posts that support our deck outside. In the picture you see Mommy (far left) and 2 of the 4 babies crammed in there somewhere. Daddy keeps his distance usually, but definitely closely monitors us whenever we are outside. He likes to sit on the neighbors' satellite dish so he can keep an eye on everything. The babies are getting so big now, I'm sure they'll be leaving the nest soon, and then we will probably clear their nest out of that area. In the meantime, they keep us company when we are out relaxing on the patio. :)

As for our project, progress continues to be made - 2/3 of the fence was completed yesterday and they have begun to waterproof/back fill behind the new wall. Baby steps, but as long as it keeps moving, I'm happy!

And now, back to the show...

So here are the updated pics I should have posted yesterday. Most of the stone caps for the walls have been installed. I am feeling a bit of angst about this though because evidently the stone supplier is having trouble finding more of this stone so that he can complete our order and we can finish our walls... grrrr.
Me being the anal retentive individual that I am, I would definitely NOT have installed any of it until we could be sure that we would get all of it. Now what happens if they can't complete our order??? Half the wall will be capped with this stone and the other half with...???? Not thrilled with the contractor for making that decision, but he swears that he will get the stone from somewhere even if he has to carve it out of the ground himself. I intend to hold him to that. :)
It does look nice though - finally starting to come together!



We also have some of the stone cap put in on the pre-existing wall around the other side of the front - right now it is only on the pillars at the end of the wall. See the before and after shots below.

BEFORE

AFTER

Since the weather should not be an issue today, I expect to see a lot more progress when I get home this afternoon. My contractor said he thinks he will be done with our entire project by next Saturday...I think he must be high. We still have so much to get done, but we'll see. :)

And now for something completely different...

So... I forgot to take pictures of the yard progress last night and then couldn't this morning due to rain. Since I can't post an update to my project, I decided to just blog about whatever.

My boys are now both attending the same summer program at the elementary school - yesterday was their first day. This is the first time that they have been able to spend their weekdays together. They were always at different day cares/schools until now. It's kinda like a social experiment...how will they handle spending so much time together? Will Bubba's overly territorial nature cause him to resent Na-na being there? Or will they strengthen their relationship? Well, so far it seems that Bubba is not acting at all territorial, but rather protective of his little bro'. He kept his arm wrapped around Na-na for most of the day, spent a lot of time making sure his brother understood the rules at the school and made sure that he and Na-na were in the same clubs. I think that perhaps there is an element of control involved...but for now, it's cute.

I haven't been "cooking" as much the last couple of days. My schedule has been extremely packed, resulting in what I like to call "helpy-selfy" nights. In other words, everyone eats what they feel like which usually means something like pb&j, mac&cheese, and/or cereal for dinner. Tonight, I swear we will all eat a real meal - not sure what that will be yet, but it will happen. :)

Finally, I just realized today that I have never directly mentioned my husband in this blog... read into that whatever you want, I'm sure it means nothing. I'll have to give him a name. Well... since his middle name is Eugene, which I think explains a lot about his personality, I'll use that. Ok, so I thought I'd share a funny story about good ol' Eugene. The other day he was giving me crap about the fact that I have been spending a lot of time reading the Twilight series lately (I swear that it has not been contributing to the increase in "helpy-selfy" nights. Really!). Anyway, I said that perhaps if he EVER bothered to sit down and read a book he might understand how you can get hooked into a story; that I just truly enjoy reading and haven't been able to find time for it until recently. He proceeded to boast that he also likes to read - the man has only read ONE, yes ONE, book since we've been married (unless you count the Cycle Trader, The Reader, Rolling Stone magazine, etc.). He then tells me that he doesn't read as often as he would like 'cause he doesn't want to appear to be too "geeky". Here's where I open my mouth and say something I regret... I told him that I think that there's something really sexy about a man who likes to read, craves learning, and wants to expand his knowledge. Now every chance he gets he is saying things like, "hey baby, I'm reading a book here...does that make you hot?" Fabulous. I have my theory about men, their happiness and how it ties directly to their sex lives, but perhaps I'll save that for another post. This post is already quite long and I should really get back to work - hehehe.

Damage and destruction everywhere...love it!

Day 11:
So we have begun to spread the demolition around the yard now. Here is a picture of what our hot tub area used to look like...

And here is what it looked like after day 11 of "The Yards". Actually, I'm not really sure that it looks that much worse... :)

Day 12:

We have finally regained access to the front of our house. Dirt heap gone! I have to say that it amazed me how much dirt was really out there. It took our contractor a solid day, using a bobcat, to simply move the dirt from the driveway to the bed of a dump truck. By the way, when all was said and done, the dirt filled the bed of an industrial sized dump truck, TWICE. And then he had to come back a third time to pick up all of the concrete pieces. I think we pissed off some of the neighbors Friday - the dump truck was huge and almost completely blocked off our entire street for half the day...oops! Oh well, it was just one day and the alternative was to leave the dirt eyesore there for everyone to continue to enjoy. They'll get over it.

Totally unrelated...I was filled with mixed emotions this morning as I dropped off BOTH of my boys at the elementary school this morning. Na-na has started the pre-K program, which means there are no more babies in my house. :(

Makes me feel kinda old. I have to say though, as much as I would love to have a little girl to balance out the gender scale in my home, I currently feel NO urge to procreate. I think I have finally come to terms with the fact that in my family the score will always be Men 3, Ladies 1 (unless you count the dog... then ladies 2). I still adore babies, but realized recently that I am totally over the whole prengancy, fat as a house, BIRTH, diapers, mid-night feedings, screaming, crying terrible two's, three's, four's...thing. And to be honest, I am really enjoying this new phase in my family's life. My kids are becoming more and more independent each day. They really are starting to come into their own, expressing their individual personalities, and turns out, I made 2 really cool little people! We can do so much more as a family now too...traveling and such...which is really cool. So, it is definitely an adjustment to know that the babies are all gone, but I think that so far, the future looks good! Happy Monday!

Yard Project Day 10

So here's our current status:


As you can see, the wall is up! Now we just need to finish clearing out the dirt heap out front so that the concrete walk and driveway can be poured. In the interim, my kids are having a blast with all the mess. They dug a hole in the center of the dirt pile out front (so that the pile is now shaped like a volcano) and it has become their "fort". Yesterday the used some of the extra cinder blocks to strengthen their fortress. I tell you, why buy expensive toys when kids seem happiest in a pile of stones, dirt and mud. :)

Totally off the subject... today is Bubba's last day of 2nd grade and tomorrow will be Na-na's last day of preschool. Weird thing is, I seem to be more excited then they are! No more struggling to get Bubba to do his homework, no more double drop off and pick up, wahoo! I love summer break! :)

The Yards, continued...

So, today will be Day 9 of my new project. Not a whole lot has been done since my last post as we had to wait for dig alert to come and flag where the electrical, cable and gas lines are before we could continue. Below are the pictures from the end of Day 8. All of the concrete from the side yard has been broken out and now sits in the driveway with the dirt heap from last week. They have also finished digging the trench for the retaining wall footing. It's moving in little steps, but as long as we continue to have progress, I'm pretty happy! The contractor assures me that the dirt heap will be gone today. I'm glad, cause the neighbors have been showing signs of both interest and annoyance at it's presence. The dirt heap is so big, that several neighbors have asked us if we are putting in a pool. Hmmmm...it wasn't part of the original plan, but...nah. Maybe next year. :)
More updates to come.

The HEAP

Sidewalk gone and trench ready

Because I have so much free time...

Since I am always sitting around my house with nothing to do... I have started my 2009 annual home project. It seems that I take on some massive endeavor in my house each year. I decided to create a photo documentary of this year's project - "THE YARDS". Below are the "before" pictures of the area currently being worked on (note the large nasty hedge) :

FRONT VIEW

BACK VIEW

The next two pictures show what the area looked like after day 1 (Hedge kaput! Yeah!):

My kids are lovin' this year's project...tractors and mud, WAHOO! Demolition is fun!

Day2: The ground has been leveled out to get ready for the retaining wall that will be built. All of what was the side yard is now in my driveway!

Today will be day 3. Can't wait to see the additional progress when I get home. I'll post more before and after shots as the contractors work their way around my house. :)