Exhaustion

I'm too exhausted to even take photos. This was an action-packed weekend, even though it wasn't supposed to be. We didn't have any particular project plans so when the weekend hit, we just dug into the to-do list. Here's a recap:

• Got 3 coats of paint on the nightstands
• Prepared and canned a bunch of pear butter using my neighbor's Asian pears
• Build a bed frame for our king bed (still need to upholster)
• Thinned out the closet and got a box for Goodwill going; organized the storage in the basement to put up all of my canned tomatoes, pickles and jams.
  
• Ran a bunch of chores around Seattle, mostly trying to cash in on Chinook Book coupons
• Purchased and planted about 50% of the plants for the planting strip out front
• Installed soffit vents in the garage
• Repaired and rerouted the downspout on the back of the house
• Prepped the interior doors for painting

Anyway, it was a lot and I'm exhausted now.

Up on the Rootop

A lot has happened since last weekend. Frankly a lot has happened since Saturday morning. We started off the weekend right on Friday night by heading to Georgetown for a few post work libations. On Saturday morning I was up and out the door to pick up our monthly meat delivery here on the hill. My dad was here promptly at 8:30 and up on the rooftop of the garage we went. 40 minutes later (he timed it) the old three tab roof was gone and in the back of the truck. Many hours later and a trip to town for more nails we had completely re-roofed the garage. It was great starting and finishing a project in one day! Now the garage looks just like the house. Same paint color, same trim, same roof. Just not the gutters. Yet.

Not to let the moss grow under our feet we started out today with a little cleanup in the garage and some sanding on Laura's nightstand project (I'll let her fill in the details on this little operation later). We were then off to the dump to unload the old shingles and then to the orange box to return some of the nails from yesterday and pick up some wire to finally hook up the garage electrical. For some reason when the previous owners of the house had the garage re-built (the original burned down) they had it wired with outlets and light fixtures but never had it hooked up to a power source. This has been a really long overdue task for me that I have been working on since the spring. After a few hours and one more trip to the blue box and the garage is officially wired. No more dragging extension cords around or using flashlights. It is done.

Laura was not sitting on the sidelines by any means this weekend. She planted a ton of new stuff including our new herb garden out front, diagnosed the problems with our washing machine and ordered the parts as well as continued the canning extravaganza. She is currently processing cucumbers for dill pickles. All in all another productive weekend.

Roof Removal Underway

Roof Complete with Vents!

Trees!

We planted 5 new trees this weekend and found a screaming deal on them to boot. We picked up two apple trees, 2 paperbark maples and one Japanese maple all from West Seattle Nursery. WSN was having the sale of the year...the prices were 50-70% less than Swanson's on trees. I'd been anticipating that Swanson's, with it's larger space, would have a better selection and comparable prices. NOT SO!

Pictured here (looking east): 2 espaliered apples and 2 paperbark maples amongst a bramble of raspberry vines that are just now starting to produce. The raspberries are moving as soon as the fruit ripens.

And our lovely-shaped, multi-trunk Japanese maple...planted between the house and garage.

We picked up a few other items as well like a red rhody to block the alley between our garage and the neighbor's and a bunch of herbs for our soon-to-be herb garden in the parking strip. I love the fall because you can plant without consequences and all of the nurseries are having end-of-season sales so the plants are cheap!

A high school reunion

Well, if there wasn't something in the water in 2010, I'd be surprised. We had a gaggle of 2010 babes over last night, all born within 5 months of one another and all born to Justin's best high school buds. Check this out:

L-R: Megan with Henry, Jay (Elizabeth's husband) with Esme, and Scott (Tory's husband) with little Colin.

Ahem...

What was that all about? Well, we've been busy redesigning the bedroom.

Check out our new paint color: Pussy Willow, by Rodda.

Justin rolled the field and I did all of the cutting in "by hand"...a true team effort. But wait, there's more: we built our own headboard too! I'll get a photo up in a few days once we have the darn thing mounted. Our new king-sized bed is coming on Tuesday.

Overheard...

Overhead in the bedroom last night:

Justin: Laura, you do a good hand job.

Me: Thanks Justin.