Outside Lights

This week off has been really great. I'm totally bummed that it's Saturday and my stay-cation is pretty much over. We got a lot done. With the cooler weather, we moved some of the home improvement projects outside. The two trees we ordered haven't arrived yet. One of the Moon Valley Nursery locations is closing down and there are some really great deals. But that also means we have to wait about two weeks to have our trees planted. In the meantime, we did some weeding and....lighting!

I really hate brass. If there's one theme that is pretty constant in my blogging, it's changing out anything that's brass. This is the front on my house.

The Before.

And the After. We switched out the light, added some seating, potted flowers, and spray-painted the doorbell. I left the windchime that was with the house when we bought it. I have heard two different superstitions about wind chimes - someone told me it's bad luck to take one down, and someone else told me it's bad luck to have the old one up if I didn't put it up. I'm not superstitious and I think it's a cute windchime, so it's staying.

The new outside lights are motion-sensing, so they will turn on if someone comes to the front or back. Nice security feature, but also convenient for those of us who forget to turn the light on.

This is the light in my backyard. Or was....

It's really amazing how changing out the old lighting really perks things up.

And I have to say how much I Loooooove the weed sprayer. Don't let the fact that Joseph is in the picture fool you - I did a whole two gallons for the front yard. He just doesn't take the pictures.

Flower Border

Awhile back Joseph planted some flowers and rose bushes in our front yard for me. He put down red mulch to keep away the weeds, and had every intention of putting down a border...someday. I am happy to say that someday is here. The before:

We had to dig a nice little ditch. Notice the Viking hairdo?

We asked the Lowe's guy how you are supposed to cut the bricks down to size. He said they used a wet saw for their display. We do not own a wet saw. We decided to improvise. I told Joseph we could probably chisel them - did you know they have a brick hammer that will do just that? I thought it would be best to drill holes to try and prevent it from breaking in random spots. Here he is drilling.

And using the brick hammer. The first brick he tried to hammer split in the wrong spot. I told him to try it on a softer surface, so he moved off the cement and onto the dirt. The second one did not split, but then the third one did. My theory was that the vibrations from the brick hammer would be better absorbed in the dirt than the concrete. We were unable to determine if my hypothesis was valid since our experiment turned up inconclusive results.

And after, but before we spread the mulch around.

I think it looks a lot better (minus the wilting flowers that will hopefully perk up now that the weather is cooling).

There was one spot by the garage where Joseph added a piece of broken brick that came up short about three inches. He declared it "good enough." I stared at the brick, contemplating if it was going to drive me crazy or not. Then it went a little like this:

Joseph: No one will even notice.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: You can't even see it, really.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: It is going to be a pain getting out another brick and trying to cut it down.

Deidre: No answer, continues to stare.

Joseph: Alright, let me get another brick. I'll measure it and fix it. I know it's going to bug you.

Ah, that boy can read me. And I really appreciate him.