How was THIS for a gorgeous weekend? I’m hoping that it bodes well for our week-long spring break. We’re going nowhere. Nowhere, nothin’, just hanging out. I’m really happy for those of you who are heading to tropical locations. I’m not bitter at all. Well, okay, I’m a little bit bitter, but I’d be satisfied if we could have a few more days of genuine spring. Did you notice that we practically skipped mud season, or was that just me? It seemed like it was still frozen-cold in between thaws, making all the mud that I whined about back in that Dark Side of Spring post seem practically non-existent. So that’s a bonus.
We’re taking the spring cleaning thing seriously.
After literally years of pondering and negotiating, we hired someone to get rid of the random-tree-and-brush border between our house and our neighbor’s house. Partway through, I learned that the only way to complete the job was by removing part of our fence. This was presented to me as a formidable obstacle, and I was promised that they could restore it after we got rid of the trees. But I was (internally) whooping for joy, because I’ve always hated the fence. Inherited from a previous owner, it was a black metal colossus that our other neighbors, who’d lamented its installation and rejoiced at its demise, called “the yard.” As in, prison yard.
Have I mentioned that is dollhouse-sized? Except, without the adorableness you might expect from a child’s plaything? It was small to begin with, and at some point in its history the owners tore down the teensy early-20th-century shed/garage and replaced it with a gigantic 2-car cinder block number, which cut into our greenspace considerably. The fence-loving owner was also a huge fan of black asphalt which circumnavigates most of the house, adding to its. . . charm. On the bright side, the girls enjoy lying on hot asphalt. It”s one of their favorite warm-weather pastimes.
With the trees and the fence gone, we’ve gained sunlight and the ability for everyone to run around the house with wild abandon. But we were left with this horrendous remnant, left over from someone who clearly valued security over aesthetics:
Cute W, M, and I spent the morning digging, prying, and yanking. Finally, triumph:
Whooo, hoo!
Seriously, there is much that I still don’t love about our house, but it looks much nicer than it did when we bought it. Yeah, okay, we’ve poured money and sweat into it. But what else would I do with that? Go on trips for spring break? Pay for college? Bah. . . .
We’re also going to be re-thinking the vegetable garden, but more on that later. And I’ve also updated the Seasonal page–no more sledding hills, people! It’s playgrounds and summer camps and ice cream. Hooray for spring!
