I lost my battle

A couple weeks ago, I came home from work to find this. 

After begging the city inspector, my alderman, the mayor, and everyone else who would listen, nobody gave two shits about saving my walkway but me.  And rather than try to grind through the high edge or cut off the offending portion, I lamely decided that maybe they would forget about it and leave me alone.  Dumb.  I especially love how one of the concrete guys left their lunch plate in the hole.  

So, I hastily crafted a note to stick in the dirt that said DO NOT POUR CONCRETE IN HERE OR I WILL CLAW YOUR EYES OUT.  Or maybe it said, NO CONCRETE - WE ARE PLANTING GRASS.  One of the two.  Then, because I'm not a normal person, I didn't plant grass.  I did this.  

When my dad and I got the supplies back to our house, Shaun started unloading the truck, muttering about what a stupid idea this was, and that we should just plant grass.  

I cried in frustration because I knew it was going to suck to do all the work, but I just felt that my house DESERVED another flagstone walkway.  It was a part of this house, and I wanted to give it back.  So, after another run to get more gravel, we did this. 

Then I gave my baby foot long stakes to play with.  

Like the heaviest puzzle ever, we have been busting our butts with these stones.  So far, we have sunk $85 into replacement flagstones, and $80 in gravel, edgers, stakes, and sand.  Luckily, we have a nice supply of flagstone in our backyard, so we were able to 'shop at home' for this project.  At the end of one full day, this is the progress we made:

I WAS PLEASED.  Of course nothing is ever easy with this crap, the ground on the left side of the walk is much higher than the right, so we will have to chop some earth away to level it out.  We also have some very large gaps in between the stones, so we are going with sand in the joints rather than mortar to avoid cracks and things like that.  One plus side to doing all this work is the big sand box we had for a couple weekends!

The simple 'how to' we followed was:

Insert combination of 3/8 and 1/4 inch traffic bond gravel into hole until you feel you have enough.  This is very scientific.  

Tamp with hand tamper (we are cheap, but a rental works much better!)

Measure out 39-inch-wide walkway and stake edgers in place on top of gravel.

Add a layer of sand and start picking stones - we used the ones with the more uniform thickness and straightest edge on the sidewalk and curb ends.  Those are the ones the inspector will check for level. 

Add and take away sand until massive stones are level with previous ones. 

The END.

jk, we are not done yet.  Not even close.  But it is going to be worth it!

Closet in...progress?

I'm finally doing something with this closet room attached to our bedroom. I've started marking where the closet rods and shelves will be with blue and green tape.  My tape is NOT level and the exact measurements aren't set, but it is a start.  Figuring out how to plan the closet was a challenge due to the window being 10 inches from the long wall.  

Since I can't mount the rod to the wall on that side, I can't use traditional closet organizers, and I don't want to pay for a freestanding system, I am going to experiment with closet rod brackets that can be mounted to the wall slightly before the window, like this shelf/rod combo from Hardware Hut...   

I will need three brackets to support a rod on that 67 inch wall.  When the clothes are hanging, they will cover half of the window, but I consider that more protection from my neighbors seeing me naked.  Which I KNOW happens on the regular.  Good thing I'm working on my fitness these days!  Yeah right.  So, on the short wall opposite the window, I'm doing the same setup with the brackets to keep things consistent. 

The green tape represents the closet rods, and the blue tape represents the shelves.  The thing I'm slightly worried about is that clothes/hangers will stand out from the wall about 22 inches, so things are going to get tight in this 4' x 5.5' room!  I plan to find some chrome shelf supports for the two 26" shelves on the short wall.  On the little blank wall to the left in this pic, I'm probably just going to put some decorative hooks like the ones in our other closet.  

Of course the first thing I need to do in here is remove the offensive boob light.  Then I can paint the ceiling and walls, and start putting up the closet hardware.  That have yet to be purchased.  

I'm leaving the base trim for last because I'm not sure if I will build in some floor shelving for things like shoes.  If I'm being honest with myself, I will agonize about it, then never get around to it.  Classic me.  I also got my DIY Chandelier project started, but I'm forcing myself to get the important things done before adding any 'fancy' to the space.  

I think tomorrow is the night for me to remove the light and paint the ceiling.  It will be a miracle if I can get that little bit done!    

Die, walnuts

We have a situation.  Our back neighbors have these horrible, horrible black walnut trees that tower above our yard and drop crap all over our grass and planting beds.  Up until this summer, it has just been annoying...but now, it is a straight-up hazard.  

The biggest tree is dropping huge branches in our yard just about every time it rains or is windy.  One morning we woke up and there were two big ones laying there.  Not to mention all the stupid ass walnuts everywhere!

Our grass is an absolute minefield, and the walnuts break down and turn into sharp little pieces so we can't even let Ash walk barefoot.  These things are like old wrinkled balls that terrorize us daily.  

We have been throwing the nuts back over their fence for years, so I'm absolutely mortified to go over there and talk to them about this problem.  Yes, we are very immature.  I have actually taken videos of Ashford back here and you can see huge walnuts falling inches from his head.  And if you can tell in this photo, there is a dead branch just hanging by a thread.  

Now that we have a little guy playing in the yard, we just can't have this happening.  I have no idea how much it would cost to have these trees cut down, but I'm sure it will be hundreds.  Does anyone have any advice for me?  Should I stop being an idiot and just go over there?  Drop a to-the-point but nice note in their mailbox?  Introduce a walnut-tree killing insect?  Find a recipe to use all the dropped nuts?  

First Time Fancy Guest Post

Hey friends, I have a guest post up on First Time Fancy!  Kerry asked me to share my favorite parts of my wedding, and I think I chose some great ones.  Check it out here!

Sorry for the extended blog break, but I've been a 'single mom' this month. Shaun is traveling every week in August....so I've been doing a lot of baby wrangling, laundry, and a little (ok, a lot) of this:

Nothing like sips and showers from the hose in the last days of summer.   

I got a new camera

For my birthday this year, I decided to treat myself to a very expensive present.  I've been looking to switch to a full frame camera for about a year, and when I heard about the Canon 6D, I pretty much had to have it.  I'm no photo expert, and I don't pretend to be professional, but I do love taking good photos and learning how to improve.

Considered an 'entry level' full frame, the 6D has photo quality equal (so I've heard) to the Canon 5D Mark III, but with less frames per second, less focus points, less weight, and about $1800 less dollars out of my bank account for the kit with lens.  The sacrifices were easy to make to save all that cash, and I am beyond thrilled with the photos I'm able to get with this camera and my favorite 28mm lens!

ISO 100, 1/40, f/5, 28mm

I took this one and was impressed at the clarity in his face, so I zoomed in...

...and peed myself.  I could see all the little drops of water in his hair, which just blew my mind.  The only editing I did was the white balance.  Most of the photos I take with this camera are super sharp. 

ISO 1250, 1/4000, f/2.8, 28mm

The best thing about the full frame is the amount of light that hits the sensor.  It's a crazy difference looking through the viewfinder of this camera compared to my crop-sensor Rebel XSi.  It also has amazing ISO capability, up to 25,600 where my Rebel's limit was 1600!  In the one above, I set the ISO higher at 1250 because we were shaded by a tree, and there is no noticeable noise in the photo.  Win! 

ISO 4000, 1/3200, f/3.5, 28mm

In the above shot of our friend's 1 year old, it was overcast so I started playing around with the ISO.  I loved this shot with her kissy lips, and there is just a bit of noise at ISO 4000 in this photo.  She is so adorable! 

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.2, 28mm

I took this photo of our friend's son Sammy at a festival, it was a lucky shot because he was making all kinds of funny faces.  I regret the people standing in the background, but I'm not good enough at photoshop to edit them out, and the large aperture makes them nice and blurry. 

ISO 400, 1/250, f/9, 28mm

I snapped this one at a cool Alterra coffee in Milwaukee, it was blazing hot and Ashford would've jumped into this awesome fountain if we let him!  I love the lines in the photo, and the way the baby is looking at the camera while eating germs off that random water toy.  I chose a smaller aperture to make sure the scene behind him was in focus.   

ISO 100, 1/160, f/3.2, 28mm

I set the camera on a little table outside to try to get a couple nice photos of me and Ash....good luck!  I think I look nice, but he was not interested in photos that day.  I still think the quality of the photo is really good for being a remote shutter pic.

ISO 100, 1/80, f/2.5, 28mm

I also had to share this sparkly-eyed shot of little Sammy, he is just a beautiful boy and the light from the window was doing awesome things for his eyes.  I thought about warming up the color a bit, but he really is a pretty pale kid so I left it!  One thing that I always marvel at with the 6D, is the slower shutter speeds I can get away with.  This one is 1/80 and usually I would get a softer photo, but this one is very sharp.  

ISO 100, 1/250, f/2.5, 28mm

This pic was obviously Ashford's first haircut.  He was not pleased.  And I must admit, I am not pleased that my little baby now looks like a 4 year old! 

ISO 250, 1/160, f/5, 28mm

I can't wait for that hair to grow back!

ps - Hmmm...looking back at this post, I seem to spend entirely too much time taking photos of 1 year olds.  

Quitters in my yard

I was rather upset this year to see that several of my well-established shrubs bit the big one.  I don't know if it was the long, cold winter, the non-existent summer (until this hot-as-Hades week), or the fact that last fall I had a baby taking up my time and didn't do all the covering and mulching I usually do.  I am specifically pissed about my dappled willow...which looked like this last summer:

And this, as of last week:

WHY?!  WHY?!  We gave it a long chance to perk up, but when the existing foliage started to brown and shrivel, we knew it was over.  Now, it sits in a bin waiting to be taken back to the garden center for a new plant.  We bought this one in 2009.  Luckily, I always get a 5 year warranty when I buy shrubs from my favorite store.  (Stein, if you're curious)

Sad.  I was also devastated by a hydrangea crisis.  I usually cover my patio hydrangeas with burlap, but last fall I said 'I think they are old enough to make it through the winter unprotected' which translates to 'I don't feel like covering my effing plants!'  So, it is my fault that both shrubs were badly compromised and will not bloom this year.

At least the foliage is in good shape.  One of our hydrangea vines was also a quitter this year, with one half of it giving up and dying.  It was already the skinny one, so this is just the icing on the cake:

Monstrous hydrangea vine, meet sad, sickly hydrangea vine.  We also ripped out a smoke bush that died after just planting it last summer, I didn't take a picture because it is so annoying to me.  I also have a 'Wine and Roses' Weigela that died back quite a bit...and now we have a silly misshapen shrub with a long branch that I need to cut off. 

It usually looks like this!

One last sadness....my prized 'Rio Samba' rose.  It is one of the most beautiful roses I've ever seen, and it has always been such a rock star in my yard.  The blooms are huge and people stop on the sidewalk to look at them. 

Not this summer, it is bravely fighting severe black spot. 

This pic was taken a couple weeks ago, I've since pulled almost all of the leaves off to try to stop the spread.  I have literally spent EVERY evening messing around with this dumb rose.  Ain't nobody got time for that!  Right now it is covered with powdered sulfur to help control the disease, and it seems to be working because I'm seeing new growth.  

It still looks like a skeleton next to the robust beauty next to it.  Blah. 

Makes me sick, since they looked like this last summer:

I'm hoping that all my extra attention will save it.  Also, it would be GREAT it mother nature would stop giving Wisconsin either constant downpours or oppressive heat and humidity.  Can't it always be 76 and sunny, with evening showers so I don't have to water everything?  I guess I should move to California....

Catch up

So many things have happened in the last month!  Our baby turned 1, and we had a party.  It was exhausting!

I was attaching tissue poms to the ceiling way too late the night before.  There was an emergency trip to (multiple) Walgreens to buy command strips because I couldn't get push pins into the plaster ceiling to save my life.  They looked really cute, though.

The birthday boy was mostly in good spirits.

Until we did the cake, when this happened. 

I have a child that hates cake.  If I wasn't there when he was born, I'd say he wasn't mine.      The cake itself turned out exactly as I wanted it.  I had a very detailed color-coded print out of what I wanted it to look like, and the bakery made this control-freak mama extremely happy!  (Me: "Those are circles, NOT balloons...it is very important that you write 'circles, not balloons' on the order, please."  Employee:  "Um, ok.")    

I also spent hours crafting a bunch of crap because I felt the pressure of other blog moms and of course stupid Pinterest...let me show you all the nonsense I wasted my life on.  First, I made 7 strands of felt-circle garland that are still hanging up because I can't bear to take them down after all that work.

Then I cut out my favorites from each of Ashford's monthly photos and hot glued this crazy photo bunting thing that instantly curled up from the horrid, swamp-ass-inducing humidity.  Of course.  

If you can get past the curly photos, it did turn out pretty cute.  And yes, it is still hanging up a month later.  For full disclosure, I took this photo on July 3rd.  Dork!

I made a little door sign with leftover felt circles and card stock.  

And I also made goody bags for the kids with scrapbook paper tie and bow tie toppers.  I was so proud of these, and only a few kids actually showed up.  Oh well, more chalk and yo-yos for us. 

Here is the adorable invite I made at Tiny Prints.  I love their stuff!  (ps - don't send me spam emails)  

And that about sums up the party.  I am glad we survived!  Since I'm way behind, here are my favorite shots from his 12 month photos...

He is walking exclusively, has said 'mama' to me exactly ONE time, and has the cutest baby mullet that I refuse to cut.  He weighed just 18 lbs 12 oz at his one year appointment (only 6 oz more than his 9 month!), so we have been trying to up his calories by giving him greek yogurt and more protein.  Such a picky eater!

It seems to be working, he has already gained a pound in the last month.  

He is a happy, skinny baby. 

In other news, I have been extremely busy at work.  I like to say I've been 'working like it's my job.'  We have done nothing further with the basement, and I also have not touched the closet in our bedroom.  However, I turned 34 on June 20th, so I get a pass for being old.