April 27, 2010

Arbor


The morning glories we planted are starting to get big! In a couple weeks they will be all the way to the top. Richard made the arbor for our wedding, and last year we had the vines completely covering it. It was beautiful!

PicnicTable


Richard made us a table for the backyard on Sunday. He found some great lumber that someone was throwing out a couple weeks ago and it turned out GREAT! For Stevens bday we had them over for dinner and got to 'break' it in. Richard is eventually going to make benches to go along the sides and we will probably stain them to help sustain them.

Flower bed update







So here is how everything is looking. We have spent several hours, weeding etc, but things are really starting to fill in well.

Homemade Wood Planter Box












We have a palm that is planted in a plastic pot and every time we have any wind it blows over. So Richard made a new planter for it, and hopefully it will withstand the weather a little better. I will be staining it tomorrow and then replanting the palm. All of the wood Richard used for the box was reclaimed wood he has been collecting. He is so awesome... its great having your own furniture and accessory maker available at a moments notice.

March 28, 2010

The Man Cave (aka the Garage)

Remember the free crates etc that I mentioned in an earlier post, that Richard had taken apart and now has piles of wood from plywood to 2x4's. Along with the lawn care stuff the garage had been taken over, we could barely walk through it anymore. After working a couple hours in the yard today we cleaned out the garage. We made a trip to Goodwill and filled his truck full of trash for him to dump tomorrow at work. He hung up peg board so he could 'organize' his tools, stacked the wood pile and reorganized some shelves. I even pulled out my label maker.. Richard laughed at me, but I don't care, at least I know what is the boxes now.

We haven't even lived in the house two years yet and it amazes me how much JUNK we have accumulated. Not nearly as bad as the people on Hoarders, but still. Richard asked me earlier if he was a hoarder, and I said no.. pack rat. He said not a pack rat but an "opportunistic" .. he keeps everything for the possibility of being able to use it in the future. His words, "It was free, and I took the opportunity of getting all of it" . I have come to the realization that we will probably have to build a rather large workshop eventually to house it all.

It was a great Sunday, and we have a sense of accomplishment of todays adventures. At least till we need to do it again in a couple weeks.

March 25, 2010

Yard update

After several days of almost back breaking work... or maybe more like back throwing out work, we are finished with the big projects in the yard. The work never ends but atleast the biggies are checked off. Once I have a chance and its nice outside Ill take pics with my phone and post them.
Richard started a walkway but ran out of rock, and one of our awesome neighbors said we could look in her creek bed .. which means more free rock. Love it! Hopefully its decent weather this weekend and we can head over there this weekend.
We have come up with an inexpensive way to make some chic style lattice work. Richard can get hundreds of wire hangers from work. So we are going to cut those and use them to criss cross a frame he is going to make from scratch. A couple weeks ago I came home from showing houses and he had a truck filled with wooden crates and the garage was filled as well. So we have all this wood to do fun projects with. Maybe some planters, and a picnic table. :) My husband is so crafty, ecspecially with free wire hangers and wood! It doesnt take much to make my day.

March 19, 2010

Oh how I love spring...

The flowers are starting to bloom. This is one of the only plants from last year that braved all the freezes we had here in Austin. Still hopeful a few more will come back. We have been very busy trying to make sense of our yard. It had not been maintained for many many years, and over the past two years we have been here we have moved very...very small mountains. :) You know in the grand scheme of things.
Richard re-did this border while I was in California a couple weeks ago and enlarged it. Last week, I went through and tried to weed it. I pulled roots for the purple stuff (aka wandering jew) that were the size of basketballs. That stuff will take over, its time for it to go.
 
This morning I unearthed this beauty. We knew there were bricks by the patio...but at points there was up to 6 inches of dirt ontop of parts. Do you see the pile of dirt next to the house? Its a very cool path.. kind of cobble-stone-esk. If thats a proper description.
Our current vision for this area is to terrace this area. Otherwise we will have the same issue as before. Just a mud path. We also need to put a couple more bricks back in that came out over the years.

After church on Sunday this is our project. We have big bulk pickup coming next week so we can get rid of all this junk. Rotted timbers, barbed wire Richard 'found' awhile back. There is so much dead overgrowth in here.. we will probably have to dig up most of the dirt. After its cleaned out we are going to redo the border with more of the free rock we got last year from Craigslist. (see border from first pic).


Hopefully we will have completed pics of how everything looks once its all done. Richard is on craigslist duty to find more free rock so we can finish our wish list of projects. :) He is the best!

March 18, 2010

Trying to be better

at posting.. but I have a good excuse.
I broke our camera on Christmas day. Not intentionally, but it was either the camera or my nephew... I went with the camera. After almost 4 months I finally made it to the camera shop and they said it would cost $200... when I could buy a new one for less, I said no thanks. And went home with my busted camera. We have been on the look out for a new and possibly better camera. Its amazing how many different possibilities there are.
So with no camera.. no fun photos to post.
We have also been very busy. Richard is in school and working, his only time off is Saturday afternoon and Sundays. My business is starting to pick up, very grateful for the business but always on the look out for more. We have been doing alot with our church and growth group (sunday school class). I just finished up a book club group on Crazy Love.. it was an amazing book. There are so many amazing people that we have made friends with through BBC, we are very grateful for eveything that has come into our lives.
Our first wedding anniversary is coming up very quickly... we are trying to figure out what to do. We have talked about a B&B, camping and now thinking maybe a daytrip to Wimberley. Hopefully we will have a camera by then so we can document our adventures.

Valentine bowling

Instead oh the typical dinner and chocolates we went for pizza then 4 rounds of bowling. Richard beat the pants off me but we had a blast.While we were waiting for our lane we got to sit and chat for about 45 min... which is rare for us with our schedules. It was a great evening!

February 12, 2010

Five Q and A on my Valentine :)

1. What is the one thing your love does for you that you can't live without?



The way that Richard supports me unconditionally is remarkable. I am truly blessed to have a man that is so patient and forgiving of me.

2. When did you know your love was "the one"?


Pretty darn quickly.. my husband has such an amazing character and is a wonderful loving man. I was hooked right off the bat. :)

3. Does your love have a special ringtone on your cell?


He did till I got a new phone last week.. once I figure out how to really work my new phone he will. I love that he has his own. That way if Im in the middle of something I know that I really want to answer the phone instead of letting it go to voicemail. Hearing Richard say 'hey baby' always makes me smile.

4. What are you attracted to most in your special someone?


His beautiful eyes and smile. Very endearing and it always gets me.
5. Did you know when/where he/she was going to pop the big question?
 
We had talked in length about our future for months and had 'plans' in place for spending out lives together. But we couldnt start those said plans until he proposed, so I knew we would be engaged but not the details of how or when.
 
from our honeymoon 2009