Thoughts and opinions...

Does this picture make our house look like a town home?

I was cruising Building Homes and stalked came across this link where they were discussing if it was a town home or not.

I realize the homes are quite close together (as most new builds are), but I thought this pic best portrayed the whole house. Since it's a corner lot, it's difficult to get both the 'front' and the 'side'.

We may have to have another pic tonight after the showing.

Wondering if you think so too???

Ken Paves

Isn't that a celebrity hairstylist or something? Fortunately this post has nothing to do with him, Jessica Simpson, ugly high-waisted pants or hair.

It has to do with Ken, one of the lovely pleasant competent men who took our driveway from this: to this:

Isn't it great? As someone who wears 3" heels on a very regular basis, let me tell you...it' a Godsend for the ankle! No more pebbles, stones and debris to trip over, stumble on or sink into.

(And yes, I drive a '97 Buick Skylark...she's a beaut)

Between the grass coming in beautifully, the driveway being paved, and my green thumb becoming slightly less black into a more dark chocolate brown shade, the outside of our house ain't all that bad I don't think. Certainly better than 5 months ago! Egads.

Are you wondering how I know the name of one of our pavers? (I say our like we hired them. Really they're the builder's pavers. Had we hired them, I'd hope we'd know their name!) There's some unspoken comraderie between tradesmen where there's a mutual respect and understanding no matter what their trade. Married to an electrician, I've come to really appreciate this bond they have. A pair of work boots and Carhartt's equals buddies. So last week when they were out there tramping (or something...flattening in preparation for the paving), hubs came home and struck up a conversation with the guys. Throw a can of beer in there and they were chatting like long lost buds.

(As another note, have you ever tried to type without the letter s? My keyboard's been funky all morning and my s key hasn't been working. Let me tell you...it's a pain in the a**!)

Sidewalk Rummaging

I'm not ashamed to admit I did it.

OK, that's a lie, I'm a little bit ashamed. But not really.

Hubs and I were dropping my sister off at my parents place Saturday night and their neighbours are moving very soon. As such, they had a pile of stuff on the sidewalk waiting to be scavenged and take to reduce their garbage load this week. We're on a tight budget these days, so thought, "hey! what have we got to lose by taking a peak".

Well there was some half decent stuff there, but not much of it that we needed. But there was a patio table that quite nicely matches our front porch set. So we snagged it.

It's in great shape structurally, and if we wanted to, all it needs for a complete pick-me-up is a good sanding and a coat of stain. Since we have one set of in-laws coming from out of town this weekend, this'll be perfect for lunch or dinner if the weather's warm since it'll be a tight (not to mention impossible) squeeze to fit 4 adults at the bistro table. Perfect timing.

Anyone else have any good finds on a sidewalk? I figure it's just like a garage sale, but even cheaper!

Sideyard

Yay-progress!

It's slowly starting to look like a real house!

Here's what we came home to Tuesday:




(Yeah-I don't get the sign either. I think it was just a place to stash it)

They'd grated and placed our trees! The cedars and maples were pretty easy to distinguish, and the other bushes are asian lilacs (the white flowers)...fantabulous!

Since Wednesday was Canada Day, we completely took for granted that these would stay this way until at least Thursday. However, we woke up Wednesday morning to back hoe noises and a few gents working away in our yard. Thanks guys! After some partying downtown, we came home to this:



Great work guys! They had a much more productive Canada Day than anyone I was with. Hubs and I sat on our rooktop over the porch and enjoyed the local fireworks show and our new less-garbage-y front/side yard.

And then this weekend, we got delish smelling cedar mulch to complete the yard and now it looks like this:




And the overhead view, which I took from that very same fireworks-watching rooftop:
And since I'm spatially challenged, I did up this terrible rendition of the yard:

Where,
The 3 dark green circles are the pine trees
The 4 lighter green circles are the maple trees (including the lonely one at the end)
The 7 yellow-y neon circles are the lilacs (hey-it's paint, the colours are minimal)
The coloured sections are the cedar bushes, some flowery bushes and some grasses respectively.

Sorry for the picture overload---we've both been really excited about this progress and Max & Layla have been having a field day exploring their new yard.

Say what?

Remember when I mentioned the forecast for the next 2 weeks when I was glad it could water our brank spankin' new sod?

Yeah, well. Yesterday's 14-day forecast called for 14 days of unclouded sun. Quite a turnaround.

Then this morning I checked again, and it's calling for this:
Yeah, about as reliable as celebrity bump watch.

Fortunately though, this forecast bodes much better for non-sod related activities. Which, despite my last post, I do have several of.
Saturday: Charity Car Wash & bro's open house
Sunday: Father's Day and the 10K run I'm attempting
Monday: Golf Tournament
Tuesday: Sis & BIL come home from living in the Caribbean (although not dependent on weather)
next Saturday: Outdoor anniversary party at my Oma's
30th & 2nd: Canada Day baby! Festivities always involve outdoor bbqs.

I'm much happier to have a high water bill that shitty and cancelled activities.

Green with Envy

I came home yesterday to find this pile or crapola on my lawn:


I can't believe that they'd go and dump their trash on a corner lot-a busy corner lot where lots of people drive by all the time.

But...just a second. What's that I see in the pile of trash? Wait. What? You mean? Could it be?


Yep--there's sod in there baby!



They didn't quite complete the entire front lawn, but they got most of it and they made damn good time too. No one on our side of the street/block had any indication of a lawn yesterday morning, but last night?


Sprinklers galore! Granted it's not as lush or nicely green as our backyard neighbours whose lawns are at least a year old, but it'll get there. And with a forecast starting Thursday of 10 days straight of rain, I think if anything it'll drown in all the water. So in a couple weeks it should be nice and perty.

The rain is interfering with countless other activities that benefit from nice weather that I really shouldn't dwell on for the sake of my sanity, so instead I'll look at the bright side of it.

And did you see those 2 hanging planters 2 pics up? These ones here:

We got home from car shopping on Saturday and they were sitting on our lawn. So strange. But several neighbours had the same thing and I vaguely remember the builder mentioning something about a flower day or something like that, so I'm sure they just dropped off the leftovers to anyone who didn't make it. And let me tell you, they were leftovers! Especially the one up on the table, I spent about 40 minutes dead-heading, pruning, cleaning up, replanting, etc to make it even as nice as it is now. I'm sure it'll improve though. (Right?)

I'm using these plants as an example: Because when I planted them they looked like this:
Check me out!

(Although you'll also notice that one of our cedars is kaput. The other one's doing great, so I won't take all the blame. But I will replant the good one somewhere in the actual ground)

Anyways, all that to say that the rest of the lawn should be done today or tomorrow!!!! Weeee-so excited.

Yes Please

I could really use one of these this weekend:

Ok, ok, I could use one anytime. Enjoy the eye candy,

Getting there....

So yesterday morning, while making my lunch and looking out the kitchen windows, there were strange men in my backyard. They had machines and tools. And they were getting our lawn ready for SOD!!!!! Woo Hoo.

So despite the weirdness, I knew I'd come home to at least some progress. Anything's better than what it was.

I came home to this: (and a crushed recycle bin they 'didn't see'):

Front 'Lawn':

More Front 'Lawn' and straightened walkway stones:

Layla approves, while Max is still deciding. Also--told you I kept my plants alive!

Backyard:

And the itty bitty space between our house and our neighbours: (Thanks goodness for the space on the other side!
And the door from our kitchen:
Which temporarily served as a fridge/freezer on closing day and used to look like this:

I'm so excited about the possibility (albeit slim) that we could have a lawn by the weekend! I was greeted this morning by the same strage dudes outside the kitchen this morning, so here's hoping!!!

Another reason I can't wait for sod

So that this time next year I'll have stolen sufficient lily of the valley from my madre and I'll have to do nothing but step outside my own front door and take some clippings to make my house smell like a dream.

Seriously-I could get high off the stuff if it let me.

(Right after this pic was taken I remembered they could be mildly poisonous for Max & Layla so promptly moved it out of their reach).

Trying to turn my black thumb green-ish

In attempt to keep my black thumb from ruining any curb appeal we may get one day (lawn is still just dirt & debris), I've really been trying to get tips from anyone and everyone about how to garden. I'm very envious of anyone who naturally has a green thumb and

I'm not creating lofty goals of planting and maintaining a garden like these ones,

Frankly, I don't think I'd even want a garden like those ones. They're lovely, but a bit over the top for my tastes.

Even one like this I realize is way outta my league,

And I gotta tell ya---it is HARD to find photos of nice, simple, home gardens as inspiration. I searched my favourite online mags for inspiration, Google Images using several terms, some of my favourite blogs and even searching through some gardening blops I found just for this reason.

As it turns out, some of my faves come from 2 of my favourite bloggers---maybe not so coincidentally, also 2 of participants in the BH&G makeover contest. Man! It's a small world! Anyways, here are a couple that I like overall:

Young House Love:

Making it Lovely:

And a few other seemingly simple ones I may have a hope of achieving over the years:

Anyways, enough about inspiration. If I don't learn what the hey I'm doing, it doesn't matter what my inspiration is, right? So to Style at Home I went to look for some gardening tips. Here are some good ones I found:

Gardening 101
Gardening FAQ's
The Lazy Gardener
Top 10 Garden Tools
15 Garden Tricks
A Simple Guide to Container Gardening

And finally, a list of my fave flowers that I hope hope hope I'll be able to grow someday.

• Lily of the Valley (going to get a whack of bulbs from mom)
• Hyacinth
• Hydrangea
• Lilacs

What's your garden inspiration? Or Goals? Any fave flowers or tips for a novice gardener?