Well Obviously . . . .

at the beginning of this year I was a little concerned about having a lot of free time . . . . given the fact that my second post is just a little under six months later, free time hasn't really been as abundant as I thought it would be! 

So what exactly have I been doing to fill my time???  That is a fine question!  Time flies and this year certainly is no exception!  We are closing in on the sixth month of 2012!  Recently we have been doing a lot of work in our yard!  Next year (2013) we will be in our house 10 years and although we have worked on landscaping through the years there are a few projects that a lingering that we have been pushing along to get finished up!  I personally love working in the yard but I do look forward to the day (hopefully soon) that we can sit back and enjoy our hard work! 

Our current projects have been a new, pretty good sized flower bed, expanding the back driveway to clean up the edge of it, a new, pretty good sized flower bed at the back of the property and in front of the picnic area and. . . . the "dry creek."

Last Spring we had a lot of rain and our toilets began to gurgle.  After testing all the drain downspouts my husband and his dad discovered that one of the pipes leading from a downspout to the lake had collapsed.  They dug it up and replaced it with a pvc pipe straight out the back yard but now where to go with the pipe?  I had been telling Mike for quite sometime (telling and sending pictures to drop hints) that I would love to have a dry creek!  After much deliberation, discussion, etc. we decided to run a "dry" creek along the back of the property to use to drain the water from the new pipe from the downspout.  Let me remind you that this project started last Spring and has included a lot of tilling, a lot of shoveling and a lot of hauling dirt from the back yard to the front yard.  The dirt hauled to the front yard has worked out nicely and that dirt combined with some dirt that Mike's Uncle Mitch brought to us helped to level out the front yard.  The area was seeded by Mike and his Dad a few weeks ago and the grass is coming in nicely! 

Mike and I layed the pipe from the downspout to the end of the creek and I filled the dirt back in on top of the piping.  I really did feel bad filling the dirt back in after all the digging that Mike had done on the dry creek.  We are at a small standstill right now as we are trying to find the pond liner that we are needing.  Once we find the liner hopefully the creek will come together quickly! 

Other than working in the yard I did take tennis lessons which I really enjoyed!  They even talked me into coming back for advanced classed.  It is really amazing what you can do after just a couple of lessons! 

As to what else has consumed my time so far this year I'm really drawing a blank!  I guess I will have to do a better job of keeping up with this blog to keep track of what I've been up to!  

BEFORE:

AFTER LANDSCAPE BED:

AFTER DRIVEWAY WORK:

Why Not???

2012 is not only a new year, it is a different sort of year for me so I thought why not start a blog! 

I am known to most of my family members and friends as someone that very often bites off more than I can chew!!  I always manage to get done what I bite off but it sometimes involves a lot of late nights with little sleep, occasionally a few tears and often a lot of stress for myself and a lot of times my husband, Mike!! 

This year is different because I find myself in new territory . . . . a year with not as many commitments, a year with very little baking (I used to bake and decorate a lot - on top of a full time legal assistant job at a law firm), a new year as an empty nester with my husband and a new year that will make Mike and I grandparents!   

I feel as though I'm starting off the year right and have high hopes for 2012!  I've been doing all the "normal" new year's resolutions . . . . trying to watch what I eat, exercising, trying to get more organized and stay more organized . . .so in trying to stay on track with these other resolutions, why not start writing a blog!! 

I have brief experience in keeping a blog - I kept one last year while my stepson was gone to Navy bootcamp.   I wanted for him to have something to read once he got out of bootcamp to catch up on what he had missed while he was gone.  So now, why not give it a try, this time for me!

I start off this new year wondering what next . . .what direction should I head with all this free time I will now have. 

Home life and Married life are good - could not be better!  I love my husband with all my heart - we live in a nice home with our three dogs! 

Work is good - I've been at my job going on 22 years.  I work at a place where co-workers are not just co-workers, they are family who truly care about the others in the office. 

Kids are grown and gone and they are good!  Stepson and Daughter-in-Law are too far away from us but in this age of amazing technology we can have them in our living room once a week with us (or more) on Skype if we want to see them!  Stepdaughter and Son-in-Law to be are good and are expecting in June - our first grandchild. 

Our families are good!  My husband, Mike, has a huge family, mine isn't small but isn't huge like his.  They are all good!  We are very fortunate and very thankful that most of our family is in good health and those that are not at this time are improving!

I'm a member of a car club which is good!  A club that I have thrown myself into for the past three years as Treasurer.  This year I am Vice President which means a lot less responsibility resulting in a lot of my new found free time. 

We have many, many friends in different groups and they too are all good!

So back to my questions what next and why not????  

What next?????  There are so many options, so many interests - real estate, photography, home decorating, gardening, landscape design, website design . . .  . . 

Why not??   Well, why not!!!