Bark, The Junkos, and It Could Have Been Worse

 Every few years I break down and buy some bark for the yard. I brought it home the other day and put it out in the front. Shovel-full by shovel-full I kind of shook it out across my little garden area. I didn't buy enough so of course every time I'd try to rake it you could see the dirt... so I ended up on my hands and knees spreading it out with my hands. I also bought some yellow pansies and put them in the big planter. By the time I got done and cleaned everything up I was so sore! As I slowly made my way back into the house, I remembered why I don't buy bark every year!

 We all went out to LUMI Dessert Cafe on Mother's Day and I got a Berrylicious Bingsu. It's a Korean shaved iced dessert and it was really good. It was huge, I got the small and couldn't finish it. It comes with cream that you pour over it that makes it more like an ice cream texture more than just ice. It was good.

Remember the picture I showed of the nest, when you couldn't even see the eggs because it was so deep? Well, now they fill it up quite well!

Mr. and Mrs. Junko sit out on the wires watching the nest. They chirp nonstop whenever we come or go.

 Chuck texted me at work the other day to say someone had run into ours and our neighbors mailboxes. A lady had just flown in on a red-eye and was taking her kids to school when - we think - she fell asleep, drove up on the curb and smashed into the mail boxes! Thankfully no one was hurt.

Our neighbor had their box on a metal pole and that's what stopped her. If she had kept going, she might have driven into the bricks and our big trees.

I'll give her credit because she did knock on our door and she gave Chuck all of her information. She also admitted she probably shouldn't have been driving.

Trying Hard to be Thankful - Thursday

 

I'm linking up again with Rebecca Jo. Check out her blog!

 

Beth's eye appointment didn't go as hoped but the good news is she won't be having surgery! 

Work is getting extremely busy very fast but so far I've still got a good attitude about everything! 😁

The fireplace is going to cost $4000 more than we first thought but it will be installed in 2 weeks and I can't wait!

Chuck and I are working a lot of overtime lately but it will help pay for the fireplace! 

I'm so done with doing yard work this year and thankfully Fall is right around the corner! Woohoo!

I hope you find a lot to be thankful for this week even if you have to really look for it!

Saturday Snippets - A Foresty Walk, Help With Mowing, Need Some Help!

Chuck is still walking a few times a week. He went by himself last week and did 5 miles! On Wednesday we did about 2.5 miles on the Burke-Gilman Trail. He's got so much energy lately!

 

Sharaya and Allie have come over a couple times recently and I have Allie this weekend, well, tonight anyway. She helped me mow the lawn by doing a few passes with the mower and she used the broom to clean off the lawn chairs.

 She beat the pants off me at Monopoly! We put on our fuzzy socks and slid on the kitchen floor a while. Have you ever tried it? It is so much fun! 

She's such a goofball! 💓

 

 

 

 

Do you do puzzles? I'm finding I'm just not that good at them. When my sister was here Rachel (her 14 yr old granddaughter) would walk over to the table, look at all the pieces, then pick one up and place it in the right spot! What?! How?! We would try every single piece we thought would fit and even then we wouldn't find it and have to try them all again.

I recently spent about an hour on a puzzle Sharaya bought me and this was as far as I got...

After an hour! Is there a trick to this?

 We're slowing making improvements to our house. We've spent our whole marriage traveling, road trips, National Parks. Now the kids are grown and we're putting money into our house. The next big thing is our fireplace. When we bought the house we learned it wasn't up to code so we've never used it. (19 years!) But now we're in the process of getting a gas insert. I can't wait for winter now!!

This is what we have now. I keep a large green plant in front of it to try to hide it. It's so old! 😄

This is the model of the one we're going to get. Our logs will look a little different and the back will be black bricks. I can't wait to be able to flip a switch and have a real fireplace!

 

Do you have a fire place? What kind do you like?

Are you good at puzzles?

Saturday Snippits

Each Saturday I want to try and share just bits and pieces of my week. This new idea will force encourage me to take more pictures!

Beth and Nick went to see Sonic the other day.
That's his mom walking in front of them. She brought Beth home after the movie.

After church we all went out to lunch and then Sharaya and Allie came over and we played Mexican Train. It's such a fun game, have you ever played it?

Once a month our church has an event called Ablaze. It's for the women of our church to get together to call on God and pray. I took this picture to show my custodial staff where to place the chairs.

I was able to get out and do a little yard work this week

The Pinterest post

The reality! 😁

Then I went to Home Depot and picked up some flowers. My yard can always use a splash of color this time of year.

I hope you and your family are staying healthy!

My "Big Girl Helper"

That's what I called her when she was little and would help me around the house. She loved to do housework!

 

And she still helps out when I'm at work, emptying the dishwasher or folding and putting the bath towels away. She refills the hand soap and toilet paper dispensers, does her own laundry...

Well this week she helped me work out in the yard. We have pine, cedar and hemlock trees in our yard and there are so many needles and pine cones and twigs!

 We got out there and raked everything up, then put it in the yard waste bin. She would rake and I would put it in the bin and then we'd switch. We make a great team!

Then Chuck got out and used the leaf blower on the driveway. Everything looks so much better!

Have you been able to get out and do any yard work yet this year? 

Do you do it yourself or do you hire someone else to do it?

(That's my goal. Someday someone else will do it for me!)

Every Job Needs One

I was out working in the yard this morning and my supervisor made sure I did a good job!