It was Beautiful

Yesterday this Day Lily was in full bloom, full of luscious cantaloupe colored flowers. I had stopped to look at them and enjoy their beauty. Today, well, I'm not real happy. The stupid deer ate every last lily and future blossom. Not one flower was left, not one bud is left. That's all we get for another year. I enjoyed one day of my day Lily's show. It was a great one. Looking forward to another show next year.

Yum

This is my new favorite food...grilled pineapple!  What a great little side dish for our Sunday dinner today.  Baste it with a little melted butter and brown sugar and grill it on both sides.  What a tasty treat! 

Finals

It's been a long season as the boys in my home have followed the NBA basketball season.  Landon is always informed as to who is winning, which team is playing and what time the games will be on tv.  The final game of the season was anticipated with much excitement and the guys were ready to spend an evening watching it play out.  I was upstairs doing my thing and when I came downstairs to get something this is what I found.......

A sleepy way to end an exciting season!

Yardwork Review

 

It was another busy week in the yard as I tried to finish up some projects and start some new ones.  The boys placed bark on the pathway that I had outlined for them in the pinestraw from last weeks' adventure.  I think it just makes it look so inviting down on the creek level of our yard. 

 I recruited Landon to help me build some stairs to go down to the creek level from our driveway.  I have always wanted steps since we moved in but hiring someone to do it was never quite in the budget.  So I finally decided that I was capable of doing it.  Landon and I purchased treated timber at Lowes and had it cut into 3 foot lengths.  We dug out steps going up the hill and used rebar and a substantial metal mallet to hammer the 2 foot rebar in place to hold each step.  As each step was carved into the steep hill we would walk up and down the path to anticipate the placement of the next step.  It was a project that took us all day to complete, but it was a great accomplishment when we were finished.  We placed bark on each stair level to complete the path.

An ongoing side project we are working on is building little retaining walls along some of our flower beds to hold the dirt in where they are sloped.  This has taken a while to complete because I can only fill my Explorer with so many of the heavy stones at one time.  We're making progress.....next week we have another big project planned.  Keep checking back for the update!

Campout

Easton had a great time at his scouting campout over the weekend.   I'm not sure how much sleeping went on because Easton was pretty tired when he got home.  He said the food was great, he loved the dumplings that were in the beef stew and the fire was great! 

Charlie was so happy to greet Easton when he arrived home. 

Charlie was even happier when he found the leftover beef jerky in Easton's camping gear.  He can sniff out food anywhere! 

Date night

I always love a date night with my baby!  We deserve a little time together after a long week.  I wore my new party pants as we headed to the mall to do some returns for Stephen.  He was returning a fluorescent green Nike shirt that he bought that was just a little too loud for someone his age!  We spent the time looking for some replacement shirts and we were also on the lookout for a new golf outfit for Stephen.  He had officially worn his favorite golfing outfit to death!  I sat patiently on the floor outside of the dressing room at Dick's and waited while he tried on hundreds of different golf shorts and shirts.  It's a good thing I have Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest on my phone to keep my occupied! 

 

On the way home from our mall adventures we stopped at Chipotle and picked up some yummy tacos!  I love that place!

Stephen wimpers a little as he says goodbye to his old golf shirt.  It has seen him through many a golf game....

Goodbye!

Itchy, Itchy...Annoying

I rolled in and dowsed myself in poison ivy during all of my yard work that I have done recently.  It was very unfortunate that the evil plant found me and covered me with it's sticky, rather permanent sap.  It started on my arm and initially my arm just felt a little itchy, like a dry skin itch.  So I gently itched it all night.  When I woke up in the morning the itchy area had formed small, clear blisters on my skin.  And it itched like crazy!!!  From there it continued to spread and appear on my face, both arms and around the ankle of my left leg.  Eventually it spread to my left knee area as well.  I must worn you that the following pictures are not pretty and if you have a tendency to get squeamish, don't view them.  Consider yourself warned!

This was around day three of the attack, face is super itchy and blistery.

Ouchy, itchy arms....

 

Day four....not pretty.  Face was swollen, puffy, itchy.  And no makeup!

Day four, oozing blisters.

 

 

This area was the first itchy spot I noticed and it quickly spread because it was in the crease of my arm.  If you look closely at the pattern when I fold my arm it totally matches.

 A picture again of the starting spot of my posion ivy attack, it has still spread some more although the blistering is going down in size.  Still itchy.

 

 This is what my face looked like yesterday with makeup on.  I went to church and felt a little normal, but I am still very itchy.  I question why this plant is even on the earth....what an awful thing, downright evil in my opinion.  Things are looking up for me and I improve each day.  Can't wait to be done with it!

A little Yard Work

I've been working like a crazy woman these past two weeks.  Those who know me well are familiar with how I get ridiculously focused on a project and can't stop working until it is complete.  I am driving Landon and Easton crazy with the hours, days and now almost two weeks that I have been working myself to death in our crazy, untamed yard.  This past week I was motivated to take control of the area down by the creek below our two railroad ties level.  It had become so overgrown with trees and undergrowth that we couldn't even see the creek and our yard was getting smaller and smaller each year as the baby trees matured and moved in closer to our home.  I worked on the top level a couple of weeks ago but the entire lower level of this area was covered with trees, bushes, and vines.  It had become so dense that you almost could not even see the ground.  The undergrowth had taken over and there were wild blackberry bushes everywhere....they had gone WILD!  The picture above was taken after one days work so you can get a glimpse of the creek on the right.

 

So grateful to have my new wheel barrow (sp) to help me with the clearing part of this project.  What a great tool that I wish I had gotten twenty years ago!  I can't believe I've waited so long to get one of these awesome little inventions.

These pictures are taken a few days into the project after I cut and cleared the land.  I can't even count how many loads of chopped down branches and trees were hauled up that back hill into the back yard and deposited in the vacant lot next to us.  I wore myself out everyday working in the humidity, but I loved it.  I find so much satisfaction in working on a project and creating something new and beautiful.

 

 

We had pinestraw delivered and I was able to throw it out last Saturday.  Notice the trail that goes into the backyard that I created.  After a trip to Lowes again on Saturday to purchase bags of bark we are ready the fill in the path this Monday morning.  It's raining as I typed this post so hopefully we will be able to get out there tomorrow and finish the path.  I will post pictures of the finished project soon.  I will also be adding some azaleas and ferns and a two-person bench swing to this new nature area.  I love it and couldn't be happier with the new space.  Be on the lookout for next weeks' new project, it's already in the works...I'll keep you updated!