Getting There...

We are getting there. 5 days! I can't believe that these are my remaining days as a single woman! :) Every Monday from now on, I will be married. Weird. But I am looking forward to it! Eventually, I will introduce you to B. I'm surprised I haven't done it already. :)

We have been hard at work the last few days.

Another before and after shot:

Before

After

I have two gardens left to trim up, and the gardens will be taken care of. I am hoping to finish them tomorrow since I have the day entirely off (no class in the evening). In addition, I have forty more programs and all 115 of the favors to make. But I just have to make the chocolate shapes, put them in the box and add the ribbon. I don't think they will be that bad (I'm hoping). I'm actually pretty impressed with myself. I'm not the most crafty person in the world (although I do try) and I really like the way the programs look. I've done them all myself. I'll post one here eventually if I can.

We did lose a tree yesterday in all the wind from the remnants of Hurricane Ike. It was one of our favorite trees...the whole side just fell off. I can't imagine how bad it must have been for all of those who actually had to go through much worse...a little wind and we had a lot of cleaning up to do, they had a lot more. Really made me count my blessings.

Thanks for all the well wishes. Time is flying by, and I really can't wait!

Gardening

B has been hard at work the last two days (three days more like it). He took Wednesday off work since he didn't get time off last week and he spent the whole day outside in the garden. He's done the same today. I didn't do much outside yesterday, as I was prepping for class and working on programs (and trying to stay relatively clean since I tend to shower at night), but have been outside on and off today. Right now is one of my breaks. I will shortly be making more programs. I go back and forth as each are different kinds of work and I like to mix it up. I've got about 80 programs left to make, and haven't really even started the favors. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, right? :)

Anyway, at least we can finally see our progress. We have about 4 more garden areas left to finish. Then we have to work on the area where the tent is going (which is near the dog kennel...ha...and near our extremely overgrown veggie garden...we haven't had the time to work on it or pick it really...I guess there is always next year. I think if we concentrate on one a day, we will be fine, even if it does rain a few days. B is just that kind of worker.

Anyway, here is a before and after photo of one of the garden areas (and the pictures aren't that great because I took them through a closed window in the house...I can't really say why...)



(For some reason I'm having trouble posting my pictures, but hopefully this looks ok and I'll fix it at a later time...)

Whew

Here's what I've been doing the last few days...long weekend and B had a bit of it off (unlike most people, his job doesn't stop just because it is a holiday...)

You can see the piles in the lawn there...they are from our day lillies. You have to pick the stalks out of the dead flowers... We have WAY too many day lillies I think. Although, if you were to have asked me in the Spring if we had too many day lillies, I would have said no, because they are so beautiful when they are all in bloom at once. But anyway, it's been quite a process. This is what we did this weekend...and it is only ONE section of our yard. We actually have several more to get done before the wedding...as we don't want the yard to look crappy when people are here...or in our pictures.

This is the same section of yard, just the other side, and you can see some of the humongous weeds we pulled out...and threw in our driveway. Ha. It is funny that we have this much gardening to do because neither B or I really know much about gardening. We might downsize in the future...but we don't really have that option right now... I can say that I definately have the bites to show I've been getting down and dirty, and they don't feel that great! But, I'm not complaining because I love to be outside, and I love our house. I think I really needed to get out in the sun (even though it was quite warm!) and get working again. Since I fell off the horse, I've been kinda sedentary and it is difficult for me. So, even though I could definately feel the pain that came with pulling weeds, it was good work, and I enjoyed it.

We also made some modifications to the dog kennel. We added electric wire to the top in hopes that it will discourage Cynder (and eventually Kaos) from climbing/jumping out. We've been told that one zap will teach them and they won't try again, but I'm not sure if I believe it! You can see some of the babies in there now... Jackson, Chief and Kaos up front, and Cynder in the very rear. Believe it or not, Kaos stands almost 5 feet now on his hind legs. As long as he is happy though, I think he'll stay in...it's Cynder we worry about!

The owners to the lost horses also came forward so we got them home, which was nice.

All in all it was a productive weekend, but we have so much left to do, and only 2 1/2 weeks left to do it! Yikes!