Massive productivity with only one mishap.

As I probably have not mentioned, our friends from college (Kaylin and Daniel) are relocating from Alaska, and they're spending this weekend with us on their way to Texas. On Tuesday, we leave for Bend for a few days, and when we come back, we will be bringing my family with (they are here for vacation). There is nothing like knowing company's coming to motivate a flurry of activity. Here's what was done today:

1. Our awesome neighbors' friend cut down the cedar tree in our backyard. It was well on its way to dead, and it was also blocking a lot of sun from the pool. It was a real whopper, like 50 or 60 feet tall, and you can watch the footage yourself below. I am notoriously bad at calculating when things are actually going to "timberrrr" so of course I'm almost mid-sentence when I cut myself off to yell.



2. Look how cute our little garden is! I'm still waging war on earwigs and slugs, but my beer traps seem to be working. I've caught a lot of earwigs. Who knew frat boys and garden pests had so much in common?


3. Speaking of exploding plants, check out a) the raspberry


and b) our tomatoes, pepper and zucchini. They were but tiny starts just a short while ago....oh, they grow up so fast...
4. Lest you think I have only accomplished things inside, I give you this!

Also, this!

No, it's not merely a towel, hook and vent cover. I hung the hook, so that we don't have to put our towels on the toilet while showering (just seemed more civilized). That vent cover has been waiting to go up since, umm, February, and I'm really glad that that's done. And the towel rack is basically the same story. When we discovered a hook on the back of our bedroom door, I sort of lost motivation to put up a towel rack. But again, in favor of looking civilized...

5. Don't have a pic of this, but I put up our new address numbers outside. They're pretty generic, just Times New Roman numerals in brushed nickel, but it's all straight and nice now. Those have been sitting around next to our front door since March.

6. Lastly, I hung the curtains again in the office. When my mom and I wallpapered two months ago, I had to take them down. Putting up a curtain rod is real pain, especially since I thought I'd be all tricky and hang them off the window to make the window look bigger (and not block light). Well, I miscalculated how long the rod was, and spaced the holders like four inches too far apart, so when I tried to hang it, the rod separated into two pieces. Ooh, I was mad. Mainly because now I have two holes in the wallpaper that are kind of obvious, which was EXACTLY what I was trying to avoid. And don't give me the "measure twice, cut once" baloney. I DID measure twice. Just not the curtain rod. Anyway, looks cute, huh? Kate gave me those little wooden boats, which I love.


And now really lastly, I leave you with a shot of the pool, patio and fire pit. Todd has kicked some serious algae butt in the past month, and our pool is now almost crystal clear. Major props to him.