Sunday, May 29, 2011

It's not called 'hard'scaping for nothin'...

I'm sorry I didn't blog all week. It was a ROUGH first week back from vacation. I didn't have anything nice to say, so I didn't say anything at all. Suffice it to say that I am reevaluating my career choice to see if it will be possible to one day manage being a wife and mother with being a journalist. It's not looking good for the latter....

Second, happy Memorial Day weekend! Hope you all are enjoying a safe, fun weekend. Also, thanks to the service men and women who have given their lives for this country. Your sacrifices will never be forgotten.

Okay, now to the reason for this blog: Mine and Jonathan's backyard hardscaping update. Today we completed phase II and got phase III under way. I'm pretty sure the blisters on my hands have blisters. I hobble when I walk, and I can't straighten my left arm at the elbow...but, I digress.

We successfully hand dug the rest of the 10' x 12' space that we planned to hardscape because the Bobcat didn't define the edges. Then we shoveled out the remaining dirt and used a flat shovel to level the area -- okay, I did most of it, actually, because Jonathan went with his dad to pick up our special paver sand. They brought home 40 bags of this stuff. I consider myself a strong gal, but I couldn't carry one of these bags (maybe it was b/c I'd nearly passed out moments before)!!!! Then, we laid the special sand and leveled it. This part took hours. You can never appreciate how much hard work this is until you've done it (thanks for your help, Rick!). But, don't do it. You'll die.

We were both thrilled to begin laying the pavers and getting to see Jonathan's beautimous design come to life. He spent forever designing our pattern in Adobe Illustrator. I love that I'm married to a graphic designer! Here's the guide we're using:

(Obviously our pavers aren't red and black...)

(J: "We will not be defeated!")


(Me raking special sand)


(At last, we begin laying pavers)

We anticipate finishing the majority of this project tomorrow (we still want to build a wall of pavers and eventually add an outdoor fireplace...). Will post proud pics when we do!!!

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