Operation Cutify - Yard Crashers, Part 2

Eschewing all else, we decided to put all our time, money, and effort into renovating our unruly backyard. We used the 3-day holiday weekend to make some serious headway, taking full advantage of all the MEMORIAL DAY SALES that happened at our local nurseries and home improvement stores. At HOME DEPOT, they had a sale on MULCH - 4 bags for 10 bucks. We ended up buying 60 BAGS OF MULCH on will call, picking up our order in bunches over the course of several days. Missy's little Yaris - THE BEAST - holds up to seven bags comfortably, and so we made the trip back and forth to Home Depot twice, sometimes thrice, a day. What started out as, "Let's put mulch in all the flower beds!" quickly turned into, "What the hell...let's mulch the ENTIRE BACKYARD!"

The back right corner of our backyard in progress:













We laid CUT LOGS down to help define a walking path in the very back corner of our yard. Just inside the border, we planted an EMPRESS WU HOSTA, which will eventually grow to 3 or 4 feet in diameter:











We finally made one of our wishes come true: to clear all the weeds, ivy, vines, and overgrowth away from the very back fence. Our original idea was to create a three foot-wide path along the perimeter of our yard, so that we could easily maintain our fence line:

















We are planning on turning the old FIRE PIT in our yard into a butterfly and bee-friendly FLOWER GARDEN. Our plan is to surround the perimeter of the fire pit with rows of flowers, and then plant a mound of flowers in the center, after rehabilitating the dirt in the pit...

















Needless to say, it's been extremely gratifying to work in our backyard, despite all the sweat, dirt, and aching muscles. We still have a long way to go towards completing our goals, but so far we've been able to find enough inspiration in the process to motivate us...

Tunesday Tuesday - Guv'ner

One of my all-time favorite bands on Merge Records is Guv'ner. I first heard the song "Baby's Way Cruel" on a mix tape from my pen pal. I was hooked upon first listen. I had a hard time finding their album "Hard for Measy for You," but I ended up finding it via Parasol Mailorder. Woah - remember Parasol? I do! Okay, so Guv'ner are husband and wife musical act, Charles and Pumpkin. They are really amazing and adorable and cute and when they play you can tell they are having fun and singing to each other, too. I saw them perform in 1996. It was my first 21 and over show! They were super fun and I gave Pumpkin lollipops and my zines at the show - how nerdy! Anyways, here are some of my pictures from that show. I miss Guv'ner! I love that band.

Eclipse

I stole these photos from my sister Belinda's "Timeline" on Facebook...it's my niece, LILLIAN, wearing her daddy's super cool WELDING MASK so she can look at the SOLAR ECLIPSE this past weekend. I just really like the juxtaposition of the SKULL with her shirt that says, "It's Not Easy Being Cute"...

Weekend Wind-Down #146

It's been a while since we did a Weekend Wind-Down post. The weather's been so nice lately that we've been spending almost all our free time working on our backyard. We did take some time to fill out a huge order from the always awesome SHANALOGIC.COM...as Missy stated in the previous post, they are going to start carrying a small selection of her ZINES and MINI COMICS - a first for Shanalogic! As Missy cut, folded, and stapled zines, I wrapped them up and packed them in plastic. When you have a chance, please take a look at all the amazing adorableness available over at Shanalogic HERE.



















FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - I really enjoyed seeing This American Life live!
RAOUL - This American Life live via satellite transmission to movie theaters around the world.

WORST MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Pulling up ivy...when I closed my eyes, I dreamt about it.
RAOUL - Working to get rid of the overgrowth along the very back fence of our back yard...hard work, but it was worth it.

FUNNIEST MOMENT OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - The flaming cheese!
RAOUL - Tig Notaro's hilarious Taylor Dayne story.

WORD OR PHRASE OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - "Brer Rabbit"
RAOUL - "Opa!"

FAVORITE MEAL OF THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Sauteed veggies over brown rice.
RAOUL - Pineapple, feta, and spinach Pizza from Transmet.

THREE THINGS ON YOUR TO-DO LIST FOR THIS WEEK?
MISSY - Laundry, pay the bills, answer emails.
RAOUL - Buy mulch, pay the bills, put more plants in the ground.

FAVORITE NEW ADDITION TO OUR BACKYARD GARDEN?
MISSY - I'll say the arbor!
RAOUL - I will also have to say the arbor.

WHAT PART OF YOUR BODY ACHES THE MOST FROM GARDENING?
MISSY - None this time, really! I think I'm used to it now...
RAOUL - My right hand from using the clippers...I think I need a new pair.

PERSONAL SOUNDTRACK FOR THE PAST TWO WEEKS?
MISSY - Unrest, The Feminine Complex, The Black Atlantic, Calvin Johnson, Bikini Kill, First Aid Kit.
RAOUL - Containe, Tortoise, The Sea And Cake, Money Mark, The Ladybug Transistor, HollAnd, The Sisterhood Of Convoluted Thinkers, Maybe It's Reno, Unrest, The Feminine Complex, Teenbeat 2003 Sampler, Tiger Trap, De La Soul, Mazzy Star.