Breaking News...

NOTE: I originally wrote most of this last night, so I could post it quickly today after adding a few updates. Well... my day was CRAZY. I barely could keep up with emails and returning calls. What the heck!? It's the. first. day. Ugh. Anyway, this was supposed to be an optimistic post ... I wanted to post it sometime this morning, when much of this was actually "breaking news" ... oh well. Here goes.

My intern is back in town!! I'm so excited to have her back...in spite of my anxiety about the start of a new academic year. She's back and we are going to get some great things accomplished this year.

 source

I picked and ate my first homegrown tomato!! My beautiful Yellow Giant Belgium.

It was very tasty, more mild and less acidic than a red tomato. Only...it certainly wasn't "giant"...hmm. There are a couple of others ripening on the plant and I can't wait!

I worked on a crafty little project over the weekend, which I'll show you later...hopefully this week. I will give you a hint... it involved a glue gun and some memories.

Our new team member starts this week! I'm so excited to have her on board. She seems like she'll be a great fit, will help with our ever-increasing workload, and might even be...{dare I say it?}...friend potential!

Yes, these are things I am excited about and grateful for today. The first day of the new academic year. A year that brings "record enrollment." 

How are you feeling today??



PS- I emailed the flier to The Crush. It took all day to write the email, mostly because I was so busy that I only had time to work on it in tiny bits and pieces. I was trying not to vomit as I composed the email. Sigh. I doubt I'll hear anything back. {Sigh.}

The Rest of the Story

 Remember writing notes like this back in the day?

source

I distinctly remember writing notes that said, "I like you, do you like me? Circle YES or NO."

{Sigh} If only it were still that simple.

We had TC's presentation on Tuesday. Of course I thought carefully about what I would be wearing, since each of the other times TC and I have interacted I was wearing my work shirts with our program's name and the school mascot embroidered on. Don't get me wrong, they're great shirts, but I just wanted to wear something... cuter. :)

I would love to be able to say that the presentation was amazing and that The Crush and I locked eyes and felt electricity... that we heard harps playing and we rode off into the sunset together to live happily ever after.

I'm sorry, but this is not that kind of blog. My life just isn't that kind of life.

At least my "love plant" is still growing. {Remember the Love Fern from How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days? :) I don't plan to get all crazy like she did, don't worry.}

It was a very busy day, so I couldn't get too worried beforehand. We arrived early, as usual. K-Dog really likes to play music or funny YouTube clips before he presents. It's a good thing...BUT... it meant that when TC arrived, we all were just standing at the front of the room watching YouTube. Which meant no real chance for TC and I to talk.

Overall, the presentation went well. I managed to say a few funny things. And a few intelligent things. I tried to remember to smile and throw in humor when I could. I made sure to clearly state that we'd be finishing with plenty of time for everyone to keep to the schedule, at which point TC and I exchanged a smile.

There were a few lovely moments of very direct eye contact. One in particular made my heart skip a beat and my knees go weak; I was pretty stoked about it for a while. A couple smiles. But that's about it.

K-Dog told me before that he thinks TC is really shy and seems to be quite private. I agree. He definitely talks to K-Dog more...and they have interacted more often over a longer period of time. But I'm also starting to think TC has a "man crush" on K-Dog. It seems K-Dog agrees but said, "Heidi, he needs to know that he has to go through you to get to me."

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be flattered by that or not. {Sigh}

And that, my friends, was the rest of the story.

The end.

PS- I'm thinking about forwarding TC a flier for an evening program in the near future. The speaker is someone that he and/or his students might be interested in, though she is talking about a slightly different topic. I've got nothing to lose, right? I should send it...right?

Public Service Announcement #2

If you work in an academic setting, remember the month of August

is crazy-busy-stressful...

You should write everything down,

make sure it gets written on the appropriate calendars, 

and review said calendars regularly. 

Or you may forget you have 2 1 more presentations in the next few hours.

*This Public Service Announcement is brought to you by the Council on Time Management and the Better Coworkers League.*

Public Service Announcement

Doing laundry in the middle of a crazy-busy-stressful week may result in in you wearing on Friday 

the same piece of clothing 

(a brightly-colored cardigan or light sweater, for example)

you wore on Monday...

but couldn't remember wearing...

because of your  

crazy-busy-sleep-deprived-stress-induced 

memory deficits.

*This Public Service Announcement is brought to you by the Council on Saving Yourself Some Embarrassment at Work and the Coalition for the Prevention of Workplace Wardrobe Mishaps.*

Smitten Kitten

I know I promised you an update, but I just need to say, these last two weeks have been nuts! Trainings, presentations, trainings, more presentations, welcoming new students,a quick trip to Urgent Care (for my stupid fluid-filled ear), plus all the regular stuff. And I'm on call for an extra week and just praying students stay safe for the first weekend back. Sigh.

OK, now on to our feature presentation... New developments in CrushGate. Sooner than I expected, that's for sure.

And by the way, in case you didn't now....I'm completely smitten. I've got a crush. I've got extra serotonin and dopamine floating around in my body and that makes me get excited about nothing and think silly things and see hearts in random places...

These chemicals are powerful. It's not my fault.

Seriously, in the grand scheme of things, these aren't major events. I get it. And yet in my sick, totally smitten mind ...it's a tiny bit of ...something.

K-Dog did have something to do with this, but I'm not sure he was actually trying this time. Last Friday he had planned to be out of the office until about noon. I got to work and noticed an email from him at 7:30 that morning. He's not a morning person so that was weird to see.

Anyway, I saw the first few lines of the email and realized the greeting was to The Crush (TC, for short) and I was copied on the email. Basically, K-Dog apologized to TC for the delay in getting back to him about a presentation that one or both of us would be doing for TC's group of students. Then he said, "Heidi, could you please check our schedules and get back to TC," blah blah.

You might think that was a simple task, but there were so many things going through my head! First, K-Dog was trying to schedule something for a time we were already double-booked. I had pointed this conflict out approximately three times earlier last week. Sigh. Second, I know we're working to foster some connections with other departments and didn't want to say the wrong thing - i.e., "we're too darn busy to help you." Third, I was thinking, "This is it, Heidi. Your big chance. Don't screw this up. Be helpful. Be funny."

I checked and double-checked schedules, then tried to compose my email. I figured honesty was the best policy and I should just tell him we already double-booked and would do everything we could to be flexible and find another time and offered some options. I said something about while we were "good" we weren't "that good" to be in three places at once. {Insert smiley.} It was my lame attempt at mild humor in an email. Gimme a break, I don't know the guy that well!

We ended up having a funny email exchange. AND found a time that worked for the presentation. Win-win! The best part was that TC said the same thing I had been debating writing! I was so excited about it, I actually wrote him back and said that I was going to write the same thing, blah blah (it was basically a little joke about K-Dog needing to have scheduled "snack time" during his day). This was also a good sign because it said to me that TC has a sense of humor. Which is hugely important. Oh, he also said that they were on a tight schedule, so I told him it would be my "personal mission" to make sure K-Dog and I finished the presentation on time.

Yes, I do know I'm dorky, thanks for noticing. :)

So I know these are small things, but if I only have a few chances to interact with this guy, I'd better make the most of them, right?

The presentation happened on Tuesday. And that's where I need to leave you hanging until tomorrow. It's well past my bedtime and I'm wiped out.

Is This a Sign?

I noticed a tiny, new shoot coming up on my Jade plant in my office at work yesterday!! Exciting, in and of itself!

When I looked a little closer...

...Do you see what I see? A lovely little heart? My friend BK said, "It's like love is shooting up everywhere."

I'm not sure about "love"... but I do have some minor CrushGate updates....

Stay tuned. :)

Color!

Finally! My Yellow Giant Belgium is turning! Lovely, yes?

Your Questions & Comments...

Wow, you guys had some good questions and comments about my recent confession about The Crush...or what I think I shall call CrushGate. Heehee.

First of all, no worries about the laughter and giggles. Honestly, if this really upset me I probably wouldn't write about it on here. The whole thing IS a bit funny...I mean, yes, I was embarrassed about the "butt incident"... who wouldn't be? But it's kind of par for my socially awkward course.

Second, K-Dog is very entertaining. And he's real. I couldn't make this stuff up! He and I are actually a lot alike and we do keep each other laughing, which is important with the work that we do. Not too many dull moments in our office!

K-Dog also really does mean well. He tries to help and take care of me in his own...special...way. Ever since I picked up and moved here for this job, he has tried to point me in the right direction, offer me lots of suggestions, and wants to help me professionally. He jokes that he feels responsible for me leaving lots of friends and a solid professional network to move here. So he does what he can when he can- like giving me ideas about where to meet new people, good food in the area, etc. In regards to CrushGate, K-Dog kept telling me he was just checking things out, talking with some guys, no biggie. He doesn't bring stuff like that up in public either, which is good. Like, he'd never make a comment about The Crush in front of the office manager or another colleague. Again, his intentions are good.

Another good question: "Ok, so what did the crush reply back regarding you being single?" As far as I know...nothing. I mean, really, what was he supposed to say? To my supervisor? Maybe he said something to K-Dog that I haven't heard about, but I doubt it.

Maybe there is more to this story...I suppose time will tell. Like I said before, I don't have much contact with The Crush, so I am going to try my very best to actually complete sentences, be myself, and inject some of my humor the next time I do run into him. Keep your fingers crossed!!

And yes, I'll keep you posted.

And the Hits Just Keep On Comin'!

 So. An update.

I returned to work on Monday (I had last Friday off). K-Dog and I were having some random conversation. I casually mentioned something about my butt incident last week. K-Dog excitedly told me that The Crush said he had a "nice view" the other day...or something to that effect. My immediate reaction was disbelief and shock, of course. I blurted out, "He did NOT!" and "How?" and "When" and "He did NOT!" Mixed in there were bursts of this nervous laughter thing that I tend to do in these sorts of situations. K-Dog shrugged and said, "OK. He didn't." And then I said, "He did?!" and repeated that whole exchange. Here's the story I finally got out of K-Dog:

The Crush emailed K-Dog to say thanks for meeting with him and the student, especially on short notice, blah, blah. K-Dog replied to say, no problem, it's why we're here, thanks for the referral, blah, blah. Then...K-Dog said something like, "Heidi was really embarrassed that she was bent over, straightening the rug, and that you, the student, and family member got a full view of her butt in the air."

{Side note: Is it really just me or does this make anyone else want to vomit?? Anyone? I mean, put yourself in my shoes....Anyone?}

At this point in the story, K-Dog paused to tell me, "See, Heidi, I wanted to see what he would say when I said they ALL saw your butt. I know you said they didn't see anything."

The Crush emailed K-Dog back and said something like, "Haha, I was the only one who got a good look."

{On one hand I was glad that the student and family didn't see my butt in the air. On the other hand...this confirms that he saw my butt up in the air.}

Again, K-Dog paused to say to me, "Then, being my devious self, {yes, he actually said that} I wrote him back and said, 'Well, she IS single. Maybe she did that on purpose.'"

I may or may not have been hyperventilating at this point. I also may or may not have vomited in my mouth a little.

K-Dog looked at me and said, "What's the big deal? I just wanted to get the word out to that side of campus that you're single."

Lord help me.

Social Ineptitude: Take 257

{source}

You might think that because I work with people, help them with their anxiety, and actually teach them better social skills, I myself would have no problem with such things.

You'd be wrong.

I mean, we've already established that I am sometimes a socially inept person. Especially around attractive, similarly-aged men.

Last week was no exception. First, let me back up a few steps.

I'll start with a confession: I have a crush on someone. There. I said it.

He is a similarly-aged person that works in a different department on campus, which means I've had limited contact with him. In fact, last week was really only the second time I've interacted with him.

I should also tell you that after the first time we met, K-Dog apparently called this guy's boss (K-Dog has good rapport with him) and asked him if he knew if this guy (aka The Crush) was single and available. The boss called K-Dog back and responded that yes, The Crush was single and available. I nearly passed out when K-Dog told me what he'd done, and briefly considered breaking into his house and freezing all of his underwear. But that would be wrong on so many levels.

Anyway, last week I knew The Crush would be dropping by the office to meet with K-Dog, but I was supposed to be in an appointment at the time. When my appointment didn't show up, I began straightening up my office. I was trying to straighten my rug...I couldn't get the darn thing straight, so I was bent over double... yup, with my butt in the air...straightening the rug. Let me be more clear... back to the door, butt in the air, straightening my rug.

I didn't hear the waiting room door open.

But for whatever reason- maybe I was finally satisfied with the rug, maybe it was instinct, whatever- I stood up and turned around.

And there he was.

Awesome. (I'm sure my hair looked great too, after being flipped up and around.) I said hello and explained that K-Dog just took a phone call, and told him he could have a seat in the waiting area, eat some candy, watch some TV and that it would probably only be a minute.

On one hand, in my defense, he was with a student and the student's family member, so it's not like I could just hang out and chat and be flirty. On the other hand, I really could've gone out there and introduced myself to the student and student's family member. Make small talk or something. No. Not me.

I have only a vague recollection of what happened next.(I probably dissociated to deal with my mortification.) I know K-Dog came out and he made sure to introduce me to the student and family member...then K-Dog said, "and you two (me and The Crush) already know each other," to which we both agreed but shook hands again anyway....(he is really good hand-shaker, by the way).

I know at one point The Crush responded to something I said, but he made eye-contact and smiled when he said it, so for the life of me ... I have no idea what he said. I don't even know what I said. I think I lost the ability to form words or thoughts when he smiled. I have this horrible vision of me standing there with my mouth open, drooling.

They all went into their meeting and I had about 20 minutes to mentally replay the whole thing in my head... After they left, K-Dog came in my office and said, "Well, did you work your magic?" I started babbling about my butt being high in the air when he walked in. And that I'd lost the ability to form words around him.

K-Dog just shook his head and said, "You knew he was coming here! You had all morning to prepare! .... I can't help you."

Great. I'm beyond help.

It's the Simple Things...

 Tell me, what simple thing has made you happy today?

Today...

...my thoughts and prayers are with a colleague and his family. He was supposed to have major surgery today, but it was canceled because it might be too risky and the diagnosis too uncertain.

Would you please keep him, his wife, and his son in your thoughts and prayers too? 

Thanks, in advance.

How to Make a Project More Complicated Than It Needs to Be

All right, picking up right where we left off...here it is...my weird, hybrid method for hanging a bunch of stuff by myself. Again, I probably made this a little more complicated and time-consuming than it needed to be, but it worked. For me.

First, I taped the area of my wall I planned to hang the frames. Your eyes are not deceiving you, the tape lines look crooked. It's partly the plaster wall...probably partly my taping.

I measured those tape lines and then...

...taped the area on my kitchen nook floor! Yup. Crazy! I don't know why I didn't think of this sooner. It made perfect sense in my head...

Now, my taped area probably didn't exactly match the area on the wall, but I didn't care, it was close enough and gave me an idea of the space I had to work with.

After the area was taped, I did the whole arrange/rearrange thing...again.

Once I finally decided on an arrangement, I had to attach wall hooks, so I could hang the finished frames whichever way I deemed appropriate.

Then, since my only assistant was someone without opposable thumbs, I needed to use another trick I've learned to hang things. (I really have no idea where I got this from, but I am certain I didn't make it up myself!) Tape the back of the frame, put a hole where your hanger is, then take the tape off and stick it to the wall where you want it. Got it?

No?

Okay...put a piece of tape across the length of the frame, being careful to line it up, and then poke a hole where your hook is or I guess you can make a mark, whatever floats your boat. This works really well for hanging pictures or shelves with two or more hooks/hangers!

Then stick the pieces of tape to the wall where you plan on hanging your frame or whatever. Again, for hanging shelves and frames with more than one hook, using a level at this point is very important! Why bother with this step? Well, it helps you plan the space, keeps you from putting extra holes in your wall, and I think it's easier than measuring, remeasuring, calculating, drawing marks on your wall you can't see anyway, etc.

Using my picture of the chosen frame arrangement as my guide, I stuck a few pieces of tape to the wall, occasionally measuring to be sure I had enough space between frames. I also occasionally checked things with a level, just to be sure I wasn't completely off with everything.

I started with the "most important" frame, the one I consider a focal point or tend to look at first. Since I have plaster walls, I used my smallest drill bit to drill a tiny hole in the wall right where the hole was in my tape (if you don't have plaster walls or crazy paneling, then you can probably skip this). Once the hole was drilled, I hammered in a nail- the nail was slightly larger than the hole I drilled, so it was still nice and snug in there. :) Then, I ripped the tape off and hung the frame.  

Keep going, one by one, and adjust as needed. The nice thing about using tape is that you can move it around as much as you need. I realized I needed "go outside the lines" and ended up putting my topmost frame above my tape line. No biggie. At least I didn't drill a hole in the wall before I realized that!

I actually had fun with this part. It was the initial arranging/rearranging that drove me nuts. Once I was committed to a design, it was smooth sailing, in spite of some improvising.

Having a quiet critic/supervisor is also helpful...

Pulling off all the tape was fun...kind of like an unveiling!

Voila! What do you think?! Worth the suspense?

Note: I was going to put frames on both of those walls, but realized that I didn't have enough frames to divide between two walls without looking weird. I concentrated on this wall...and actually ended up leaving two of my frames out completely...for now. One was an oval and it looked odd being the only round frame among all those lines; the other was a simple rectangle. Maybe I'll add them later. Maybe not. Who knows!

Finished...For Now

I finally "finished" a project that has been months and months in the making. I will probably add to it later, but for now, whew, I'm happy with it.

I decided to create a collage of empty frames. I'm sure you've seen them and if not... no problem! I'm happy to show you some of my inspiration.

 

The Nester's awesome wall o' frames

Amber's foyer wall

I'm sure you get the gist, but if you want to see more examples, feel free to also look here or here.

I knew I wanted my frames to hang on the stair landing wall. I chose that spot because a) it needed something, b) the space is limited yet also has room to grow (on the other wall going up the rest of the stairs), and c) it's pretty visible- I can see it from a number of spots in the living room, obviously when going up or down the stairs, and also from my bedroom so I see it as soon as I wake up.

I'll be honest, I didn't think this project would take this long. It doesn't help that I'm particular. I only wanted wooden frames. I know some people use plastic, ceramic, or whatever, but I wanted wooden frames. I also wanted them to be in relatively good condition. Ultimately, I wanted a variety of sizes and shapes...but gosh, it was nearly impossible to find round or oval wooden frames! Oh, and price was important too! I didn't want to spend too much... I don't think I spent more than $6.50 on any one frame.

I'll run through my process, but be warned, it's probably more than you ever wanted to know...about me, my neuroses, and how I finally end up finishing projects. :)

Step 1- Scour thrift shops, rummage sales, and own supply of unused frames. I cannot tell you how much time I spent looking at frames.

I love this frame...great size, great detail, in very good shape.

Be creative... this was actually a mirror! I loved the depth and detail, so I just popped the mirror out. Actually, there were two of these and I'm kicking myself for not buying both!

Step 2- Clean, sand, paint. I won't bore you with pictures of this. However, this sometimes took a while...especially with all the nooks and crannies of the more ornate frames.

Step 3- Let your collection grow...and grow... then tell yourself you have to stop at some point.

Step 4- Spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about how you will arrange these frames. Lay them out and take pictures. Trust me, you're not going to remember "that one arrangement" after you've tried three different options.

Personally, with something like this, I really like to have an idea of what this is going to look like when it's done. Plus, I wanted an idea of spacing, since I was working with a limited area. Some people out there recommend laying things out, like I did above.

Others recommend tracing the frames on a giant piece of paper cut the same size as your space. I tried this, but since I would've had to tape pieces of large paper together to fit the space, I lost interest in that idea pretty quickly.

Still others (Martha Stewart, for one) suggest actually tracing your frames on cardboard or paper, cutting them out, and then hanging them on the wall with painter's tape to visualize the layout. Again, great idea...in theory. I initially used cardboard that was too thick and, of course, with the frame shown above. It's got some curves, which are pretty tough to cut out of thick cardboard. The small frames are also not fun to cut out...especially since I also tried to cut the inside out.

Step 5- Get overwhelmed and frustrated and immerse yourself in other projects. Occasionally think about frame project. Finding more frames at this point is optional, but may increase your frustration.

I finally tried enlisting some help one weekend when my mom and brother were in town. It was great having them hold up frames, but in the end it was a little too difficult for me to visualize in such a small place and with so many arms and bodies.

So. I decided I would make up my own weird method....

But for that, my friends, you'll need to come back tomorrow...this post is long enough as it is!

Tune in next time for How to Make a Project More Complicated Than It Needs to Be...

My Little "Helper"

Hello My Lovelies!

My pretty Giant Yellow Belgium. You are looking ravishing these days- all round and perfectly formed. Keep up the good work!

 

Oh, my sweet Bell Pepper. Although I'm excited to see you in all your yellow glory, I must admit you look stunning in green too!

BushGate 2010: The Sequel

Last Friday evening, after BK and I finished up, my reinforcements arrived- Mom and Brother. Our rough "plan" for Saturday was to dig around the stumps and cut them as low to the surface as possible and then cover them up to rot. Then we were going to buy some new plants.

Rrrrriiiight.

We got a late start because we were all tired and it was an overcast morning, so I think we were all surprised to realize how late it was when we got moving! I fixed a nice breakfast for all of us and then we decided to check out my local garden center. Call me overwhelmed! I had a couple of rough ideas, but that's about it. But the woman was very helpful and really urged me to take things slow, to think about waiting until the end of August to plant anything, and to make sure I added some peat moss to the soil to...well...do whatever peat moss does. I did end up buying a few perennial Hibiscus plants at a great price (I think anyway) because they wouldn't be there if I came back later.

We dropped Brother off to get started digging while we left to get some peat moss and some topsoil to try to fill in holes and whatnot. Before we left, my neighbor, M, suggested we just pull the stumps out with his truck. That he'd be happy to help and it would save time and energy. I nearly had a panic attack at the suggestion. I really didn't want to do that because I didn't want the grass torn up more, was worried where the roots went and what damage they'd do...etc. I told M thanks, but no.

By the time we got back (and it was a pretty quick trip) Brother was already sweaty and tired...and apparently had talked to a few neighbors. I guess the feedback was positive and a few people had opinions to offer. Funny! It was then we realized this was a HUGE undertaking. M offered to help and I accepted...soon my other neighbor, G, arrived with a shovel and axe. And before long, this woman two houses down showed up with a big jug of ice water and cups. So sweet!!

After what seemed like only minutes, M, covered in sweat, approached me and really encouraged me to let him pull the stump...at least the GIANT one they were working on. I finally relented- part peer pressure, part fear that my help would get mad and leave! I ran to buy a tow strap. I wasn't sure I could be there for the actual towing....but I stayed. It took a number of tries... and to his credit, M was very, very careful and deliberate in what he was doing. Between pulls with the truck, the guys would dig, chop, and pull on the stump. It was a big ordeal...and that stump was STUCK. Finally...

 Isn't it huge?! I learned from a neighbor that these shrubs were there when he moved in ... 40+ years ago!

Not all of the stumps were as difficult to remove, but they did require a lot of work. Shovels, saws, sweat, maybe even tears.  I have the best neighbors.

Those men sure worked their butts off! Thank goodness it was overcast and a bit misty at times! 

I took G and his wife, and my mom and Brother out for dinner... M didn't come out with us. But he has my eternal gratitude. I will definitely be doing something nice for him at some point.

So this is basically what things look like at the moment. Bare. A little hole-y. I'm OK with that right now. But really... I'm taking suggestions for landscaping ideas. :)

BushGate 2010

 As you know, my weekend plans involved yanking out those blasted shrubs. It was an epic project. But first, I wanted to show you what just how tall those bushes were and what a difference removing them made!

This first picture was taken looking out the two front windows. On the right side, you can  barely make out the top of a jeep parked out on the street.

By Friday morning, after BK and I worked, this was the view-- please excuse the trash and recycling bins. Oops.

What a difference!!

We got back to it Friday after work. K-Dog (my supervisor) even came out to help! Really he just wanted to use his brand new reciprocating saw that he loaned me. We didn't use it Thursday night, if you can believe it.

The weather was pretty nice- not as hot as the day before. We actually had a lot of fun working- these two guys crack me up on a regular basis and with countless "bush" jokes going around...well, you get the idea. Fun was had by all. I'm not kidding when I say that my neighbors two houses down were also amused. I could hear them laughing on the front porch, enjoying the show and our antics.

We ... and by we I mean BK... got a dead branch out of this tree in the front yard. BK also attempted to shake the windsock out...it's been stuck there since last October. Really. Stuck. And yes, it's still stuck.

After we got the branches all cut off, K-Dog left and BK and I moved branches to the curb and to the giant pile on the side of the house.

And voila!! MUCH better, yes? It's funny, BK were sitting on the porch swing, taking a break before we cleaned everything up and two women were walking by. They said it "looked great!" and that they were friends with a neighbor across the street who had been wanting the previous owner to trim the bushes way down or remove them all together!! I can't tell you how good I felt to hear that. I have often felt that everyone many people in my neighborhood loved the previous owner. One particular neighbor seems to make comments every time I see him about how she "used to keep things so nice" and how she "spent a lot of time" on things. HA!

Maybe that's petty and not very nice, but I felt good that maybe, just maybe, she wasn't perfect.

Later the neighbor that wanted the bushes trimmed or cut down was outside and he yelled that it looked "great"! He did so right after that one particular neighbor yelled, "Your house looks naked." Not nice, not good, but "naked." Sigh.

Anyway, BK and I were proud of our hard work....but the hard work wasn't over yet...

Stay tuned... 


**PS- I really wanted to try to get this in one post, but I have so many pics and such a story to tell that I just couldn't do it! Plus, I'm tired!

Respite

I'm tired. The end of last week and the weekend was exhausting. And today I'm back at work and feeling overwhelmed with some large projects looming in my near future. I'll be back, hopefully tomorrow, with the scoop on my GIANT bush-removal project.

Until then, I leave you with the fortune I got in my fortune cookie last Friday. It's pretty fitting, I'd say.

What's the best (or worst) fortune you've gotten?