Thursday, July 22, 2010

Landscape Update

I realized I have not posted any pictures of the landscaping renovation that's been going on for a few months. It's been such a daunting task. We started relatively late in the year and it got real hot, real quick. It's hard to get out and do such hard labor in the middle of 100+ degree weather. But we have finished 2/3 flower beds
and are pretty much at a standstill. I'll tell you more about that later. Here is a before picture of our yard:

 
Ok. What we did first was create a whole new flower bed in the middle of the yard by the tree. The grass wasn't growing in that area anyway, so we decided to just rip up the sand (we don't have dirt) and then create something more appealing to the eye. Here it is:

                






 



Finally finished! Then we moved to the side flower bed which was next to the garage. We decided to have a trellis with some climbing flowers to draw the eye up and to make it not so boring on that side. We also had to put down weed fabric so it wasn't overcome by weeds and crap. It seems like the only thing we can grow here is weeds!
Here are some pictures of the side bed:

I realized that there is only one picture and I didn't even take a picture of the plants in the ground. But I do remember that we finished this bed about 10:00 one Sunday night. We used Dan's headlights to give us light to finish planting. And then his battery died and I had to run up to walmart for a new one. Yeah it was a bad night. Probably why I didn't take any more pictures! 


So now I'll let you know of the problems we are facing. We (I should say Dan) put in gutters because we didn't have any. Well we thought it would solve the problem of water falling into our beds and drowning our flowers. Well we were wrong. It seems that once we put the landscaping bricks in, we only made it worse. See below:






So this seems like quite the problem. Our entire front lawn is flooding every time it rains. And the picture to the right is our 3rd bed. We haven't planted here yet because we aren't sure what to do about the flooding. It got to the point that Dan had to remove a brick from the walkway so the water could flow. SOOO.... for now, this bed is on hold pending a solution. 

As far as the fence goes, we have not started yet. We are waiting because it is a very expensive project and if we are only going to be here for maybe 1 more year, it seems not worth it. And secondly, the surveyors came and looked at our property and our beloved trees along our back yard line are not ours and we would have to build the fence in front of them. Chloe loves those trees and we would hate to take them away. 

For now, we are just trying to finish some small projects around the house, plan our fantastic 1 year anniversary to KEY WEST, and enjoy the summer!!! Hope you like what we have done!

Monday, July 12, 2010

Sweet Summertime

Well it seems like it's been forever since my last update... and it has. A LOT has happened since then. Time is flying so quickly.

We have begun our training for the Air Force Half Marathon. I am hoping to finish in less than 2 hours. Dan says I can do it because the course is flat and fast. But I'm having some difficulty with training in this weather. It's HOT down here. I mean hot. It's been over 100 degrees for the entire month of June almost. It's just icky. My body is still adjusting and every time we run I get a little better. So hopefully my body will adjust and I will be able to kick this half marathons butt!

We have been home to visit Dan's family and for the boys' baptism. It was so good to see everyone. It went by WAY to fast. But it was very good times with great people! We attempted to go to the Reds vs. Indians game but it was bad weather which resulted in a beautiful rainbow!
We had a relaxing 4th of July. I took off 2 days (Friday and Monday) so Dan and I had 4 days together! It was so nice to be with him! We spent the weekend looking for a new car! We decided on a 2008 Toyota Rav 4 Sport! It's so freaking cute! It's got a nice DVD player as well, which was a bonus. We didn't even know about it until we got up to the dealership. It has average miles but was a really good deal. Here she is:

We also bought new bikes! They are Trek 7.2FX fitness bikes. They are pretty much amazing. Pricey, but well worth it. The other day we rode 28 miles to Perry and back. We had a nice little day planned until we got to Perry and all of the restaurants were closed. We ended up going to DQ but it was worth it because the blizzard was delicious!

Lastly... I cut my hair! It was so amazing to see it all cut off and hold it in my hand. I donated 8 1/2 inches and I am so proud of it! I will probably keep this cycle going. Only next time, I was to donate 10! Here is my short hair!