Before shot of our heinous, splinter-ridden deck
Good-bye old deck...
... hello, fabulous new deck!
Check out that lovely landscaping! Go Chad, Go Chad!Our deck is finished, and it is awesome!! I love it so much - I get a thrill every time I look out the back doors and see it. So nice to walk out and have it to be so open and to not have to worry about splinters or nails sticking up!! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. Also, Chad worked his butt off and did all the landscaping himself... he had to fill in and level off some areas so that there wouldn't be a gap between the steps and the ground, and he had to lay down new sod, move plants, amongst other small projects. The contractors were really impressed when Chad was out there, working by their side. The foreman even said that he thought Chad had done a couple thousand dollars worth of landscaping on his own! I'm very happy that I'm married to someone who is so "handy". And the best part is that since the deck is now built with Trex, the deck should require no maintenance or repairs... sweet!
So, you may recall that we had problems this spring with too much water around here and flooding... now we have not enough! No, not a drought, but a huge water main break (the pipe that broke was 10 feet wide... thatsa big pipe) that has affected the water supply for 30 communities, including the city of Boston... over 2 million people without potable water! It is a major inconvenience to say the least. We are boiling all of our drinking and cooking water, but even if we wash our hands we have to put on Purell afterwards. Chad and I read this one article that said that the current emergency water reserves that are coming out of our tap have not had the fecal content removed... so you can imagine how many fecal matter jokes are getting made around here. Anyway, we are supposedly okay to shower, as long as we keep our mouths shut... but it's not really the best feeling to be showering in fecal matter-contaminated water. And we have to use boiled water to brush our teeth, hand wash dishes, etc. Luckily, our dishwasher does have a sanitize function. Actually, our washing machine has a sanitize function as well, but I can't have our clothes being subjected to that high a heat... I think everything would shrink. Anyway, it's just a very strange feeling to not be able to use the tap for much of anything... makes me re-think everything I do. For example, I didn't bother to cut up celery to go in my lunch today because I didn't want to use so much of our boiled water to clean it. And after I peeled the carrots, I wiped them down with a paper towel dipped in boiled water, instead of giving them a quick rinse under the tap like I normally would do. Then, I used that same paper towel to wipe down my paring knife. Just feels strange, and definitely makes me aware of how dependent I am on our water supply!! Fingers crossed the they are hoping to have our water potable again by Wednesday... seems a long time away!
In other water-related news, I did my first outdoor swim of the season this morning in a nearby lake. It actually didn't feel that cold to me when I got in, and I felt really comfortable for about the first 30 minutes. But, after that, I noticed that I couldn't really move my fingers anymore, which is problematic, and I started to feel a bit cold. I soldiered on though and finished my full swim... but as soon as I got out, my body started shaking and my teeth chattering and all that. It took me forever to get my wetsuit off because my fingers just weren't working. After blasting the heat in the car ride home and a hot (fecal-contaminated) shower, I warmed up though. Of course, it's in the mid-90's here now, and I'm sweating buckets!! Swimming in the lake sounds pretty good right about now!
We've been having more of our unseasonably warm weather lately, and the forecast for this week is all in the 70's and 80's. Feels like summer! I am loving it. The day goes by so much faster when we can play outside and go to the parks and such. This morning, Chad went to play frisbee golf, and the boys spent the whole time playing in the backyard with a couple of neighbors... for once, it was easy for me to be alone with the boys on the weekend! Usually I just get bitter if I'm alone with them too long on a Sunday, but this morning I just hung out on our fabulous deck, talked on the phone to my family, and watched them play.
Is the weekend really almost over already??
So, you may recall that we had problems this spring with too much water around here and flooding... now we have not enough! No, not a drought, but a huge water main break (the pipe that broke was 10 feet wide... thatsa big pipe) that has affected the water supply for 30 communities, including the city of Boston... over 2 million people without potable water! It is a major inconvenience to say the least. We are boiling all of our drinking and cooking water, but even if we wash our hands we have to put on Purell afterwards. Chad and I read this one article that said that the current emergency water reserves that are coming out of our tap have not had the fecal content removed... so you can imagine how many fecal matter jokes are getting made around here. Anyway, we are supposedly okay to shower, as long as we keep our mouths shut... but it's not really the best feeling to be showering in fecal matter-contaminated water. And we have to use boiled water to brush our teeth, hand wash dishes, etc. Luckily, our dishwasher does have a sanitize function. Actually, our washing machine has a sanitize function as well, but I can't have our clothes being subjected to that high a heat... I think everything would shrink. Anyway, it's just a very strange feeling to not be able to use the tap for much of anything... makes me re-think everything I do. For example, I didn't bother to cut up celery to go in my lunch today because I didn't want to use so much of our boiled water to clean it. And after I peeled the carrots, I wiped them down with a paper towel dipped in boiled water, instead of giving them a quick rinse under the tap like I normally would do. Then, I used that same paper towel to wipe down my paring knife. Just feels strange, and definitely makes me aware of how dependent I am on our water supply!! Fingers crossed the they are hoping to have our water potable again by Wednesday... seems a long time away!
In other water-related news, I did my first outdoor swim of the season this morning in a nearby lake. It actually didn't feel that cold to me when I got in, and I felt really comfortable for about the first 30 minutes. But, after that, I noticed that I couldn't really move my fingers anymore, which is problematic, and I started to feel a bit cold. I soldiered on though and finished my full swim... but as soon as I got out, my body started shaking and my teeth chattering and all that. It took me forever to get my wetsuit off because my fingers just weren't working. After blasting the heat in the car ride home and a hot (fecal-contaminated) shower, I warmed up though. Of course, it's in the mid-90's here now, and I'm sweating buckets!! Swimming in the lake sounds pretty good right about now!
We've been having more of our unseasonably warm weather lately, and the forecast for this week is all in the 70's and 80's. Feels like summer! I am loving it. The day goes by so much faster when we can play outside and go to the parks and such. This morning, Chad went to play frisbee golf, and the boys spent the whole time playing in the backyard with a couple of neighbors... for once, it was easy for me to be alone with the boys on the weekend! Usually I just get bitter if I'm alone with them too long on a Sunday, but this morning I just hung out on our fabulous deck, talked on the phone to my family, and watched them play.
Is the weekend really almost over already??
1 comment:
I look forward to seeing it in person. It looks great in the pictures. Love the landscaping that Chad did.
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