This and That

I don't want to belabor the point
(although I probably will)

but I am a working woman now.

And it appears that this new development in my life has consequences:

I am tired.

I have even less desire to fix dinner than I did before!

(I know...hard to believe)

I am reading more than before.

This is because I am tired and want to lay around after work, so I read instead of doing things like laundry, dishes or dinner.

I am not doing some things I really like to do, like blogging.

But I am determined not to let this job thing take over my life so here I am... blogging.

And dinner is on the stove.

Yes, it's 7 PM and dinner isn't ready yet, but we have to celebrate minor victories.

Here are a few of the things that have happened around here in the last couple of weeks:

My siblings and I worked to get my parents condo organized before their return from Arizona.

They moved from a 4 bedroom home with a basement to a 2 bedroom condo a few years ago, and even though they downsized a lot, they just had more than the condo could comfortably hold.

So there were boxes stacked along the walls and too much in the kitchen cupboards.

This made the place feel like they weren't really moved in and it bothered my mom quite a bit.

So while they were down in AZ for the winter, we decided to get them all moved in.

Our goal: Remove all of the boxes, organize the stuff that was there, and hang pictures that were sitting around the house.

It was a lot of work but it was fun to see it come together.

And both of my parents are really happy with the final result.

There were two goals:
Help mom feel more comfortable.
Make Dad's life easier.

Doneen, working hard!

We emptied every kitchen cupboard and organized.

This is the "worse before it gets better" stage

Dion dismantled the kitchen and began the organization process

We took away a lot of things they never used (or duplicates of things)...
we have them available until we are sure we didn't take something they wanted.
So far Dad says we did well.

We made their bedroom a bit more of a sanctuary.

We hung pictures and mementos.

On the wall beneath the clock are a bunch of bolo ties that my grandpa made so they mean a lot to my mom.

Over the bed we did a photo collage with family pictures.

We put up a shelf so Dad could have all of his model cars out on display.

He loved this.

I made an airplane wall above my Dad's desk.

It looks better in real life because I think I took this picture at a weird angle.

Dad loved this too.

I'm really glad we did this project and I think Mom and Dad are too!

_____

At my house, we decided to start a project in the yard.

We are building a wood fence along the back of the property.

I love my backyard and wanted it to feel more like a get-away, so we are hoping the fence will help with that.

We ripped out a bunch of bushes that line the current chain link fence...they were way overgrown and they drove me crazy.

The problem now is that I have to come up with what to put back there after the fence is done.

You might recall we ripped out the bushes in our front yard last year about this time and I have never replanted there yet.

So Frank isn't sure I can be trusted to do anything but leave a barren strip of dirt...

he might be right.

Ripping out the bushes was a fair amount of work!

Some of the smaller bushes came right out but the larger ones took some muscle!

Frank getting the come-along all set up.

Carter and I working

Carter and Frank working

Success!

(Actually I had to dig out a lot of roots after this)

We filled the back of the pickup three times with all the debris!

This last weekend, we bought the fence supplies so that we can start building soon.

We got lucky and everything was on sale too, so it cost half of what we estimated.

Sweet!

So now I am using that "extra" money to look for some outdoor seating so we can take advantage of our backyard retreat when it's done.

Lots more work in our future before we get to that stage though!

_____

When we were doing all of the yard work, I asked Carter climb up into the cherry tree to help me remove an old swing that was tied up there.

He responded that he didn't know how to do that...he had never climbed a tree.

What the heck?

Ok, so all of the trees in our yard in Massachusetts were like 50 feet tall and not really climbing trees, but still...never climbed a tree??

So I told him it was high time he learned and he clambered up.

Climbing trees is a natural skill for boys anyway.

Excuse the terrible pictures.

That old swing had been up there so long that the tree grew around the rope and there are rope marks in the bark.

It was just an old plastic swing that no one ever used and it was an eyesore.

I'm glad to have it gone...and I'm thinking the tree feels the same way.