A nice long weekend

We wrapped up a nice long weekend at our house.

I got to sleep in on Saturday and Monday which was nice. Jon had a shooting match on Saturday but I never heard him leave. My wake up call came when Jonnie climbed up into bed and said "Mama, I can't get Elmo to work". Yesterday's wake up call was Jonnie telling Jon that he needed to get up because it was sunny out.

Jonnie and I had a fun time at the playground on Friday night. It was hot so we did not stay quite as long as planned. I went to Kroger and bought groceries. When I got home and got things put away, I made a fire in the outdoor fireplace. Jonnie seemed excited about s'mores. I brought out all of the fixings, toasted some marshmallows, and assembled 6 s'mores. I gave Jonnie one which he promptly took apart removing the chocolate while leaving behind the marshmallow and graham cracker as he said he wanted to go back inside. I found myself sitting on the bench tending the fire with a glass of red wine and a plate of 5 s'mores. Thankfully, my husband decided to make a cameo and he had some s'mores.

I finished mulching on Saturday. I am waiting on my plants to come in from Park Seed so I can plant those and then we tackle the edging project. I sprayed more weed killer yesterday now that I can get further back into the woods than I could previously. I found more poison ivy when I was cleaning so I wanted to get rid of that ASAP.

On Sunday, Jon made French toast and sausage after church. Since it was hot, I got out the pool set that my MIL bought Jonnie for his birthday. I was armed with a dinky little hand pump and the box when I ran into my husband in the hall. He laughed when he saw the pump. He went downstairs and brought up the hose for his air compressor and filled all of the pieces in the hallway and helped me set up the pool set in the backyard. Jonnie didn't care for the sprinkler canopy so we turned that off. I even put on my swimsuit and hung out in the pool for a while. I preferred laying on a beach towel sipping red wine from a water bottle (what a hillbilly, I know) but Jonnie wanted me in the pool. He went up and asked Daddy to come in the pool but Jon was putting some spareribs on to bake in a beer bath and I told Jonnie not to interrupt perfection (which as usual, the ribs were excellent).

All the outdoor play caused Jonnie to take a nap! Jon got the ribs off the grill just as the rain broke loose. We were eating ribs and potato salad as the NASCAR race started. It was the Coca-Cola 600 which is the longest race of the year. I love to watch racing but I kept looking at the lap count and waiting. The race had a very weird ending; not the ending Jon or I wanted with our drivers finishing further back than desired. I was waiting for Jon to blame the outcome on my moving our NASCAR flags to the backyard so that I could feature the garden flag with Jonnie's artwork. I washed the vehicles with my Mr. Clean Autodry system. It gets off the surface dirt so if you bump your car, your butt isn't black but it doesn't get off the tough stuff. Jon had the van backed into the garage so I very slowly (emphasis on slowly) pulled the big beast out of the garage into the driveway so I could wash it. I later told him it was done and he was responsible for putting it back!

Monday was pretty ho-hum. Jonnie and I walked down the street to watch the parade. Jonnie didn't like the parade. Being a small town, there is not much to the parade. Jon spent most of the day working in the basement putting up the interior walls for his room. Jonnie and I went out in the pool again and I later dumped out the water and stored the parts under the deck for next time. I made a fire in the outdoor fireplace and put a foil pan of chicken breasts to cook on top. Jonnie brought some cars out and sat at the table with me for a while but later went in to watch "Shrek". I stayed outside tending the fire and checking the chicken and flipping through magazines until the chicken was done. I later realized that I got a lot of sun yesterday and I've been drinking lots of water to rehydrate. Jon finally made another cameo appearance for dinner.

Tuesday, today, marked the return to work. I woke up down the hall in the spare room because my dear hubby was snoring horribly because of congestion from inhaling sawdust and drywall dust yesterday. My body is stiff and sore from all of the weekend's activities. My skin is slightly parched. I had a revalation this morning on what to get my husband for Father's Day because I figured out one thing that "the man who has everything" didn't have but has wanted for a while. I'm not spoiling the surprise! He knows that I got him something because I asked to borrow bungy cords for my car trunk because I don't know if it will fit in my car even with the seat folded down on the one side. He said that if "said item" arrives for pick up this weekend that we can go and pick it up in the van. Sears is telling me it might not be at the Tuttle Crossing store until June 6th. We're playing that by ear.

I'd better get back to work. I need to refill my water and plod on.

Have a great week!

Time Flies When You're.........

BUSY!!!!!!

Okay, so I've had some fun mixed in with the busy!

Jon's birthday party went well. No one left hungry and Jon got a ton of gifts although no one was supposed to bring gifts!

I finished night school this week, I have one week off, and then I start my third and final class on June 5th.

I've been doing a great deal of yard work this year and after spending so much money on plants, I've been more diligent about watering than ever before. The front garden and side gardens have been done for a while although I gave the side gardens some top soil last night. It's been the back wooded area that has taken most of my time and it's finally starting to take shape.

My father-in-law gave me some small Rose of Sharon bushes from his yard and I planted those this week. I think I ended up with around 8. Last week, I mulched part of the area that I covered with landscape fabric but I ran out of mulch. Jon picked up another 20 bags of mulch so I could finish up. I ordered some more plants that I hope come in next week. The new plants were inspired by some Better Homes & Gardens plans that I found online. I looked at the pictures and the plant list, found the plants I wanted at Park Seed and placed the order.

Although I've cleaned out a great deal of the wooded area, I still had a few surprises this week. Wednesday night was the rotten, bloated, dead squirrel floating a bucket. That stuck in more ways than one. While dragging the bucket to the empty lot next to us so I could dump it a thorn on a branch went through my shoe and into the bottom of my foot. At least the nest of baby robins was cute to watch.

Last night, I was cutting down some half dead bushes before I started mulching and got knocked in the head by a dead tree limb that fell out of a tree that my butt bumped into. I was able to get the remaining dead limbs without them hitting me in the head. The tree that seems to "rain" ants is pretty interesting and left me with a creepy crawling feeling until I got a bath. There were at least two times that I felt something on my leg only to look down and find blood trailing down my leg. Again, the baby robins were cute to watch and I apologized to the bunny who got a stick tossed in his direction.

We have a couple of trees with big holes in them which look like they could be owl houses. Jon said "Mommy, was Owl down in that tree?". He was referring to "Owl" from Winnie The Pooh. I told him that I didn't see Owl but that I'd seen a really big bumble bee in the one tree the night before. My husband came outside and Jon said "Daddy, you need to put a door on that tree". Jon thinks a door on the tree will help keep the bees out of Owl's house. I don't think Daddy's going to get out the jigsaw and build a "bee door" anytime soon.

Well, I'd better get back to work. I'm picking up some dinner for Jon and I so we can go to the playground while Daddy goes to the shooting range to prep for his match tomorrow. I need to go to the grocery store and get some "cooking beer" so Jon can make ribs this weekend. I'm going to get the makings for s'mores hoping that we can make a fire in the fireplace and make s'mores. I want to finish mulching this weekend and maybe even get some sleep!

My son is 4 today!

My son Jon III turned 4 years old today. It doesn't seem like it's been that long especially since I still carry some of the pregnancy weight around to this day!

Since I am not home tonight because of night school, I tried to do something special for the little guy last night but he hated it. I bought some ice cream and some magic shell. I stuck a candle in it and he blew it out. He wanted more candles but Daddy said no. He asked to be excused because he said he doesn't like ice cream. At least I got low-fat, reduced carb, sugar-free ice cream so it won't be horrible if I have a small dish occasionally.

We're having a big birthday bash for Jonnie this Saturday which should be fun. My sister-in-law graduates from Kent on Sunday and there is a luncheon for her Sunday afternoon. My mother-in-law is going to watch Jonnie so that Jon & I can attend 4:30 PM mass and have dinner together. Dear hubby keeps telling Jonnie "Tell Granny Smith that you want to go to Toys R Us". He got a bike as an early present but doesn't want to pedal and got off the bike in less than 5 minutes. Perhaps we should have bought him a rick-shaw since he wishes to be carried or pushed!

Jonnie had his first play this past Saturday and I cried like a little girl. He was a puppy dog that carried the numbers 10 and 5 in the skit based on "10 in a Bed". His class also sung "You are my Sunshine", "We are Family", and "If You're Happy & You Know It". The last song was sung in Spanish. All the classes came back on stage out of costume for a patriotic ending and I cried again during "God Bless the USA" as my son lip-synced to Lee Greenwood and waved his little flag.

I've been doing a lot of gardening but not enough to avoid a complaint that was filed against me for "debris" in my back yard. Jonnie and I were planting flowers out front and on the side of the house Friday night when a realtor showed a couple the house next door to us which is for sale. I didn't think anything of it until I found out from one of my neighbors that the builder called him to let him know the realtor and the couple filed a complaint about my back yard. Bernie was kind enough to tell the builder that he thought sure I was doing a project back there but that he'd say something to me.

To address my offensive wood pile, I went to the hardware store and bought some wire caging and stacked limbs as neatly as possible in the caging. I stacked logs behind the caging. Last year's Christmas tree is still whole but I'm using the needles; stay tuned. I have some longer limbs that need the chain saw so I've set those next to the caging until I can get Jon's help. Did I mention that I was home sick from work yesterday?

To address my offensive black plastic which I've laid out for weed control, I've covered some of it with pine needles from last year's Christmas tree. I'm going to mulch the entire area once I'm done laying all of the plastic.

My plan also includes planting some flowering shrubs and working with Jon to install a nice edging between the lawn and the wooded area.

I guess the few hours I've puttered in my yard since the beginning of April are not satisfactory. With cold weather, work, school, a toddler, and my husband's shooting schedule, I thought I was doing pretty darn good when I got the main flower beds mulched before May.

I realize the wooded area looks a little rough but I've been working on it. Jon, his Dad, and I took down a bunch of limbs and even some trees last fall. We kept the wood for our deck fireplace. I guess what makes sense to me does not make sense to others.

I have since written letters to the homeowners association and to the builder letting them know that I'm working on the back yard and the plans that I have for the area. The homeowners association seems okay with my plans but I don't know if my letter will satisfy the complaint from the realtor. I put the realtor on the prayer chain at our church last night. I asked people to pray that she learns patience as I work on my yard. I know this sounds strange but I figured channeling my anger into prayer for the realtor is far better than being angry with myself about the situation that I didn't know was a situation!

My son and I have had lots of fun in my back yard despite me getting the caution flag for debris. We play bocce, we play wiffle ball, we played soccer (until he threw his ball away), he's tried to help me with the gardens. Jon is 4 years old today and that is what matters to me even though I won't see him until late tonight.

Blessings and prayers for wonderful week!