Friday, July 23, 2010

They don't like eachother yet.




Or more corectly, Sam doesn't like her.






Actually, when I took this picture and the flash went off, Sam looked at me, and made an annoyed, "Humphh." He then realized where he had fallen asleep, who had joined him on the bed, and walked across the room to sleep in his own bed, where I'm sure he felt much more distinguished... you know not consorting with riff-raff such as Miss Ruby.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

house update #1

So, when I left to visit my friend in Colorado (a wonderful visit consisting of talking and passing the adorable baby back and forth while we coo-ed like idiots) my mom asked what the next house project should be. I told her I wanted a patio. This was after several other projects which I will discuss in the future. I had no idea if she would attempt it or how exactly she would interpret that particular desire, but I figured what the hell. Most everything she attempts is great, seriously, it sort of makes me crazy.

So, I came home and to my delight, she had framed a patio for me. A huge one, 16x10, I think. We spent a few days talking over the options. I had been collecting brick for a while and drew out some interesting shapes and came up with a general design, a combination of brick and stone with some interesting "white space" thrown in to break up the brick.

That's not what I ended up with. Nope, instead I spent about three times what I had budgeted...carried away by the beauty of the rock and mom's enthusiasm, and have an almost perfect patio.

This pile of rock:



which I'd like to point out is 2.1 tons of Idaho flag stone and 2.5 tons of black gravel...all of which we moved and placed by hand.

Became this patio:


I love it. I would love it ten times more if my ancient, super sweet and very distracted neighbor was not participating in the great mosquito growing experiement of 2010. My legs are a mess and I must smell amazing because I ALWAYS get bit. Grrrr!

Monday, July 19, 2010

because I'm loving today


a pretty picture: roses and echinacea (or more prettily, purple cone flower) from my yard

I suck at this.

This summer has been supremely weird. I've been here and there and had amazing guests and acquired a new dog and my mom and her husband are still here.

Being myself is quite difficult with an audience. No, that's not quite right, being myself with no personal time to regroup is not easy for me. That is a more accurate description of the situation. I am not a person who does well with no alone time. This is not a new revelation. I've understood this about myself for a long time. This fact actually can be helpful when I try to organize my time and determine what is really going on with me when I am feeling out of sorts. And that's probably the best way to put it. Having my parents here makes me feel out of sorts.

They are great house guests, helpful and easy to get along with, however the adage about old fish and guests....yeah, try three months and six days (Who's counting?). We are all tired of it. So much so that they have gone camping for the week to give me a break. I would feel guilty, but I need it so badly I could not actually protest when they informed me of their plans. So, it's me and the dogs. (Insert contented sigh here.)

Oh, and since I may be closer to myself this week, I may have the energy to post. Possibly even pictures of all the work we've done on the house.