The Garden Shed

With all the gardening going on in blogland, I've been wanting to show you the pond and the little shed that my brother-in-law built for MyDadLovesMeBestSister a few years ago.The pond area used to be a big hill -- my BIL dug it all out (the whole area, not just where the actual water is) by hand with a shovel. He's such a hard worker! My BIL is a lot of fun and he loves to do handyman things. He'll try anything -- even if he's never done it before. (Which is a little scarey, if you think about it.) I love that sense of adventure about him! They live in an 80 year old house, so he's had a lot of projects. When the family girls were in Hawaii, he gutted the one full bath in the house, as a surprise for MyDadLovesMeBestSister upon her return. She had been wanting to re-do the bathroom for years. He did a great job -- it wasn't quite complete when we returned, but what can you expect for only one week? MyDadLovesMeBestSister was SO excited. *

Anyway, back to the pond and shed. My BIL also did all the work on the shed himself, with barely any plans. The picture to the right is a close-up of the door. They found an old screen door in the attic and asked me to paint it for them. He did a great job on the shed -- it's so cute and MyDadLovesMeBestSister keeps all of her gardening tools inside, along with a potting bench. She did all the landscaping around the pond. I think she did a great job of planning where everything should go. You can't really tell it from the pictures, but the pond is directly in front of the shed. So, if you are standing with your back to the door of the shed, you'll be looking at the pond.Wouldn't you just love to have a little gardening shed with a pond like this? I sure would!

Have a great weekend everyone!
XOXO,
Anna

P.S. It should be noted, that while I would love for TheManoftheHouse to be such a hard worker like my BIL, if TheManoftheHouse decided to completely redecorate a room in the house while I was gone, I would have to "do him bodily harm"! Really, would your ManoftheHouse be able to remodel to your tastes? I also admire my sister's fabulous ability to be so easy going!

Gone Shovelin' ... Back Soon!

I'm Baaaack....

...and look what was here to greet me!I was hoping it would be here -- a beautiful new little corsage from Ragged Roses. And just look how prettily she had it wrapped. Underneath the bow is a lovely notecard, with what looks like a close-up of one of her tea cozies. So cute!But wait -- there's more! She put in a few extras. An adorable smaller corsage and a link to a recipe that cracked me up. She mentioned on her blog that she doesn't like mashed potatoes, so I teased her about how could anyone NOT like mashed potatoes??? Very funny Kim -- and thanks for the recipe!Kim's corsages are WONDERFUL! C'mon -- I know you want one! Rush on over and you too, can have one of your own! Thank you, Thank you, Kim!

It's a good thing I had such a fun surprise, 'cause it will carry me through my weekend of work. I'm hoping to get a little sewing done and of course, this time of year, there's lots of yardwork. Last weekend I managed to get a few flowers and herbs planted. (You're probably thinking those herbs are planted awfully close to each other, but they never grow much -- it's either WascallyWabbit or HerbChallengedGardener (that's me!)).

And do you know what this is? Anyone?It's a new season for HysterectomyLove. (Yes, it's important to knickname your plants.) Last year, my lovely friend Jewels sent me the most beautiful hydrangea for a post-surgery get well gift. I kept it in the house for 3 or 4 months and when it started to look a little wimpy, I decided to plant it outside. After which all its leaves fell off, so I thought I had killed it. But no...it's come back to life!

Which only goes to show you that when I introduced my friends to you, I was absolutely correct about Jewels. She does have a heart of gold. My friends teased me about how I characterized them -- assigning Jewels the heart and Junie the style. Jewels jokingly said she wanted to be the one with style. You just wait Jewels....when HysterectomyLove blooms, everyone will see that you have a fabulous sense of style too!

Have a great weekend everyone!
XOXO,
Anna

*Marquee courtesy of HowAboutOrange, HappyZombie and RedKid.net.

Can you see it?

There! In that picture -- it's SNOW! Yayyyy! At last. Our first for this winter. At last it feels like winter. And when it's winter I must knit. A little project, maybe to finish later this week.

XOXO,
Anna

In Between...

I love this week in between Christmas and New Year's. All the work has been done and it's so fun to just relax and be with the family. And stay up very late. And sleep in. Heaven.

Well, almost. For the past several mornings it's been our treat to wake up to the obnoxious sounds of a giant mulcher. Or tree chewer. Or whatever you want to call it. It's so sad...the house across the street just sold, so I guess before the new neighbors move in they feel like they have to cut down 1/2 the trees on their lot. There are several large trucks, a tree chewer, and a crane. They attach the crane to the top of the tree, cut the tree off at the bottom with chainsaws, and then use the crane to lift the tree and place it in the chewer. A few pictures:
















I'll bet they've removed 20 or 30 trees. They seem to only be leaving the ones at the very outer edge of the lot. Maybe they're afraid the others will fall on the house?
















If you look closely you'll notice that the man standing on the truck bed is guiding a tree hanging from the crane.
















I hope they finished today. One more day and all the trees will be gone. Besides, I really want to sleep in!

XOXO,
Anna