according.to.kim

PI 21/52: From the heart

This heart-shaped pumpkin leaf seems a fitting symbol for my love of taking pictures in the garden. And, below, shooting from the heart... a scene from my life with three wonderful daughters. I'm so blessed to have them!

Our calendar was quite clear this weekend (except for the Rider game on TV, which only affects Neil's time -- and mood*), which allowed us to tackle a number of jobs around the house and yard. Lots of check marks on the to-do list!

On Friday, I worked for several hours on Sophia and Madeline's room. This was Part 2 of The Big Clean. I decluttered, cleaned, and reorganized every surface (they're lucky to have numerous shelves). Unfortunately, I ended with a box full of various things that still require decisions. I didn't really want the girls' help in the cleaning phase, but I need them to decide (with some guidance) what to do with their property, and we ran out of time to do that together.

Meanwhile, Neil gave the van and truck a thorough cleaning on the insides. As usual, the van cleaning was long overdue and therefore, quite a big job. It is clean now, but still full of toys, books, and shoes that need to be donated. There's no place to keep these things in our house so they have to stay in the van until we get rid of them. I didn't mind having them there for a few weeks because I have been adding to the bags and boxes, but now they need to go ASAP.

Saturday morning, Neil and I prepared our back-alley driveway to receive slag from a friend and neighbour. (Slag is a by- product of the metal smelting process and it's a good material for driveways. We have a local source.) We had to move some crusher dust into the yard and clear patches of dead moss (luckily, Neil had already killed all the weeds back there). Thursday evening, I said to Neil, we need to get some slag for behind the garage. I guess the universe overheard and decided to arrange things for us: Friday afternoon, my friend Lisa called and asked if we wanted 3 or 4 yards of slag because she had ordered 7 yards and only needed about half (it was the same price for 7 yards or less). She only lives a couple houses down the alley, so on Saturday and Sunday morning, we hauled slag from her driveway to ours with a wheelbarrow. We haven't spread it out yet, but we think there's enough to cover the area. Since we still need to order crusher dust and clay, we left lots of space for those to be dumped. We worked on this project about five hours total. We managed to avoid the highest temps for this heavy labour, but it was already quite hot out by the time we finished each morning.

Also on Saturday and Sunday, I worked on and completed my monthly photo tasks for June. Thank goodness I had started selecting and editing photos last Monday and worked on it several times through the week. With Mosaic, Picture Color, and other events, June was a huge photo month. Plus, sifting through a couple hundred poorly-lit Irish dance photos is time-consuming and not very fun. I'm glad I didn't have to sit down for a long grueling session (as I was determined to get this done in time to get 9-cent prints at Costco!).

On the weekend, we ate out on the patio twice. We love eating outside! Saturday evening, as we finished supper about 7:30 pm, I just sat there on the patio for awhile because it was gorgeous outside: not a breath of wind, no mosquitoes, and the temperature was perfect for me (about 25C). Also in the fun department, Laurel and Bronwyn took Sophia to see the final Harry Potter movie on Friday afternoon (which she loved!), and I took the girls and their new friend, Zoe, to the spray pad on Sunday afternoon. Sunday night, Neil and I started watching the CreativeLIVE course, Food & Culture Photography with Penny De Los Santos. Love it!

*I was very proud of Neil for deciding not to listen to the post-game show after this terribly disappointing game (and this is significant because he ALWAYS listens to it). I think avoiding it really reduced the amount of dwelling on the loss.

Daily scan: 11 Jul 2004

We took this photo as soon as we finished building this play structure. If I recall correctly, it took the two of us a full 10 hours to build (and, thankfully, Sophia and Madeline were in Avonlea while we worked). It was a lot of work, but so worth it. This thing is rock solid and all three girls can swing at the same time. We have some different attachments that we've used often as well -- another regular swing seat, trapeze bar, and double see-saw thingy. They're easy to change. So glad we invested in this! It's been very well used, and I know it'll be used for many years to come. Hmmm, can't wait for summer!

Good stuff

1. All of our laundry put away. ALL of it. A major accomplishment in this house.
2. The scrapbooking "garage" sale at Let's Get Scrappin' = $30 gift certificate for me. I took some stuff I've had for a long time and knew I'd never use. The store gets half the proceeds and I get the other half in the form of a gift certificate. Now I have to go spend that $30 in the scrapbooking store. Oh darn. ;-) I'll have more stuff in the July 15 garage sale too.
3. Dining al fresco. We don't do it often enough. L & B were here for supper on Thursday and we ate out on the patio. It was so nice. Georgia was very content out- side in her excer-saucer.
4. Getting over 100 photos printed at Costco -- fast, cheap, and good quality -- using their online photo service. I submitted my order at 11:30 p.m. and received an email that they were ready at 10:00 a.m. the next day. I'm pleased that they use Fujicolor paper which is my favourite, especially for outdoor photos.
5. Keeping Georgia's baby calendar up-to-date. I'm so glad I did a marathon update in April for Georgia's first three and a half months, so now I'm able to keep up by adding things as they happen.
6. Talking Rain Sparkling ICE beverages (purchased at Costco; where else?). My kids think it's pop, but it's just water with a little fruit juice, and sweetened with Splenda (sucralose). I like it too and it's only 5 calories per bottle.
7. A yard full of flowers we didn't plant this year. I took these photos of a poppy and borage today.
8. Beautiful weather on Canada Day (except for the wind).

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Ô Canada!
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix!
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

Back yard photo 10

I skipped posting yard pics the past two weeks. I didn't have time and there wasn't much change anyway. But now the yard has changed a little since three weeks ago. Our tree in the back is blooming and this is its prettiest time. Unfortunately, this stage lasts only about a week; I expect all of the petals to drop in just another day or two. I think it's an ornamental cherry tree, but I really don't know. I do know it drops about a million berries on the ground every year, which is not so great.

There's a glimpse of our patio table set too. We haven't used it much yet because the weather has been so unpleasant (another cold and windy day today). I know we will enjoy it though. We did a bit of yard work last Sunday and Neil stirred up two of the beds with the garden claw. It would be nice to get something planted. We'll have to try to shop for seeds and plants this weekend. I think we need to add some more organic material too.

Back yard photo 7

I actually managed to dig up some weeds since last week. Also, the patio table and chairs set I ordered from Home Outfitters came in on Tuesday. Fortunately, Neil was able to pick them up with his Dad's truck late that evening. I spent over an hour yesterday just taking the bubble wrap and tape off of the chairs, and I only got about half finished putting the table together today. You can see a couple of the chairs and the box from the chairs--now serving as a playhouse for the girls--in this picture.

Back yard photo 6

It was a very busy week and I forgot to take my weekly backyard photo at the usual time. I took the picture today instead and there's no difference from yesterday anyway. We actually accomplished a few things in the yard since last week, though you can't really tell from the picture. One of the things we did was add a little sandpit for the girls to play in. We had a small pvc pond sitting in our garage from several years ago, so Neil dug it part way into the ground to the left of the circle and filled it with sand. The girls love it!

It's been really cold out all week. The temperature today was around zero--15 degrees lower than normal. Great weather for early March; not so great for late April! There was a sciff of snow on the ground this morning and a few times this week.

Back yard photo 5

Another Thursday, another photo. Not much change from last week. The weeds are just a little bigger and last week's strong wind blew the pool over to the dry creek bed. You'd think I could manage to at least move the upside down wagon! Well, maybe this week I'll get out there and tidy up. The yard really needs some work--these pictures don't show 80% of the mess.

Speaking of the back yard... my children apparently think it's a good idea to strip down to nothing and run around the back yard when it's only 16 degrees out with a cool brisk wind. That happened today after work. And just for the record, I don't think it's a good idea even when it's hot out!

Back yard photo 4

It sure doesn't take long for the weeds to start coming up! (If you're interested, see last week.)

I let the girls play in the yard yesterday and today after work, and they're loving the swingset. Looks like we'll get lots of use out of it this year! I'll get my exercise this summer running back and forth from the house to give Madeline a push in the baby swing (because I try to do the dishes or get supper ready while they're playing). Thankfully, Sophia can swing very well on her own.

Although 20 degrees out today, it was awfully windy, so not that pleasant.

Back yard photo 3

Well, spring has sprung! Just look at the difference from last week! The temp hit 22 in Regina today and the forecast is for 25 tomorrow, which would break the record for April 8.

I enjoyed the outdoors this morning with a brisk walk for my morning coffee break. After work, Sophia and I (and then Neil) spent a few minutes outside making snowballs (and smashing them on the sidewalk) with the last bit of snow in our front yard. Our hands were cold, so I got out a couple of pairs of dish-washing gloves for the task. The girls spent plenty of time outside today with Sharon as well.

Back yard photo 2

Aleady a big difference from last week due to the warmer weather. It's supposed to get up to 13 C tomorrow, so there shouldn't be much snow left by next Thursday!

Back yard photo

I was thinking it may be interesting to take a picture of our back yard once a week and then be able to see the changes throughout the year--especially since we're planning to plant the beds this year. I took this picture yesterday and I'm really hoping that by next Thursday there will be less snow! We did have less snow a few weeks ago, but it has been snowing on and off for the past 10 days. It's been rather cold for March too--down to minus 25 last night!

Whose child is this?

This is precisely why I put a circle in our back yard! (It wasn't my idea; I read it in a magazine.) I didn't even suggest to Sophia that she run around the circle. She just did it on her own--lap after lap after lap. She must have run around the circle for five minutes straight this evening. Neil's uncle Ron has often said he thinks Sophia will be in the Olympics someday. I'm starting to think he may be right! Apparently, she just naturally wants, or needs, to run!

Our backyard

I'm so happy with how our backyard is turning out! We've accomplished all of this since July 1. It's going to look so much better when the beds are planted too!

Saskatchewan summer

Here's a picture of our backyard taken after the thunder shower last evening.

On the radio this morning, they said a woman (update: that was Neil's aunt Carol!) at the Long Creek Golf Course at Avonlea reported seeing hail the size of tennis balls, and her car windshield was broken. Yikes! If that's the case, there will be nothing left of the crops. Neil is going to take the digital camera to photograph the damage today.

I think everyone was wishing for warmer weather, but this is just a little too hot... The forecast for Saturday is 37 degrees Celsius (that's 99 F)!

Weird, good, bad day

Today was an odd day. It felt like a weekend day. The girls had to stay home because Sharon (the girls' babysitter) said they couldn't go there today. I think she was frustrated yesterday because all or most of the kids were sickly and/or really cranky. I'm pretty sure mine were just really cranky, but she said they were sick and had to stay home today. I didn't feel like pressing the issue with Sharon so I took the day off work. Neil was planning to work in the back yard today (we had four yards of crusher dust and one yard of river rock delivered this a.m.) and that would have gone out the window completely if he'd had to watch the girls all day by himself. I had nothing urgent going on at work, so it was no big deal.

(This is how far I got about five minutes ago when there was a power surge or something and my computer just shut down all of a sudden. Grrrr. The lights didn't even flicker, so it wasn't a power outage.)

As I was saying... The girls were not sick, so we had quite the day in the back yard. It was really hot out (about 30 C), so the paddling pool was very well used. Sophia just wore her swimming suit all day and was in and out frequently. I changed Madeline into a diaper and clothes a few times because I had to change her out of her wet swim diapers. They also played on the swings and slides a bunch too. I plastered them both with SPF 50 at least three times today.

Meanwhile, we worked on putting crusher dust in our pathways and we used some paving stones we had from before as edging between the crusher dust and pea rock. It's all shaping up nicely!

I also took a nap today, which seems odd too. I can't even remember the last time I had a nap. (I should probably have more naps considering I usually only get about six hours of sleep at night.) We all stayed in the house for awhile at midday because it was just too hot to be out.

We had a thunder shower this evening and received about four-tenths of rain. Neil just spoke to his Mom (in Edmonton right now) who had talked to someone in Avonlea and learned that it hailed at the farm. They're all quite upset about the crops (understandably) which were actually looking good. We're really desperate for a good outcome this year. It has been too long. Neil will go check the damage tomorrow. (This was the only really bad part of today.)

Madeline is just getting her 11th and 12th teeth right now. They're upper molars. Nine and ten (bottom molars) are fairly new too.

Building the swingset

Laurel picked up the girls and took them to the farm this morning so we'd have a chance to build their play structure (purchased in part by Neil's Mom & Dad for the girls' birthdays last January). The instructions said it would take two people 6 to 8 hours and they weren't kidding! Neil and I worked on it for at least seven hours today, and we still have a solid 1 to 2 hours of work to do tomorrow.

We had to quit at about 6:00 p.m. simply because we ran out of battery power for the cordless drills--we even have two drills and four rechargeable batteries! The amount of drilling and screwing required for this play structure is unbelievable (this thing is as sturdy as they come). We even recharged all of the batteries a couple of times today, but I don't think they ever had a chance to get fully charged. I can't imagine how long it would have taken us if we'd only had one drill.

The instructions for the play structure are really great. With the exception of just one incident where we had to remove a bolt that was hammered into place, we worked on it steadily with very little trouble or confusion.

I can't wait for the girls to see it tomorrow! I bet Sophia and Bronwyn will call it our "backyard park" because that's what they call the swingset in Bronwyn's backyard. We installed two regular swings and a baby swing, so all three of them can swing at the same time. It also has a slide and a cargo net for climbing, which I think Sophia will really like.

An interesting part of the day was that for a full three hours this fellow with some obvious disabilities parked his adult-sized tricycle just outside our fence and watched us work. He talked to us quite a bit too. He'd say, "Don't break it guys!" and would often ask why we were doing something, or questions about our garage and house (like "Why do you have two doors?"). A couple of times I dramatically fell to the ground in complete exhaustion and he really laughed. I got a kick out of that. He also called Neil a cow several times (at one point, I told him that wasn't a nice thing to say).

I should have asked this fellow what his name is. We often see him riding around our neighborhood. The first time we recall seeing him was actually on our wedding day five years ago. He parked his trike on the street in front of our house and watched us and others come and go. I guess we were somewhat interesting all dressed up in our wedding duds.

Exhausting, but worth it

I wish I had a digital camera right now! I'd snap a picture of our back yard to show. It looks so great now! A huge improvement.

Yesterday morning, we had 24 yards of dirt (economy topsoil), two yards of yellow clay, and 12 yards of pea rock delivered. The dirt was spread all over the yard with a Bobcat, so all of the low spots are filled and everything will drain toward the centre and then out to the alley. We're planning to create a 'dry creek' with river rock, so that's the lowest area now. Plus, all of the weeds (which were sprayed on Tuesday) were completely covered with dirt. What a difference!

After the yard was re-graded and while the guy went to get the pea rock, Neil and I quickly determined exactly where it should go and we started laying down landscape fabric in those areas. I have a detailed plan (that I created myself) of where everything will go--the play area, path ways, garden beds, lawn (just a little), etc.

We got a ton of pea rock because that's what we decided to put under the girls' slide/swing set (we don't have it yet). Everything I read about the surface under play structures said it should be pea rock or wood chips; the material cannot pack together, it has to stay loose to prevent injury from falls. Also, most recommended 12 inches thick! One article said 9 inches. I decided to go with about 9 or 10 inches. In any case, that's a lot of pea rock--about 10 yards for a a 20x20 foot area. We still need to level the pea rock in that area. We also have to move and spread the pea rock in the other areas where it'll be about three inches thick.

The Bobcat guy couldn't spread much of the clay either because he couldn't get close to the house. So, Neil and I moved and spread a lot of clay. That stuff is very heavy!

We worked hard yesterday--about nine hours in total, all the while tending to the girls, and only taking a short break for lunch. I was so tired last evening that I could only watch half of the movie we rented (Big Fish). Maybe I can watch the rest tonight after the girls go to bed (Neil will be at the Rider game).

There is still a lot of work to do in our back yard, but we've made a lot of progress--finally!

Busy week ahead

The next eight days are going to be crazy. Thank goodness Neil isn't terribly busy with the farm right now, so he'll be a big help with the girls (as he was last evening for the Marketing Barbeque at Candy Cane Park).

Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m. my Grandma Byrns, Great Aunt Margaret Byrns (of Washington), and her daughter Sharon Streeter (of Oregon) are coming to our house for a brief visit. Their main purpose in stopping here (as we'll see them in Yellow Grass later) is to deliver the Byrns family bible. I'm very excited to get it, and honoured that my relatives who were in possession of the bible thought I should have it! My Dad's cousin Marilyn, who had the bible most recently, passed away last year and so the bible had to go somewhere. She had intended to give it to me--I guess since I had met her in 1995 and displayed my enthusiasm for family history.

Then at noon, we'll be heading to a paddling pool in Weyburn (or just to Y.G. if the weather is poor) for Ethan's third birthday party. After the party, we'll spend the rest of the day in Y.G. visiting Mom and Dad, Rob's family, Grandma, Margaret, and Sharon. Not sure if we'll stay overnight or not.

On Sunday, I'm going to my Clothing Club party (last one for this year) in the afternoon. It would be nice to get some yard work done on Sunday too.

I only have to work Monday to Wednesday next week, so that's not bad! Monday is the federal election day, so we'll have to vote. I'll have to go to the polling station either at lunch time or after work before 7:30 p.m. There's no clear winner at this point, so it'll be interesting to see the results.

Neil's planning to golf at Long Creek on Tuesday. He's really been itching to go golfing this year and try out his new driver, but this will be the first time.

Hmmm, Wednesday; I think Wednesday is free, unless we don't get the yard cleared sufficiently on Sunday, in which case, we'll have to do that because... Thursday at 7:30 a.m., we have a bobcat company coming to regrade our back yard. Yay!!! (This is another story, but I've had no luck getting a landscaper to do an estimate, so today I went to Waxy's and discussed the situation with them; basically, I'm cutting out the middleman (i.e., many landscapers would subcontract Waxy's to do the bobcat work and supply materials). It couldn't have worked out better (except to have had the work done before all of the rain) because I don't have to work (Thursday is Canada Day) and Neil can be home too. This is imperative so that one of us can have a decent conversation with the bobcat operator.

Friday we're going to a barbeque before the Rider game which is at 8:00 p.m. (The girls and I won't be going to the game.) The barbeque is being hosted by Aly, a woman who sits with Derek and Neil at the games (they have season tickets).

Saturday is Bronwyn's 4th birthday party at 3:00 p.m. That will be fun, of course, and perhaps an opportunity to get to know Bronwyn's Dad, Grant, a little better. (We don't see much of him because he lives in Toronto.)

There better NOT be anything happening on Sunday, July 4!

Back yard progress

We made some progress on our back yard this weekend! Thanks to a few things falling into place... Neil has been in the city since Tuesday afternoon because of the snow and rain we had during the week. On Friday, I had the day off work, and Neil's Mom picked up the girls mid-morning and took them to the farm. That gave us the opportunity to get materials for our back steps and start building them. We had to quit part-way through on Friday and then resume the work on Saturday when the girls were with us, but we had gotten the worst out of the way while the girls were at the farm.

We decided to use prefab stair stringers with the landing attached and railings from Artistic Ironworks. Perhaps a bit more expensive than constructing the whole thing with wood, or mostly wood with iron stair stringers, but totally worth it! We have no experience with this type of construction and with a limited amount of time to get the work done, we needed something easy. This eliminated all of the guesswork, and our new mini deck (4'x6') is completely maintenance-free because we also used Life Long Decking material (a plastic and wood composite). It's awesome!

The deck is completely safe with up-to-building-code railings and there are only three steps to go down to the patio. Madeline is experienced enough with steps now that I can leave the back door open while I'm in the kitchen, and both girls can easily go in and out of the house. This will be wonderful while I'm getting supper ready after we get home from work/Sharon's! It makes such a difference. They're both happy as clams playing outside, and I can get something done without them crying for attention. I love it!