Patio Project - Check!

I finally finished my "patio rejuvenation" project. I got the lumber today and replaced the rotted strips of wood between the concrete sections. It looks really good, I'm pleased. It was quite humorous though, if only you could have seen me piloting a cart with a 12 foot-long 2x4 and five 10 foot-long 2x4's. Tough to corner the aisles with those babies. Thankfully, my mom-sized SUV handled it in stride! I was really proud of myself too, when I got home I got the circular saw out and trimmed them down all by myself.

This and that

Monday morning - lots of things I'd like to accomplish today! Justin is in Las Vegas for a few days so I am stacking up evening projects that I am looking forward to.

I took a stamping class on Saturday at the rubber stamp shop at the mall - my friend Whitney taught the class and it was so much fun! I had a feeling I'd get bitten by the bug when I saw all the creative techniques and I was right. Whitney was nice enough to help me design a birthday invitation for Jack yesterday (and her employee discount was amazing, thanks Whitney!). I played around with the stamps and materials last night. Today I need to get a few more things and change my design just a bit. I'll post pics when I'm done (which better be soon because Jack's birthday is on 6/4!)

The other thing I'm working on this week is finishing my patio "rejuvenation" and getting my garden planted. I planted seeds in an indoor incubator with Brooke last week (cucubmers, pumpkins, corn, basil and rosemary). They are growing like crazy! The cucumber starts are already so tall that they are pushing the lid off, so I think it's time to get them in the raised bed outside. We have had a streak of very warm weather finally so I think the risk of frost has finally passed. My garden is still a mess from the winter, so I'll be tilling in some fresh compost before I can plant these starts. I'm also hoping to find some tomato plants to put in there too.

Finally, I bought some great new bronze colored zinc pots for our front porch and I'm anxious to fill them with flowers. A trip to Lowe's is definitely in order...

Hope you all have a great week!

My current project

I have been working on our patio. It really needs to be ripped out and replaced, along with the rest of our back yard, but since that's not in the budget this year or probably even next, I am looking for inexpensive fixes I can do myself. The aggregate concrete had these awful rotten wood dividers that would grow weeds all year long. I got the bug in my bonnet to pry them out and replace them so yesterday, while Angela (our babysitter) was here, I got to work. Man, it was hard work but I got them all out!



I chopped up the weedy old wood and put it in the yard waste bin. Phew. Then, I started the process of power washing the filthy concrete. You can see on the left the panel that is done and on the right the two that are NOT done yet. I need some caustic chemicals to break up the moss that is growing on there before I attempt to finish. Then, when it's all done, I will replace the wood with new pressure-treated wood and sand. But right now the channels are filled with water that has nowhere to drain. So hopefully one of these days the sun will come out and dry it up (not today, apparently - mother nature thinks it's still winter in Seattle!)