House Proud

These past couple weeks we've done a lot with our pathetic excuse of a yard. First, Marsha pimped her husband Brian to put up a lattice around the base of our large back deck (I had written "help put up," but Eli really helped him while he did all the carpentry magic.) Now we now longer risk having a small child play amongst the construction debris or get carried off by the possums. It also looks so much better.

Inspired by this positive change, I bought some plants to replace the weeds I dug up and Eric came over and planted some of them with me Friday. Then this Saturday -- yup, after staying up with Yelena all night -- Ari came over with a power washer and he and I cleaned the deck. First a serious power rinse, then a deck scrubber, then a power wash over part of it (since he had to get it back to his neighbor) and a rinse of the rest. It looks so much better and the part that was double power washed looks great. I then planted more plants in back and on Sunday Ari came back and he and Eli dug up a portion of our front yard and re-landscaped the front so it looks great. Tonight I did some more digging and planting in the back. It's starting to look downright presentable.

I'm hoping to finish up my plantings this week. It's supposed to cool down by Wednesday, so I can take Yelena outside and get some done during the day. Next weekend I am planning to stain/seal the deck. Eli thinks it will take an insanely long time, I think it is entirely doable. We'll see who is right.

We also tidied up and combed the house. Still no digital camera.