Spring Projects

Our friend's brother, Brad Schroth, died last August and we have recently been blessed to inherit his dining room set:

Here it is in our front room. We like it a lot. The walls just look so nehked! So I've been hunting for THE decor to dress them up a little--make it look like a put-together room. My neighbor is re-working her basement and had this picture sitting around and very thoughtfully asked me if I would like it:

That's me holding the camera crooked, I promise. I admit I was a little apprehensive with the darkness of the boats being a little too gloomy; but, for a dining room, I think the "darkness" keeps it a little more formal-ly. Thank you, Daphne. She also gave us her mother's old croquet set which we are very excited to use.

In case you were wondering, our attic is still in shambles. My energy has been re-devoted to the outdoors for the spring/summer/fall and our yards look kinda crappy, but they have improved in some ways. For instance: I moved a shade-loving Mountain Laurel from the front of the house (hot afternoon sun) to the north side, along the driveway. We've dug up several Hosta from an undesirable location and distributed them around the neighborhood, along with some Red Hot Poker (Knifophia), chives, and Joe Pie Weed. 

Mark took on the most horrifying part of our garden one day, the black berry, kiwi, and ivy vine patch. The battle is not over, but he got a good start.

Everything on the ground behind him used to go up to about chest level. It's at least not giving me nightmares anymore.

That garden got a couple more spats of attention that week. I pulled out all the un-fruitful, overgrown raspberries. They are still there, just under control now. The final project I grumbled through was the removal of the bog garden (a bog is a land of saturated mud; things like cat tails and irises grow well in them). I like bogs, but not in my vegetable garden. That just doesn't work for me. I decided that I was going to pull out all of the plants and build the area up to ground level; and, what cheaper way to do that than to make it into a compost pile area?!

Here's me post-bog makeover. I love the previous owners dearly, but did a lot of cursing over the course of those 3 hours, as they had used a plastic tarp under the mud to line the bog. It was still holding pretty strong, and I had to dig it out of the mud! *not cool* I'm glad it's done now, though. I've got a great compost pile going: newspaper, grass, fruit & veggie scraps...blessedly nice potential.

The rest of the summer will be spent working as a counselor for the county's summer camp programs. With week one almost finished, I'm exhausted, but super happy to be busy; and, this camp makes me want kids more than ever. Just as soon as we feel better about Mark's occupation...