Let me preface this post with the bold truth that we are not a "yard project" family. And my Strong Silent Mysterious man is not really a project kind of guy... if you remember this post, it's fairly painful to endure "projects" at my house.
For this reason, I am careful to select homes with low maintenance yards, already landscaped.
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My Strong Silent Mysterious Man has terrible allergies and blows up like a balloon at the sight of freshly cut grass, pollen filled flowers and flying dust particles from moving dirt. So he really avoids "yard projects".
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I am deathly afraid of snakes! And the thought of possibly seeing one in my yard would give me nightmares for years. So I pretty much need major assistance with "yard projects", you know someone to hold my hand, and finish the job, in case a snake slithers by... because I will be inside for the rest of the century if I see one.
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The teenager, well he likes things to look nice, on his terms. And well lets face it, they don't stick around to take care of Mom and Dad's yard forever.
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Our house is small and our yard has the least amount of maintenance possible, yet still has a look that someone actually lives here.
However, when you really get broken into a house... and watch too much HGTV.
You get ideas.
You go into "project" denial, and feel invincible.
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Our driveway is wide enough for two cars, but that's it... so when you get out of the car you step on the grass. And in the winter, the grass is mud.
So the whole family agreed that it would be nice to somehow widen the driveway "someday".
Monday, the teenager woke up and decided it would be today!
My strong silent mysterious man never bought into it, and was very vocal that he "did not sign up for today". So we all agreed he would not have to be part of the process. I would help the teenager with the design and he would do all the labor.
Besides the fact that the grass never grows beside the sidewalk, I knew the hedge had to come out. At least in front of the door. Plus the teenager is the only one who can trim them in a straight line, and with him leaving... well I didn't want to be the one stuck trimming that crazy hedge... it had to go.
I had no idea how to remove it, but I knew it wouldn't be easy!
So I left that to the teenager and went inside to start some laundry.
When I was ready to come out and help, he had all of the hedge cut down... and he was inside bugging his Dad (who was in a Monday holiday coma on the couch) about using the truck to pull out the stumps.
As he described wrapping a chain around them and pulling the other end with the truck, I KNEW my strong silent mysterious man would never go for it.... my only vision was the chain popping off and slinging back through our glass storm door, or the window of the truck! The words ACME bush puller on the side of the truck, flashed in my head! LOL
But somehow he managed to rally his Dad off the couch to help pull out those stubborn stumps from the hedges. And they came out so smooth, he was right all along. I think when you are leaving for two years, you just bat your eyes and well... heart strings get tugged.... and the Lord watches out for you and any sketchy ideas you come up with.
Much to my surprise, they worked together and got them out.
It was already looking a thousand times better.
Now the next phase... after much deliberation, we all agreed on a plan that was the least amount of work, money and give us the results we were after when we started.
Digging up grass, straight lines... not for the squeamish. But he got it done.
About this time, Dad suggested we got split a plate of nachos for lunch. Well while we were out, more smooshing happened and we managed to get him to go look at not one, not two, but three different home improvement stores at rock and stepping stones.
He was fit to be tied by the time we made all the necessary decisions and purchased the materials to finish.
He thought the ground should settle before moving on to the next phase.
We got our way, but he wasn't happy and reminded us once again, "he never signed up for this today!!!"
After he watched from inside about 3 seconds, the teenager and me trying to get the edging stone in a straight line and dug down... he came out and made us let him help.
It HAD to be done right... and we would not have done it right without him. I am so grateful he gave up some couch time to come out and help. There was only a few yelling matches, and names called when the teenager tried to put the level to the stones, it looked like a good idea to me... but apparently "you can never level to the world!!!" (I still don't know what this means, but he told us this a few times, I am definitely saving it to use later). We would probably still be out there. We were definitely in over our heads. But as a family we finished the project.
Well minus any stepping stones, but only because we couldn't agree on any of the commercial ones, and decided to go find out own in the wilderness and install them later. It would be a fun family outing anyway, so we all agreed to wait instead of compromising.
And I am thinking about adding a couple of those swirly green trees on each side of the door. Or maybe a couple of big lion heads!!
But those are minor touches I can do on my own later.
I am really happy how it turned out.
No glass was broken and no one was hurt in the process.
We might just end up being a "yard project family" after all!
Another great adventure by Project Man, Flashlight Girl, and Level Boy!
