I don't typically watch or enjoy music videos - never have, don't think I ever will as a general rule. However, there are always exceptions to every rule!
Have you seen Taylor Swift's "You Belong with Me" video? Pretty cute! (I'm not sure about the quality of this video, but you'll get the general idea.)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Thursday, July 23, 2009
They even cleaned behind the shed
Holy crap. When J and I decided that THIS summer is the summer we are going to take care of our shambles of a backyard, we had no idea what we were getting into. We looked at our bank account, decided on a number we were okay with for the work, and then started discussing what we wanted done.
By discussing, I mean arguing.
It wasn't pretty, and it lasted a long time. The crazy thing is, once we backed off a little and looked at what the other was saying, we realized we wanted the same things, we just needed to negotiate the details. For example, we both wanted a fire pit - we just wanted it in different places in the yard. Why were we arguing over that? That seems so silly.
We finally agreed on what we were going to do. We had a plan, and, because THIS is the summer, I spent my first few days out of school on the phone. I called all sorts of people and scheduled all sorts of things. The problem with this, though, is that I had NO idea who to call. A few years ago we called a landscape company to come out and give us a bid on what we wanted done then, but he never followed through. And this was a guy who was a friend of a friend...if you can't trust someone you "know," who can you trust? We were pretty apprehensive.
Our parents don't live around here, so we couldn't call them for advice. When I opened the phone book, there were fifteen pages of companies under landscaping alone. I admit, I got really overwhelmed. Then I thought about my neighbor - she has someone come do her yard every week. I thought maybe she would have some ideas or advice. I went and looked up her phone number and called. It was a surprisingly pleasant call. You see, we are NOT very close to our neighbors at all. The people in our neighborhood are nice enough, but everyone keeps to themselves for the most part. I had only ever spoken to this lady one time about a month after we moved in. I know she and J had chatted a few times in the yard over the last few years, but we've lived here six years and I can count our conversations on one hand.
Anyway, Linda, my neighbor, said she loved Nacho, her yard guy. She told me that he mostly does lawn maintenance, but that he's been trying to talk her into letting him put sprinklers in her yard for awhile now. She suggested I call him and see what he thought. So I did.
He said he could come over that Friday when his crew was at Linda's house, and we could talk then. I agreed, hung up the phone, and had a mini-panic attack. This is pretty stressful - we're considering spending a lot of money, and there are no guarantees. This isn't like going to Wal-Mart, buying something and then returning it. This is the type of thing you just have to move forward with, and trust that you are making the right decisions.
Nacho came over on Friday, I walked him through the jungle we call our back yard, and told him what we wanted to do. He took notes and some measurements, and then told me he'd call me back with a quote. He said if we chose to use his company, that it was "a big yob, but we can do it in about a week."
That was music to my ears. My gut told me he was an honest type of fellow, and several people in our neighborhood have used his services regularly for a long time. When he came back with the quote, it was within the range J and I had agreed on, so I went ahead and told him we wanted him to do the work.
There were several things that had to happen, though, before Nacho and his crew could come work their magic on our yard. We had to take down the pool, pour a concrete pad, and have several limbs of our giant mulberry tree removed.
We called a concrete guy in to come give us a bid - $3100. We said, thanks, but no thanks. That's way out of our budget. Then we decided that this would be a DIY project, and J called his dad. His dad agreed to help us, so we just needed to get started.
We bribed one of J's friends with beer and grilled hamburgers to come over here and help take down and move the pool. Thank goodness for Sean - there's NO way I could have helped J pick that up and carry it clear across the yard to the shed.
Thanks to Dad H. and his three or four weekend trips over here, and a lot of hard work on his and J's part, the concrete is now finished. (And, FYI, we are now the proud owners of a portable concrete mixer...if you ever find yourself in need of one, come borrow it or make an offer...I may just sell it to you!)
While we were camping I had the tree service come take care of the trees. (I trusted them - we had used them once before a few years ago, and they were fantastic!)
Now it's time for Nacho to get started. His crew came Monday morning to do the clean up, and they are coming back Friday (tomorrow) to start digging up the old sprinklers and putting in new. Next week they'll finish the sprinklers and then lay new sod.
I was here while they were working, but I wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing. I assumed they would be cutting down the weeds and maybe starting to pull up some of the old grass, but only in the areas they would be laying new sod.
I was wrong. They cleaned EVERYTHING. They weeded up against the house and a flower bed that hasn't been touched in six years. They moved all the crap on the deck and got rid of leaves that have been trapped between the screen door and sliding door. They cleaned all the old rotting leaves off the wood stack. They cleaned up the side of the garage. They even cleaned behind the shed.
I am not embarrassed to admit I did a little happy dance when I saw everything that had been done. If the rest of their work is half as good as what they did already, we're getting one hell of a deal.
I wish I had thought to take pictures of all this as it was going on, but I didn't. I'm sure I've got some pictures of how hideous the yard was a few weeks ago...I'll for sure do before and after even if I can't do the during.
I can't wait to see what they do tomorrow!
By discussing, I mean arguing.
It wasn't pretty, and it lasted a long time. The crazy thing is, once we backed off a little and looked at what the other was saying, we realized we wanted the same things, we just needed to negotiate the details. For example, we both wanted a fire pit - we just wanted it in different places in the yard. Why were we arguing over that? That seems so silly.
We finally agreed on what we were going to do. We had a plan, and, because THIS is the summer, I spent my first few days out of school on the phone. I called all sorts of people and scheduled all sorts of things. The problem with this, though, is that I had NO idea who to call. A few years ago we called a landscape company to come out and give us a bid on what we wanted done then, but he never followed through. And this was a guy who was a friend of a friend...if you can't trust someone you "know," who can you trust? We were pretty apprehensive.
Our parents don't live around here, so we couldn't call them for advice. When I opened the phone book, there were fifteen pages of companies under landscaping alone. I admit, I got really overwhelmed. Then I thought about my neighbor - she has someone come do her yard every week. I thought maybe she would have some ideas or advice. I went and looked up her phone number and called. It was a surprisingly pleasant call. You see, we are NOT very close to our neighbors at all. The people in our neighborhood are nice enough, but everyone keeps to themselves for the most part. I had only ever spoken to this lady one time about a month after we moved in. I know she and J had chatted a few times in the yard over the last few years, but we've lived here six years and I can count our conversations on one hand.
Anyway, Linda, my neighbor, said she loved Nacho, her yard guy. She told me that he mostly does lawn maintenance, but that he's been trying to talk her into letting him put sprinklers in her yard for awhile now. She suggested I call him and see what he thought. So I did.
He said he could come over that Friday when his crew was at Linda's house, and we could talk then. I agreed, hung up the phone, and had a mini-panic attack. This is pretty stressful - we're considering spending a lot of money, and there are no guarantees. This isn't like going to Wal-Mart, buying something and then returning it. This is the type of thing you just have to move forward with, and trust that you are making the right decisions.
Nacho came over on Friday, I walked him through the jungle we call our back yard, and told him what we wanted to do. He took notes and some measurements, and then told me he'd call me back with a quote. He said if we chose to use his company, that it was "a big yob, but we can do it in about a week."
That was music to my ears. My gut told me he was an honest type of fellow, and several people in our neighborhood have used his services regularly for a long time. When he came back with the quote, it was within the range J and I had agreed on, so I went ahead and told him we wanted him to do the work.
There were several things that had to happen, though, before Nacho and his crew could come work their magic on our yard. We had to take down the pool, pour a concrete pad, and have several limbs of our giant mulberry tree removed.
We called a concrete guy in to come give us a bid - $3100. We said, thanks, but no thanks. That's way out of our budget. Then we decided that this would be a DIY project, and J called his dad. His dad agreed to help us, so we just needed to get started.
We bribed one of J's friends with beer and grilled hamburgers to come over here and help take down and move the pool. Thank goodness for Sean - there's NO way I could have helped J pick that up and carry it clear across the yard to the shed.
Thanks to Dad H. and his three or four weekend trips over here, and a lot of hard work on his and J's part, the concrete is now finished. (And, FYI, we are now the proud owners of a portable concrete mixer...if you ever find yourself in need of one, come borrow it or make an offer...I may just sell it to you!)
While we were camping I had the tree service come take care of the trees. (I trusted them - we had used them once before a few years ago, and they were fantastic!)
Now it's time for Nacho to get started. His crew came Monday morning to do the clean up, and they are coming back Friday (tomorrow) to start digging up the old sprinklers and putting in new. Next week they'll finish the sprinklers and then lay new sod.
I was here while they were working, but I wasn't really paying attention to what they were doing. I assumed they would be cutting down the weeds and maybe starting to pull up some of the old grass, but only in the areas they would be laying new sod.
I was wrong. They cleaned EVERYTHING. They weeded up against the house and a flower bed that hasn't been touched in six years. They moved all the crap on the deck and got rid of leaves that have been trapped between the screen door and sliding door. They cleaned all the old rotting leaves off the wood stack. They cleaned up the side of the garage. They even cleaned behind the shed.
I am not embarrassed to admit I did a little happy dance when I saw everything that had been done. If the rest of their work is half as good as what they did already, we're getting one hell of a deal.
I wish I had thought to take pictures of all this as it was going on, but I didn't. I'm sure I've got some pictures of how hideous the yard was a few weeks ago...I'll for sure do before and after even if I can't do the during.
I can't wait to see what they do tomorrow!
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
My good deed
The other day, I was in the car with my friend and her 7 year old niece. We were on our way to JoAnn's fabrics to look for more flannel for a blanket they were in the process of creating. It wasn't an overly hot day, but probably in the low 90's. Hot enough that we were using the air conditioning and thankful for it.
We were almost at JoAnn's - about five blocks away - when we saw him. There was an elderly man walking along the sidewalk. Well, he wasn't really walking, he was shuffling. I didn't get a good look at him because I was talking (shocking, I know...me? talking?), but my friend was really concerned about him. She kept looking in her rear view mirror. She finally said that he looked like he was in a lot of physical distress and that she didn't think he was going to make it. I told her to turn around, then, and we should go back.
Normally, this wouldn't have been a difficult decision. But we had her young niece with us. Again, not typically a difficult decision, even with the little girl with us, except my friend's brother just died of a sudden heart attack last month, and his daughter was home when it happened. The same little girl we had with us. We couldn't keep going, though, and not even see if he was okay, so we turned around.
When we pulled up next to him, he was not very coherent and didn't seem like he wanted to talk to us. He was on a mission - a SLOW and laborious mission - and it didn't seem like he could stop to talk. My friend offered him a ride, and after a minute of thought, he accepted. I got out of the front seat, helped him in, and then climbed in the back with Niece. The gentleman's name was Wally, and he was not doing well at all. My friend asked where we could take him, but he couldn't tell us where he was going or where he lived. He asked us to take him "around the corner" and then he'd continue on his way. We took him to the Pizza Hut, and he promised he'd go in and rest up before continuing on his way.
We just didn't feel right leaving him there, so I walked him in. I got him a glass of ice water from the manager, and got a phone book. While my friend was parking her car, I called the non-emergency police line, and let them know we were concerned. The dispatcher kept asking if we wanted an ambulance, but I didn't for several reasons. First, I thought Wally was doing okay. Now that we had him sitting down and resting, I thought he'd be okay. Second, I didn't think he'd stick around long enough for them to come. And third, Niece was scared enough by what was going on, and she shared that "the last time I called 911, Daddy died." Crap. We couldn't blow this out of proportion, and Niece HAD to see that people can be helped by calling 911.
Wally was a bit impatient, though, and while I was on the phone with Kara the Dispatch Lady, he got up and walked / shuffled back outside. I followed him and saw that my friend had convinced him to sit down in her car again, and let her give him a ride. I was still on the line with the police, and Kara asked if she could talk to Wally. I handed the phone over, and she proceeded to stall him until a police officer showed up.
By the time the officer got there (no lights or sirens, thank goodness), Wally was much improved. He had some color back in his cheeks, his eyes were more focused, and he was far more coherent.
I was so relieved that nothing worse happened. It appears that our friend Wally has a bit of dementia, as he couldn't remember his phone number. Well, he remembered a phone number, but it's been disconnected. His driver's license didn't have a current address, either. We thanked the officer and bade goodbye to Wally, and then continued on our way.
We talked to Niece, and asked her if she had any questions. We told her she'd been amazing, and congratulated her on her bravery. It was our good deed for the day.
We were almost at JoAnn's - about five blocks away - when we saw him. There was an elderly man walking along the sidewalk. Well, he wasn't really walking, he was shuffling. I didn't get a good look at him because I was talking (shocking, I know...me? talking?), but my friend was really concerned about him. She kept looking in her rear view mirror. She finally said that he looked like he was in a lot of physical distress and that she didn't think he was going to make it. I told her to turn around, then, and we should go back.
Normally, this wouldn't have been a difficult decision. But we had her young niece with us. Again, not typically a difficult decision, even with the little girl with us, except my friend's brother just died of a sudden heart attack last month, and his daughter was home when it happened. The same little girl we had with us. We couldn't keep going, though, and not even see if he was okay, so we turned around.
When we pulled up next to him, he was not very coherent and didn't seem like he wanted to talk to us. He was on a mission - a SLOW and laborious mission - and it didn't seem like he could stop to talk. My friend offered him a ride, and after a minute of thought, he accepted. I got out of the front seat, helped him in, and then climbed in the back with Niece. The gentleman's name was Wally, and he was not doing well at all. My friend asked where we could take him, but he couldn't tell us where he was going or where he lived. He asked us to take him "around the corner" and then he'd continue on his way. We took him to the Pizza Hut, and he promised he'd go in and rest up before continuing on his way.
We just didn't feel right leaving him there, so I walked him in. I got him a glass of ice water from the manager, and got a phone book. While my friend was parking her car, I called the non-emergency police line, and let them know we were concerned. The dispatcher kept asking if we wanted an ambulance, but I didn't for several reasons. First, I thought Wally was doing okay. Now that we had him sitting down and resting, I thought he'd be okay. Second, I didn't think he'd stick around long enough for them to come. And third, Niece was scared enough by what was going on, and she shared that "the last time I called 911, Daddy died." Crap. We couldn't blow this out of proportion, and Niece HAD to see that people can be helped by calling 911.
Wally was a bit impatient, though, and while I was on the phone with Kara the Dispatch Lady, he got up and walked / shuffled back outside. I followed him and saw that my friend had convinced him to sit down in her car again, and let her give him a ride. I was still on the line with the police, and Kara asked if she could talk to Wally. I handed the phone over, and she proceeded to stall him until a police officer showed up.
By the time the officer got there (no lights or sirens, thank goodness), Wally was much improved. He had some color back in his cheeks, his eyes were more focused, and he was far more coherent.
I was so relieved that nothing worse happened. It appears that our friend Wally has a bit of dementia, as he couldn't remember his phone number. Well, he remembered a phone number, but it's been disconnected. His driver's license didn't have a current address, either. We thanked the officer and bade goodbye to Wally, and then continued on our way.
We talked to Niece, and asked her if she had any questions. We told her she'd been amazing, and congratulated her on her bravery. It was our good deed for the day.
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