Red Neck Landscaping

When it comes to certain things . . . okay, a lot of things . . . in my life I tend to be a bit on the OCD side. I want things done a certain way, and so insist on doing them myself (that or coercing my husband into doing them for me). Control issues? Whatever made you think that.

Anyway, one of those "things" that I insisted be done my way were the flowerbeds at our new house. Do you know what a hassle it is to change flowerbeds once they're put in? I knew that in order to get them done the right way I wanted them, with the plants I wanted, and not spend an arm and leg, I'd ("I'd" actually meaning "we'd") have to do them myself.

On Sunday morning we got almost an inch of rain, and the ground was muddy nice and soft and perfect for planting. And so on Sunday afternoon, I set out to buy plants. I spent a while Sunday afternoon arranging everything where I thought it should go, and I went and bought a few more plants on Monday morning. And then I waited for Patrick to come home to start planting. I was hoping he'd make it home around 1:00 or 2:00 so we could plant in the blazing heat, but Mondays are busy, and he didn't make it home until dinner time. Of course then we had to eat because I don't miss meals . . . ever. After we ate, Patrick wanted to go ahead and get mulch before we started. As a result of a lot of wasted time, it was 8:00 p.m. by the time we started on the front flower bed. Seems like maybe it would've been a good idea to wait until we had a few more daylight hours to work, but patience isn't a quality I possess in abundance. I was determined we were going to finish. And finish we did. When it got too dark to see anything, we just channeled our inner red neck, mounted a clip on light to Patrick's truck and kept right on trucking. I'm sure everyone in the neighborhood was thrilled.

During all of this, Andrew was swinging a rubber mallet around the yard, and very loudly "hi-yawing" a number of imaginary enemies. So there we were, light clipped to Patrick's truck, our child yelling and karate chopping the air, digging holes in the dark, and trying not to break our ankles in the holes we had dug but couldn't see. It was high class I tell you. We finally, finished at around 11:00 p.m. And amazingly enough the flower bed doesn't look half bad. Of course, I don't have a picture so you'll have to take my word for it. ;)