Update on our work in progress...

I always refer to our home as a work in progress. I guess that it is bound to be such when you buy a 93-year-old bungalow that has been sadly neglected. We love our house and we are thrilled at the progress that we are making on it. I thought that I might share what we have been working on over the past couple of weeks. First off, we finally got a back yard! Tyson went and picked up the sod and put it in on Thursday while I was at work. We have had a back dirt patch for the last couple of months, so as you can imagine I am thrilled to have grass back there finally. As you can see, we are setting up to put in a walk way, I'll have to get Tyson to finish that up before the winter comes.

Our next project was something that I have wanted to do since we bought the house but I couldn't do it on my own. Again, I put Tyson to work. We pulled out (yes, I did help) the old rose bushes that ran along the sidewalk and moved them over in front of the house. They were beautiful bushes, but I hated where they were located. Three of the bushes are over fifty years old so you can imagine how large they were. What a good husband I have. We started putting in a border to create some beds, but as you can see, it still isn't finished yet.

So, after he finished moving the roses Tyson tilled up the dead area around our front lawn and up where the rose bushes were (poor guy, never gets a break). The lawn was very uneven so we were able to level it all out and till under the dead weeds. Once we get back from our trip to Utah next week we'll put down some grass seed in the areas that we tilled up and also in the existing lawn to thicken it up a bit.Once Tyson finished tilling I put in a border along the front of the property to create a bed that was about half as wide as the old bed used to be (see, I help). Once I finished that I planted some new Nandina, heavenly bamboo shrubs that I believe we will like so much better. They aren't as thick and bless them, they are evergreen. Not really, the leaves turn red in winter, but they don't fall off until new green grown replaces them in the Spring. We went looking for five more because the ones we have are spaced out a little far, but every nursery in town is out of them. I guess we'll have to wait until Spring.Our other project that we just finished was putting in a bed on the southwest corner of our house. It was just kind of dead space so I thought a raised bed might look nice. I'm still not sure what all I will plant there, but I did find two beautiful hibiscus plants which I placed on each corner. I need to find a nice item to put in the back corner, if anyone has suggestions let me know. In front of this bed we'll continues the shorter bed that runs all the way around our house (or will once I finish putting in the border).

Memory Lane...

So last week Ali and Chaz were over at our house and Chaz made a comment about the beard that Tyson had just started growing out. So, the subject of beards continued and I was reminded of a photo that we had from last August when Tyson and I got engaged. Since they were over I have been looking for that picture and low and behold, I found it. This picture was taken on the day that we went shopping for my engagement ring (Tyson didn't trust himself to pick it out on his own). He was gone on wildfires pretty much all summer. This was during one of his relatively longer stays at home, about 38 hours. He would be out for about 14 days at a time and then home for about 2 days. Hence, the beard. I guess that when you are camping all summer long shaving is just too much of a hassle. The best part about it all was that two weeks after this picture was taken Sarita and Eric got married. So, the night before the wedding when all of the family was gathered, Tyson showed up to meet my entire family with this bushy beard and wild hair. Quite the first impression... The beard was gone by the following morning in time for the wedding.

Salsa!

My plans today changed a bit. I had planned at first to start painting my kitchen today, and then I was going to go pick some peaches and can them, and then I was going to go to the lake with my family. Well, none of that worked out for me today. The lake idea got shot when Tyson got scheduled to work overtime, and then I couldn't get a hold of the right person about the peaches, and I can't reach my kitchen ceiling because I'm too short.

So, I changed my plans. I went through my garden this morning and it seriously needed some harvesting. I decided that I would go ahead and make a couple of batches of salsa. Tyson loves my mom's canned salsa and so when we planted our garden we made sure to plant what we would need to make salsa. Luckily our garden is producing what I need at the rate that I need it. I had exactly enough ripe tomatoes and jalpenos to make two batches today. We pulled our onions a week ago because they were set to go. We found a great variety of tomato that we love. It is called a Jet Star Hybrid and it is perfect! It has a really good flavor with a lot of flesh to it. I know, not overly interesting to all of you, but I'm thrilled with it. Anyway, that is my exciting day...

We got a lawn!

This last week we bought our first batch of sod for our yard. Basically our entire back yard and side yards were non level at all, the grass was weak and the lawn full of weeds that just would not die. So, we killed it all, tilled it up and re leveled the yard. So now the process of putting in sod has begun. We purchase 500 sq. ft. this last week and we need about 800 more so we'll be getting that in a few weeks. But in the mean time it is really nice to have our west side lawn done. I'm excited about it!
I hadn't posted an update on our garden lately, so here it is. My garden is insane! By the 4th of July our corn was taller than Tyson and it is just getting taller. It is producing well though. We are having some of the corn for dinner tonight and one of our cantaloupes as well. I took over a dozen tomatoes to my parents yesterday because I had more than I could use and I have dozens of jalapenos and bell peppers. This is fun! More fresh veggies and less money spent at the grocery store. Tyson and I finally decided how we are going to do our garden beds next year so I can't wait to get those put in this Fall.
This next picture is just for fun.

I love my petunias that I put in the planter box next to our front door. It will all get taken out in the next month or two though. The planter box takes up a lot of space and doesn't offer up much planting space in return, so we are going to tear it out and widen our front patio. I figure that once we put in a new railing I'll just buy a planter box to hang over the railing. For this summer though I though it would look silly to leave this box empty. My grandma also had barrels of petunias all over her front and back patios so I went with the petunia.

Losing my mind...

So I have a funny story to tell about what happened to me this morning. I set an alarm to get up early, which by the way is something that I never do. My husband has to be up at 5am so I usually wake up with him and then go back to bed for a little while, but I knew that this morning I needed to get up and get some things done because I had an assignment to speak in Sacrament meeting today and also to teach gospel doctrine today. So even though I went back to bed after Tyson left this morning I still got up early. I hurried and got myself ready for church so that I would not be late. I wanted to make sure that I was ready to go in case I ran out of time while I finished preparing both my talk and my lesson. Anyway, I had my whole schedule planned out and had set myself to leave at 9:15 to make sure that I got to church about ten minutes early. Anyway, I went into my bedroom this morning at 9:07 to grab my shoes and cardigan when I finally realized CHURCH STARTED AT 9:00! I don't know how I forgot that. We've been going to this ward for three months now and I have never been late but for some reason the day that I need to speak I forget what time church starts at. Anyway, I ran out the door and actually drove to church (it is only a block away) and walk in right as the Sacrament Hymn was finishing. I was so embarrassed because of course I had to sit on the stand. Anyway, I was a little but shaken by that so it took me a little bit to gather my bearings. Then, after than embarrassing situation did I get to just sit back, NO, I had to go and substitute Gospel Doctrine. Needless to say, I was glad when it came time for Relief Society so that I could finally step away from a pulpit and sit down and be quiet. Anyway, it made for an interesting morning which I am grateful is finally over.

Finally!

So I started this project on July 2nd and today I finally finished it! Okay, so I've been a bit lazy and I keep getting side tracked...but today I finally finished painting my dining room! These pictures are a little dark for some strange reason. My dining room really is the brightest room in our house with all the windows and such. Anyway, I love the color! It was the one room in the house that I knew that I could get away with painting red, so I did it. It fits rather well with the gold colored living room as well. Now the only room that I have yet to paint upstairs is my kitchen, but I'll get that done next month. I can't wait until that one is finished. Anyway, I'm thrilled with how it turned out. I love owning my own house and getting to do whatever I want to it!

My Living Room is Done!

I mentioned in a previous post that I had finally determined what colors to paint the rest of the upstairs of my house. Until at least the Winter I am ignoring my basement. We don'd need the extra room down there and it needs a bit of work before I can do much of anything. Anyway, I have been working on getting my living room and dining room painted for about a week now and I finally finished the living room. The dining room is coming along (it takes a few coats when you are using red paint), but it should be finished by Wednesday. I had promised some photos so here they are. Prior to being painted the walls were just plain white and dirty, despite all of my attempts to clean them. I love this new color though. It is just so warm and inviting. I had several people tell me I was a little crazy with my color choice, but I love the way that it looks with my dark wood and especially my antique door with the stained leaded glass. Now that I have the room painted and our furniture back in there I have a good idea what style of fabric I need to buy to reupholster our couch and chair. Again, that will be another Winter project for me, but I am excited to get going on it.