Moving ahead

We have made progress on both projects over the weekend.

Friday night I came home determined to get some work done on the deck. I grabbed our spackel knife to continue scrapping paint and brought out my orbital sander (which I put away after 30 seconds). After an hour, I had cleared off a space about 12 inches by 4 inches. This was going to be torture. Matt came home and got to work weeding flower beds while I continued peeling paint one millimeter at a time. After another hour, I decided it was time to get some dinner and see if my legs still worked. A bit of advice, don't kneel for nearly two hours. I could not stretch out for a few seconds and I hobbled around the deck. It was like a charley horse in both of my knees. Goliath thought it was some sort of game and followed me while I limped in pain. I gave up on the deck for the night and went out to get some dinner which we enjoyed outside while watching a movie. It got cold and we must have spooked the neighbor's dogs (because they would not stop barking at us), but we finally got our first movie night under the stars.

On Saturday, Matt went for a run while I created tiers to the vegetable garden. I tried to take it easy on the shoveling because I knew if Matt didn't admonish me about taking care of my back, my mother would. Matt returned for 30 minutes, then left again to go to a swim clinic with his triathlon group and I took a nap. Afterwards, we went out and purchased a variety of vegetable plants for our space, and they are still sitting on my kitchen counter.

Sunday we tried to turn the soil with the tiller that my father has been storing at our house for two years, but could not get it to start. I managed to spill gasoline all over myself and smelled lovely the rest of the day.

We had a cookout to go to that afternoon and on the way home stopped to pick up a few things. We almost brought home the gazebo that we wanted to put on the deck, but things did not work out so well. At the store, we notice that the cost had gone down $100 and it was on clearance. Matt suggested that we get it now, but it took me a while to come around. We hadn't made much of a dent in scraping the paint from the deck, so who knew when we could actually put the thing up. Yet, I saw his logic and we found someone to help us. It turned out that the floor model was the only one they had left. And we found out it was the same story at all the other stores in town. The upside was that we would get an additional 30% off, but we would have to come in with our own tools and take it apart...without instructions. I started laughing so hard, I don't know if I upset the guy or not, but he was very easy going. Believe it or not, Matt actually considered this option. This from the man that has probably not assembled more than a sandwich since we have been married. I knew it was time to go. But here is the icing on the cake. When we went to check out, I was told I could save 10% on my shower curtain liner by opening a credit account. I declined and the guy at the registered said, "Are you sure? You would save a quarter." I almost started laughing again.

But our journey did not end there. I still needed some paint for the guest bedroom shelves, so we went to the home improvement store. After I picked up my paint, I went to check out their selection of gazebos and found none. I was disappointed, but figured I was better off taking things slow since the deck was no where near ready and it would probably take us all Summer to scrape paint at the rate we were going. Then it happened: Matt stopped to play with power equipment. While this phrase sounds harmless, it is one that sends chills up my spine. Let me explain. Matt is on his fourth (and better be his last) lawn mower. He actually bent the crank shaft of one, but that is a story for another time. He also has managed to break loppers, a sledge hammer, two tillers, and thought he broke my Dyson vacuum cleaner. I don't know how he does it, but it happens all the time. So when he became interested in the power washers, I had my doubts. Luckily, he asks a lot of questions and is not an impulse shopper, so we were given clear instructions on how to operate the machine. Appropriately enough, it has a Honda engine, so that was an added bonus. Once we got home, I pulled all the manuals out to read them and Matt fell asleep.

So the power washer is still in the box, and we are in for a week of rain. I just need a break in the weather to turn the soil so that I can get the plants in the ground. At least we are making progress.