Backyard Mini Makeover

So I've been meaning to finish a backyard project, but now it's not looking good that I'll finish it until next spring.  So I'm going to show you all what I've done so far, and if I get it finished - I'll show you that!

Okay, here we go.  When I moved into my house, the backyard was gorgeous and big...except for one empty area under a tree in the backyard.  It was just an area of dirt that ferns grew in.  Well as tree limbs fell down during the last two years or once we cut down a few lilac bushes from the backyard - I would pile these up on the dirt area.  So in other words, this became my dumping area for all my odd and end limbs and compost in the backyard. 

Then this year the weeds took over the area and it looked like this...

Or a closer look would be this...

So the first thing I did was to work my way through this pile.  I pulled up all the weeds.  I sawed up the larger pieces to use for firewood later and burned all the smaller pieces in my fire pit.

Afterwards this is what the area looked like.  (I know...that retaining wall needs replaced...that might be a next year project that you'll see a blog about!)

Now it was looking better, but still needed more work.  Next I raked the entire area and gathered all the little sticks and piled them into an old swimming pool of Neko's that had to be retired due to a hole in it from last year.

When I was done I have quite the pile for my fire pit this fall.

And the area looked pretty good!

Next I went out and purchased landscaping fabric to cover the area.  I used wire to make half-circle shaped thingys to secure the fabric into the ground.  My thumb was so sore after this step from pushing the wire into the ground.  It was not fun.  But it looks so good when it was done!

Now I just need to put the edging in (see those black circles by the bottom of the tree?) and I hope to get that done next week when it warms up since the edging needs to warm up in the sun supposedly.  And then I've been working on hauling rock over from my neighbor, Shirley's, yard.  She has rocks that she wants gone and said I could have them if I help her dig them up.  I think I've hauled about a half a dozen over so far and got the area about 1/3 covered maybe?  That's why I'm saying that I'm not sure this project will get done until next spring. :)

Here are a few more pictures of the area cleaned up...

And guess what got added!!!

That's right...I moved my bench to this area to see if I like it there...the verdict is still out, but I love looking out to this nice cleaned up area instead of the weed mess!

The last week's happenings...

Sorry I only got one blog entry off last week because I was trying to recover from my first week of Extreme Body Shaping. (which as a side note I think is working - even after only week my double chin is down to only about 1 1/2 chin! and my spare tire is going flat!)  I made it through the whole week and couldn't believe the improvement from Monday to Friday.  Monday I could hardly make it through the 45 minute kickboxing workout and by Friday I was slightly surprised by how fast the 45 minutes went.  And I really like the resistance band classes - they go by really fast, but are still really hard.  It was so relieving to finish my Saturday class and have the day off!

So Saturday I ended up having my "cheat day" from my nutrition.  It's amazing how quickly my body adapted to the healthy eating and how bad I felt when I was able to eat whatever I wanted again. 

So after suffering through Saturday, I decided to have a fun Sunday and went to visit my best friend in Windom!  My friend Bri and her husband Matt recently moved to Windom from Minneapolis - along with Neko's best friend Lola (Bri and Matt's yellow lab who's six months older than Neko) and their 3 month old baby Graham!  It was an amazing day full of fun and laughter and I absolutely LOVE having them so close!

This was Bri and I at her wedding last July - so much fun!

I forgot my camera on Sunday, but Bri and Mary (Matt's mom) took lots of pictures, and are going to send them this way - so as soon as I get those, I'll do a whole entry about my little godson Graham! So look forward to that! :)

well I didn't die

So today was my first day of Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping classes.  This is a 45 min, 6 day a week, 10 week program.  Three days a week we do kickboxing and 3 days a week we do resistance band training (weight lifting with bands instead of weights).  My class is at 6:30 pm, so my social life will be basically zilch during the next 10 weeks.  We also are encouraged to closely monitor our nutrition intake during the program and drink LOTS of water.

So today I feel like all I did was eat, drink, and go to the bathroom.

Seriously, we're suppose to eat 6 small meals throughout the day with protein and carbs in each meal.  So today I ate at 7AM, 9:30 AM, 12 PM, 2:30 PM, 5 PM, and 8 PM.

I hope I survive this!  And I can't wait to see the results. :)

Deal of the Day

So about a month ago my parents came down and spent the weekend.  This always means we check out the garage sales on Saturday morning...without fail.  And we usually score something good since my parents wake up at the crack of dawn - even on a Saturday.  This time it happened to be my turn to score big!  Check out what I found for $5:

That's right!  An awesome old bench with original wood and cast iron like sides.  The only problems we saw was that one of the edges leaned because of a broken brace and that it needed painted. 

So, on Sunday, Mom and I decided to tackle the project!

First we flipped it over and had Dad work on the brace.

It needed to have a washer added to hold it together and to straighten the brace.

Next, I hauled out my heavy duty drill.  Funny story, when I bought it, the sales man told the young man he was training to never get between a girl and her power tools - I chuckle every time I use my drill. :)
Anyway, I added some missing screws to the bottom of the bench and tightened other ones. 

*Note, if I as going to tackle this project again, this is what I would do.  I would remove each wood slat, sand it down, re-stain it, spray paint the sides and then reassemble the entire thing.  Unfortunately, Mom and I didn't think of that until it was almost done.

Okay, back to the hard way that Mom and I took...

Next, we scrubbed it all down and then used some latex paint remover that Mom found in my basement to remove as much paint as possible.

A pic after all the paint was removed.

Next we scrubbed it all down again and left for lunch at Perkins since it was Dad's birthday and he got to pick when and where we ate that day.

After everything dried pretty well, it was time to start the fun!  I hauled out some lawn bag to protect the wood slats while I spray painted the sides. 

The awesome sides:

Love it!!!

Anyway, next we stained all the wood slats once and let it dry.  Then we did a few other odd and end projects while the bench dried.  One move coat of stain and see what I ended up with!

Alright, since I'm a numbers person, let's break down the numbers for the project:

Bench: $5 (plus free delivery to my house from the lady who was running the yard sale - score!!!)
Sand paper and sander: $8
Quart of nutmeg stain from Ace: $10
Black spray paint: already owned

Total: $23!  I checked some up online and they were over $100.  Awesome savings! :)

I think I want to marry you!

Meet Dan and Ashley.

My weekend thus far, has been spent helping these two celebrate their wedding, and recuperating afterwards. 

Friday was pedis and a bridal luncheon for the girls, golfing for the guys and everyone came together for the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner at the country club.  The evening ended with bowling for the entire group and Ashley and Dan's friends and family that were already in town.  Pics from Friday are below...

Dan, Ash and I at the rehearsal dinner.

This is Ashley's dad and Dan's parents on Friday night.

Ashley's college friend Lindsey, a fellow bridesmaid.

Ashley's sister Emily, the maid of honor.

Bowling - rockin' sweet shoes with our dresses. :)

Saturday started early (at least for the girls).  Hair was first on the agenda, then makeup.  I've never had my makeup professionally done - but now I can say that I have.  Our makeup artist made us all look beautiful!  Once we were dressed, all we had to do was wait for pictures to start.  So we took our own pic in the meantime. :)

Isn't Ashley's dress beautiful??  You can't completely tell in this picture, but the under layer of her dress is actually champagne colored with the lace overlay.  So pretty!

After pictures were done, we all killed a little time downstairs while guests arrived.  Then the world's shortest ceremony took place - seriously, Dan timed it and it was 15 minutes beginning to end.  And all of our feet say "thank you!!".  All of the girls were wearing about 3" heels since the groomsmen were all fairly tall and, well, we're not. 

Party bus time!!  We all drove around, took a few more pictures, celebrated, and had an all around good time.

The reception was held at the Museum of Visual Materials.  It's a really neat building that has wooden rafters and wooden floors, brick and rock walls if I remember right too.  It was beautifully decorated.  Here's a picture from my vantage point - the head table...

Probably the funniest moment of the day occurred when we arrived to the reception.  We were waiting in the entryway and at least some of the guys went to the bathroom.   Well, in the meantime, the DJ started announcing the couples.  Needless to say since our guys were previously engaged - Lindsey and I made solo entries into the reception with the guys running in after us.  I found it quite entertaining. :)

Cake was cut, dinner was eaten, speeches given, and then first dances began.  The first picture of the post was from Dan & Ash's first dance. 

Next "My Girl" serenaded Ash and her dad, Steve.

Dan and Lori two stepped to "I Will Shine the Light" by Sugarland.

One last pic of Lindsey, Ash and I and then I put down my camera and put on my dancing shoes! 

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Menke!!  That's right - it's now official. :)