Spin

I have had people ask me what spin class is and then I was watching The Office and Dwight put the whole class into perspective. Ok, so not really, I just love the spot and wanted to share. Usually when I jump the cliffs I make it.

Garden

I think my ambition has burned me out. For those of you that have not seen my yard, there is A LOT to do and at first it didn't seem so bad. But, as with the inside of the house, the more work is done the more I realize its quite the daunting task. My first big project was to remove the small "decorative" rocks from my flower beds so I can plant grass. It def took a lot longer than I had planned, but what doesn't? It took me many days and one afternoon my friend brought her 4 kids over to help with the rocks. Finally I was able to get the two front beds empty of rocks and got my grass planted, which I hope the grass grows and the snow didn't kill the seeds. When the grass finally comes in it will mean less weeding for me and since I don't care for weeding it will be nice. I still have the planters boxes in the front and the side to de-rock but since I don't know what I am planting there yet I am not pushing to get it done fast.

My other big project is my garden. I grew up having a garden every year and I love being able to go out back and get fresh veggies and I plan to bottle some of the fruits of my labor, which will be nice this winter and help in the grocery budget. But, again, I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I tend to jump in with both feet instead of starting small. I have many tomato plants, I am trying peppers and my husband wanted some jalapeno plants, I already planted my peas and strawberries and have started some cucumber, watermelon, pumpkin, cantaloupe, squash and artichoke plants in the house so when its finally warm I can plant them outside and hopefully have a jump start. But, then again there is all the weeding involved and judging by the rocks and trash I am pulling out my new garden area, I don't think they ever had anything planted in the space. I have even found buried bricks (some days I am afraid of finding a dead body). I am sure I will be pulling rocks out of the garden area for many years. But I am pretty excited for the end result, if it ever gets here. I usually get home from work and spend at least a couple hours out there working on something, which is nice after the winter of being indoors, but I am ready for some progress, I want my yard to look as nice as my neighbors which have very green, nice lush grass instead of how my front lawn is mostly dandelions. I do want to try to grow some asparagus in one of my front planters boxes but I'm not sure how it will do in the area. I haven't decided if I want to put flowers in my boxes because a lot of them you have to replant every year and that can be expensive and most ground covers end up in the grass and become a nuisance. But if I use flowering veggies and stuff then I can eat them too. Come fall I will probably be biting off more than I can chew with bottling too. I hope I can get some good fruit off my trees that I can use this winter. I guess I just hope that I have some good fruit trees, the apple is the only one I am sure of what it is, the other 7 are a mystery.

Yesterday

Man, yesterday was such a very super productive day and I am not sure I want to repeat a day like yesterday ever again. However, judging by how much there is still left to do in the yard before Summer hits I can pretty much bet on more days like yesterday. I am starting to have 2nd thoughts of being a home owner.

After work yesterday I went home to get a couple of parts of our yard ready to plant grass seed. Thanks to my wonderful hubby we now have a tiller and so it was much easier than my previous anticipation. After spending over an hour hand tilling a part of the garden to get my tomatoes and peppers in I told Ross we HAVE to get a tiller, so, we pooled out play money together to get one and I think its been the best purchase we have made in, well, in all of our marriage. In one section that I did yesterday it was covered in weeds, I hadn't taken the time to pull them all out, but with the tiller it was no problem. I just went over the weeds and tilled deep enough and then I just had to go pick the roots and weeds out of the soft dirt. I did run out of time to actually put the grass seed down, but its tilled and raked and ready to go for today.

While I was doing the tilling Ross was finishing up the dishwasher. Now, I know I have said this before, and gotten so excited for my dishwasher in the past just to come back and say its not really fixed yet, but this time, I am pretty sure its fixed. My genius of a husband, with a little help of the Internet, was able to take the dishwasher apart, find the problem, fix the problem and put the little machine back together. The culprit in all the dishwasher drama was the hose from the dishwasher to the sink. When he got the hose off you could see at least 10 inches of greasy, slimy, putrid gunk that was clogging the hose and preventing it from draining. He put on a new hose and presto blamo, the dishwasher should work. The funny guy, he was too afraid to test it himself a was saving the honor for me but I didn't get a chance to yesterday, but I have great faith that it will work today.

While Ross was finishing up the dishwasher and after I got the ground ready for the seed I had to take off. I was going to my first ever spin class, which I was pretty excited for. Ross was going to join me but our home teacher was going to come over and fix our door for us and he hadn't gotten there yet and Ross was still working with the dishwasher, which I am pretty happy to say that it works normally now, people are no longer going to get trapped in our living room. But spin class, it was so intense and such a good workout. Bre went with me and we last for 40 of the 60 min, which I was pretty proud of. My legs got such a good work out and I almost fell down the stairs when we were leaving, but I can't wait to go back. After spin class we went to water aerobics for an hour. After it all I was pretty tired and just wanted to go home and crash.

The sad part is I am going to do it all over again Wednesday, except for the dishwasher and the door. We have so much in our yard that needs to be done, but once its done it will make life so much easier and simpler in the summer, much less weeding. I did realize, this last week, as I look over my front "lawn" (I can't really call it a lawn because 75% of it is dandelions and not grass) that those noxious weeds they talk about in the bible, after Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, are dandelions. Those are such a pain to get rid of. One Saturday I looked out and my front yard was yellow so I spent over an hour picking the top off of the flowers before they could go to seed and make it worse. My hands were discolored from the flowers and sticky milky stuff in the stems and my back was sore and I thought it would help, until the next morning when I looked out again and saw my lawn was yellow yet again. I think I am ready for winter again, less work to do in the winter.

Sister Code

My sister and I were talking today at work about the things that are required of each other in our sister-ship. We have had these standing rules that were never really spoken but were required. We figured we better put them down in writing so we can refer back to them, kind of like a contract of sorts. I don't know any other sisters that have a relationship like we do, but feel free to borrow some of our rules/requirements :)

1) Sisters must tell the other sister EVERYTHING first (gossip, dating, engagements, pregnancies, drug overdose, etc)

2) Certain names/words can be used as terms of endearment, such as whore, slut, tramp, and any other words you and your sister decide upon in advance of using the such name.

3) It is OK to grab each others butts, regardless of the situation. Just be prepared for stares, glances and obscene gestures when done in public.

4) Any kind act will win you a spot as the FSE (favorite sister ever) or the BSE (best sister ever). Any negative act may result in you becoming the LFSE (figure it out on your own) or the word slut or whore may be used in this situation as well.

5) When getting a hair cut or a pedicure you are required to invite your sister along, you don't have to pay for her, but she must be invited.

6) When attempting an project of any kind, whether it be moving or making a cake, you must first see if the sister is interested in helping or assisting. Sister code obligates assistance in these matters.

7) If one sister has a makeup line, underwear sticking out of pants or something in your teeth, sisters are obligated to notify said sister.

8) When going to lunch, if sisters work at or near the same location, they must invite sister to go with them, especially if an FHC is involved.

9) When one sister runs out of gas in the middle of night the other sister, after taking a moment to laugh and mock, must go and rescue sister.

10) When doing activities in a group, sisters should never leave the other behind. ie Disneyland, Skiing, hiking, etc.

I am sure there are others and we will add to them as time goes and things change but these are what works for us.

Yard

We have decided that we can never move. At first when we were looking at the house we were thinking with the good deal we were getting on the house that maybe we would live there for a few years, fix it up and increase the value then sell it for, hopefully, a nice profit. However, once we met our neighbors and those on our street we were feeling differently. Then we got into the ward and now we have decided we will most likely stay there forever. Last Saturday was just another reminder of how great the ward and the area is.

Every spring our ward does a ward clean up where the city donates a couple semi trailer sized dumpsters and families sign up to help in certain yards. Some ward members were assigned to contact their neighbors to see if they needed any help and luckily we were on that list. We got a phone call at the first of March to see if we had any need of help in our yard for removing debris and if we had any items to be removed. I told the caller we had some trees we needed to rip out and a play house to tear down and tons of other garbage in our yard we needed to get rid of. Earlier in the week another brother in the ward stopped by to see what needed to be done and when we showed him he said they wouldn't be able to take out trees or the play house, but they would help remove any debris in the yard that they can pick up and haul out. We were ready to welcome any help we could get. Ross and I spent the week pruning and cutting down grapes and trees, but due to helping with my Grandma's house in Salt Lake we weren't able to get as much down as we had hoped. Saturday's activities started with a ward breakfast where those that signed up would find out which yard they were assigned to. We actually attended, ate really quickly, visited for a little bit then skedaddled to finish pruning trees and grapes. I went inside to get my camera to get before and after pictures of the back yard and before I got a chance the yard was swarming with people. One brother walks in with saws and an ax and said "I hear you have trees and a play house to rip down" and people started taking out trees and ripping the play house down. It was chaotic. Brandon also came over with his chain saw to take our apple trees for his smoker and stayed with the saw to help with the play house. They even broke up the cement under the play house and dug out the stumps from the trees they took down. I think with all the stuff they tore down and all the extra garbage left in our yard we filled up one semi sized dumpster with just our yard. But its def a whole new yard and there is a lot more space back there. I got pictures of them tearing down the play house but didn't get the other view of the trees. Someone had planted the trees in the back yard orchard style.

This is the front of our house. We had started taking one of the pear trees out when I remembered to get a photo. I have also, at this point, chopped all the many rose bushes out that were in the flower beds in front of the house. I don't think you can see the two apple trees on the side of the house that we took out as well.

We have already discussed next spring, we are definitely going to have to sign up to help in other yards. Those that helped at our house saved probably two summers worth of work for us and now I have a much bigger area for my garden.

Venice

No, sadly we haven't been to Italy or California lately, though either place would be nice right about now. We just got a new puppy. We hadn't planned on but what is done is done. We had planned to take Sasha to the adoptions at Pet Smart, to A) give her more socialization with other dogs or B) get her adopted. Well, neither of those happened. What did happen is the trainer that does Havoc's puppy classes and who we were fostering Sasha for said she would find another home to foster Sasha cause Ross and I fell in love with a chocolate lab puppy. Well, I guess he is part lab and part pointer. The big part is that he is chocolate. I have loved chocolate labs for like forever and since we couldn't keep Sasha Ross and I have been talking about getting a lab and I wanted chocolate and Ross wanted black. I was going to go with the black though, until Ross saw this little guy. He is 3 months old and he was so quiet and mellow and we thought that's what we needed, and he didn't have Havoc. So, we brought him home and he is now ours. However, once we get him home he starts barking, ugh. But we are going to break that and we are trying to crate train him for sleeping in. We will see how that goes. On the bright side he has had all his shots, is potty trained and has been neutered so we don't have to worry about that, just the obedience.

Havoc on the other hand has taken on a new role. He is the typical big brother. When Venice is barking or whining he will run to check on him and try to put him in his place. If Venice has a toy or raw hide, whether Havoc needs it or not, he will take it from him and put it where he can't get it. We put the gate in the kitchen so Havoc can crawl underneath and Venice can't get over it and when Venice tries to crawl under it Havoc will sit at the gate and nip at his feet and nose until he stops trying. When Venice is chewing on a raw hide Havoc will sit patiently until he can grab it out of Venice's mouth then will dart under the gate and add it to his pile. Its actually quite humorous to watch. He is adjusting relatively well, just being the "big" brother.

Sasha

This is Sasha. She is a white German shepherd, until we heard about her I didn't know they could be white. She is such a mellow, calm dog and its a bummer that we can't keep her. She is not so fond of Havoc to the point that if she wasn't on a leash Havoc would most likely have some holes. I think it was only because he was in what she set up as her territory. However, on the flip side she loves people and even kids. When we take her on walks there are a lot of kids that run up to pet her and she sits and wags her tail, totally content. We have to take her back to Havoc's trainer on Thursday and then she is off to another foster home until she is adopted and I hope she can be adopted soon. Yesterday she got spayed and she didn't take it too well, I think cause she is older. She won't eat or take her pain pills and I feel so bad watching her in pain. After having her around and what we thought were possibilities that we could do with her we want a big dog but I think we will start with a puppy. Make it easier for both Havoc and the new addition. So if anyone knows of someone wanting to adopt a mellow, active dog, she needs a good home.