Victory?

We had my daughter's high school graduation open house Friday night and its such a relief to have that done.  Not that it isn't enjoyable, it just involves so much preparation.  Planning the menu, purchasing the food, sending the invitations, cleaning the house; that sort of thing.  One big thing we needed to do was get the yard ready.  The borders needed weeding and mulch, the grass was kind of dying in spots, and in the bare border spots, I needed to plant annuals.  On Wednesday of last week, we placed 6 yards of bark in the borders, which took 5 of us just under 2 hours.  It looks so nice!  Besides mowing, it was the last thing we needed to do to the yard. 

After a morning spent praying away the rain, and weather reports of impending thunder storms right around the time of the open house, we were lucky enough to have NO rain.  We didn't have to resort to plan B, which was to put everything in the garage. 

I had a lot of compliments on the yard from the guests and many were surprised that I was a gardener.  One of them even mentioned (without any prompting from me, I might add) that our yard looked better than the neighbor's yard.  Hot Diggity!  I'm claiming that as a victory in the Turf War !

 And now, indulge me.  Look at my pictures.  Thanks!

Look at those Fox Gloves in the left picture.  Aren't they beautiful?  They're a biennial so I planted them last year for blooms this year.  And on the right, those feathery plants are called Goat's Beard. 

Thanks for not mentioning the sparse grass in the picture on the left.  These 4 pictures are all from the same area, different angles.  I'm trying to be an ar-teest.  (Not really, just wanted to get in as many flowers as possible.)

That Rhododendron bush in the corner is not doing so well.  Its leaves are turning brown and there are just a few blooms on it. 



Notice the string ornaments that Bethany made.  She and her friend Kelly made these to hang from the canopies. 



They also picked wildflowers to put in canning jars. 

It was a really nice time, and nice to see so many friends and relatives.  Whats really nice though, is that the yard is done, the garage and house are clean, and I can relax for a minute.  I hope you find a minute to relax as well.  Grab a beverage and go find a quiet spot to sit in, preferably outside, and enjoy the peace. 

The Reveal

So my bathroom has been done for about 3-4 weeks now and I haven't posted any pictures.  Why?  Pure laziness.  Well, that and the fact that life has been going on at lightning speed around me.  So just to refresh, here's what my bathroom used to look like:

Ah, the old upside down Scooby Doo towel.  Martha Stewart would die. 

Anyway, here's what it looks like now:

I can't even tell you how much better this bathroom makes me feel.  I'm not skeeved out everytime I go in there, and I'm not ashamed for other people to see it.  Even Martha Stewart.  

Gone

Yeah, I've been gone for almost 2 months.  Not that I've been goofing off or anything and I certainly haven't been on vacation.  We have a graduation open house in exactly 7 days and I'm overwhelmed.  The to-do list doesn't seem to be getting anything crossed off and in fact, gets more added to it everyday. 

Yesterday was a really hard day for me.  I said goodbye to the people I've worked with for 25 years.  I'm starting a new job on Monday working at the same hospital, just a different department.  So its not like I won't ever see my old coworkers again, I just won't be working with them.  We've shared a lot over the past 25 years: marriages, deaths of spouses, children, etc.  So these women are a lot more like family than just people I work with.  One in particular, Kate, has become one of my best friends.  We both worked the exact same schedule for about 5 years so we got to know each other really well.  Our last day to work with each other was last Sunday, and I knew that all day long but I couldn't bring myself to mention anything about it to her, because I was afraid I would cry.  In fact, when I left that day, I just kind of casually said "see ya" like it was any other day.  And then when I got home I felt bad, like maybe she thought I didn't care.  So yesterday I bought a card and told her that I couldn't say goodbye on Sunday because I was going to cry, and that I would miss her terribly.  I left it in her locker. 

And then I cried all the way home from work.