On Sprinkling

As you might remember, our sprinkler system has been installed and is now up and running, showering our lawns in watery goodness, but only on our city-designated watering days, Wednesday and Saturday.

The good news? I have grass growing in places that hasn’t seen grass since we bought the house in July of 2003. Amazing what a little water will do for you.

The bad news? Apparently weeds like water too. I had thought our weed problem was minor. Turns out, the weeds were parched as well. Now they are living la vida loca in my yard.

It’s Not Ironic, But…

Saturday, our brand spankin’ new sprinkler system was complete and I enjoyed greatly watching the heads pop up in the different zones and give my yard a much needed sprinkling. We (or should I say, Jake) read the instruction book and figured out how to turn it on manually so that it cycles through all the different zones, of which there are six, but we haven’t gotten to the part where we program it to come on at the desired time (about 5 a.m.) on the desired days (Wednesdays and Saturdays per our city’s watering restrictions). There was much enjoyment gleaned from the installation of the sprinkler system.

And now it’s forecast to rain all week. Sigh.

Well, the good news is that we can test out the rain guage feature if we can get it programmed tonight maybe. Supposedly, if it has rained a certain amount, the system will not come on, even if it’s set to at that particular day and time. Although really, if it has rained would I be able to tell if the sprinkler system had come on or not?

Happy! Happy! Joy! Joy!

I know, I know, I promised vacation recaps, and I swear I’ll get to it, but for now? At this exact second, my yard is getting torn up finally for my sprinkler system installation! I’ve only been waiting for three months. I will have a well-hydrated yard very very soon!

Woo Hoo!

I just found out that our sprinkler system will be installed sometime in the next two weeks! That is some of the best news I’ve had in weeks. Just think of it - I can water the lawn at 5 a.m., before the heat of the day, and not have to get up early to do it. Not that I do that now. Now I water in the evenings, but since our front yard is so small, there is no sprinkler option that really waters well and doesn’t water the street at the same time. I hate to waste water like that. But no more! My new system will have a rain gauge so that if it rains more than a certain amount, the system won’t come on. It will have a temperature gauge so that if the temperature drops below 37 degrees, it won’t come on. And now, the back yard, the most neglected of all my grassy areas, will get watered regularly too, and hopefully that will mean less fence issues.

Now, I just need to find someone to come trim Trashy Neighbor’s tree, which is now hanging so low over the street I’m surprised the city hasn’t done anything about it. I’m half tempted to just call the city and sic them on him, but now that I know he’s crazy and suicidal, I’m really not interested in antagonizing him. I’d rather just pay a couple hundred bucks and get the limbs cut back from our roof and trimmed back to let light into our yard. After the sprinkler system goes in, I want to see if I can’t get some grass to grow on our yard’s bald patch, but that won’t work if no sunlight ever gets to that spot. Sometimes, I miss apartment life. I really really do.

Definitely Hormonal

At least I hope this is just hormones because I am g-r-u-m-p-y. Ever have one of those days where everything is broken? Nothing works? That’s my day today. And my reactions are way too over the top to be normal, so I am going to blame the hormones.

Last night, we were watching Survivor. And every season, they always have a challenge where the contestants play for time with their family members who have been flown in. It’s always very emotional and I usually get teary watching it, but last night, I was full on sobbing. It was ridiculous. Humiliating, actually.

In other news, we are going to see Bono speak tonight. I got offered tickets from a vendor at work the same day I was about to go online and buy them to surprise Jake. These are much better tickes, as said vendor is a sponsor of the event, and we got a free valet parking pass, which rocks. You’d think that it being Bono Day would pull me out of my funk, but so far it hasn’t.

The damn sprinkler guy has not called me to schedule our system installation, and I called yesterday to just see if he had an estimate on when it might be. Back on April 3 he told me it would be a month, but here it is May 5, and nary a peep from him. If this guy hadn’t done two systems for my dad and one for my brother, I’d be very suspicious and start asking for my deposit back, which by the way was cashed a month ago). But I know he’s reputable and does good work and I understand it’s their busy time - everyone has the same idea I had about avoiding watering this summer. If I don’t hear something today I might sic Jake on him.

We had window guys come yesterday to measure our windows for some sort of coverings. We have one window over our front door that is tailor made for Lucy to lay on the landing of the stairs and see out and bark at anyone even considering walking or driving by our house. That will not fly once the baby is born, and since I have thus far been unsuccessful in locating a vet who will surgically remove her vocal chords, we decided the window needed to be taken care of. Long story short, what I really want to do with that window and all the windows on the front of the house will cost us over $3,000. So that won’t be happening. Now we have to decide on what to do about just that window, and then how to deal with the stupid half-circle window in the room that will soon be Curtainrod’s. No offense if you like them, but around here, for the past ten or fifteen years, builders have been installing those stupid ass half-circle windows. The windows themselves I guess aren’t that bad. No, I actually think they are. I just hate them. But the more annoying part is that there are no attractive ways to cover them. The best option I have seen is custom-made shutter and that’s what landed us with a quote for $3,000. I guess we’ll just cover the window over the door for the sake of quiet in the house, and hope that we can use curtains in Curtainrod’s room. Ha! We need to buy a curtainrod for Curtainrod. That’s funny.

And one thing that made me happy yesterday was the delivery of my big order from Old Navy. We had the Maternity Fashion Show. I was amazed to find that of all the things I bought, I only need to return two things. And since it’s Old Navy, I can just return them to the store by me and not deal with sending them back.

On an administrative note, my comment notification email is still not working, so if you are wondering why I’m still not responding to your comments it’s that I can’t, not that I don’t love you.

Now, I’m going to pout some more.

800!

This is my 800th post. Woo hoo! Too bad it’s not going to be exciting.

I am still pregnant and still exhausted. I know I haven’t posted in a while, and I probably haven’t commented much on your sites either. Rest assured I am reading, but that’s about all the energy I can muster right now.

Two things have made me happy today. First, we signed the contract and I am mailing in the deposit for our sprinkler system!!!! I can’t tell you how happy I am to not have to worry about shagging my fat pregnant ass around the yard moving the sprinklers this summer. Second, I saw my first bluebonnets on the side of the road today. I can’t tell you how beautiful it is to drive down the highway and see a carpet of beautiful bluebonnets along the side of the road. It’s truly the beginning of spring in Texas.

Oh, I almost forgot one. Yesterday, I paid off one of my student loans. Granted, it was the smaller of the two, but it’s gone. Sweet jesus in heaven, it’s gone. I never thought I’d live to see the day. And the other one could potentially be paid off this year.

Happy Hump Day. I need a nap already.

I’ve Sprung a Spring

A garage door spring that is.

Yesterday I stayed home from work because my sinues have been kicking my ass since last week and when I woke up yesterday, my head and face hurt so bad I wanted to cry. And I did, a little. I’m not ashamed to say it. After I called my boss, I gathered my sick bed supplies and headed downstairs for the couch and TV. Damn! It’s trash day, and recycling day. So I decided to be a good little homeowner and not just pull my “Oh, it can wait until next week,” crap like I was tempted to do and instead hauled the can and the recycling bin down to the end of the driveway. I came back in, and a few minutes later I heard this really loud BANG! It sounded like something had hit the garage door. Scared the hell out of me. I thought we were under attack. So did the dogs.

Tonight I had manly men (my dad, brother, and nephew) come look at it and it’s the huge ass spring that is above the door that…. aw fuck, I don’t know what it does. But it was broken which is why the door, it don’t open so good. So now I have to call someone to come replace the spring. I wonder how much this little endeavor is going to cost me. Why does this shit happen when Jake is out of town??? I am the girl. This is man’s work. I want to go back to renting. Home ownership can bite me.

Git R Done!

Sorry for that title. But I live in Texas, so you had to know it was only a matter of time before I started quoting Larry the Cable Guy.

Despite my personal tragedy this weekend, we did get a lot of stuff done. Saturday was Landscape Day Part II, in which I dug out all the dead and dying shrubs and put in new ones so that they can die next summer when they get no water for weeks on end. Just kidding. Hopefully there will be a sprinkler system next summer so they will get watered regularly. Just not by me. Jake dug the holes for the new plants for me, risked his life by climbing onto a ladder so he could swat down a wasp nest that was hanging on a second story window. He also raked the leaves from our Trashy Neighbor’s tree. I wasn’t going to do it, because the damn tree has not dropped all of its leaves yet, and I don’t want another yard full of leaves for the party. But we made such a mess with mulch and shrub clippings and stuff that we kind of had to. We’ll call our landscape guy to come mow and deal with the leaves the day of the party. I’m not 100% thrilled with my plant beds because they are so drab now. I might go buy a Texas Sage to plant on one side just for some variety. I’m too lazy to plant lots of mums or pansies. But at least everything looks healthy. For now.

We saw a movie that afternoon with Karin and her husband, then met another couple for dinner at Clay Pit. By the end of that day, I was exhausted from working and from trying not to fall apart.

Sunday I got up very early, thanks to some gut-wrenching cramps. 6:30 on a Sunday morning is not nice. I took some Alleve and laid on the couch to read, sure that I would fall back to sleep, but I never did. When Jake woke up, I started cleaning. I dusted some ceiling fans and vacuumed upstairs, and also sorted and started some laundry. Then I went to the grocery store while Jake went to Lowe’s. We got home at the same time and ate a quick lunch, then started to stain the shelves and doors to the bookcases. By last night all the shelves and doors are stained and all that remains is to seal all of it. We can get that done hopefully working a bit every night and this weekend.

And now, it’s a short week. It’s amazing how motivated you can be to get up in the morning knowing you are only working three days. I’m looking forward to easy days and pleasant commutes this week. And having a four-day weekend.

Too Tired to Think

I could not be happier that next week is a short one. I’m so tired, and we have so much to do this weekend. No rest for the weary.

Tonight we are going over to Jake’s sister’s for our little niece’s 3rd birthday. I have yet to wrap her gifts. I’ll have about one hour to do that when I get home. After we spend some time over there, I intend to pass out.

Tomorrow morning we have to go to Lowe’s for plants. I need to dig up the dead plants in the beds. My only dilemma is whether to replace the beds with long-term plants, or just some pansies for color through the winter and deal with it again in the spring. We also bought tickets in advance to see Walk the Line with Karin and her husband at 4:30. Then I sort of forgot that Jake had made dinner plans with a colleague of his, so we are going to have to rush over to meet them for dinner.

Sunday, I have so much housework to do. So much housework. Ugh. And grocery shopping for regular food and Thanksgiving food. Double ugh. I would also like to see the new Harry Potter, but only if we go pretty early in the morning, when all the kids are in church. Except the church kids don’t see Harry Potter, do they? Their parents are convinced it’s devil worship or some bullshit like that, right?

And somewhere in there, I need to get some damn rest. I am exhausted, and I have to rest up because I will have a busy week next week, and then it’s time to cook like a mad woman starting on Wednesday night. I know for a fact that my boss will keep me at work until 5 p.m. on the dot Wednesday night, too, so I can’t rely on an afternoon off work to cook. I think everything I have to make can be made on Wednesday night, mostly. I can definitely make the pumpkin pies (I’ll make two - one to take and one to keep at home!) on Wednesday night. And I could technically put together the broccoli rice casserole on Wednesday night, and just heat it up on Thursday at my mom’s. The sweet potatoes I guess I will have to boil on Thursday morning, but they can be mashed and baked at my mom’s. Fruit salad gets put together at the very last minute before eating, and I make Jake do that. Oh, the cranberries! I will make those Wednesday night too. I’m really stressing myself out thinking about all this preparation for one friggin’ meal. Is all this fuss really necessary? Somehow I don’t think so. I guess tradition trumps logic every time. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. I can be just as thankful over pizza and beer as I can over turkey and stuffing, in fact maybe more so. But it’s not about only me and I guess others in the family want it this way. Maybe one day I’ll feel the same way.

I hope everyone has a wonderful pre-Thanksgiving weekend!

A Feeling of Accomplishment

There are many, many projects I want to complete before we have tons of folks over for a Christmas party. Some are big and some are fairly small. Some things I would like to get done simply will not, like replacing the carpet on the stairs with hardwood so that the evidence of the cats using our stairs as a scratching post might be concealed. Or getting fabulous window coverings for all the windows in the house. Not going to happen. We just don’t have the money or the time for all of that. I think I am getting wound up about this since being at N&C’s house on Saturday night, which looks professionally decorated. I feel terribly inferior now. But the truth is that it’s all relative. There are some people who will have nicer houses than us, and some that will have houses less nice than ours. It will be that way for the rest of our lives. The important thing to remember is that these are our friends and they don’t care if the carpet on the stairs is mangled, or that all of our windows have only plain wood blinds on them. They are coming to share the holiday spirit and eat, drink, and be merry. I need to keep telling myself this.

One thing that was weighing on my mind was The Closet of Doom. This is supposed to be the coat closet, but it’s so badly designed, it’s difficult to use for that purpose. It was so messy and filled to the brim with crap that we couldn’t even fit the vaccuum in there. Yesterday, even though we were both tired and had no interest in doing it, we cleaned it out. We organized, vaccuumed, threw stuff out, hung another coat rack…. phew! I must say that Jake did most of the work, I was just there to decide what got kept and what got tossed. Can I just tell you that I have about 45,789,613,167,464,631 rolls of wrapping paper? But because it was all tossed in there willy-nilly, I didn’t realize it and I kept buying it. Sadly, it’s mostly Christmas paper too. I will not need to buy Christmas wrapping paper until our kids go to college. Well, now all the wrap is organized into Rubbermaid containers, one for Christmas, and one for all other occasions. Our decorations are now easily accessible, and the items that we want to keep but have no damn clue what to do with, like the unity candle from our wedding, are stored safely, but out of the way. Go us!

Now all we have to do is finish staining and sealing the bookshelves, straighten up the garage, paint over the religious slogan painted over our front door, clean out the garage, and do something with the landscaping. All in three weekends. Holy crap, I just counted the weekends and am shocked to see it’s only three. Think we can do it all?