hey, how did that happen...

Where we left off:

So, Rick came back with the tool rental yesterday only to find that he had the wrong "bits". A few expletives later he was on his way back to Home Depot to exchange them. Delays...delays...

He gets back and immediately starts removing the asbestos asphalt edging.



Looks easier than a hammer and chisel, right? :-)



Twenty minutes later...and it's ready to shovel into the bucket. By this time the sun is blasting on the driveway -- so that's all for the day.



Today...there was a cool breeze and shade. Ahhh...perfect weather to work out in the yard. I decided to do some yard work to keep him company while he prepared the pavers...



Spread out the aggregate...



and...while I was off weeding in the front yard this happened!



Now we just need to tidy up at bit and put this project to rest until next spring. You're probably scratching your head because it looks like it's finished. Nope. Not yet. We need some landscape lighting, plants, etc. You know...the fun stuff!

driveway border paver update...

Looks like it's going to be a scorcher (again) today! The sun was way too strong yesterday afternoon to continue the paver project -- and since he has the luxury of having more than a weekend to work on this -- Rick decided to wait until this morning to continue. I think that he should have started a bit earlier though. I was watching him and noticed that...



...there is an awful lot of asbestos asphalt edging to chisel away.

I sent him back to Home Depot -- to rent the "awesome" mini - jackhammer that he used while doing the paver walkway. He just smiled happily and off he went without an argument. Sofia can't wait until he returns -- she wants to hear him make some NOISE! :-)

okay, I give in...

Yesterday afternoon we needed to make a run to our local Home Depot for some necessary paver related supplies. While we were there, I needed to pick up a can of "white" paint for this project -- you guessed it...it's still not finished. I know that perhaps some of you don't want to bother yourself about white paint, but, I am one of those people who stresses over it just as much as any other color paint. Before purchasing just any can of white paint, I needed to take a look at the available color chips. So, now that I have gotten over being mad at MS for switching her goods to HD from the competitor, I hopped on over to her paint chip display. Do you see the size of these babies? They are each almost big enough to hang as a wall display! Then, when you flip them over the coordinating ceiling color is on the top and the coordinating woodwork color is on the bottom. There is an area to write down the "room" you painted, what area in the room you painted, and, what paint finish you used. Then, to top it off, there is a little booklet that has chips with all the currently available colors. This is so nicely organized that I am going to make it a point to mark the chips in the booklet as I collect them.

{Shakes head and flutters eyelids} Oh, yes, I'm okay -- I just lost a bit of control there for a second with all that wonderful organizing chit-chat. {Deep breath} Okay, so I bought a small paint tester in the MS "tailor's chalk" shade of white, brought it home, and, (after finishing the last slurp of my dunkin' donuts coffee coolatta) put the first coat on the small wall leading into Nicholas' bedroom. When I was finished, Nicholas commented -- "Hey, THAT color white DOES look different than the other color white".

Guess Martha is the boss of my colors...again.

here we are...

here...



and, here...



and, here...



and, here...



The last couple of days have just flown by... I can't believe that this is the last weekend of summer vacation for the kids. They are both waiting anxiously to see their school classmates. Guess doing "alot of nothing" for the summer was good for them! :-) I know it was good for me -- and I enjoyed having their company.

Ok, why is Rick smiling in the last picture? Because today is the first day of his "mini" vacation. He doesn't realize yet how many things there are on my "to do" list for him... :-) He's starting with finishing the paver border on the right side of the driveway. I know he does have some golf planned for Tuesday. Hmmm...maybe I should see if I can find his "to do" list -- it might need some editing. :-)

such a beautiful day...

The "beautiful" began during the wee hours of the morning when Nicholas woke me up to tell me that he thought he heard Sofia sleepwalking. He couldn't get back to sleep because he thought she might have gone downstairs and turned on the stove or something. He finally decided to go downstairs and check out the situation for himself -- everything was good.

Right before sunrise, it was Sofia's turn to wake me up. She informed me that "the sun went supernova" and we were all going to die. I told her to go back to sleep...she did.

Rick overslept and had to hurry to get ready for work.

During breakfast time, I opened my refrigerator to find the liquid from a package of chicken (purchased yesterday) had dripped all over...sigh.

I went outside to assess the garden -- since I haven't been out there during the 2 days of rainy weather. I found a small, dead, rodent looking thing that smelled awful, and, a mushy oval white thing that looked like some kind of egg.

I also found these...



They look like fingers -- I'm just happy they don't look like hands!

Now I'm off to sweep a bunch of dead ladybugs off the porch. Perhaps the rest of the day can be a bit less "beautiful". Sigh...

morning visitor...

These past few days you have to wake up preeety early in the morning to catch the sunshine -- and the birds!

How sweet is this little one? It was making a single chirp, chirp noise and opening it's mouth. Sofia thought it might be hungry so, she offered it some Wonder Whole Grain White bread -- guess that wasn't the right brand -- it didn't eat any! Sofia was very sad when it finally got tired of posing for the camera and flew away.

morning glory...

This morning, the weather man says that it is cloudy and rainy here in the northeast. I beg to differ. We are having an absolutely gorgeous morning in the weather department. My morning glory plants agree also. I have about 7 of these pretty, viney plants scattered around the yard. They are descendants of some seeds that I planted in 2007 -- they keep coming back so I guess they like it around here!

Maybe we'll get some of that rain this afternoon -- we could use a little...