Home 'Improvement'

When Lloyd got booted out of his classroom relocated in August, he had no place for his many, many classroom plants, so he brought them home. In the past, they were only here for the summer months, so finding a place for them was not an issue. This year, though, he put them in our entryway, which isn’t the best spot. We never notice them, so they never get any water. Plus, its on the north side of the house in an unheated enclosed porch, so it would be a slow, dark, cold death for those poor things this winter.

So, a little shuffle-shuffle sweep-sweep later, our living room looks different! I never retrieved my camera from school, though, so you have to suffer through taken-from-across-the-room-with-the-webcam photos.

Before:

The first shuffle-shuffle:

Note the ‘table’ that was behind the sofa. It’s an ironing board and that blue bedsheet is impregnated with years and years of dust. This is also when the majority of ‘sweep-sweep’ happened, along with some ‘GAH! What-the-heck-is-THAT?’ discoveries.

Lloyd helped get the plants out of the entryway and spruced ’em up.

So, there you have it – plants moved to a south-facing window. And what was on the t.v. while I worked? That’s right – Bridezillas. That show is magic for getting things done around here.

I hate our buckeye tree. I take that back, I love the tree and the shade that it provides, but I really, really dislike the buckeyes.

When we moved into this house it was winter, and we got to see the trees bud and the glory of nature in springtime and blah blah blah it was breathtaking, and then in fall this tree dropped these shiny, chocolate-brown orbs that were so smooth and satiny, I gathered them unto me and put them in a glass bowl to display on our dining room table.

Where they promptly got moldy.

Since then, I’ve come to realize that these nuts are one of the reasons our yard is so crazy bumpy, and I curse them each autumn. Stupid, beautiful buckeyes. I’ve thought about going out there and sucking them up with a shop vac, or paying a child a penny each to pick them up, but laziness always wins and I curse them from the comfort of my living room.

Brad, however, has done us a huge favor by changing the backyard area. Now they are easier to spot, and I might even gather them up to burn them or something, but I have a question: Brad, can I use the shells as ‘mulch’ by those lambs’ ears or will they do harm?

So, several of the weekend’s many projects are being derailed either by laziness or circumstances beyond my control. That’s o.k. – the naps have been splendid. I might still paint, though.

Anyway, pick a paint color.