And The Green Grass Grows All Around

Just a quick update.....haven't blogged in a bit.

We have finally made some headway in the yard work area. Our grass is growing as we speak. Will try to post some pics later. Jason finished building my flowerbed alongside the porch. Pretty awesome! Although I did not have enough hemlock ties to finish one on the other side of the step. :( Too bad. Perhaps we can purchase a couple more at some later point. I think it would look even better if it covered the whole front of the house. I also hit the garden centers to catch the sales. Managed to pick up quite a few different perennials. They're all quite small, but will grow with age. And they don't usually sell full grown shrubs for $2.

So yes, the grass seed has been planted. Jason has been working nights all week, so the responsibility of watering the lawn, has been passed down to me. It takes me approximately an hour and a half to water it. It is quite the large area. Cannot wait until watering phase is over. This recent heat wave has not helped at all. But it will all be worth it when we finally have a back yard. Can't wait!

This past Sunday, as some of you know, was the anniversary of Jules' diagnosis with Type 1 diabetes. I had always intended to write a long post retelling the story, complete with before and after pics. But when Sunday finally came, I opted not to blog at all. In fact, a vast majority of the day I was not thinking of her anniversary at all...which I took as a good sign. I think I had so many moments of mourning, remembering, and even healing, leading up to that day, that when the day finally arrived....I had nothing. I felt that sitting down to write this long drawn out post would only make me feel bad, so why do it? At one point I actually thought about telling Jules that it was her anniversary, but quickly opted against it too, for the same reason. I think , hope that Abby's anniversary will pass the same way.

She is fine.

They are fine.

WE are fine.

And the green grass grows all around. :)

Cause You Never Know....

Reunited...And It Feels So Good

Friday morning, before we left to go camping, a package finally came in the mail from Utah.

And then we had ourselves one happy camper. :)

Stainy Weather

This weather is getting ridiculous. Seriously. It is getting harder and harder not to complain about it ALL the time....and I like rain usually. But come on! Since Summer vacation officially started I don't think we've had one full day of sun. I'm wearing my knitted slippers and cardigan sweaters and it's not even Fall yet, it's barely mid July. I think I can even blame it for forming my recent tea drinking habit. I guess if one had to choose a Summer to have such sucky weather, it should be the one with no vacation plans. There's nothing like forking over money, waiting for months and then having it rain your entire trip. The only excursions we have planned are camping ones, that does not involve investing too much money.

We DO have plans though. Plans that involve bulldozing, topsoil, grass seed, cement tiles, building flower beds, etc... And this rain just isn't helping. Especially to someone who has no patience for waiting, such as myself. For days I waited to stain the porch. The label on the can reads "Do not use if rain is expected in the next 24 hours".

Gee.

Nice.

At this rate I could have been waiting for months.

Nope.

Couldn't do it.

I threw caution to the wind and stained anyway.



And it rained.


Damn.

No harm, no foul. The front steps just need a second coat now. :)

I've continued to stain now for days, weeks even. Any spare moment that I have when the sky does not look like it is about to fall, I've spent staining. I enjoy it. It's therapeutic somehow. It brings me joy. I've stained the railing of the porch white (2 coats), the kids play house white (2 coats), the back step railing white(2 coats) and the porch floor, steps and outer face a wood stain. I've also painted the kids playhouse door, and my rocking chair and table on the porch, a happy shade of yellow. Plus I put one coat of stain on an Adirondack chair.

I've been accused of being a little obsessed.

I still want to stain the floor and stairs of the back step, put one more coat of white on the kids playhouse and stain the floor of it's tiny porch, plus stain both of my Adirondack chairs. I'm also toying with the idea of staining my basement stairs the same as the porch floor.

They are supposed to come today(or yesterday) to bulldoze and bring topsoil. Then the real fun will begin. Kents is delivering my cement tiles for my walk and hemlock ties for my flowerbed tomorrow. That reminds me.....those wooden ties will require stain too. :)


Number of days cloud free - 0
Number of times I said the word "stain" - 12
Feeling I get while working outside - Priceless

A1C

Yesterday was the girls' A1C blood test. Every three months they have this done. It shows the doctors their average blood sugars for that period. We put an Emla patch on the inside of one of their elbows as to freeze the site. This way it doesn't hurt so much. Jules' will even go so far as to say that it makes it not hurt at all...... just feel funny. Abby is usually not too bad either. She will still cry but it's more of a soft cry just cause she's nervous or a little scared. Yesterday was different.

Yesterday Abby sat on my lap in the lab, like she always does, and holding her friend. Sunny the bear has come more than once, but this time it was a Barbie fairy princess that she gripped tightly in her hands. Jules' was already done and picking out stickers and digging through finger puppets. I removed her Emla patch and the nurse started looking for a vein. Abby started to whimper, right on cue.......just like always. Suddenly as the nurse was about to insert the needle, Abby started crying, not softly this time but loudly, "Nooo! I don't want you to! Please don't! Noooo!". It was horrible. I found it very hard not to cry myself. Afterward, in the parking lot, we were buckling them up into the van. Jules and Abby were in the back together. Abby turns to Jules and says "That was kinda scary".

It's moments like these that suck me dry. Wipe me out. Takes me a little while to recover.

I am not looking forward to October.

Cause I've Got Nothing To Say

Love the color of these petunias......called "Daddy Blue".

My new hanging baskets with more petunias. Love them!

Our new BBQ! Woo-Hoo! (note: newly painted yellow rocker in background)

His & Hers Adirondack chairs that I've always wanted. (Plan to stain these yellow too.)

Kids playhouse after make-over. Much better.

My rose bush is blooming!