Inaugural Grill

We got the propane tank filled and fired up the grill for the first time last night! We had some delicious veggie burgers and some steamed corn. Mmmm. The grill is awesome. It heats up really quickly and is just plain adorable as it cooks our dinner. We've been tossing around all sorts of ideas about what we can grill next...





In wild animal news, we have two wild animals living with us in the house. As I've mentioned in previous posts, Ted has been dying to have cats that will go outside on leashes. This experiment failed last summer when he bought halters for the two cats and took them outside the apartment. They both cried and cowered the entire time, just hoping they would be brought back inside soon. Since we've moved to the house, however, they've changed their tune. Either one of them can be found staring out various windows throughout the day. We found some cute collars in their size at the store the other night and Ted insisted we get them and bring "the kids" outside again. Now they love it out there. They don't want to come back in. When we go to open the door, they run at it full speed hoping to escape into the fabulous green world they've only ever dreamed about through the window. Ted has now created a monster:


The view from outside looking in: Morty screams for freedom

AWOL

Mortimer cried and threw himself at the windows for a good half hour after we brought him in last night. Trying to reason with a cat is a challenging task, but I think Mortimer and I have reached an understanding. Going outside is a "privilege," not a "right." He needs to clean up his act if he wants to be treated to some supervised roaming time outside. He screamed "You're ruining my life!" and slammed his bedroom door in a tantrum, but he'll come around to the "As long as you're living under my roof, you'll obey my rules" mentality soon enough. His sister was smart enough to keep her mouth shut and let Morty take the fall. Sigh. Kids.

Visitor Season Has Ended

Unfortunately for Ted and I, the visitor season has ended for us. We ended on a high note, however, as Ted's mom and step-father were in town over the weekend. It was their first visit to see us down south and their first in-person glimpse of the house. It was great to have them in town and great for Ted's mom to be here on Mother's Day! We spent the majority of the weekend lounging about the house, mostly in our pajamas. It was great to just sit around and talk. There was terrible rain this weekend which spoiled any plans for outdoor activities, but we had a riot just the same.

We got an early wedding gift as well...a new grill! Ted and I have been eyeing grills since the weather started getting warm down here. I'm not sure if Pam and Jerry new how much we were dying to have our own grill, but they surprised us by taking us out to get one on Friday night! We got a sweet Weber grill from Lowe's. We haven't had a chance to fire her up yet, but we stocked up on grill-ables at the grocery store last night, so I have a feeling that the time is coming to give it a test run!




Oh, the things we'll grill!

Goodbye, dear Smokey Joe! You served us well, but will not be missed!

In Lawn News, Ted and I have been noting that "it looks like we've grown some grass" as we walk past the front lawn these days. There are still some patchy spots, however, so I wasn't sure that much had grown at all since our seeding a couple of weekends ago. Then I looked at the pictures! My goodness! We've had some serious progress...


Click on the photo for a larger view


We'll have to do another seeding this week or weekend (along with some mowing and weedwhacking...we won't get lawn of the month if we keep going like this!), but there has been some definite growth!

Last, but not least, some more pictures of the cats being nutty.


"Fragile." He must be Italian.

Eilis & Ted: 1, Frigidaire: 0

In the 2007 cage match of E&T versus Frigidaire, we have come out unscathed and $430 richer. Here's to perseverance! Accompanying this letter was a form stating that "It is understood that the payment of the consideration herein stated is not an admission of liability by Elextrolux Home Products, but that this settlement is in compromise of a disputed claim and that liability is expressly denied by Electrolux Home Products." I basically had to sign my name saying that I would quit bugging them and yelling at their representatives now that I have my cash. Sweet deal. Sign me up.


Click on the image to read of my sweet victory

Ted Wields Multiple Gardening Tools Over the Kingdom of Weeds

We spent a lot of time in the yard again this weekend. We cruised the garage sales on Saturday trying to find a lawn mower or weed whacker, but were unsuccessful. We stopped by Lowe's and picked up a cordless weed whacker and sped home to charge that bad boy up...the portions of our lawn that are growing were getting unruly. While Ted was busy taming the weeds, I was raking up the straw and rocks strewn about the yard. And are there rocks. Billions of them. Some ginormous. Most, just annoying.




It was another gorgeous day today, so we decided to get some more done in the yard. The ground here is super dry and our grass has come up very patchy. We've been encouraged by our neighbors to "keep at it," proclaiming that theirs looked just like ours when they first moved in. They all have fabulously luscious yards now, so I think we'll take their advice. We were off to Lowe's again this morning and the two of us watered and raked and seeded the bald spots on the lawn. We also got some "seed accelerator" that seems to be some sort of fertilizer. That went on the lawn too. Then we watered and watered and watered. We'll need to be pretty strict with our watering schedule over the next couple of weeks and see if we can get this grass to grow. I'm not sure if there is any rain the forecast, but that would help too.


Ted shows a rock who's boss

Hulkin' it.

Happy homeowners still enjoying the novelty of yard work.

Portrait of the bald spots

After the seeds and fertilizer

I finished some sewing projects this weekend too. I made some scrub caps for work and some gifts, but also got a chance to make a small cushion for the deacon's bench my dad made me when I was a girl. I'm in love with the fabric and have some more on the way so I can make a table runner for the coffee table with it. Yay!


Donnie K's creation gets some TLC

Girly Side-Bar

In order to spare the less girly readers, I've posted about a couple of girly new cosmetics I recently tried and liked over at Neat-O!

Check it out if you're into that sort of thing.

Zzzzz.

Being out in the sun all weekend has made me exhausted. Ted had a school project to work on today, so I was out in the yard solo finishing up yesterday's project. I think it has turned out pretty well. We'd like to find something to use as a border, but are both very picky about what to use, so we'll have to take some time to find the right stone or brick. It's amazing what a little landscaping can do for a yard though and I'm looking forward to tackling some more projects in the future.


Here's an old "before" picture



Here's a look at Ted's magazine holders all stained and being utilized! He did a great job! Next up, shelves for the garage??

Weekend Projects

It's 77 degrees out and I just came in from an afternoon of planting. It's the first really nice weekend we've had in a couple of weeks and we didn't have any plans today, so we took a trip to Lowe's and Home Depot to get supplies for two projects we've been wanting to do. As you've seen, we've acquired a number of plants in the past month as birthday and housewarming gifts. It was time to get them planted! Ted has also had his eye on a woodworking project for a couple of months and decided that it was time to get cracking.

Once I got home with the top soil and mulch, I realized that some of the plants we got won't do well in the front of the house because they need some shade. I had to pop back out to the store and find a few things that would do well in full sun.

Everyone in the neighborhood seemed to be out today doing yard work, so we chit chatted with Nathan and Rhonda next door. Nathan had just finished with his tiller and offered to let me use it for my project, and I gladly accepted. Our soil is made of clay and rock, so digging is a nightmare. The tiller worked like a charm and I was done in about 10 minutes. Awesome.


Green Thumb Weazie 1, Tiller 0

Meanwhile Ted got busy building his wooden magazine holders. He wants to make a work bench that he found in a magazine too, but decided to start off small. He's been sawing and hammering for a couple of hours and they look adorable so far. He still needs to sand and stain them, but the "building" portion is complete. I think he should go for the bench tomorrow!






It's about 5:30 now and I've grown tired of yard work. I ran out of mulch and still have some plants to put in the ground, so I'll have to pick back up tomorrow. I think it looks pretty good so far though! I bagged the idea of a raised garden bed because I found some instructions and it was going to be a major production and a major expense--neither of which I am in the mood for anytime soon. I've been dying to get the front yard "finished," so I'm glad I didn't wait any longer trying to save $ for the raised bed. Hopefully there will be more progress to show tomorrow!

Creeping Up The Hill.

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a lovely day. Thanks to all of you that helped me celebrate!
There is not much happening house-wise right now. It's still been a bit cold and rainy, so I haven't been able to plant anything. These plants really need to get into the ground though, so I hope the weather warms up soon! I think a trip to Lowe's will be on my agenda this weekend. At any rate, here's some random pictures to look at until there are more house related things going on!


Manhandling Mortimer

He's thrilled.

Ethel's turn.

Ted and his boy.

Our 2 year anniversary and the best meal of our lives.

Eilis's Birthday 2007

Ethel taking a break from working on her figures.

Ethel salutes playoff hockey

The Artistic Duo.

My brother and sister-in-law rock. They are both super creative and artsy and when Ted and I saw this really cool rock-poster style wedding invitation, I knew exactly who to ask to come up with something creative like it.



I showed Mindy the picture and explained that we'd love to have something like it for our wedding, perhaps to display at the reception or to have people sign in lieu of a guest book. My birthday is coming up, and this present arrived on my doorstep today:




I can't even describe how awesome this is. It's beyond perfect. I love it, love it, love it! I have yet to talk to Mindy, so I have no idea how she created it. Teaguer did the framing apparently, which is gorgeous as well. I've had wedding on the brain all day, so it was very fitting to come home to the perfect wedding accessory! Our very own poster! Thanks guys.

Weekend Visitors.

We had a riot this weekend with Ted's sister, brother-in-law, and two nieces Amanda and Brooke. They were on their way back home from Myrtle Beach and stopped by to see the house and stay the night on Friday. We spent the night catching up, playing video games, and watching movies. Brooke and Jim took a quick liking to Ted's favorite game "Guitar Hero," and Brooke was an old pro before we knew it. Amanda and I got crazy with Super Mario Brothers 3, and the whole crew cracked up over Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights."
I love spending time with the girls because they are so easy to have fun with. I pulled out our "old school" video game consoles and was showing the girls the Sega Genesis and the first Nintendo. They looked at me like I was ancient and said "We've never even heard of those before." I think that's the first time in my entire life that I felt OLD. It was nice to know that I could still keep up with Amanda in Super Mario Brothers though.
It was fun to have family in town again and great to hear the house filled with giggles and laughter. I hope they can visit again soon.


Brooke concentrates on being a rock star.

Amanda plays some SMB3 on the NES

Giggling at Will Ferrell in "Elf"

Brooke and Amanda