it’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I got Christmas bedding, ya’ll.

(The ‘you-all’ contraction was for emphasis; I’m not a Southerner–despite Andrew’s insistence to the contrary–nor do I say it that often in real life. It just felt right.)

I have wanted ‘Christmas’ bedding for like, THREE YEARS. Seriously. (Currently having second thoughts about admitting that.)

Regardless, truth be told, I have tried for THREE YEARS to snag up some Christmas-themed bedding after said holiday on sale. Key words: ON SALE. Well, time after time, I’ve waiting too long and everything–and I mean EVERYTHING–was sold out.

Well, I vowed that THIS YEAR would be different.

And folks, it was, but just barely.

This year, sometime in early November–with coupon in hand and Andrew’s blessing–I put all these items in my online shopping cart…only to gag over the cost and have Andrew’s blessing ripped from my fingers. No dice.

Weeks pass. I still want said bedding, but drop the issue thinking–yet again–that perhaps I’ll find something at TJMaxx (nothing) or Marshall’s (nothing) or on sale (let’s not get our hopes up).

And then, just after Thanksgiving ,(after I’m sure I made some comment about said bedding), Andrew said to just go ahead and get it. Perhaps he was feeling generous. Perhaps it was because we had another coupon. Perhaps… who cares?! I, yet again, began the process of ordering our bedding online, only to find that IT WAS SOLD OUT.

AGAIN. FOR THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW I WAS STARING AT THE WORDS ‘OUT OF STOCK’ ON THE WEBSITE.

I could have screamed. (In fact, I’m pretty sure I did.) Yet again, I thought I’d have to wait until next year.

The rest of the story isn’t nearly as dramatic; a friend gave me the idea to call a local store and see if they had any comforters in stock they could ship me; in fact they did; bonus for using a coupon on half of the bedding items on a phone order and another coupon for the remaining pieces online and bigger bonus for finding a cheaper red blanket at TJMaxx.

The bedding, of course, was the impetus to paint the room green; I’d been planning to paint our room green for years now (we’ve had a blue bedroom for 10 years in both houses and green would match both our existing bedding–from our wedding!–and the new Christmas bedding) and figured this would be the time to do it for maximum impact.

Whew. All those words for some new blankets and shams and paint.

we’re halfway there!

Livin’ on a prayer.

I say we’re ‘halfway there’ about our summer project, because we still have the pergola and fence to finish next summer, but we’ve finished the bulk of the work with the deck and patio. (I suppose it’s more accurate to say we’re 2/3 of the way finished, since this was the second summer of what will be a three-summer project.) Good gracious.

After our trip to France this year, Andrew finished the deck by building the stairs and installing gorgeous lights on each step and on the patio walls. Then, we got to work on the patio. But first, how’s this for a before and after?!

BEFORE:

AFTER (approx. Aug 2016, finished deck and patio started):

Close-up of deck:

(Brazilian Teak wood for stairs, floor and railings from Advantage Lumber, white Trex post sleeves over pressure-treated lumber, cedar slats we painted white for the skirting around the deck)

AFTER (12/1/16: finished deck and patio):

(Patio is Richcliff Stones in a mix of Pebble Taupe and Dawn Mist from Unilock in Buffalo)

Progress shots:

Planting the raised bed with hydrangea and hostas:

Area for patio covered in landscaping fabric:

Gravel delivered:

After spreading and leveling the gravel, Andrew did the same with a layer of sand, and then began putting the pavers down for the patio! We got a great deal on some really high quality stones that someone returned, so we ended up with a mix of grey and brownish stones. Andrew chose a black border to go around the outside of the patio and where the pergola stands.

We were blessed with some beautiful weather (and a free weekend thanks to a change in travel plans), so Andrew and I teamed up to spread the special polymer-sand that forms the grout between the stones. It’s a spread-sweep-rinse process that took two afternoons.

Finally! A quick shot after hosing down the last area of grout on the patio.

summer project

a.k.a. What’s taking over our lives.

Seriously. We’re losing our marbles, one 2×4 at a time over here. I’ve had just about as much landscaping as I can take (see previous post), and I still have one. final. bed. DOn’t get me wrong; I’m super excited to pick up our MAGNOLIA tree/shrub thing, but after that, I’m DONE. No more planting for me this summer.

Andrew, I’m sure is just as frustrated as I am… In true house-project fashion, everything takes way longer than you think (especially when you have not one but TWO engineers working on your projects), and EVERY option must be explored. Andrew’s dad is the planner, Andrew is the do-er….and I think it takes three times as long.

Our existing deck and patio were pretty sad; the deck looked pretty worse for wear, and weeds had all but taken over whatever ‘patio’ we had.

Shortly after returning from our France trip, in a fit of extreme motivation, I took up all our concrete pavers. And all the flagstone. BY MY SELF. Seriously, the entire time I was lifting and rolling those giant pieces of concrete into piles, all I could think was ‘Is this a crossfit workout, or what?!’
Between the paver removal and all my landscaping efforts, I might have sustained permanent wrist damage. For real.

Andrew also completed deck demo, right down to (and including) the existing concrete supports. Note the rusty bilco doors to the left (uncovered when we took the deck down); instead of simply replacing them and calling it a day, Andrew and his dad took a month to, essentially, make a roof for it. No wonder this project is behind schedule; our totally unused, UNSEEN cellar entrance has a fancy schmancy roof. End rant.

Once all the pavers were up (squares got sold, flagstone is STILL in our garage…), a friend came over with his tractor to dig up and level the area for our new patio.
Andrew even broke out his grandfather’s old survey equipment to ENSURE the ground was level. Our tractor friend got a good chuckle. A few days later, we had someone come dig all the holes we needed, 20-something in all. So glad we hired THAT ONE out.

PROGRESS!

Nine new concrete supports for the deck as well as beams and joists, fence posts in and (in the foreground) our trench for the french drain.

Andrew and I spent the better part of Labor Day weekend digging out a giant trench for a french drain. Seriously hard work. Wrists are still sore a week later.

Inside the trench, we lined it with the black landscaping fabric, then inserted perforated tubes and filled the space with gravel. We then folded over the fabric and covered it with soil.

This weekend is pretty rainy, so we’re taking a bit of a break and binge-watching the newest season of Longmire on Netflix.