Good to know

As I prepared my trusty desk calendar by marking meetings and days off I noticed December 8th had an interesting reminder.  In the top right hand corner written in faint red text you'll see:  Immaculate Conception.

Hmm, note to self.

Rockin progress

21 tons  of pebbles don't move themselves, so after purchasing a new wheel barrel tire, we started shoveling, transporting and raking.  I had faith it wouldn't be as bad as removing the 1 inch red rock from the yard in the first place and sure enough, we've made quick progress after only two afternoons of work.

Friday afternoon we covered the right side of the yard next to the house and progressed towards the front.  We called it a day around 5 PM seeing that our light would soon run out.

Saturday morning, after a refreshing 25 mile ride, and a visit to the dog park we got back to slinging rock.  Minds out of the gutter, I'm talking river rock pebbles and only river rock pebbles.  With supervisor Jackson's positive attitude to keep us in line Jonathan and I manged to finish moving and raking rock across the entire left side of the front yard!  Yes, you may see a mound remaining on the left side, but we'll deal with that tomorrow as well as the right side of the front yard.  Yeah for house progress.

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Halloween to Thanksgiving

Halloween to Thanksgiving without a new post, now that's just embarrassing.  Time for a little catchup. Its the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and today's highlight is the delivery of 21 tons of pebble to be dropped into our front yard/drive way.

And now for the back story.  About 6 months back we decided on covering our front yard in 1/2 inch Canyon Slate. Then came summer in Phoenix, Arizona complete with 118 degrees of  pure heat joy. I don't mind the heat but I can't say its the ideal temp for the shoveling and raking of 20 tons of rock.  By early November the temps were in the mid 70s and we decided to put in our rock order. Seeing that it had been quite some time since our initial visit and price estimate we decided to make another trip to the rock yards to ensure we were still working with the same product at the same price.  We made our way to the rock yards following a much deserved visit to the dog park, and with a material and price confirmation in hand we headed home. It wasn't until later in the week that we re-measured the yard to ensure we purchased the proper tonnage

Fast forward to the following Saturday...Before making our way to the dump with an over-sized load of tree trimmings Jonathan called to put in our rock order. Thanks for calling but by the way, the quarry for your chosen rock closed on the previous Tuesday!!! Upon hearing the news I went insta-cranky.  My pout level was on par with a tired 5 year old in a candy store when told "No".  Despite Jonathan's best efforts to dispel my crankies I could not get over the fact that after so much "deciding", we blew it.  I tried to convince myself that these things usually work out for the better, since this isn't the first time we have not gone with our first choice, but I'll be honest, it really wasn't helping.

After we cleared the truck of branches and debris at the dump we headed to Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles for lunch.  Talk about a lunch that hit the spot! Bellies full with delicious waffles, out of this world fried chicken, opaque Kool-aid and sassy collards we made our way back up to the rock yards.  We came across a few options we liked but at close to $50 a ton they were quickly dismissed. My frustration was again beginning to brew as our options were looking bleak. However, at the second rock distributor, I offered the suggestion of going with river rock pea gravel. Talk about an an a-ha moment.  With a final decision in place, it was time to head home.



We finished last weekend with a trip to Ikea for a new chair cushion/cover and of course left with way more than we had intended to buy.  Once home we hung our bedroom ceiling fan, which thanks to Jonathan's hard work functions at full speed without any rattling, hung our new funny shaped mirror and installed a river rock mini-fence around our mini natal plum bushes.

We are looking forward to spending thanksgiving with friends and family and I for one am excited to start spreading out 21 tons of tiny little rocks!!

Halloween!

October 31st is not only a day of costumes and candy but also our 2nd year anniversary in our house!


By this point my red black window hour glass was done for.


With the green light to wear costumes to work I was quite delighted to put on my spider arms, tuck in my spider but strategically go about my day careful not to damage my costume.  Unexpectedly there was an incredibly awkward costume contest consisting of 3 prizes and 4 participants.  I hadn't intended to be a part of a contest but thought I would play along for kicks.  Tragically this little spider walked away with the 4th runner up prize of coupons for a dairy product that I don't eat.  Oh well, I still got to wear a costume to work : )



Note the spider butt



After work we invited our neighbor buddies over to join us in an appetizer dinner while we handed out candy.  I know it was a Monday night, but this has to be one of the weakest showings I've seen in quite some time.  Seeing that we had 5 households in one place we made many a happy kid as we loaded kid's bag with hand fulls of candy.  Post trick or treaters we hung out for a little bit before returning to our respective houses.  Till next Halloween! 









Cutest spider cupcake holders EVER!