Whew - what a weekend! When I got home from a long, crazy day of work on Friday, I sent my sister a quick email in which I mentioned some home and garden projects I was hoping to do this weekend. I knew it was a long list, but to my surprise, I actually managed to do them all.
Here’s a brief recap of my oh-so-exciting weekend…
I bought and hung window treatments in my living room and foyer on Friday night. Wrought iron, spirals, and bargains all make me happy, so I was tickled to find these great drapery rods at Ross for only nine bucks each! I’m not convinced yet that I love the window scarves I bought, so I might end up returning them and looking for a slightly different color. They’re burgundy, and I’d rather have a deep red, but for now they’re hanging around my windows… wrinkles and all, looking like I just pulled them out of the package.
Saturday was a tiring day, partially because it was such a beautiful day! It has been so hot recently that I haven’t wanted to work outside much, but Saturday was so lovely that I had no excuse. By 8:30 I was outside pulling weeds. They weren’t cute little flower-bed weeds, so I thought I’d just work on the worst part and then move on to some other projects. Unfortunately I could never quite find a good stopping point, so I spent almost five hours wreaking havoc on all of the huge overgrown weeds and wannabe trees and evil vines that threatened to take over my property. I felt like a human bulldozer. (I guess the people who rented this place from me for the past three years didn’t like weeding either…)
I was planning to stuff the weeds into those tall brown biodegradable bags that the city picks up each Wednesday, but quickly abandoned that idea in favor of two big brush piles. After I find a friend with a chainsaw (a few of the weeds are two stories tall and still standing), then I’ll need to find a friend with a truck so I can haul the brush out to another friend’s farm to be burned someday.
In the afternoon I mowed the lawn with my awesome little push reel lawnmower (which I like to think of as a R-E-A-L lawnmower.) I love that it’s so quiet — and I’m sure my neighbor who was tanning does too.
My next project was the most fun project of the weekend. There’s a boring white door that leads from my kitchen to the basement, so I removed it from its hinges, took it out to the freshly-mowed backyard, spackled a few holes, and spray painted it with chalkboard paint. Now my dinner guests will have something fun to do while I finish making dinner. 
I also replaced the old, cruddy brass doorknob and hinges with stainless steel — a big improvement!
My next task was to trim the hedge. I borrowed an electric hedge trimmer from my boss… and I was secretly relieved that the extension cord didn’t reach the whole way to the end of the property. I only ended up trimming half of the hedgerow, so it looks pretty funny right now, but I’m the only one who will see it. Yes, I live in town, and yes I feel like I have a zillion neighbors, but you’ll just have to trust me when I say I have a very private backyard.
At this point in the day it was time for dinner, a shower, and another shopping excursion, this time to Home Depot, Wal-mart, Goodwill, and TJ Maxx (to return a clock I didn’t love).
Next on the agenda: cleaning up the gas grill that my renters left behind. I scraped the racks with a wire brush, but the one was still pretty gross, so I put it in a garbage bag with some ammonia and let it sit outside overnight. When I got home from church today I hosed it down and all the junk came right off. Amazing.
I should have gone to bed early last night, but instead I decided to get out my hammer, nails, drill, and screws and hang some things on the walls. This place is gradually feeling homey!
It was easy to honor the Sabbath by not working today, since I was sore and tired and lacked the energy to do much of anything! I did, however, enjoy a yummy grilled chicken sandwich for lunch after church. And I mustered up the energy to go over to a friend’s house this evening to watch America’s Funniest Videos and to oooh and ahhh over her artsy/creative projects. AND… I finally found some time to write in my blog again.
As of 3:39 p.m. today, I am officially one year older, but I still like to celebrate as if I’m turning 8 and not 28. I love cards and balloons and hugs and people singing to me on the phone and 17 wall posts on Facebook wishing me a happy birthday. I also love being treated to lunch on my birthday by someone who wants to offer me words of encouragement because she’s been praying for me.
