Thanksgiving 2005

Thanksgiving weekend. Ken took the five day weekend as an oppurtunity to catch up with family and friends, I caught up on sleep and laundry. We had so many people over this weekend, the house was about ready to burst at the seams. Ken played a bit of football on turkey day and payed for it the next few days to come. A poker party Thursday night made Ken the big winner, and the winnings kept coming when his dad got him a new set of poker chips because there wasn't quite enough for thursdays game, and Uncle Dan brought him a larger poker table as an early christmas present. At Saturday's poker game, the new chips and table didn't help Ken hit the jackpot again.

Ken spent Football Sunday making progress on this 'Kendo'. With all the poker parties he is even more excited to get the shed done to have more people over. 

Bringing the long weekend to a close, Lisa and I worked on that big pile of dirt. We got the whole thing leveled out and I even planted my first plant in the yard. 

Yard's Done!!! Just kidding :) This is a picture I gound that is kinda the look I am going for...cozy, pretty, tranquil. I am going to plant my camelia this weekend and I have figured out the perfect spot for it. The rest of the weekend will be spent pushing dirt! Woo Hoo! 

Putting up a wall

With Ken's help on the VERY important first row, I was off and running on my retaining wall.
With the first row in place, straight and level, the retaing wall was a breeze. Little bit of mortar, little bit of brick and Viola...I built my first retaining wall.
It was fun to have all the neighbors come by to check it out and let me know it was looking good.

The retaining wall

I finished up my retaining wall and couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out!!! It actually looks like I knew what I was doing!

Now I need to get started on spreading that big pile of dirt around!

Shed progress

After only a couple weeks, Ken already has a structure that looks like a shed. He is whipping right through this!! Before long he will be running the electricity, cable, and phone lines out there.

The stairs

He got the stairs up which seemed to be pretty tedious! I think they look great. They are going to be covered with...what else?! Weatherdek!

As soon as there are walls on the second floor I will give the stairs a try, until then my fear of ladders and heights is keeping me from testing the stairs.

Bright and Early

We started our very productive weekend with a delivery of dirt!! It's was pretty exciting to see a big ole truck backing into our yard and dumping stuff! It's 6 yards of dirt...or by my measurement- A Whole Lot of Dirt. I have my work cut out for me!

What a sweet guy

Ken is such a sweetie! He put together this gardening bucket just for me! It had some tools to spread mortar, leveling thingies, different kinds of little shovels, and a few other things I don't know what to do with yet!

My new bucket

Check out my new gardening bucket!!! I found out later in the weekend that this bucket is actually to keep me out of Ken's tools! :P I told him that if he ever took up knitting, he would be getting his own set of knitting needles!!! :) He assured me that we won't ever have to share knitting needles! :P

Winding up

I have been taking over the kitchen with all my yarn dyeing lately!!! I found this handy dandy tool to help me winding all the yarn up and Ken and come in very handy with holding the yarn and helping me wind! Denver, the kitty, on the other hand, tries to grab the yarn as it gets past from Ken's chair to me on the couch...the dangling string is just too enticing to resist :P Check out the yarn at A Swell Yarn Shop

Check out my new cobblestone bricks!!! These are going to be the retaining wall for the flower garden by the mailbox. I am so excited!!! 

My mom came over on Saturday to help me dig out the area for the retaining wall and shovel dirt into the planter box frame Ken made for my front yard wonderland! Check out our super cool new rubber boots! They made digging that much more fun :) Thanks for picking those up, mom! 

Here is the front yard now.... 

Here is Ken's progress on the shed!! The siding is up on the back and wrapping around toward the front. What a trooper! He worked as long as he could in the pouring down rain! He is coming right along...At this rate it will be done by the end of the week :P Just kidding. 

This is last Saturday before we started our new house projects. We tore out the grass so I can get started making my beautiful front yard. We have both been working on our projects by the light of the moon (you know-5pm) after work. Ken on his Shed and me on the Front Yard. 

This is the front yard now! I have drawn up my little plan for the yard...I have no idea how well I will be able to follow it since I am completely new at yard stuff. Off to Home Depot tonight!!! WOO HOO!

Ken is soooooooo excited to start working on his new shed! He has grand visions of two stories and poker parties upstairs!!! This is the floor of the new shed....it is literally big enough to be a small house! 

The super huge shed as of Thursday evening. 

Well, we started digging up the yard this weekend! That's me trying to handle the sod cutter. Dang that thing can vibrate! I got to work peeling off the layer of lawn...I got three rows done and I was beat!!!! Only 8 more rows to go in the front yard and about 6 rows twice the length in the back yard to be peeled up...Ugh!!! Ken got started on his shed. Pictures to come of that. He is so excited! He has been telling me about all the great add-ons he plans to include! This is going to be one super deluxe shed!!! 

Help!

Hi all,A co-worker of mine adopted this small chihuahua last week. They have three children (small dogs tend to be very afraid of children) and a very busy household and the situation did not work out at all. I have taken in this chihuahua and want to find her the best possible home. Her name is Lulu and she weighs less than 10 pounds. Her main goal seems to be to give snuggles and show enthusiasm for treats :) She is fantastic at sitting in your lap while you knit (and she comes with two hand knit sweaters:P). We did chores and yard work this weekend, during which time she simply found her way back to bed and napped.She travels incredibly well and is always excited to go somewhere! She is very good about staying in her seat when she must and excellent at sitting in your lap when she can and is so small that she isn't in the way at all. She loves to be carried anywhere! This dog would do great as a side-kick. She did beautifully while she was with me at work and can join you while you do anything else. I am not much of a leash person and Lulu is very good at sticking close by...no problems running off.She is doing suprisingly well with our two big dogs-rather than hiding from them she is just steering clear of their big ole paws. Guppy(my other little dog), on the other hand, is clearly bummed about his cuddle spots always being filled by her and is not liking his 'center of my world' position being invaded. Lulu has so much love to give and she doesn't seem to mind share attention with another small dog.She is potty trained and we can see signs that she has had some basic training. She is an incredibly good dog. Once she is in her forever home, she will easily do well with a regular routine and consistent commands. Lulu is such a great dog and the longer she is with us, the harder it is going to be to see her go, but we don't have the best home for her. With 3 dogs, a bunny and a cat, we are too crowded as it is and I know that there is a far better home out there for Lulu...one without children, where she can be the only dog and one where she can have someone to be devoted to...I know that she would be so much happier than in the full house that we have. I just want to find the best home possible for her!If you or if you know any one that has the perfect home for Lulu, please pass along this e-mail and my e-mail address angelamazour@yahoo.com and be in touch.Thank you everyone for getting the word out!!!

Hi all,
Just wanted to give you Lulu update. She is a very different dog than the scared little thing I met yesterday!! She is quite the happy little thing and looooooooves to be on my lap.
I think that she is actually potty trained since she knew exactly what to do when we went out in the yard...no accidents at home. I don't, however, think she is potty trained while on a leash, so a yard will be a must (or at least patience knowing you have to train her to go potty while on a leash)
She is definitely used to sleeping in the bed and is QUITE the snuggler!!! She is still a bit skitish, but our two labs are pretty large and are following her everywhere...She will need a quiet, mellow home with no children. She doesn't seem to notice or care about our cats, so I would guess cats are fine.
She is an extremely quite dog too!
Thank you again to everyone getting the word out about Lulu...she is definitely a sweetheart of a dog and I wish we had room to keep her and that our two big ole labs didn't scare her :)
 

We had a great first Halloween in our new neighborhood! We only had a handful of trick or treaters (just glad that there were any!) and some of them even told us that our house was "the coolest one around here" Ken even set up fog to spill all around our front door! What Fun!!!!!