busy bee update.......

Posted by Sharon Hays on June 8, 2009, 10:10 am

Thought I'd let y'all know what's going on around her in case I vanish for a
few days.

I've been making summer skirts for myself. Gained a little weight this
winter and I'm not stuffing myself into shorts. LOL Will post some
pictures of those. Found some really fun cotton cambric at fabric.com.
Also going to make a couple summer skirts for DD out of some heavy
shirtings I have. Really too heavy for shirts, IMO. But they will work
great for skirts!! Oh, and the boyo has requested new cargo shorts since
he's killed (or nearly) most of his other. Will post pics when I can. (do
have to brag....the shorts DS has killed? All the store bought ones. The
pair holding up best to boy abuse? The cargo shorts I made him last year.
TYVM. lol)

Also..
We are landscaping the front of the house. I have this wonderful old cane
backed couch that I rescued from heavy trash day a few years back. I
re-did the back since the cane was broken and painted it. Then had DH take
off the upholstery (springs etc.) and cut a piece of outdoor plywood for
me. Put that over the seat area, and made a custom cushion (6' long by 2'
wide!! There were no outdoor seat cushions that big, not even for chaise
lounges!) Also made some throw pillows. Love it. But our front porch was
kind of an after thought when they built the house.

I've talked to the builder even though we didn't buy it from him. He built
the house for his daughter (which is why it has lots of extras our
neighbors don't have in their houses.) She was very involved in the design
process....all through the build. She didn't want a front porch at all till
she saw 90% of the house finished. Then she wanted a porch. It's a great
porch, but not deep. It runs 3/4 the length of the front of the house, but
I would have had it come out further into the front yard.

With the couch there, it almost feels like (and this really is just
Perception not actuality) your toes hang off the edge of the porch. Too,
the front walk, up to the door, is narrow enough there isn't room for two
people to walk side by side.

So we are doing a brick paver walk along the concrete sidewalk. Then an
half-circle paver patio off the front of the porch. We added about 1/3 of
a dumptruck of top soil to level everything off out there. Yesterday DH
and I (with grudging help from DS lol) got the paver walk done.

After all the brick work is done, I get to PLANT things. ;) I already
planted some groundcover plants on the slope of the new hill. I really,
really did not want to have to build a retaining wall. Too much $$ and
that's what everyone else has in their yard. Instead, we gently sloped off
that edge of the hill and I put the groundcover plants in there pretty
densely. The hill is sloped well enough that it held together all on its
own for 4 weeks (with a Ton of rain) before I even put in the groundcover.
So I think it will be fine.

I'm taking pictures as we go along like I did with the deck. I will put
them all up for y'all to see when it's done.

Oh too, this week I have to get DD ready to go off to Arkansas Governor's
School. This is a really incredible program. It's a six week college level
course at Hendrix University (about 3 hours from me.) She is going for
English/language arts. She will stay in the dorm and they are very strict
about where and when the kids can go. Also, they are very strict about
what they can and can't take. All that is marvelous. Now, wanna know the
bestest of all part? It's free. She will have to pay to use the laundry.
And we have to send all her bedding, and bathroom stuff, etc. BUT tuition,
room and board are all funded by the state. They only accept 200 into the
program and it's Very competitive to get in. She had to write an essay and
everything, just like she was applying for admission to college for real!
There are 5 total going from her high school. Two of which are two of her
very closest friends, and they are also going for the same program she is.
Good that they will have classes together. Pretty cool, huh??

So if you don't hear from me for a while...... Didn't want anyone to
worry. ;)

Sharon
--
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
pig.

Posted by Bobbie Sews More on June 8, 2009, 11:06 am

WOW !!!!
Barbara in SC

Posted by Sharon Hays on June 9, 2009, 4:38 pm

Bobbie Sews More wrote:

show/hide quoted text

lol

Thanks Barbara.......I'm taking that in a good way, not "wow, she's a nutjob
and we need to give her some benadryl." LOL

Patio bricks are down. Have to put the sand over the top and down into the
cracks between. But I wanted to wait to do that till DH gets home and
looks at it. He has a much better eye for level than I do (I did use a
level, but......) They are much easier to take up, move around and put
back before you put the sand over the top.

Had lots of (very unwilling) help from the kids. And very eager help from
my DFIL. He took me to Lowe's again in his very big truck to get more bags
of sand. :)

Amazing how good the A/C feels right now....

Sharon
--
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
pig.

Posted by Pogonip on June 9, 2009, 4:43 pm

Sharon Hays wrote:
show/hide quoted text

You'll love it. It's like adding a room to the house. Have I shown you
my backyard? :^D
http://web1.greatbasin.net/~electronicottage/gazebo0504.jpg

--
Joanne
stitches @ singerlady.reno.nv.us.earth.milky-way.com
http://members.tripod.com/~bernardschopen/

Posted by Sharon Hays on June 10, 2009, 4:06 pm

Pogonip wrote:

show/hide quoted text

Oh wow!!! That is truly lovely!!!! Looks like a perfectly tranquil place
to just relax with a glass of wine, a small snacky and a book. ;)
Gorgeous job on that. I really love that!

This will be right out front. The people who owned the house before us did
zero landscaping out there. Not the first petunia. Which is alright. I
didn't have to dig anything out. We've been in the house 4 years now and
I'm just getting to landscaping the front. But we did the deck first, and
there have been other things going on too. So I guess we're not too
behind. ;)

Anyway, what I'm going for out front is welcoming and cozy. I want it to
feel like it's waiting there for the neighbors to stop and visit a minute
when they go for a walk. But I don't want it to feel like it's a fishbowl
type thing either. So I'm going to put in some shrubs to give it a little
shelter. And I get to put in some flowers for pretty too. ;)

Good news is I laid the pavers out well enough that they shed (without
washing out of the ground) the 1.65" of rain we got from 11:30 till about
1:30 last night. (yes, I was up with the dog while it was raining b/c the
sky was also making the bad noise.) DH cut a "gutter" in the top of the
hill to give the water an obvious place to go. And that worked very well
too.

Today I decided to not work outside. For one, it's mud city out there. For
another, I got some pretty nasty sunburn on the backs of my shoulders.
Looks tan today, but still feels tender. Yes Mother(s), I did put on
sunscreen and I did reapply it a couple of times. ;) I was just out there
longer, and it was much hotter than I'd thought. So I'm inside today.
Besides Walmart called and said they missed me so I had to go to the
grocery. LOL

Sharon
--
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of time and just annoys the
pig.

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