One Project Down (mostly)

Yesterday, Jeran worked and got our garden area mostly finished. It looks awesome. It was a pretty fun project. I always like the ones where we dig in the dirt and work with plants.

A before picture. This is how it looked when we moved here (for a while we had our motorcycle on the back patio under a tarp). There were some very nice flowers that died and didn't come back after a year of neglect so I dug them up to plant tomatoes.

I have wanted to do something with this garden area for a long time. When our home owner's association got a few bundles of landscape timbers and gave some to each homeowner, we decided it was time to make the change in our back garden.

We decided to use square pavers to extend the patio area a bit to give ourselves just a little more room between our patio and our new raised garden bed and somewhere to set the grill so it isn't in front of our window doors. For the garden itself, to maximize space and the short light we get due to the proximity to the house and trees, we decided to make it an L shaped bed off the corner of the patio.

Anyways, after weeks of planning and digging and waiting and working, it is mostly done!

There is still a little work and cleanup to do. This is before the excavated dirt from the pavers was filled in. We still need a little more dirt, but not as much as we expected, and the dirt we ended up with turned out to be slightly better quality that I expected. A lot of it was clay but we used as much of the solid clay to level under the paver base.

"After"

But that's not really the final product. The hardest part may yet to come, as we decide what to plant and make it something that is both pretty and functional. I'm thinking some flowers and some vegetables... but I'm totally undecided. Also, we plan to get something to sit on and probably bring our grill home from it's summer vacation in a little while. So it might look something more like this professional artist's rendition:

Next on the docket are more kitchen projects. Like that tile! It will happen someday soon and we won't be living with a bare concrete kitchen floor!

Reading Update

I'm well on my way to completing my goal to read 24 books this year. Since I last updated you on my reading (mid February), I have found many new books that I love. Here's what I've read since then.

In March:

Wait Till Helen Comes by Mary Downing Hahn

A quick, easy read about a step-family who is struggling to love each other, and the ghosts that haunt them. This book is aimed toward young teens but is well-written and develops the relationships well. Although I'm familiar with her name, I had only ever read Time for Andrew by Mary Downing Hahn so I was glad to read more of her work. 3 stars.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
Wow. What else can I say? This was a very good book. Although occasionally the monologues dragged on a bit excessively long, it was interesting and thought-provoking, with great characters, a great plot, and struggles and triumphs that you can really feel. Five stars.

In April:

The Lovely Bones by Alice Seebold
Fascinating. It made me think about a lot of things I don't normally think about. It was thought-provoking to see each different family member's reaction to the death. I watched the movie after reading the book and the movie was pretty well done also, and for once they left out stuff you wouldn't want to see instead of adding more! Four stars.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson
Not too bad. This book has a little bit of everything in it. It has got disappearances, murder, business, police, corporate intrigue, journalism, security, family, wealth, poverty, family, love, hate, serial killers, etc. I could go on and on with that list. The book was a bit gritty and I don't think I would read it again and probably won't read the sequel. Three stars.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

& Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
These are obviously re-reads. Or technically in this case, re-listens, since I listened to the audio books. Of course they are both awesome. As an additional bonus, listening to these got Jeran really interested in finding more good audio books so if you know of any that he might like, let me know! Anyways, I love Harry Potter and these two are my favorite two books of the set. Five (hundred) stars.

In May:

I started The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood but I just couldn't get into it. I don't think it was too boring or anything, I think it was just bad timing and I might try the book again later. Sometimes I will start a book that I think I will like but it just doesn't grab me up for some reason. I don't know why that is. I often check out three or four books from the library and read all but one of them. I don't know why... I'm always interested in all the books when I check them out and I usually couldn't tell you which one won't get read. It's weird. Anyways... back to the list:

Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Good good. Another very interesting book about a girl during WWII, this time a young Jewish girl in France and how her story eventually came to be known. This is a really poignant book that has really stayed with me more than a lot of other books. Four and a half stars.

Anthem by Ayn Rand
Excellent. This short novella is very interesting and has enough plot and philosophy to keep both strong and interesting. In a society where the word "I" has been completely forgotten, one person searches for a sense of identity and self. Five stars.

The Big Empty by J.B. Stephens
Mediocre. The characters were not very compelling and the relatively simple story has been intentionally dragged out over many books. In this, the first book of the series, they barely make it the first step of their adventure. Two stars.

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
Great. I can't say for sure yet whether I like this book or Atlas Shrugged better but once you've read one, there seems to be little need to read the other since they are so very similar in character. conflict, ideals and philosophy. There is a lot of merit and truth in Rand's objectivism philosophy, but with all three of Rand's books that I hve read this year strongly centered on the same concepts, it got a bit predictable. It is still very entertaining and interesting, probably especially if you haven't read Atlas Shrugged. Five stars.

So far this June (half-way through):

The Red Tent by Anita Diamant
This was an interesting work of fiction about some important women of the Old Testament: Dinah, Rachel, Leah. I have read another novel about these women (Orson Scott Card's Rachel & Leah) and it was interesting to see the differences and similarities in the stories. Both are based on the little snippets of information that can be pulled from the Bible, and then fleshed out to make them real women. This book was pretty good. Four stars.

Day After Night by Anita Diamant

Day After Night is a historical fiction book about four Jewish women, each from different circumstances and with different backgrounds, right after WWII. They are all stuck waiting in a camp in Israel until they can get through the bureaucracy and officially immigrate to the new homeland. It was pretty interesting but not one of my favorite recent reads. The best thing about it was getting to know a little more of the history of the creation of Israel (although the actual facts are sparse throughout, but you get a feel for it). Three stars.

Well, that's it so far. If I don't count Harry Potters, that brings me to 16 books for the year but it's not really about the number. If you have any recommendations, send them my way! :)

Crazy old Toby... He's always good for a laugh

We have started to let Toby go outside sometimes. In the past, he has been, depending on circumstances, either obviously avoiding any open door or else in a big hurry to sneak outside and run away and be hard to catch. Since we have started allowing him to go outside, recently he has been taking a different approach. He loves to be outside. But only JUST outside the door - and only if the door is open and he can run inside if he gets nervous. If he's enjoying being outside, watching birds, stalking squirrels from the front sidewalk, laying in the sun, or chewing some grass, he will come running in a panic if you close the door so he can't get inside. And then he mewls and whines incessantly! And either the walls are not thick enough or he is a very loud meower. I usually go open it for him because I feel bad that he might disturb the neighbors.

What a wimp... when we had Diego also, Toby used to be the brave one (albeit, the cautious one). I think the bravery was all a show. For some reason, it reminds me of a time Jeran and I went backpacking with some friends. I was so tired and worn out, I didn't think I could make it and had to keep resting and telling Jeran how hard it was, etc. Then Jeran stayed behind for a little bit while I went on with our friends. I complained so much less when there was no caring husband to listen to me complain! The hike seemed more doable, I was less tired. Now let's not psycho-analyze me here, because this is about the cat, but I think of Toby like that. He was either showing Diego that Diego was a wimp to be so scared, or trying to get away from him, or else Diego made him more confident. No there is no one to show off to? Or something. Somehow, Toby's changed attitude and that story seem related to me.

Anyways, some days we've been leaving the door ajar. When it gets warmer and more buggy, something is going to have to change.

La Cocina

More kitchen updates. Sometimes it seems like that is all we do these days. Oh wait, it kind of has been. I have been getting really anxious to make some good progress on the kitchen because we haven't been able to really use it since we started sanding and mudding, and even very much during wallpaper removal. So from about mid-March until now, although the last week or two it has been even worse because we took the stove and microwave out. We've been eating PB & J and cereal and those get old pretty fast.

Jeran has quite a bit of painting and paint prep experience and knows what he is doing when it comes to walls. However, on Saturday, after a few days of prep, I was certain that we were never going to paint and that we would be doing mud-sand-mud-sand-mud-sand for the rest of our lives.

The mudding and sanding went on and on.

And on and on and on!

But finally we got to prime. Although priming is not generally a very exciting step, I was giddy about it because it meant the end of the prep work.

And paint! Now, for the record, Jeran wanted yellow and I wanted green and I gave in. I can't say I love the paint color, but I don't hate it and it is better than white or wallpaper. I expect it will grow on me over time - these things usually do.

And as a sneak peak of the next phase of the project, see the concrete floor in the last picture. We have tile to lay some time, but I'm ready for a little break. I didn't intend to tear up all the linoleum right away, but I started with the under the stove part (so we could put that back for now) and got carried away. I guess it will just be more motivation to get the tile done soon.

Woohoo! Now we can move most of the stuff back in and use the kitchen again! I keep thinking of all the wonderful things that I'm going to bake and cook! Cookies! Casserole! Grilled Cheese!

Last night as we were getting the stove put back in, it occurred to me that I should have made food in the crock pot. Dash it all! Why didn't I think of that sooner!

A-Camping we will go

Last weekend we went camping at Umstead State Park in Raleigh. It was perfect weather, high 85, overnight low of 68. We went with Adam and Mary and Ryan and Lindy and Lexi.

It was so nice and relaxing! We decided to go the lazy route and picked up some pizzas on the way. (Finally some more people that like pineapple!)

We set up our tents, Ryan built a nice fire, and Jeran hung up our hammock. We're definitely taking a stronger rope next time.

We roasted marshmallows and ate smores. I always forget how delicious they are!

We also played some games. We played card games like speed and played Personal Preference. We also played Liar's Dice, which seems to be becoming our essential camping game. Jeran read a lot of his book thanks to his handy headlamp. You really can't beat one of those for reading in the dark.

I slept pretty well - when camping, I'm bound to wake up no less than 7-8 times during the night, even with an air mattress. This time, each time I awoke, I forced myself to not open my eyes, check the time, or listen to the potentially scary noises of the night. So I slept very well by camping standards.

In the morning, we packed up and headed home for a busy Saturday. It's great having so many camping options so near!

Kitchen Progress

We have made quite a lot of progress on the kitchen. The wallpaper is basically all gone and we have removed the baseboards and the soffits above the cupboards.

We started the next phase of the project - wall prep. We have done a lot of mudding so far but still have a little more to do. After that we need to sand and then touch up the rough spots again and sand again.

We still haven't decided a paint color. We are torn between tans, creams, yellows, and light greens. Any opinions?

Look what the cat dragged in

So I was sitting outside on the back porch enjoying the nice sunny weather. The back door was open (the bugs aren't too bad yet, the A/C and heat are both off, and our kitchen can't look any worse). Toby had been poking around the back yard area for a while. He is a wimp when it comes to the great outdoors so he would look around and then when he heard a car motor over on the next street or a neighbor outside talking, he would run back inside for safety. Well, one when he ran in, I saw him going crazy over something on the floor in the kitchen.

I dropped my book and ran inside in time to see Toby pick something up in his mouth and dash down the hall and into the living room. When I got there I saw that he had a lizard! Not just a tiny little reptile, but a decent-sized, bona fide lizard. In my living room! He kept setting it down and letting it run a ways before running over and (usually) gently picking it up in his mouth and carrying it to the middle of the room.

As he was doing this, I was trying to make sure it didn't get under any furniture where it would be harder to catch and finding something to catch it with. I finally found a metal bucket and a wrapping paper roll. It took a while and a few tries, but I finally managed to herd the lizard into the bucket without Toby scaring it off in a different direction. I took the lizard out back and let him free in the woods.

Poor little guy. He didn't look too worse for the wear so hopefully he makes it.