Ohhh, my back!

So, today, I got up and just wanted to get SOMETHING done!  And, of course, as I hate housework and the weather has turned beautiful - I went outside!  I ordered some blocks for our firepit from Lowes.com so that i could take advantage of the 2% cashback at fatwallet.com.  Then went and picked that up.  I had to make two trips because the blocks weigh 25 lbs each!

I've been considering putting box hedges along our front walk as a barrier between kids playing in the front yard and the road.  So, I checked those out at Lowes - $7 each.  Yikes.  I needed 7 of them, so I called Home Depot and asked how much their were - $2.50 each.  Nice :)  So, I also got out the whole clan at Home Depot after two trips to Lowes.  Then, with fresh, new plants, and a van full of blocks, I set to work!

I dug up a 30' x 32" section of lawn.  Which was pretty back breaking!  I still haven't bought a wheelbarrow, so I hauled my gigantic city trash can along with me to put all my yard waste in.  What do people without compost piles usually do with yard waste?  I've been contemplating a compost pile, but I'm afraid it'll be more work and take up more space than it's worth.  Thoughts?

Anyways, I dug up the lawn, dug some holes, put down weed barrier and planted my mini-shrubs.  It'll be sometime before THESE prevent my children from running headlong into the road ;)

One really nice thing about working outside in the front yard is that I got to talk to all three neighbors on my street at one point in time during today!

After I finished up front, I was EXHAUSTED!  But... I had a van full of heavy blocks that needed to be unloaded.  So, instead of just piling them up, I figured I'd put them where they belonged!  So, I dug out a hole in the back yard, cleared the middle and laid down 48 twenty-five lb. blocks.  Yeeeeeesh!  Needless to say, I'm good and worn out.

Afterwards I hopped in the shower with Kate to rinse all the dirt off.  I didn't realize I'd been exclaiming until Kate started copying me.  "mmm.  oh, man, that feels so nice."  and whatnot.  Lol, after that I made a conscious effort to not sigh every time I thought about how in love I was with that hot shower.  When John put Kate to bed tonight she was telling him all about all the cool things I'd done and how hard I'd worked, and I could tell she was just beaming.  Who says being a mom is a thankless job :)

It felt so good to work outside, but now I think I'm going to go collapse.  Again.