Let's Make It Even More Exciting

Saturday we headed to my parents' to help them build a new deck. We had a slower start than I had anticipated but it started coming along nicely. Later in the afternoon, after all my cutting skills with the chop saw were used up and the guys were laying and drilling boards, I thought I'd go out to sit on a piece of the old deck and warm up with the sun on my back. As I stepped down, I unknowingly stepped with my right foot into a hole. Because I badly sprained this ankle about 6-1/2 years ago, I think I over-compensated with my left foot and landed on it wrong because it hadn't had time to properly plant and brace for the weight of my body. I twisted it so badly and heard cracking in ways one should never be subjected to.

I do not cry tears of physical pain very often at all but this was the occasion for it. My word! The pain was intense. Gil helped me into the house and my brother, the coach, came in and assessed the damage, tickling my foot while checking sensation, and promptly iced me up, laid me back in the recliner, and fed me anti-inflammatories. I, as a previous athletic trainer, knew there was nothing else to be done at this point and that if my symptoms remained largely unchanged, I would go to the doctor in another day or 2. I could put absolutely no pressure whatsoever on it for the greater part of the evening, but by nightfall was beginning to be able to stand gingerly on it.


I spent over two hours at the orthopedist's today. They looked at my ankle, took x-rays, looked at it again and re-assessed, x-rayed again, consulted with each other with confused looks on their faces... the consensus is one film shows a fracture, the other does not, my symptoms are weird - in typical Sara fashion - and they've never seen them before, so we're treating it as a sprain with a splint, therapy, and follow-up in 1 month.

However, while wrapped up in the throes of pain throughout the remainder of the weekend, I took two doses of 800 mg ibuprofen before regaining my sensibilities. Stupid Sara. In case you've forgotten since my last post, this is the very weekend we're trying to get pregnant (and unable to do much with a leg that can't be jostled!) with the aid of all those additional hormones my body doesn't naturally produce. Ibuprofen causes bad things to happen in the development of babies and is a big no-no... just in case. So, I'm suffering some non-medicated intense pain and swelling for the greater good in the hopes that our timed efforts and "help" from God created a life. Unfortunately, I'm also worried that I put a possible miracle in danger with those two doses of ibuprofen.

Please pray... for healing, for life, for an ease of worry, for the Holy Spirit to fill me with His grace and love as I, we, deal with all that's going on right now.

Slave Labor

And we are the slaves... to our dogs! :) Two weekends ago, my parents came and helped us pour the concrete forms for the patio border where we're putting the outdoor kennels. This weekend, we had to finish what we started.

Saturday, we poured 37 bags of concrete for a walking path to get from "our" patio to the dogs' patio.


Also on Saturday, we filled the patio area with a sand/gravel mix and leveled it out before laying concrete pavers to fill it in. Of course, these pictures neglect to show the 2 loads of gravel I myself went and shoveled and hauled Friday night, only showing the 1-1/2 Gil did Saturday morning! :)

We brushed the concrete walkway to provide better traction in slippery weather.

Our home improvement store of choice neglected to give us the entire amount of pavers we paid for and we ran out with 6 rows left to lay Saturday afternoon. We went in to pick them up and due to a computer glitch, they ended up only having 4 in stock. Luckily, their competition had the same product and we were able to finish the project Sunday.


All this just to have a place for them to go to the bathroom. Otherwise, they live indoors with us!

Sunday, after we finished the patio, we got to work on the fence. Well, Gil got to work on the fence while I did some laundry and other indoor chores. Then I went out and finished helping him with the fence. We had to section off a portion of the backyard so the dogs would have a fully enclosed place to run. We no sooner got the gate latched before we brought them outside... they were so excited, they ran circles around the yard for a full half-hour before settling down to a mere trot!


The things we do for the love of our dogs.

Busy Month

Once again, I find myself apologizing for my lack of blogging... this month has just been so busy. We've been spending every spare minute trying to unpack. I haven't even begun to decorate yet... no pictures on the walls and you know that drives me absolutely batty! I considered writing several posts and backdating them, one for each subject of our lives, but I'm too tired for that right now.

We're enjoying the new house, even with the hardships a new used home offers. Our irrigation pipe burst, we had to take down cupboards to get our fridge in, we had to set off bug bombs, have propane delivered on a Saturday after waking to cold showers, replacing the water heater, etc. etc. Gil's also had to go out of town for work, as have I, and now we're taking off for a Je.ep Jam.boree this weekend and he's out in the shop right now slaving away on finishing the fabrication of the custom cargo rack he's making and getting the air system and CB antenna hooked up. We have to be moved in enough to host four guests from Germany in September for three weeks.

Adoption update... we have the social worker from our new county of residence coming tomorrow to do our home inspection so our fost-adopt licence can be updated. Our old social worker has not answered her call to send our file over... from a request three weeks ago! I told her today to call his supervisor. She wanted to reschedule our meeting for tomorrow but decided to go ahead and keep it because our schedule is so wacky right now. Thank goodness; I didn't want to wait any longer.

Infertility update... I saw a Reproductive Endocrinologist and Infertility specialist last week. It was an event that was both refreshing and stressful. We had a great hour-long consultation and he seems to think we should not have any problem getting pregnant by IUI, which is something he wants to aim for doing in September already. Because of my amenorrhea, he performed an endometrial biopsy to make sure I don't have any abnormal cell growth in my uterus. Apparently, all I have is "proliferative endometrium" which is an expected state when you don't regularly menstruate. All my labs are normal, which isn't something I'm used to hearing.

Basic health update... I've had a numbness in the medial part of my left foot for the past three weeks or so. Because of my existing sciatic and low back issues, I assumed it was just a flare-up. I saw an orthopedist last week and he essentially confirmed the relation. Since it's just numbness and a bit of swelling and I don't have any weakness or anything, there's really nothing that can be done. I just have to take 800 mg ibuprofen three times a day. Well... due to that, in part, I think, when I turned to grab a falling baby gate from going down the stair, I tripped and ripped one of my toenails back. I have a very tiny sliver of it left but I essentially now have a naked toe. However, the numbness also masked a lot of the pain that would normally be associated with such an event so I guess I'm thankful for that.

I think that's enough for now. More to come soon.

Tip: Paint After Unpacking

We had some great help from friends and family moving our things out of storage and into our new home and we are so deeply appreciative of that. There are just some things, though, that only we ourselves can do. Gil had to travel on business this week and is just getting home tonight; I've been trying to get things unpacked in our main living area, adjusting to working with our new internet and having to work late due to work demands, and painting. It's been a lonely but extremely busy week.

In retrospect, the painting could've waited. Gil thought it'd be easier to paint our bedroom prior to moving any furniture in rather than having to move it all out to paint later. Okay, I get that. So I spent Monday night unpacking the kitchen, but then spent Tuesday night, last night, and tonight painting. 2 coats down and I'm sitting here crying. It's streaky and you can see overlap lines, parts are way darker than others.

Gil came home tonight and told me it's the curse of dark color. He, however, neglected to get me paint with primer in it. I suspect it will take at least two-three more nights and possibly that many more coats to get it all evened out. I hope it's worth it. Right now, I'm feeling it's been a complete waste of time. I could've spent these past three nights emptying boxes instead of breaking my back and getting a kink in my neck wielding a paintbrush and roller.

Life's Good

I promised my mom pictures of our new appliances so I'd better follow through. Monday night, we went in and ordered all new appliances for the house. The house comes with all but the washer/dryer but they're older and pretty well used. The dishwasher looks pretty broken and discouraging. The range/oven wasn't in the best of conditions either, especially when compared to the one in the shop's living quarters which probably only looks better because it's newer. Taking all this into consideration, we just decided to go ahead and purchase them all. It'll take about 3 weeks for them to come in, which should be just about the time we'll sign on the house and be able to move in. We went with LG and here's what we got:

The existing range/oven is gas rather than electric so instead of having to do a bunch of conversions, and hearing that cooking with gas is so much better than electric, we decided to stick with gas. I'm told I'll have some learning to do, figuring out the differences between gas and electric, especially in the baking department.

Here's the fridge... just like the fridge we bought last year that I cried over when we left it behind in the move. Only difference is color. I'm hoping the stainless doesn't show the dust like the black did. All the sales' people looked at me funny when I said I'd prefer NOT to have the water/ice in the door... I'm one of the oddballs who doesn't, I guess. It has an ice maker in the freezer and water from the tap is fine for me.

And here is the washer (dryer matches). I even got the pedestals to make 'em stand waist high. Now I won't pinch my sciatic every time I do laundry! I'm so stinkin' excited to wash clothes for the first time.

We also got the microwave to go above the range and a dishwasher, but I decided it was a waste of space to post pics of those, too, as they're pretty basic.

So there you have it! Life's Good!

Paint, People! Paint!

Those who know me well - and I mean well - know the meaning behind the above phrase. I shout it out often in passing by a home that would otherwise be beautiful if not for its peeling paint. I mutter it when I see fingerprints and scratches and picture fade spots or nasty wallpaper. It's almost become somewhat of a joke between me and one of my best friends, F... Paint, people!

And now for a seemingly unrelated topic and complete 180 degree segue... (it'll tie in, I promise!)...

I don't live in a world of cable tv or dish ne.twork. Gil and I don't spend the extra money for channels too numerous to watch in the course of a lifetime, yet alone be able to watch what we want to watch. We've stuck with the "olden days" and get our tv signal over the airwaves. We were blessed with 6 channels where we lived so it was just fine for us. It didn't create tension because we wanted to watch different shows... it didn't cause us to spend our time in separate rooms, watching what we each chose to watch... it didn't cause us to become couch potatoes, vegging on the couch every night.

As good as that life was, where Gil and I focused our attentions on each other rather than the "boob tube", ma and pa have dish so when we're here, we tend to fall into zombie-like trances as we're introduced to shows and entertainment we've been without all our lives! I must say... I *heart* H.G.T.V. And in my naivete, I never once thought about full and complete episodes of their shows being broadcast online... without cable... and for free!!! What a concept! I watch my favorite network shows online... why didn't I think cable shows would be there.?

Yesterday, I found and fell in love with Col.or Spl.ash. (happy sigh) It feels as though David is reaching out to me and my "Paint, People!" take on life. I watched about 8 episodes last night, back to back. I plan on watching them again tonight... or sometime in the near future.

And to think... I will essentially have a blank canvas for all this inspiration in about a month when we sign and close on our new home!

A-hunting we will go...

Gil and I spent all day Saturday looking at houses. Our realtor sent us a huge list of about 90 possibilities that fit our criteria the closest (there were many more that fit most our criteria). Of those, we came up with a list of about 10 that we wanted to look at right away. Saturday morning dawned with a few raindrops falling but that didn't deter us as... we rolled up the soft-top on the Jeep, threw on a sweatshirt, and took off. By the time we got halfway to where we were supposed to meet R (our realtor), we stopped for a frappucino and put the top back down. We spent all day (8 hours) going from house to house to house, taking pictures and jotting down notes. R was a great sport and hopped in the back of the Jeep to ride along with us rather than making us go in his car. He even bought us an early snack and a nice lunch afterward.

The house I wanted to see more than any others was probably the biggest disappointment. I almost started crying the moment we stepped out of the Jeep to go up the walk. The owners were building it themselves and waaay over-extended themselves. Even I could tell - with my unprofessional eye - they knew not a whole lot about construction. Measurements in stair areas were so horrible that we'd have to duck in places to avoid hitting our heads and there was water damage everywhere. They tried saving money by cutting some corners but you could definitely see the dreams they had for it. If they would've done it right, it would've been absolutely gorgeous and to-die-for. It could've been worth half a million dollars, at least, but now will probably go for less than $200 thousand... and whoever gets it will have a LOT of corrective work to do before they can even complete what was left unfinished. Sad, sad, sad.

After much deliberation weighing all the pros and cons - and much regret for not wearing sunscreen while going topless in the Jeep - we narrowed it down to two choices. These two had about a $40 thousand difference in price tags! Sunday, we signed a buy/sell and put in an offer on the lesser priced one and are now eagerly awaiting news. We should hear if the bank accepts or declines our offer by the end of this week (fingers crossed). There are two other offers on the table for the same place. It's a short-sale... Not because the sale takes place in a short amount of time, that's for sure. This is essentially the last step before the bank forecloses on the property. It's still in the seller's ownership but the bank is going to be getting less than what they're owed, so they have to approve any and all offers. It's definitely a lesson in real estate. So... we wait.

In the meantime, we are thinking and planning as though it's already ours. We're brainstorming new flooring and wall colors, we're prioritizing projects (fencing is going to win so the dogs will have a place of their own without being in our way), and softly penciling in our weekends so we can make sure to also get in some fun play times (and the Jeep Jam.boree!). It's really hard to focus on anything else.

Goodbye Little Home

Maybe I'm feeling a little sad at leaving our home that we spent so much time and effort fixing up or maybe I'm just thinking about doing home improvements when I know we'll have to do more with whatever house we buy. We'll be looking at about 10 houses tomorrow with our realtor and from the listings, just about every single one will need some "personalization" in one way or another. Whatever the deal is, I realized I never once posted pics from the bathroom or kitchen remodels on our old house.

I am not going to post the "during" pictures because there are way too many. Just know that for both of these rooms, we gutted them entirely... down to studs in the walls and installing new subfloors. Partial walls were taken out and rebuilt. Gil replaced all the plumbing and electrical with new, up-to-date products and moved the electrical panel out of the kitchen (where it had been in the wall near the sink!!!). The projects took a LOT of work and I have to say I'm very thankful my husband is so handy with tools and know-how.

We did the bathroom 2 1/2 years ago. It took 3 weeks from start to completion. We bought a camping porta-potty to keep in one garage and replaced the main toilet every night for use. We went through many wax rings!

Before:

During... Picture taken from the garage looking into the house.
The entire exterior wall was removed. There had been a window on this wall but we added on a fully enclosed and insulated garage/shop to this whole side of the house. To make an attached garage meet fire codes, there can be no windows between the house and the garage. For a week, we could walk straight from the bathroom into the garage because there was no wall. Thankfully, the garage was insulated and it was early November so it didn't get too terribly cold.

The old moldy, cast iron/porceline tub. Yuck. Gil had fun smashing it to smitherines.

The new tub/shower single unit. Luckily, there was no exterior wall and we were able to bring this monstrosity directly in that way.

After... all comleted!
All new walls... Gil custom-made the sink counter from a kitchen cabinet base so it stands a bit higher... we can wash our hands without bending over! He had to do some work to make it corner-friendly... and made the tile top himself. He also cut and laid the tile floor himself. I, of course, did all the finishing work like painting and grouting. Moving the sink into the corner really opened it up and made the bathroom seem larger.

We just did the kitchen 1 1/2 years ago... it took 2 months from Christmas 2007 - January 2008. This again was a total gut and rebuild. Everything was 1950 original... metal cabinets painted white, ugly countertops that weren't even fully attached in all places... heating ducts and vents above the cabinets. We ripped out the ducts and re-routed them in the ceiling to allow cabinets to the ceiling. There was a huge double window on the previously-mentioned exterior wall now made into an enclosed garage/shop on the other side. Oh, and the fake brick on the walls and peel-and-stick linoleum... major props to getting rid of it. Because of this kitchen that I lived in for 3 years, I now can no longer stand white kitchens or cabinets. Yuck.

Before...

Before...
Because the house is so small and still in its original 1950's structure, there was no real room for the washer and dryer... thus their place in the kitchen. I didn't really like it but it worked. And I think we made it look nice in the rebuild.

After...

We used laminate flooring that looks like stone (which I love!!!), stock laminate counter-tops from our favorite home improvement store, and base cabinets saved from a kitchen remodel Gil did for a friend a few years ago. The cabinets were oak and still in pretty good condition. We had almost enough to fit our space... Gil had to make 5 more cabinet bases and then he made all the cabinet doors to match... solid oak. Aren't they beautiful?! He even put under-cabinet lighting in for me! We did a $15,000 remodel for $3,000. Who can beat that?!! I know the walls and appliances are the original white, but I picked enough other color in the floor, countertops, and wood stain that it's alright. I loved my kitchen! Gil had made me a roll-out cabinet just for my trash can and my spice cupboard (sorry, no pics) was the envy of every woman who saw it!

We sure made our little house comfortable and updated and the couple who bought it fell in love with it at first sight. A lot of friends have asked if we're sad to be getting rid of it because of all the work we've put into it... the answer is no. It's never actually felt like "home" to us because we always planned to turn it over. We knew it wasn't our forever home or even a place to start expanding our family, so we're really excited to start the search for that home tomorrow.

Lazy Sunday

Gil and I had a lazy morning which was much needed after the past couple of stressful and emotional days. Then we decided to be brave and face the stores on a weekend at noon... are we crazy? My goodness, that's when it's busiest and when all the wackos are out! We hit Home Depot for all the child safety updates that we need in place for our adoption homestudy visits... smoke and CO2 alarms, fire extinguisher, outlet plugs, etc. Gil even got some spray foam so he could barricade the bees in underneath our front steps. He hasn't been able to work on that front piece of cement where we want to put a flowerbed because the bees built a nest in the hole... Gil's allergic and they're just plain pesty. Anyway, we now have all our alarms and extinguishers in. I just have the emergency escape route to finish drawing (I've drawn the house plan, just need to add the red escape lines) and we're ready for our first home visit. I call our social worker tomorrow to set up the appointment. Woohoo! We're on our way.

This afternoon, instead of hopping on the Har.leys, we went to a movie. I really wanted to ride but I still can't turn my head without sending shocking pains up the side of my head. Ugh... and the weather was absolutely gorgeous today. Bummer for me. Anyway, we finally saw The Dark Knight. Wow. I don't really know what else to say. It was pretty intense. I can see why there was so much hullabaloo around Hea.th Led.ger's role... it's so sad to think that he's no longer around to entertain us with his talent because man! He's one phenomenal actor. I've always really liked him but this movie really showed how versatile he is, and how he was willing to work so hard to become a character. He honestly was a bit freaky. Overall, the movie was just alright for me... I'm really starting to hate watching movies or tv shows with so much violence. It was a good movie, well done, and the one thing that bugged me more than anything else was the voice Chri.stian Ba.le used when he was "the Ba.tman". It was so annoying to listen to him while he was in the dark suit compared to when he was just the normal Bru.ce Way.ne.

Then we came home and I made the most yummy dinner of salmon, rice pilaf, and broccoli. And Gil wanted to stop at Hardee's on the way home to save time... hah!

Labor Day Weekend...

... was a weekend full of labor.

This past Saturday, we cut down and removed a tree from Grandma's backyard. Gil did all the ladder and saw work while his uncle, Mel, guided the largest branches so they wouldn't hit the neighbors' fences while falling. We hauled three loads (truck & trailer combo) of branches to the dump and a trailer-full of stumps to Gil's mom's for firewood. It was a long, exhausting day and we came home to take showers and fall asleep on the couch.

Yesterday and today, we've been working on our dining room floor. We've been needing to refinish it since doing the kitchen remodel this past winter and have finally gotten around to it. Yesterday, we sanded the entire area and then started clean-up on all the varnish dust that settled onto every surface in half of the house. Today, I continued cleaning, to include moving all the camping gear into storage boxes (and off the couch) and the office (to include five months' worth of filing). Gil puttied the scratches in the dining room floor... I then sanded it down, creating yet more dust, and then vacuumed and mopped like there was no tomorrow. Gil was able to get down the first layer of varnish and we've had to leave the poor puppies out in the rain because we can't have anything on that area... and definitely can't have their hair flying around to stick on the floor. We finally had to put them in their crates in the garage because my heart was breaking hearing Karma crying in the rain. They've been remarkably quiet out in their crates. Usually, if we put them in there while we're still moving about with lights and noise going on in the house, they're yelping because we're ignoring them. We're hoping to be able to put on the second coat before bed... which is less than an hour away for me.

There's still plenty of cleaning to do once we're able to put the table and chairs back into the dining room. My parents are coming (YAY!) for my birthday this next weekend and I only have one, maybe two, more evenings to have everything ready for them. I was hoping to be able to go on a nice long bike ride over this holiday weekend, but we got plenty of necessary evils accomplished instead.

Update, 9/2/08 @ 6:30 am: We weren't able to put the second coat on last night as the floor was too tacky. Gil got up with me at 5:00 this morning and put it on then. Now, we just sit and wait until Friday when we can again have normal traffic across the floor.

Pregnant Men???

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days... we had a busy weekend and this week at work is proving to be crazy, as well. I'm in a training seminar (Medicare Bootcamp - ooh, how fun!!) all day every work day this week. I also have about 10 different audits on my desk, one coder to train, one physician to train, and umpteen million emails to answer! We got the cement laid in our driveway on Saturday. We're extending the width of the existing driveway by about 4-5 feet to allow room for our camper to be parked during the summer while still allowing our bikes easy access in and out of the garage it'll be parked in front of. I also got all my whiskey and cedar barrel planters filled with flowers. I like to keep them simple, low maintenance, and have to plant ones that take full sun; I went with bright yellow marigolds, bright red petunias, and bright blue lobelia... do you see the theme of bright? I love the color! Gil's making me one more planter to go next to our new steps that he built last spring. My iris in front of the house are practically done for the season already and my tall tiger lilies are getting ready to bloom any day. It's weird, though, to be doing my planters this late in the season; the rainy season has lasted longer this year than usual. On Sunday, we rearranged the garages because we had to move the bikes to the bigger side and my car is now in the smaller side. We have a big cabinet that we keep our bike and golf stuff in... helmets, leathers, golf shoes, that kind of thing... well, since the bikes are moved, the cabinet would really be most easily accessed if stored in the same garage as the bikes, right? Busy, busy. We also took some time to go to the movie Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. LOVED IT! It was so not what I was expecting... I didn't think I'd like it but this may be one that we have to buy when it comes out.

Now, this whole business with the "pregnant man"... this is where all of my "WHY ME?" questions to God come from. I know God allows things to happen differently for different people depending on their greatest needs but this issue with Thomas Beatie just irks the crap out of me. This is the "transgender" person who was born a woman but, while keeping his/her female genitalia, became a "man" in outward appearance and took a man's name. He/she obviously does not want to be a woman so why should he/she have the greatest "woman" privilege of all... having a baby? Why him and not me? And can you imagine what the stigma that child is going to grow up with and the horror of kids teasing him/her at school? Ugh.

Speaking of... can I even say Clay Aiken's name without cringing? He just grosses me out anyway but he donated sperm to a 50-year-old woman who he's not even romantically involved with and plans to raise the baby with her. Okay, using someone's sperm outside of God's intended marital relationship is bad enough. But a 50-year-old woman?!?! Why her and not me? She's had over 30 years of fertility when I've never even had 1.

These are things I just don't understand. I know God has a purpose for my infertility but it definitely does not make the pain of watching people like this (not to mention the 15-year-old crack whores throwing their babies in dumpsters) go away when Gil and I are good, God-loving people who desire to have children so bad. Even with the joy of starting the adoption process, the infertility pain has returned these past two days with all this news media of these "weird" pregnancies. Yep, and then Sunday's second reading at Mass was - lo and behold - Abraham and Sarah and in the context of teaching about the faith Abraham had in God's promise. That's just not a Bible story I like to hear very often, in any context. Yes, Sarah was infertile... but she had her son. I just don't want to be 90 and starting the parenting process, let me tell you! ;) I have Faith in God. It's just sometimes hard to ignore the pain that comes in spite of the Faith.

UPDATE, 6/17/08: I just wanted to write an additional little note here about sperm donation. It is my personal belief that utilizing sperm outside of the sanctity of the marital relationship and/or utilizing sperm from an outside donor is wrong. To me, creating babies in petri dishes and potentially freezing them is wrong. I, myself, am still struggling as I figure out if IUI is all that different from IVF in the grand scheme of things. [IUI still allows conception to occur naturally (or not) inside the woman's body, only "washing" the sperm beforehand. IVF takes egg and sperm to a petri dish and creates conception there before re-implanting the embryo(s).] This is not to say that I do not respect the personal decisions of others to do this. This is my belief but I have never let my personal beliefs stand in the way of respecting and loving others before and I won't start now. We all have the responsibility of doing what's right for ourselves while maintaining our own individual relationships with God. HE is the Only One we are accountable to. I understand the enormity and complexity of making certain decisions in life and I would never hold someone else's decisions against them. I don't wish to offend anyone and I apologize whole-heartedly if I've done that.

Fungus!

Those of you that know me well know that I absolutely despise mushrooms. There are a lot of reasons why and my mom dates this back to when I was about 6 or 7 and I asked what mushrooms were. Mom always told me to go to the dictionary and/or encyclopedia to discover the answer for myself. Of course, the dictionary describes a mushroom as a fungus. Apparently, I swore that I wasn't ever going to eat fungus. Athlete's foot is a fungus and you don't see people licking between their toes for that! There have been many opportunities for me to try to change my mind over the years and my brother always dares me to eat one or two, usually around his birthday. This is successful for him in that he can pretty much dare me to do anything and I'll eventually do it; however, it's unsuccessful for me because the more I try them, the more I want to puke! Reasons? One, I can't stand the texture... Two, I really can't stand the smell. And every time I get brave enough to try one, it only reminds me how much I hate them. I have a brand new reason to hate them tonight.

We spent all of last summer landscaping our small backyard. It was

nothing but dirt and weeds before. This picture with Mojo sort of shows it after we put in some fence but before doing any real work to the yard. Now, imagine a tree against the fence on the far side of the yard. It's only a stump that you can't see in this picture. We also had a huge mound of dirt in the middle of the yard from having dug out a third of the yard in the area where I'm standing to take this picture. We had to dig that out to level it off and prepare it for a cement patio.

My brother came down for a week last June to visit and ended up helping dig out the stump. That was quite the project! He and Gil spent hours and hours for two solid days trying to dig around this thing and it finally came to pass that they couldn't. It was too big, too deep, and its roots ran under the cement base we have for the fence. We finally called a tree guy to come in with a machine to chop it up in its own hole. We got rid of most of the saw dust and then filled in dirt from the big mound in the middle of the yard.

My brother came back down for another week in August to help again while we were dealing with Gil's grandpa's cancer and subsequent passing. Shawn tilled and leveled out the dirt and sand, making it all nice and smooth and ready for sod. Gil and his uncle laid the sod in early September and we finally had grass! In the four years we'd had the house at that time, this was the first time there was grass in the backyard! As I stated above, we covered a third of the yard with cement pavers where we arranged the outdoor kennel as well as the bbq grill and our patio table and chairs.


So... now to the reason for my most recent reason to despise those little fungi... the spot in our brand new, beautifully sodded yard where the tree/stump used to be... yep, lots of little mushrooms all over that corner of the yard. I'm assuming they're growing because the chopped up remnants of the stump are rotting. I had to go out tonight and handpick each of them out of the ground, trying to preserve as much grass as possible, before Gil could spray fungus retardant all over. I really pray that it works because spending an hour digging those things with their foul smell... I should've had a gas mask on or something! Ugh!


(BTW, I'm new to this blogging thing and posting these pictures made me about frustrated out of my mind. Stella, if you have any pointers, please tell me, because y'all will be lucky if I ever try to post pictures again! I couldn't get them to align within the text where I wanted them.)