Wood chopping

We are back to wood chopping again!  Well, at least just the boys :-)

There's a lot of big logs from the the year before last!  It was from the leaning tree out front:

Video:

Look at all that ant damage!  So yeah, ants... not termites thankfully:

This entire pile is suppose to get chopped up but nope, looks like it's not happening today:

We bought a used log holder and I guess eventually, all the logs will be organized nicely in this back area - ready for next winter:

I guess keyword is EVENTUALLY.  Like, eventually I will hang that full length mirror in our bedroom closet.  Or, eventually we will go through and empty out every single moving box in this house and garage.  Ha! :-D

Shoe organization

The foyer by the front door has always been quite of a mess, with shoes all over.  Look at this!

It's funny how there's only 4 of us but there seems to be so many different pairs of shoes for all the different occasions and weather. See what I mean?!

Well, the weather has been quite crazy.  Cold then hot then cold again. And then wet. Okay, perhaps it is a first world problem owning so many pairs of shoes :-P

I was also trying to improve the Feng Shui of the house, which means no more shoes directly facing the front door.  That meant moving one of the entryway hall trees away (it's actually in the guest room now) and I managed to find a (used) little wooden cabinet online:

I think it actually works!  I was a bit concerned about all the different materials and colors - wood vs metal and black vs brown.  The tricky part was actually trying to find baskets that would fit underneath that cabinet.  I managed to finally find some cheapy plastic ones that I won't have to worry too much about getting filthy.  Yay!

I actually had to clean up the basement anyway because I was finally hosting a neighborhood Youth Committee meeting.  You can't quite see it, but there's these little bug by the windy sill I finally had to sweep up.  I thought someone else named Bobby was supposed to do it, but... nope!

Ewwww....!

Thankfully, they were all dead.  Found out that they are boxelder bugs and don't cause any harm to humans and to the house.  Can you imagine if it did??!!

They do like warm spots and I think putting mulch right to the exterior wall of the house was probably a bad idea.  I did try and pull that mulch away from the house and put gravel instead.  So hopefully that will help!

And talking about liking warm spots as well, these little plants are just loving it when I open up the blinds.  They actually have a grow light turned on directly above them but the natural light wins all the time!

Thankfully I was able to (mostly) sort out the mess in the foyer and basement to host.  The other committee members thought the basement was cozy.  Hopefully this summer, we can sort everything out once and for all!!

Update on Graham's Invisalign

Both boys started using Invisalign at the end of December 2022.  So about 1.5 years later, Graham is down to his last set of weekly retainers (although not exactly sure how many more months?) but then he will be all done!  Well, done as in he still needs nightly retainers, but at least not like the ones now that he has to use all the time.

The scanning technology still amazes me after all these trips to their orthodontist:

The dental assistant sticks this electronic wand into their mouth and just moves it around.  And you can see on the computer screen what has been scanned.  Truly amazing! Especially after seeing Graham go through dental molds.  Yuck!  So glad those braces didn't work out when we were trying to get it done right before leaving/moving from CA for IL.  Things happen for a reason and this is definitely a good one!!

I don't think Graham likes this part - where he has to use this device to push back his lips.  Ha ha!

By the way, here is the video of Graham's progress from Day 1.  Amazing!!

Definitely money well spent.  These boys are so lucky!!

Charlie's Spring band recital

I don't hear Charlie practice at home but he seems to be doing quite well in band. At one point earlier in the school year, Charlie mentioned that he didn't want to be in band anymore.  Thankfully I haven't heard any of those complains anymore.  I think it was because he had to do a practice log every week and he was constantly overdue on them! He hasn't needed to do anymore recently (or so he says), so maybe that's why he hasn't been complaining.

During the concert, the band director mentioned about all the previous trips that the band entourage has taken. They are going to Disneyland this year.  I believe two years ago, they even played in London! Oh, and they were also in the Rose Parade one year.  Hopefully these exciting trips will at least keep Charlie motivated!

It was a bit tricky to spot Charlie as he was blocked by another clarinet player.  But I thought the 6th Grade band sounded pretty good!

Family we-fie :-)

I believe the school band trips happen in 8th Grade so he has 2 more years to get there.  Well, technically, school is ending in 2.5 more weeks! Or I think the boys said - in just over 3 more Friday.  Ha!

Haven't really figured out what to do with them yet.  I'm thinking some golf, back to some archery, maybe pickle ball, and as much as they hate it... most definitely sorting out the house once and for all!!!

Journey as a "muralist"

After the most recent mural project in the master bedroom, I'm starting to think that perhaps there's an opportunity here ~ to help others enjoy some sort of mural in their space. I was trying to think back on how I even began on this journey.  If I'm not mistaken, it all started when I really loved a set of drapes that I wanted for the bedroom of our first-born son.  But it was rather expensive!  So what else could I do, in order to still capture that theme depicted on the drapes?  Yup, a mural!  

I really didn't think of it as a mural then.  It was just a cute painting that I wanted to get on the wall. And of course, I was able to add some more playfulness with a monkey :-)

Here's the link to the completed wall: Wall art in baby room

It obviously did not end there.  Our half bathroom needed some sprucing up - it needed a little bit of whimsical and color, so to speak. And so I had some fun with leaves and an owl and made it 3-dimensional with some birdhouses:

Here is how it progressed: Powder room mural

My projects eventually did get a bit larger.  At our next house, I was not very fond of our retaining wall along the front of our property.  It was quite an eye-sore and so I thought, why not create some sort of art piece/mural. There were a handful of Monarch butterflies that would visit our garden and so when I found a tile that had a flower pattern, I thought it would be fun to incorporate that. 

Here's the link for more photos: Wall art projects

I think what also brought me joy while working on this artwork was that random neighbors that were driving up and down along our street would stop and complement on it.  It obviously made me very proud and happy that someone else was also able to enjoy it too.

Not long after tackling the front wall, I decided to work on another outdoor brick wall. This one also involved using tiles - a whole lot more! Here's part of the "before" wall with some sketches and the beginning or some paint work.

And, here's the "after":

Tiles were used to create part of the sun.  And each ray had some sort of personal meaning - from arrows (we learned archery recently) to waves (we lived near the ocean).  Even the mountain in the backdrop is the outline of the mountain from my homestate in Sabah, Malaysia.

As for the bird, it was from a story in my son's English textbook (while learning from home during Covid).  It was almost a challenge from him and I think I pulled it off pretty well! 

I named this piece "Rising" - here are some more photos: "Rising" mural

And by the way, almost all of these projects were painted with leftover paint that was laying around in the garage.  I try and work with what I have to limit expenses.  Or purchase items at a discount.  It doesn't need to cost much to change the mood/ambiance of a space, but obviously some time, patience, and passion for art does help :-)

Last but not least, here's the tallest mural of them all that I've completed recently. My inspiration was from a mural I saw at the Mall of America earlier this year.  As I was trying to change up the "energy" of the master bedroom of yet another new home. I decided this would be a good piece to do since our bedroom ceiling has such great height.  And this allowed the ability to draw and paint these flowers in such a large scale:

Here's the story and more photos of painting this mural: Master Bedroom mural

The fact that the mural just blends into this wall is absolutely comforting and relaxing. I would love to share this joy in creating this same feeling for others. Let's see where this takes us!

Flowers

Here are some photos of a few flowers that are currently blooming around us. So pretty! So let's start:

Tulips:

There were a small bunch in the front yard that were gnawed off by some animal.  I'm guessing deer? But I didn't think they would get so close to the front door!  I have seen some bright red tulips while driving around - I really like how those look in a garden.  So we'll see for next year :-)

Who knew there were yellow magnolias?!  

I do love the pink one and most definitely the white ones.  Maybe at some point we will get one for our yard, but we already have sooooo many trees and shrubs!  Including these purple lilacs.  Oh man, you can smell these when you walk by the plants.  Smell so good!

I'm so glad I have this App on my phone that can identify flowers and plants.  This one is the Virginia Bluebell.  So cute!

Forget-me-nots.  For some reason, I thought these flowers would be bigger, but they are actually quite tiny:

Even the pine cones are growing on the blue spruce:

Random mushroom at the end of a stick?!  Yeah, we have been getting a lot of rain and I guess this stick stayed moist enough for something to grow on it.  Ha!

I have so many Lily of the Valley and hostas that I've packed them for some neighbors:

The one Japanese Yew seems to be doing well.  You can see the new growth that's a lighter green:

I can't say the same for the other Yew - I don't know why this other one is dying. Noooo...!!

And oh, I though this type of lavender was a perennial.  But I just noticed this same plant in the store and it was labeled Annual.  I guess I was wrong to think that it was going to grow back.  Looks like I've killed another lavender plant!  Booohooo!!

And oh, also found these leaves folded in on the hydrangeas:

It seems that these little moth caterpillars called Leaftiers wrapped themselves in these leaves before they morph into moths. It happened like overnight because I walked out into the garden and there were dozen of leaves that were wrapped in each plant! Ewww...!!

Bob the Cactus seems to be doing very well indoors.  He seems to like this one spot in the dining room, so I guess I'll just keep in there for now.

Look at all his little babies! The new babies are all leaning towards the sunny window though - so funny. It's always so tricky to move him because he is getting quite heavy in that little pot and all his little thorns are so fine that it gets really tricky when I rub myself even a tiny bit on him!

More updates to follow on all the garden/yard work :-)

Side yard work

Wow, the amount of work just for this little section.  Phew!!  Here's the before:

And after!

Okay, not looking like much of a difference but wow did I get rid of a lot of creeping bellflowers and Lily of the Valleys! 

So first, I had to clear out an area to make way for a path to the telephone box and electric meter.  I'm not sure if anyone has actually been to either one, but just in case!

I told Bobby to bring these crescent-shaped pavers up to the steps but did he really have to block the entire pathway?!

Actually bumped my knee trying to avoid these pavers and totally broke skin through my jeans. Sheesh!

Okay, pathway cleared:

The shape of these pavers are pretty unique. I've never worked with them before.  Hmmm, interesting!

I think this might work??

Now to clear up the rest of the slope and I've used the pavers to create borders around the plants.  I think it looks okay.  The circles are definitely cute :-)

Definitely looking better than what it was before:

Next round of sand, gravel, and rocks.  This is definitely a workout!

Okay, I ran out of those crescent pavers but found some bricks in the garage.  Figured I need a path of some sort when I have to water the plants:

After contemplating a little bit as I didn't like the way the bricks looked, I swapped them out with the other crescent pavers that I had used previously for the path.  There - much better!

And yup, mo' better! I will have to fill in those gaps with either sand and/or more gravel:

After 2 afternoons of working on this side yard, I actually lost 2lbs.  Ha!

And now to work on this one lower section.  Sooooo many of the same creeping bellflowers and lilies.  When will this ever stop!  I did just read up on it and looks like it's best to make sure the plants don't reseed. That's one thing we weren't paying attention to - letting nature take its course. So I guess it's really our own doing with this plant invasion??? We'll have to pay better attention this year!

I'm smothering as much as I can with newspaper:

So, I didn't get to take a before photo.  But there was a crawling Hydrangea right against this wall. And since we've moved here, I never knew what it was until just a couple of days ago.  Thank goodness for these Apps on the phone that can identify plants!  I thought it was going to be a tough chore to dig it up, but Graham was able to dig it up with a few good digs with the big shovel.

And now, just prepping this spot where it's going to call its new home.  I'm going to put the trellis right next to the downspout and hopefully that's where the hydrangea will cling on to.  And if it does go up the brick wall, we'll just have to keep and eye on it and make sure it doesn't hurt the brick:

I went to pick up some rocks too for this little section:  

So Bobby think I overpaid for the rocks, but I don't think he realizes how expensive rocks can be!  Anyway, I think it was a good bargain because the guy even carried the bucket and unloaded it into the truck.  He also laid down a doggy pee-sheet so my trunk doesn't get dirty. So I say, win-win!

I didn't realize how tricky it was to arrange these rocks.  I guess we should have picked out flatter ones, but it is what it is now:

And I think the creeping Hydrangea will be happier here in this corner.  I've never seen it flower before so maybe it will this year?

And I've picked one MacDaddy stone for this project and it's the perfect perch for our Yoga Frog. Yay! There are cracks in our frog so that's another thing on my to-do list.  Never-ending list.  Aaahhhh!!!

There's still one more section on the top full of this section that has lots of creeping Bellflowers and Lilies.  I'm hoping to level it out and put a raised bed there.  I found 4 raised beds by the edge of the property near the firewood.  So exciting! Anyway, hope to plant some leafy veggies since this area does not get a lot of sun.  That's the plan for now, at least.

And hope to see some blooms on the peonies that I bought last year.  And also on this one other plant which I have no idea what it is now.  But at least it's seems to be growing and is happy.  More photos to come once everything blooms (let's hope)!