I guess we should start at the beginning, right? Well, on Friday we managed to get together with friends of ours who we haven't seen in ages. While I don't have any photos to prove it, I still think it's worth mentioning. Time spent with good friends is very important and thus is going under the header of "productive."
Then came Saturday, we talked to some of our family (also, important which makes it productive) ate delicious meals (lack of photos .. sorry) AND ran errands. Then, after all of that we went out front and knocked out some serious yard work.
A basic before photo, you can see various dead things that need to get cleared out (namely those poor vincas and the mess around the pepper tree) then there's all that green fuzz everywhere AKA: weeds
About an hour or so later, less weeds, cleared out lots of dead-from-winter plants, and had a pretty excellent sense of satisfaction.
The front walkway was fun, labor intensive, but fun. I crawled UNDER the rose bushes to clear out all the dead leaves etc. that had collected. Did the same around both of those brick beds, and then swept, swept, swept, swept.
What's amusing here is that BOTH photos are crooked at what looks like the exact same angle. Do you see that? Hah! My photo-junkisim must have my hand do the same exact thing each time I take a picture. It's the little things folks. But, how clean that is? That ain't little, that's HUGE! WHOOOOO!!!
Here we have a closeup of that area around the pepper tree. There are 2 lantana in there that, believe it or not; will come back and bloom pretty yellow flowers. But, there's still a lot of empty space. We're thinking this year we'll get a bunch of petunias. We learned from the petunias in planters out back that they're perennial and robust! I'm excited about this venture.
We cleaned out a lot of dead and drooping pads from this prickly pear. I know I didn't take a before photo, but trust me when I tell you this after shows how alive the plant looks again. It's refreshing.
I call this picture "less weeds at sunset" lovely, no?
This is where I pulled one weed and the earth exploded with ants. So. Those bundles of green remain in the river rock, but fret not. I used pesticide. Well, on the weeds, not the ants .. ... dang I better get some for the ants too ... anyway that was part of today's uber-productivity. I sprayed every inch of that river rock. Here's hoping the stuff works...
One of the most fun parts of yard work is the cat song through the garage. He's obsessed with going outside, and has managed to bust out a few times so when he hears you out there enjoying the great outdoors, well, he wants to tell you all about how much he hates/is jealous of you.
Today, as you read earlier, I sprayed some weed killer in the rocks in the front. Granted, we still need enough weed killer to treat the rest of the yard, including the gravel here:
But we're waiting to tackle this until we borrow a blower from some friends of ours. It's all about pacing yourself, and not getting too far ahead of things people! (How's that for a procrastination pep talk?)
Dylan took on some tiles and for the first time in ... I dunno? A month (you know if I looked back a few blog posts I could tell you for sure ... but that takes effort) Anyway - we actually cracked the door open in the master bath!
Dylan mastered the corners and continued to tile around the entire window!
WHOA-YEAH!
I also went out back and tore up a giant dead bush, I have all the scars and scratches to show for it, but I didn't take any pictures. Alas. But - I did do my taxes. I say that earns me a mega-super-most-productive-weekend-EVER trophy. Now, we may have explored this weekend but you know that the Boswell House fun doesn't end there.
Earlier this week Dylan brought home some beautiful roses
I'm going to say these were "just because" when, really, they were just because he didn't get any for me for Valentines day :-p still, I love them.
Also happening this week, fish!!
First up, talapia fillets with a bell pepper and tomato medley, with queso fresca served alongside shredded brussels sprouts. Let me take a moment to share this recipe with you.
Shredded brussels sprouts:
1-2 lbs brussels sprouts, remove the ends and use your food processor to shred into fine bits
heat up 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
Add your shredded sprouts, cook until soft and slightly brown adding more oil along the way when needed
salt and pepper to taste
This recipe is delicious, adds an entirely different texture to brussels sprouts and smells ah-maz-ing. I highly, highly recommend this recipe.
Next up, shrimpees!
Sauteed brussels sprouts in butter with bacon, onion and garilc (we got a giant bag from costco, you understand) then served up with some straight up shrimp cocktail. So easy and so tasty! It was filling, too. This was our dinner after a long hard day's work Saturday.
There you have it, a couple of productive Boswells! Mark your calendars this actually happened, we may not see it again for a while ... But, we'll see you again here and soon.
