An Accident of Hope

6.19.2006

Another Lovely Weekend in Zion

Man, oh man, do I love me a weekend where we get to work hard and play hard. I love going in to work on a Monday morning with my body sore, my brain glutted with happy memories, and a closet full of clean clothes.

This weekend, not only did we get the grocery shopping and the laundry done (not the ironing, alas, but then perfection is to be strived for and rarely attained), but we finally got our front yard in order. It's been mud puddles/dust patches, dead grass, and weeds for far too long. Years, in fact. We had to schedule a bbq for Saturday night to give us the incentive to get it done, but get it done we did. We even had time to shower before our friends arrived.

Here is a before picture taken clear back in April when we thought we'd get started right away:

And here is an after picture:

And it only took us months of planning and 7 hours of backbreaking labor! But our neighbors were so surprised. We've had the ugliest yard on the street for so long and then poof! suddenly we have the prettiest. The best part is that the big bare patches which moonlight as mudbaths for the dogs are now under the sandstone. This will go so far towards keeping our house clean I can't even tell you. Now all we have to do is water the lawn occassionally and plant some snapdragons here and there and we'll have an elegant yard which is also pretty damn water efficient and extremely low maintenance. Once we get the grass perked back up, it should only take one deep watering a week and a mowing every other week. We're hoping to be able to afford to finish xeriscaping next year (provided we don't move) and then we won't have to water or mow at all! (yes, if you follow the link it will tell you that xeriscaping doesn't necessarily mean completely dry, but that's what we're aiming for in the majority of the front yard).

The rest of the weekend was filled with a bbq Saturday night (our reward for getting the yard work done) that was the perfect end to a hard-workin' day; a picnic at the park Friday night with Merr, Summer, and Camden that was the perfect way to begin the weekend; and a Father's Day bbq at my parent's house. We're all three exhausted, but it's a happy kind of exhaustion.

Now all I have to do is get the ironing done tonight.

Psst... our wall cabinets come in this week...