All Work and now All Play!

Seventeen days ago we were staring at this eyesore in the backyard with high hopes of eternal grandeur and hours upon hours of play time spent inside the brown box.  Seventeen days later we have joy in our hearts when we look out into the backyard at the finished product.

Our little girl LOVES her playhouse!  Her French Toast was devoured at lightning speed and the nightgown clad darling dashed out to her lair.  A few trips through the house were made during the day to gather the necessary playhouse items, but she didn’t come inside until 6:30 p.m. when it got dark!  I ventured out there several times to see if everything was okay.  It was.  She was crafting and listening to music and copying favorite selections from the dictionary and reading and “lying” on the couch singing.  It is highly organized for a 3’x6′ space.  In my humble opinion she needs some shelves on the walls for chotchky knickknacks and framed pictures of girly things like flowers or fairies to offset her Edmonton Oilers pencil holding mug.  Far be it from me to push my ideas on HER playhouse.  :o)

And this happy mama just bought herself HOURS of free time!  Oh yeah!

Gazebo, baby!

Here is my beautiful new-to-me gazebo from some friends of ours.  Seems they live in a communist compound five miles north of us and can’t have shade in their backyard.  So my 13-year-old son and I put it together today… without instructions…. and only put four pieces on backwards.  Of course they had to be removed and turned the correct direction for the cover to fit.  It was only 85* in the SHADE this morning.  So we were a bit glisteny and shiny.  I have always wanted one of these gazebos, but it was never high enough on the priority list.  Thank you, dear friends!

While Aus and I were holding our arms straight up screwing nuts on bolts for what seemed like 27 hours in the hot sun, my other two children were leveling a corner of the yard which had been cleared of river rock and prepared for two 6’x6′ garden boxes.  It was the logical place for gardening boxes…. but it was the ONLY place for a 10’x10′ gazebo.  So my rototilled dirt was compacted and the river rocks were put back into place.  The mosquito netting was hung and the gazebo was placed in the NW corner of the backyard.  We promptly moved the patio swing in there and it is oh, so inviting!  SHADE!  The number one commodity in Arizona in the summer!

We are approaching summer temperatures, so my petunias, lobelia, alyssum and marigolds need to be yanked out and tossed and Vinca needs to be purchased and planted.  I plan to move some big pots in the gazebo and then it will be complete.  Ahhhhhhhh.

After watching Food, Inc. last night, I’ve decided to DEFINITELY plant some veggies!  I pulled all my carrots this morning and there is enough for dinner!  Yahoo!  So no more 6’x6′ square gardening boxes.  The only two places in the yard now are two 10’x3′ areas along both side walls.  I’ve grown zucchini during the summer before and I plan to again… and pumpkins.  I’ll keep you posted.

Pink Gerber Daisies = Happiness

I took this picture in my backyard last week.  I actually grew this beauty with my own green thumb.  I’ve had the plant for almost a year and I’ve been talking sweetly to it and fertilizing it and a mere 5 months after the last flower, this one raised its sleepy head for me!  I LOVE Gerber daisies and especially hot pink ones.  They stand out so brightly in my cobalt blue pots on the patio. 

This seems like a happy flower story but it is not.  Thankfully I went out to photograph this flower in its glory because a sopping wet towel accidentally got flung onto it and snapped it’s little head right off.  I looked out the patio window to see it in pieces about five feet from the pot lying with the wet towel.  I blasted through the door and asked my sons what in the world happened!  One pointed quickly at the other and then the accidental story was told.  Without thinking, I asked quite loudly, “Do you have any idea how long I’ve waited for that flower to bloom?!?”   Of course he didn’t.  He’s a boy. He probably didn’t even know I grew hot pink Gerber daisies in blue pots.  He replied, “No.”  ….. “FIVE MONTHS!”  “I’m sorry, Mom.”  And it was genuine and I forgave him and then picked up the little pink petals from the ground and threw them in the trash.

The good news is there is another bud on the plant…. only possibly maybe probably 4 to 6 weeks till I have another hot pink beauty in the pot.  They are worth the wait and until then, I have this great photo of the last one.