edmonds garden calamity

well I've been putting this off because its such a travesty.... the garden survived beautifully and produced abundantly. So whats the problem?? Well..... we had two lawn treatments over the course of 2 months and about a week after the second one, we started noticing some issues with the plants. After further research and a visit from Pete's sister (who has a degree in this stuff ;) we unfortunately had to chalk it all up to a fun family project...an inedible family project. the lawn chemicals saturated the plants through the soil and we decided it just wasn't safe to eat. The many, gorgeous tomatoes were deformed, some looking more like peppers. Even though we couldn't eat any of it, we let the girls pick and dig to at least have "the experience." The last pic below is just a portion of our "first fruits." It was truly a shame, but we did get reimbursed for our losses and we're definitely up for the challenge again next year.

(I just hope this doesn't count against me in the green thumb department - after all I did keep them mostly alive and prospering till the bitter end ;)



fair fun

the girls have been bugging us for quite some time about seeing some farm animals... so every time we make a trip to the zoo, we leave with disappointed faces "there weren't any cows or pigs!" ha.
so we decided what better place to fill the farm animal craving but the fair! in full fair-style, we endured the unbearably hot, sticky, sweaty hours by filling up on sugar filled and totally nutritious dinner food, like mini donuts, hot dogs, stromboli on a stick, ice cream, roasted corn, and of course sweet tea and shaken lemonade. in the car on the way there, i was prepping the girls on all the awesomeness that is the fair and had to spark their excitement with a full description of the famous "butter cow." Ive never heard such belly laughing and carrying-on....the thought of it to them was truly hilarious :) Though it ended up not being as big of a deal as they built up in their little minds, they fully enjoyed it along with pig races, petting zoo, horse shows, mini tractor rides, and mommy and daddy's seemingly endless wallets and "sure, why not's" to treats and spectacles. because of the lines and my overly-cautious children, we didn't get to do the one thing mommy wanted to do (I'm not bitter, I promise ;), which was re-live my childhood going down the big yellow slide over and over again, but no one (but me) seemed to mind too much. all in all it was a grand success (of something I can certainly only handle once a year...if that).  although I truly wanted to make a photo documentary of all the outstanding things and people I saw, like "Most amazing thing I saw at the fair...." "Most Ridiculous thing I saw at the fair...." "Most hilarious thing I saw at the fair......" etc. etc. I was a little too distracted to complete it.... but had I been able to do it.... I can assure you, the loaded cheeseburger sandwiched between 2 KrispyKreme donuts would have ranked up there as one of the most absurd "truly-American" things I saw.
and just in case you're wondering... no, we did NOT try one..... and yes, peter would have tried one, had he not had a very responsible and loving voice in his ear telling him he wasn't 17 anymore ;)

when asked about their favorite parts:
Remae: "the BIG pigs snorting <insert multiple adorable snorting sounds> at me"
Ellia: "those funny little pigs racing around the track"

so I guess we leave having fully enjoyed the pigs...and probably looking a little more like them in the process. ;)

mantle makeover

Another home project checked off the list! Originally we planned to sand down and repaint our mantle, but the dental and ribbed molding just loomed over us and it remained on the "to-do." I believe it probably would have stayed there until I had a VERY brave and VERY free day :)

BUT pete and my dad went to this Habitat for Humanity sale and they happened to have boxes upon boxes of beautiful mantles... lets just say it was quite worth the low price. So out with the old and in with the new! :)

oh and p.s. the "old" one is in perfect shape if anyone wants to buy it :) http://columbus.craigslist.org/hsh/3145679839.html

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

gotta say.... I really enjoy these 1-evening projects :)

Patio project reveal

Patio project is now complete!!! :)

We all agreed afterwards that out of alll the home projects we've done in the last 7 years of marriage, this was by far the most work we've done, in the shortest period of time, making such a big difference.... and boy was it hard work or what!

I was supposed to be training for my first 5k over the last 2 months and that was put on hold for evening upon evening upon weekend upon weekend of what felt like running a marathon but was merely manual labor in the brutal heat! we hauled away close to 14 truck loads of dirt & rocks, hauled in about 10 loads of gravel and 3 loads of sand, and that was just the half of it. we added the arch at the top to have a good view of the sunset... and that's just what we have. the biggest change was probably the stairs & hand railing. We are so happy with the results and especially happy with the $ saved having done all the work ourselves (definitely worth all those sore muscles and completely-out-of-running-shape-with-1-week-before-race fitness slump)

So as usual... this isn't really much of a before & after, but more of a during & after reveal :)

Here goes..... DURING:

Drumroll please.......................AFTER:

Taa da! :)

heres to many enjoyable family and friend times on this new space!

p.s. don't think this means its time for a break on the house project front - next up & coming soon.... new family room mantle! :)