Keeping busy near home

Some updated pics of me and Kerry; I am sure you all forgot what we look like and miss us dearly! These were taken at a wedding we recently attended; Kristen and Patrick, one of Ker's high school gang. The wedding was just down the street at St. Catherine's church (pretty sweet to walk down the road to the wedding!). I guess it was the 4th wedding of that group of Kerry's friends so it was good to spend some time with the girls and get to know them better. It takes so much time to spread real roots in an area; its part of the job that I have assigned to myself. I realize that especially when I am home in MN and so comfortable with everything. Ill get there with NH, just takes time and effort.

We have completed the wainscoting in the living room. John D, one of our close friends, did all the finishing carpentry work as Ker and I quickly realized we were in way over our heads.

We did all the painting, and it matches the crownmolding that we installed earlier this year perfectly. Its nice to paint when the weather is good so that the dogs can be outside during it. Three dogs, paint and plastic (ie the bubble wrap of the dogs world) do not mix.

I have to say, I think this room is finally finished. This is the 3rd out of 8 rooms. At this rate, our house will be finished in time for the next family to move in! At least it is all asthetic touches we are working on and not actual functional parts of the home.

There are also pics of our new landscaping. I need to work on boosting up the lawn next.

This is the view from the front; we got rid of the nasty looking bushes next to the breezeway and replaced them with a dogwood tree and a sand cherry bush. We also put in some holly bushes, a walking stick, a forsynthia, some boxwoods, an azalea, and moved some of our other plants. Kerry did all the lighting in the backyard. Don't ask me how; he was somehow able to pull the knowledge to make them year round and hooked to a switch in the garage. AMAZING! Its so pretty when its all lit up at night. He has a few lights turned to the rock wall to highlight that area. I extended our granite patio in the back as you can see with some new slate pieces and extra rock we had lying around, and I think instead of doing the full patio we are going to try and do more of this ourselves. Its pretty sturdy so far. We do need to figure out how to redo the grass in the back. Id like to grow it from seeds just to say I did it, but with the dogs running around and digging holes I have a feeling this is not plausible. This is a photo of the far left fencing of the backyard, and the bed we put in there too. Its fun to watch all the plants get bigger and NOT DIE. Grandma and I were talking about poinsettas last week; she has a spectacular green thumb as does my mom. I suck. Im trying not to suck quite as bad. Kers mom Linda is helping quite a bit, not only with giving us most of the plants from her very yard, but also helping me figure out how to take care of these strange NH plants.

The photo underneath here shows the backyard to the far right behind the garage. Last year it was filled to the brim with old leaves and other plant rubbage. I cleaned it out completely, mulched it, Kerry lit it and we planted our christmas trees we bought over the holidays. It extends the backyard immensely and gives the dogs another little private area to romp around and bark at the neighbors dogs.

The last picture shows my flower garden in the front. I planted all the daffodils that Linda brought us, and then put in pansies. I am just learning the difference between perennials and annuals, and killed my first set of annuals...these pansies will have to do until they are done blooming. There is no room for a vegetable garden anywhere, but there is this new fad of growing tomatoes in upside down planters that I plan on checking out.

So there you have it. Our happy abode with all the latest updates. Come, visit, see it for yourself!