Blog Archives

The List

January 6, 2012

For the new year, I posted a list of some things that still need to be done around the house, and I actually tackled one of them! My spare bedroom, while still a work in progress, had a little mini-makeover. Here was the before: Actually, here is the BEFORE before, just for kicks: Why, yes!  [...]

The Yard

July 20, 2011

Things are moving right along in the yard.  Here’s what is happening: Strawberries.  Oh, happy.  The blackberries are also starting to ripen, and I have a few blueberries on my little blueberry plants.  Oh, and an orange on my mini-orange tree (that I dug up from the yard and nearly killed when I first moved [...]

Deck: Before and Near-After

May 23, 2011

Back when my house had shanties and before I lived here, somebody slapped a roof up between the house and garage and added a bathroom, laundry room, and bedroom.  That mess was ripped out before I moved in (oh, I think I forgot to mention that the bathroom was ONLY ACCESSIBLE THROUGH THE BACKYARD), and [...]

See Ya Later, Cactus Jungle

March 30, 2011

Look what I finally did! The battle of the cactus jungle has been brutal, but TA DA!  I have removed all that I’m going to remove!  One souvenir cactus remains, and about fifty tons of chopped off cactus parts.  This latest round involved sawing through the massive trunks, and those babies are HEAVY. It isn’t [...]

Before

March 9, 2011

I was just looking through photos of when I first moved in here, and they seriously make me tired just looking at them.  This is the backyard, the side where I now I have my veggie beds.  Can you believe this? A different vantage point (pics above were taken from the back of the yard, [...]

Bird by Bird*: Cactus

January 29, 2011

Over the course of the week, the dog systematically destroys my side yard, so most weekends I spend some time putting it back together. Today I was extra motivated, and after some cactus victory last weekend, I was ready to take on the never-ending, god-forsaken cactus jungle. Before: This is what the side yard looked [...]

Bird by Bird: Garden Progress

August 17, 2010

Here’s the right side of the backyard the first day I saw the house back in April.  They still had someone coming to mow the yard at that point: Here’s end of April, while the shanties were being ripped out and Kelly was looking on in horror:And then no one was mowing the lawn anymore, [...]

Bird by Bird: Cactus Jungle Goes Down

August 16, 2010

Okay, so when Westerman comes over, apparently destruction is guaranteed.  This weekend, he stopped by and took a shovel to the cactus jungle.  I would have taken “during” photos, but I was too busy cowering in fear while cactus chunks went flying. This is what it looked like before before: Pre-Westerman: Aaaand, after the shovel [...]

Back

July 31, 2010

This week I started feeling MUCH better post-appendectomy and am no longer spending 90% of my free time on the couch. So, back to yard work, but only a little bit at a time. The process is now even more Bird-by-Bird than it was before.  I still can’t lift anything heavy, and am still taking [...]

Gift Garden

July 7, 2010

When I got my Mysterious Lowes Gift Card in the mail, I knew I wanted to spend it all on plants.  Since I was planning to be out of town for almost a week, I wanted to wait until I was back so that I could keep everything watered.  Yesterday morning, I headed to Lowes [...]