I Can Do It All By Myself.....

I twisted my husband's arm last week to borrow a shovel from his good friend so I could do some damage to our backyard. It is public knowledge that the only thing I can grow are weeds. We used to have a small patch of grass, only about 250 sq. ft., which finally turned brown despite constant watering and fertilizing. I think I drowned it the way I drowned my cactus.

So here I am, armed with a shovel, a pick, and good intentions. I went on the web, did some research on how to lay out bricks and thought, "that does not look too hard." I dragged my husband to Home Depot, looked at pavers, actually had him buy four bags of paver base. That is when he drew the line and told me that he knew where this was headed. I was going to start something and he was going to have to either finish it or clean up the mess. I gave him a frigid stare and stated that he would not have to lift another finger. He shrugs, he knows that I am unstoppable when I am determined to do something. He was going to let me learn the hard way.

I enlisted my son to help me get rid of the leftover grass and netting. We tilled soil for about a couple of hours. He is one smart boy, he promptly disappeared the next day by going over to a friend's house. Oh well. My research had indicated that the next step was to dig about 4 to 6 inches deep to lay the base. I started shoveling the top soil into a waste container. The picture on the left is about as far as I got. I was sweating buckets and getting faint from the heat. I could hear the "I told you so" in my head.

I woke up the next day with muscle aches and pain, took a look outside and promptly went on the Internet again. The time, I went on the BBB (Better Business Bureau) website and searched for a landscape contractor. My husband, to give him credit, did not say a word as I handed him a slip of paper with the contact information so he could arrange for them to come over to cement the area. My son, on the other hand, gave me a surprised look and commented that we could have gone that route in the first place. He has a lot to learn from his father if he wants to stay in a long-term relationship :-)