A weekly list of things accomplished, enjoyed, learned, tried and remembered.
1.It must come down. We’ve lived in our neighborhood for 9 years now. We were the 2nd house on our street completed and have gotten to enjoy meeting each and every neighbor that has moved in over the years. We were all in the same boat several years ago– having to plan and execute our landscaping. All I knew when we started planning our yard was that I wanted to plant Aspen trees along our back fence–they are my most favorite tree. Flash forward 9 years and they have grown beautifully–one in particular was a GIANT.
We have neighbors behind us that had left the country for 3 years for a job and had been renting their home. They had put in such a beautiful yard and landscaping, but unfortunately the renters didn’t take very good care of it. Upon returning this past year they found they had a lot to repair. As they were cleaning it all up they discovered that our big giant aspen had been drawing a lot of its strength and size from their yard–apparently it’s roots had stretched way into their side of the fence and it was causing a lot of problems. So, with a heavy heart and a lot of sadness on my part–we decided we needed to take the tree down.
The boys got to help Super Rockstar chop it down and earn some money doing so. My boys are quickly learning to love using tools. There’s something so manly about swinging an ax. We ended up taking two of our 3 aspen trees down–one of them had become sickly and needed to be removed anyway. I had a stern talking to the one that remains about keeping its tree roots within our fence. I wonder if they make shock collars for trees?
2. Tidying up. One of the steps we had to take in preparing to get our new wood floors (you can read about that here) was to remove all of the baseboards. By doing it ourselves, we saved a few bucks and it was something I felt pretty confident I could do (why do I always lie to myself about these things?) I made maps and numbered all the pieces (thanks for that advice Mom) and spent a couple of days getting it done.
I had no idea that putting them back in would be so many steps. First you have to nail them in. This would have been a two day, excruciating nightmare if our friend Rich had not come to the rescue. Rich is the lead guitarist in SofaKillers–the band Super Rockstar sings for. He also is a contractor and had stopped by to get some measurements for a counter top he is helping us with. He saw me hammering away and had mercy. He immediately brought in his battery operated nail gun, showed me how to use and it and loaned it to me for the day. Where has this been all my life? I was done within a couple of hours.
The next step was having to re-caulk the baseboards. This is necessary to seal the upper edge and fill in the gaps–other wise they look a little Frankenstein ish. Two things I know about using caulk: #1–it is extremely messy. There is no neat and tidy way to re-caulk anything. And #2–you MUST emphasize the “L” in the word caulk when asking the salesperson at the hardware store where to find it. Poor Larry at Ace Hardware–I will never forget the look on your face when I asked you where to find caulk and I had not properly emphasized the “L”
The final step is to touch up paint. I’m still in the midst of this step. Rich, do you have any magic tool that would make this faster?
3. Celebrating Veterans. Every year my boys’ school has a special Veteran’s Day assembly. They always include honoring and celebrating each branch of the military and any representative family members that served and are serving. Each grade has something special they do to contribute to the program and this year Grayson’s class recited the Gettysburg address. They also had a gentleman who used to be a guard for the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier come and do a presentation. I really enjoyed learning about the history and the duties of the soldiers that perform such an honor to the unknown soldiers buried there and all who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom. Thank you to all Veteran’s for your service.
4. Art Night. Another fun event our school does is to have an Art Night. Each year the teacher has each grade complete a project and then for Art Night has them framed and put on display–just like a professional show. We have never been able to go, but I’m so glad we did this year. My boys were so proud to show me their hard work. They also had set up different craft tables in the cafeteria for all the kids and parents to enjoy–there was slime (whoever decided that it was a good idea to teach kids how to make this messy, gross, stains everything concoction needs to join the inventor of glitter and both be forced to clean up each and every home that has been invaded), a bead making station, face painting, rock decorating–so many fun things. They had a blast and I did too.
5. War Horse. My older son Morgan is studying World War I in his history class right now and the teacher has been showing them parts of a movie called War Horse to aide in teaching the students about the war. I had never heard of the movie before, but he really seemed to be enjoying it–so we watched it together at home. It is SO good. Any movie that is about horses–I’m sold. This one was just such a good story and a great history lesson too. There are some intense battle scenes, some sad moments, and some violence (it’s a war movie), but it’s not graphic. We absolutely loved it.
6. The Hogan. It was another double gig weekend at what has become one of my favorite places SofaKillers plays. It’s called Johnny’s Navajo Hogan–they’ve played there several times now and I enjoy it every time. There’s always a fun crowd that is ready to enjoy dancing to live music and the guys put on a really good show.
Hope you have a great week!