We're almost to the end of June, which is what I consider the half-way mark of summer (I think that when you work in academics, most, if not all, of August is a terror of planning, organization, and looming pace-changes, so it doesn't really count as summer in my book).
Here's what we've accomplished so far:
-I painted our back door red when Andrew was gone over Memorial Day. It needs another coat, because it's a little pink, but I keep telling myself that's something that can happen on any old weeknight.
-We had a mid-week dinner date with dear friends who moved to Norway last winter and who were back in town. Too short of a visit, but definitely a summer highlight.
-We have (mostly) settled into our new schedules - Andrew changed jobs/careers in May, which is fantastic for him and for us, but it also meant getting used to a different kind of busy, since Andrew is no longer home during the day sometimes and working at night. I love the luxury of weekend date nights and not having to worry about what sports team might make it to the play-offs thus ruining plans that we might have made, and Andrew loves his new job, employer, and co-workers. Life is definitely, definitely good. At the same time, we're still ironing out new ways to divide household labor, getting used to sharing google calendars, and over the weekend, with some Kohl's cash earned from Andrew's new work wardrobe, I purchased a Keurig coffee maker - so my morning routine is getting easier, too with some added caffeine.
-I started teaching my summer class, which meets two nights a week. Compounded with my personal training sessions at the YMCA (which I moved from twice a week to once), week nights have become really busy. This lazy summer that I'd dreamed of just isn't going to happen - I'll be lucky if we make it to the night swim at the pool two or three times before Labor Day.
-We did cut down some of that knotweed, and by we, I mean Andrew. I also bought flowers and herbs from the farmer's market, so my herb garden is plentiful and our hanging baskets add some color to all of the green growing things. Our yard is still a contant battle with the weeds, and the veggie garden that I decided not to replant looks like a prairie restoration experiment, but I'm trying to pick my battles and relish going to the farmer's market.
-We celebrated "April Birthdays" with several of our friends in Andrew's hometown, complete with a cake from the (a.m.a.z.i.n.g) bakery that made our wedding cake.
-I also started painting the cinder block foundation of our house. I learned quickly that painting a foundation is a lousy job, so only about 1/8 of the foundation is currently painted. It looks pretty goofy, but it's in the back, so I've been ignorning it. We do have plans to finish this, and again, by we, I mean Andrew.
-For our 5th wedding anniversary, instead of taking our yearly road trip somewhere fun in the Midwest, we hopped on a plane (actually, due to a flight delay, it was a few more planes than we were planning on) and flew to sunny, beautiful, laid-back Jamaica. Once we got to the resort, the vacation was amazing - I haven't felt so relaxed in years. We didn't check e-mail, didn't leave the resort, and simply spent time together in the sunshine by the ocean or in the pool. They say that vacations increase your level of happiness most before your trip (planning) and after (memories), and I believe it. Any time I think of our no-cares vacation, I just grin.
-Back at home this past weekend, we did a little shopping. In addition to purchasing my new best friend, the Keurig, we bought a couple of rugs. I'm not sure why, but I get a serious kick out of textiles of pretty much any kind (oooh, I also got a new table cloth. Love table cloths). We removed two cheap rugs from our bedroom and put down a pretty jute-like rug, which covers a lot less of the room, showing off the hardwood floors and (we think) making the room look a smidgen bigger. We also bought a mission-style mat for the front entry way, which is a test-run for replacing the big rug in the living room in the same style. The colors look beautiful with our living room (will need new covers for the throw pillows on the couch...oh, darn...), so we're going to give the entry rug a few months of wear to see how it holds up, and then plan to purchase a new rug after our big annual cook-out/open house in August.
As much as I'm excited about the new stuff, I wish we hadn't been at home getting shopping done this weekend, because we were supposed to visit my grandma. After our traveling, we ended up getting over a cold/virus and didn't want to run the risk of getting my grandma sick with us. We were able to re-arrange our plans (but now we have a whopping 0 weekends free until September). It will be a whirwind of visits, but we're very excited to show off our home and get to spend time with friends and family over the rest of the summer.
Anyway, so, during some our our errands this weekend, and knowing that we don't excactly have the free time for a big project, we spent this past weekend planning - wait for it - the patio!
It looks like we will not get the fence this year (I am still pouting), but I talked Andrew into doing half the plan - just the patio. This is going to be a pretty easy project for me, because Andrew knows how to use most of the equipment already from his high school job in golf course maintenance, so I think my role in quite a few of the steps will be to observe and make sure nothing goes wrong - though I have a feeling that when it comes to laying each paver (we chose the big 16 inch ones, and they're heavy as sin), I might get roped in.
We set a budget of $500, and I am hoping that we'll not only be able to do the patio (all materials and rental equipment) but also purchase some furniture within those limits. We purchased half of our materials at Menard's yesterday, since they were on sale and it would save us a ton of cash that way - our materials cost will be about $250, and without sales, it would have run about $400. The pavers themselves are the biggest expense left, and they are on sale through July - so we have a little bit of time to take advantage of sale prices. Andrew has reserved the rental sod cutter for a 1/2 day on Friday ($35) and since we don't know anyone with a pickup truck, we're also renting a U-Haul truck for $20 plus mileage.
The patio design is crazy simple - it's just 9 feet by 9 feet - just a little room for us to put a table and chairs for some outdoor dining. We'll also move our fire pit up closer to the patio (last summer, we put 4 of the 16x16 pavers down as a base under our iron fire pit as to avoid the multiple circles of burned grass), and keep pavers in place next to the back door for the spot where we store the grill. Pavers are crazy versatile - in addition to being a base/foundation for our fire pit and our grill, I moved 4 of them over by the back door to make a little step. Andrew and I haven't quite gotten used to the step yet (there have been some misses as we dash out the door), but I think it will be a nice addition in the long run.
Meanwhile, I'm toying around with ideas for stepping stones or what to plant in the empty area between the patio and the house - I'm thinking just some perrenials will be nice. Right now, there is a mess of non-blooming day lilies that take up some of the area, so there is room for improvement.
Also...I'd still like a fence. While at Menard's, Andrew and I took down numbers for fence contractors, and I'm not holding my breath after doing some google research for expected quotes, but it really would be icing on the cake.
