Backyard

I made a quick trip to Galveston last week to meet with my professional organization.  Its hard to believe that we're already starting to plan for NEXT year's conference!  It was a great meeting and I enjoyed some good seafood while I was down there. Only thing that would've made it better was if K could've joined me.   He had his last presentation (woohoo!) so he had to stay in town, maybe next time...

We've had our backyard project moving right along, it is almost finished and already makes a big difference in the look and feel of our backyard.  We've added landscaping and a water feature, and will soon have a swing.   The photos don't really do it justice and some of the plants need to grow in to really give us the look we want, even so its much better than it was before!

We have 3 semicircular landscaped areas, and the one in the middle has a small pond.  Originally we'd wanted a fountain, but in looking at what was available we didn't find any we liked.  We have a pump for the pond so we get the moving water sound that I wanted with a fountain, and K found a timer so that it will come on automatically a few times during the day.   Smokey did NOT like it when he first saw it, now he's enjoying exploring the area and of course he drinks from the pond..   We've also seen more birds hanging around, as K said they now have 'water front property' (sort of)..

Here is one set of before/after photos.  We'll be so happy to have the phone/cable boxes hidden once the rose bushes fill in.   In front are Indian paintbrush plants.
The other flower bed has gardenia and verbanim (spelling?) plants.

The third flower bed will have star jasmine plants, and two of the flower beds will have orange trees - I am really excited that one day we could pick oranges out of our own backyard!

K also finished the picnic table he'd been working on.   We ate dinner at the table on Saturday and spent the evening on the patio enjoying our new surroundings.

the historian

The entire city of Houston has a countdown to K's graduation, even though most people think of it as the countdown to the opening of our soccer team's new stadium.  Here is the countdown clock.

I realized it today when they mentioned the countdown on the news, so now every day we'll know how long until his graduation day, and it cannot come soon enough!

Even better news, it looks like he's secured a couple of sections of classes to teach this summer!   He's been pretty persistent in contacting the local community college, and its paid off.

We've had to rearrange our vacation plans - we got overexcited and booked our travel plans for August even though we knew his plans were up in the air.  Good news..it doesn't look like it will cost us anything to change the travel plans and it may actually cost a little less.   We're following through with one of our new year's resolutions and going somewhere neither of us have ever been - Lake Tahoe.  Anyone ever been?    I'm open for suggestions on what to do.  We had other places in mind, and decided this would be the best mix of adventure and relaxation.  We often go to a city with lots to do and then run ourselves ragged trying to see it all (case in point: NYC), we have fun but wanted something more low-key for this trip - its been a busy year!

slow down 2012

Where is this year going?   We're almost to the end of April already!   

I know that students (and teachers) are all looking forward to May but I want to tell the days to slow down!  K already has figured out the exact day he'll be finished with his schoolwork: May 6.  I am not ready for the hot days of summer and just want to stop and enjoy the days a bit more.  We are getting some work done on our backyard, so I'll have a nice surrounding to sit out and enjoy the evenings.

K's picnic table is coming along nicely.  Its a little uneven, but a great homemade project.  He still needs to add the benches on the sides and sand it (I already told him I want no splinters!) and stain it.   Then it will be finished! 

We want to have the entire backyard finished for his graduation party in May.  I cannot believe his graduation is almost here!

Packing Party

Its been a busy few days.    My sister is moving today, so Thursday and again yesterday I went to help her pack.   We were very busy getting all of her stuff into boxes.   She also generated a large 'donation pile' and we made several trash runs as she made decisions of what she wanted and what she didn't want.   Some things she hadn't really used since last time she'd moved - she inherited a lot of my old stuff in that move - so those easily became donation items.  Its amazing how much stuff one person can accumulate, and how much stuff a cabinet, drawer or closet can hold!

I'm happy to help her and glad its not me that's moving.   I hate moving and still feel like we're figuring out where things fit or how to decorate some places in our house almost 3 years after we moved in.

The movers arrived this morning and I'll help her with unpacking later today.   She's ready to be moved and settled, and we'll get her closer to that today.

Thanks K for being so understanding and letting me disappear most of the weekend to help sis with her packing/unpacking.


Update - Sunday evening;  We had a very successful unpacking party today, she is mostly unpacked. We started with what she needs first -clothes, bathroom, then kitchen.   The other stuff (books, etc) can wait until later.   Its surprising how much time it took to get the stuff into boxes and how quickly it then comes out.  She didn't even move very far but we had to pack just as well as if she was moving across town.   Her bedroom is pretty much completely unpacked, which is great since its the last thing she sees at night and the first thing she sees in the morning, sort of an oasis of unpacked bliss.

I can't wait to see the place when she gets all settled in.

I've gotten better at packing since my last move - all of her plates made it intact....lesson learned: use lots of paper and DON'T pack them last (your tired and in a hurry).   Happy moving day Laura!

I made it home in time to (almost) beat the rain and am ready to watch Game of Thrones with K...hooray!  it feels great to put my feet up :)

K spent part of today making a picnic table...more details soon..

Beach day

I saw this bumper sticker on the way home on Thursday and I think it pretty well sums up Kevin's thoughts....

With his comp exams out of the way (hooray!), we finally took a trip to the beach on Friday.   We had a good time.  It was a little too chilly, for us, to spend much time in the water but PERFECT weather to be at the beach.  We realized that it was cool enough outside that we didn't need to get into the water to cool off.  I got lots of book reading done (trying to finish the Marriage Plot), and we just sat and talked most of the afternoon.   It was wonderful to unplug and completely lose track of time.  I didn't bring a watch and left my cellphone in the car, so before we knew it it was time to head home.  


We couldn't believe how much driftwood was on the beach!    Its been gathered into large piles (some taller than the trucks) and will be picked up before the peak beach season gets started.  Here is a photo of one of the piles, those things in the water are people.

Packing for the trip was pretty easy since we decided to do just a picnic lunch (sandwiches, fruit and chips) and ate dinner at a local restaurant.

We also made a quick trip to visit my parents before heading back home.

The construction in my hometown is finished, so there are overpasses giving us only ONE traffic light from the time we get on the freeway near our house to the time we hit the beach.  It was strange driving through town and having so many new roads, I almost don't recognize it!

Wordless Wednesday

The one room schoolhouse from our recent trip to Woodville, TX.  First thing I thought of - 'just like Little House on the Prairie!'

Terrific Tuesday

There was lots of good news for people close to me today! K passed his comprehensive oral exams this afternoon!  He went up to campus to take them, and stepped out of the room for his committee to confer and let him know right then that he'd passed  It sounds like they grilled him, which is why he's been studying so hard.  I am so proud of him!  It will be a relief for him to only have to worry about his coursework.  He brought a suitcase full of books to return to the school library - he'd had to check out and track down most of the books he's read the last two years.  I wish I could've seen him put the suitcase up on the counter, I'm sure he's not the first to have that many books out at one time.   I know that its a huge weight off his back to have it finished, literally and figuratively. I also found out that my sister got approved for her apartment. She's been trying to juggle apartment hunting with studying for a certification exam at the end of the month.  Its going to be a wild month for her.   So, if I'm asking you for boxes, that's why :) Its funny that all this good news to share and none of it is really MY news...I'm pretty boring lately, and I like it that way....