stereotypical single woman

This past weekend has more than made up for my lack of gym time. I cancelled my membership last month due to the fact that I knew I was going to have moving costs and be paying two rents for the month of May. Money was going to be tight and I needed to cut back on any extras. However, with packing, moving, unpacking, gardening, and yardwork so far I haven’t had a chance to fall into a no exercise slump -the only down side of this type of exercise is that it gives you signifigantly more bruises, blisters, and cuts.

Saturday was spent weeding and planting in my parent’s garden by their pond - and when I say pond I don’t mean some little plastic kit you buy at the hardware store. Ten years ago my father took out our swimming pool (claiming it required too much maintenance) and instead put in a pond, complete with waterfall (so much for low maintenance). We have a heron that fishes in there every couple of days and a pair of ducks that have built their nest on the little island (OF COURSE there is an island) for the last three years. So we’re talking a significant area to be weeding around. Especially when it requires moving lots of ugly garden statuary to get to the weeds.

Sunday I decided to tackle my new backyard. It was a mess. My landlord obviously hasn’t done anything to it since he bought the place 15 years ago. As you can see it’s barren. No grass, a few dandelions, and lots of old leaves basically made up the view from my bedroom window. I didn’t take a before picture (too depressing) but the was also a lot of brush/overgrowth along the neighbor’s fence that’s rusting and falling down (very classy). I raked and pulled up enough leaves, weeds, and pine needles to make a 4 1/2ft tall compost pile.

I can’t say that I have huge plans for the backyard - I just want someplace nice to put the grill, a few lawn chairs and a small table so I can have people over and relax there in the evening. I put down some grass seed yesterday evening, hoping that in 2-3 weeks I’ll have something green growing. My mother, the hosta pusher, has been after me to take some of hers since she knew I was moving here, so next week some of them will go there, along with a few shade loving flowers for color (once I find some). So until there’s something to see in the back - look at the pretty flower that bloomed in the front yard.