The beginning stages...

Just a pretty flower for your enjoyment!

This post is going to be all about my landscaping projects for the yard. Pictured above is one of my helper's...

Tuesday afternoon I received another load of fill dirt, this one was free and came from a good family friend who is closer to my ex husband than he is to me. My oldest son called him and asked him how much it would be to get 3-4 yds of fill dirt and he said he would just bring us some. It truly made me cry...but that's the sentimental me... I cried because I was pleasantly surprised that he would be willing to do something like that for me.

My son cut down the tree that was dying in front of my living room/office window and we decided to put the swing there. I have already enjoyed several evenings sitting out in my swing. You may also recognize this area as the area where the gourd that took over our house was growing a couple of years ago. This is the new flower bed out in front around our flagpole. The flowers took a beating in last night's storms, but with some tlc I think they will snap out of it and be beautiful in a few weeks.

I planted some wildflower seeds here the other night. It will be interesting to see how they do.

This is the pond in my backyard. We are going to start putting some chemicals in and scraping algae off the top and see if we can get it cleaned up and looking pretty. It doesn't freeze solid in the winter because it has a fresh spring running through it, so I am thinking of raising some Coi (Koi?) (Goldfish) and see what happens.

This is the flower bed in front of my deck, it needs a makeover, don't you think? Watch this space for upcoming improvements! Actually, I think this bed will be a hodge podge of flowers as my youngest son has planted some seeds and picked out some flowers that aren't exactly to my liking, but he is very excited about helping me with these flower beds....

This is another new bed we are building. I always wanted a hammock between these two trees but they are too far apart, but I am still planning on purchasing a hammock with a stand, and it will be located somewhere nearby! My parents gave me their old birdbath this past weekend, it needs some paint....I am thinking of putting a gazing ball in the middle of it but haven't decided yet. I am also going to be needing some birdfeeders.

This area in front of my bedroom windows and beside the deck probably won't get developed this year (Budget you know!) But I am thinking of a water garden and lilac bushes outside my bedroom windows! I saw some with little waterfalls so I would hear the trickling water all night, I think that would be very soothing.

This is the portable firepit and adirondak chairs and footstools we got for our evening fires. We have already had a few fires in the sideyard but will be moving to the backyard near the pond very soon. Oh so relaxing!

These are the very way cool solar lights I got at Menards. They change from red to blue to green when they are on. I have four of them and I am planning on placing them in the garden with the birdbath.

So yes, I have a lot of work to do, hopefully late this summer my after pictures will be beautiful!

Happy Mother's Day!

Of all the things that I love, I love being a mother the most.

I am ready for some Weekend!

I am so glad its the weekend. On the agenda is yardwork. This is the year I have decided to build some flower gardens.

If you remember, when I first moved in this house I tore out seven garden boxes. But they were just plain ugly.

I have come to the realization that I am no longer married and my husband can no longer spray round-up on all of my flowers. After a couple years of him doing that I lost all interest in have pretty flowers and a pretty yard. Well its a new life now. I am slowly learning this.

My son and stepdad got some rocks from one of the farms for me, and I am building a little "retainining wall" of rocks around my flagpole in my front yard to fill in with dirt and plant flowers. I am also building another bed like that out between my two trees by the pond. And fixing up the one in front of the deck.

A couple of weeks ago a local contractor was working on a neighbor's septic and had a dump truck of fill dirt he was using for their job. He only needed a couple of buckets of the dirt for the job and I bought the rest of the load from him for $20. That was my big event of the weekend, who knew dirt could make me so happy?

It is going to take more dirt, probably another load of fill dirt and then top soil too. But I am game for all of this.

A new Menard's store just opened in town last week and man do I love going there. I am really hooked on solar lights. I got some really pretty ones that look like small gazing balls, blue and white and the lights at night change white, red, blue and green. They are sooooo cool! We also bought a portable fire pit and have had a couple of fires this past week. Now we added some adirondak chairs for relaxing around the fire by the pond. Next thing I want is a hammock.

I will post pictures from before, during and in progress as it all blooms and grows this summer. I am truly looking forward to enjoying my yard and flowers this year.

What a week!

What a week of adjusting to my quickly changing life.

It was the second full week of the new visitation schedule for my oldest son. I still have a big empty space when he is not here, the hardest part is when the bus stops in front of the house to let the neighbor kid off and Macie (the puppy) sits in front of the door and watches for her beloved bubby to walk in. It makes my heart hurt more, since my desk looks directly out into the foyer where she is sitting and waiting oh so patiently.

Then my darling baby girl brought home her cap and gown and graduation goodies. Ugh. Another tug at my heart strings. It is exciting too. Her plans are to attend Rudae's Beauty College in Fort Wayne, so she won't be traveling way far away from me....but still, she is growing up and away.

Add to that the big day on Thursday. Thursday my baby girl turned 18. She promptly informed me I can't ground her anymore and that she is getting a tattoo. Oh but I can still ground her as long as she lives under my roof, drives my car and eats my food, uses my soft water and enjoys my heat and air conditioning. Its just how it is. The tattoo, I suppose I don't have much to say about that, but I did express my sincere disappointment.

Her birthday gathering was nice, we took dinner and cake and ice cream to my parents house and her boyfriend came and my oldest son's girlfriend was there too. We had a great time and my daughter made quite a haul in gifts.

This weekend the boys were with me, and I get them next weekend for mother's day weekend and the following weekend is my normal weekend again. I am so happy. My youngest son went away for the weekend with his aunt and uncle. And my oldest son and I have been doing yardwork. We bought a portable fire pit at our new Menard's store last night and had a fire in the backyard. One of the neighbor girls came over and sat and talked with us for awhile and it was very relaxing. My son and I sat out by the fire until almost 1 in the morning. Maybe this new arrangement is bringing us closer, who knows?

Oh and on a side note, we had our lovely little neighborhood meeting and spring clean up yesterday morning. Well needless to say, I have many issues with our association, but I don't want to be an officer so I just have to deal with it all. Their latest and greatest idea is they are going to strongly suggest that we all switch to just one trash pick-up service (of their choosing of course) so that only one big heavy trash truck a week comes into our neighborhood to pick up trash and thus less wear and tear on our streets. So should we only allow UPS and Fed Ex in once a week, what about other repair trucks, should we schedule repairs just one day a month and hope it fits our schedules so there is less wear and tear on our streets? Heaven forbid someone should build a house on a vacant lot. Or a room addition. Or landscape. Or do anything to improve anything. OMG what if someone pours a concrete driveway or sidewalk??? Oh yeah, definitely a sore spot with me.

But nonetheless, I did survive a week of impending changes in my life, learning to let go of my kids a little and let them spread their wings. No one told me this part was so hard.