Jeepers Creepers

Ahhhhh..... Spring!  The days are getting longer, weather is getting warmer, and flowers are in bloom!  I'm siked to get started on my garden this year- I have lots of big plans!  But anyone who gardens knows about the unfortunate grunt work that comes before the fun planting.  And I have alot of it this year.  I've been so preoccupied for the past two years- two summers ago I was big and pregnant and last summer I was dealing with a baby who could only crawl, so my garden got very little love.  I'm determined to tackle the big stuff this year and really get this landscape in shape!

And before I can even work on the actual garden areas, I have a bunch of general cleaning up to do.  First and foremost is--- The Ivy Situation.  

Ugh.

My neighbor has no regard whatsoever for the abundance of ivy spewing from her yard over the fence that divides our properties.  This is a picture of The Ivy on the left:

Believe it or not, there's actually a fence under there

My house is on the right.  The reason The Ivy Situation has gone unnoticed (or honestly, ignored) is because it's on the side of our house nobody ever sees.  All foot traffic is on the side with the driveway, and the Ivy Neighbor's backyard sort of cuts a sharp L-shape into our yard, so you can't even really access our backyard from this side of the house.  Who cares about what we can't see!?  It's not like it's doing any harm over there quietly growing---- right?


WRONG.


While I was preoccupied with making and raising a baby, the Ivy reached it's thin, snakelike fingers across the grass... 

Check out those Ivy Fingers!

....to the side of my house and up underneath my siding...

It's literally ripping the siding off!

And unfortunately, the damage is threefold- not only is it ruining my grass and siding, but the ivy's teeny little creepers have carved deep grooves in the wall, like ancient fossilized earthworm trails.

Of course, I spent the better part of a glorious Saturday ripping the Ivy from the wall and ground, and I'm too sore to work on anything else for now (like my actual gardens).  I'm tempted to spray an entire bottle of weed killer on the fence (But I won't!  Just kidding!  Please don't send me hate mail, organic garden activists!).  I think a more likely scenario is that I've gotten it cleaned up and pretty for now, and then some glorious spring day when baby number 2 is old enough to manage I'll rediscover The Ivy Situation all over again.  Maybe by then I'll be rich enough to hire a landscaper to take care of this crap for me.

Wordless Wednesday- What a thoughtful gift!

My 4 year old nephew gave me this Elephant yesterday...

...and he said "Don't worry, Aunt Jeanne- I put tape on his nose so that he doesn't spray you with water on the way home."

He's so thoughtful.

Hope

I hope

like a dope

the snow is all done

I pray

every day

that no more storms come

I beg

to the gods

but the clouds hide the sun

So I bide

all my time

and think of spring fun

*This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.

Tell me, Fisher Price, since I'm teaching her animal sounds...

What, exactly, is this?

Afro Bear with a braided Pony Tail?

Besides, we don't need nice things

We have a space issue in our house- meaning, we don't have much of it.  I've had to come up with some creative ways to keep things organized- well, as much as it can be with an 18 month old wreaking havoc and toys- all the toys- that seem to be mating and reproducing in the night.

Babyproofing can really destroy your furniture, and I didn't want to drill holes or stick stoppers onto the doors of my entertainment unit anyway, so I just emptied most of the cabinets at the bottom for Anna to keep her toys in.  Or, you know, to climb into...

We got rid of our coffee table and replaced it with a long, padded faux leather footstool that opens up so it's great for toy storage!  Or, you know, to climb onto...

I've decided that we won't be getting one of those cool train tables that everyone else seems to have.  They just take up alot of space, which we simply don't have in our house.  I'm feeling a little guilty though because they are just so great for budding imaginations!  Or, you know, to climb onto...

Yea, it's the little changes and small decisions that have lead to a cleaner and more organized house.  Maybe I'll get rid of that huge, heavy, fancy painting that's hanging in my living room- the one I inherited from my dad after he died.  After all, I don't really need any nice things.  In fact, I'm thinking about just getting rid of the couch, too!  We can just sit on the floor!  Because couches?  They just take up alot of needed space.  ....  and, you know....

**Time's up! 

*This post is an unedited stream of consciousness post part of all.things.fadra's Stream of Consciousness Sunday.  Although, I did add the pictures after my 5 minutes was up.

And the winner is....

Thanks so much to all who participated in the contest for a $75 gift certificate to Romp 'n Roll of Willow Grove!  A winner has been chosen!

So, in order to choose a winner, I wanted it to be unbiased.  8 of you commented, and I assigned you numbers in the order that you left your comment, as follows:

1.     Danielle

2.     Chrissy

3.     Jen

4.     Joanna

5.     Andrea

6.     Tamara

7.     Jessica

8.     Kim

I was going to use a random number generator online, but then I remembered I have my own little RNG here at home!  I took Anna's blocks, numbers 1-8 and placed them in a basket:

*You will note that, like many of Anna's toys, I was missing a piece- the number 4.  It's probably jammed under the couch along with the green ring from her ring stacker and the turtle from her wooden knob puzzle.  The letter d stepped in as a replacement.

I then allowed Little Miss RNG to pull a random block from the basket:

 AND THE WINNER IS....

NUMBER 6!  Congratulations Tamara!  

And thanks to all the moms who participated!  I thoroughly enjoyed all your stories.  What a gross job we have as parents!  Most of you guys talked about the 2 P's- Poop & Puke.  Ugh!  We all deserve prizes of spa days and lobster tails for the work we do every day!

In the bag

I like to think that I'm not the one with the problem here.  I feel that this pet peeve is valid and justified.  In fact, I think anyone who is not peeved by this is nuts.

I absolutely cannot stand loose trash in my outside trashcans.  My husband is a huge culprit here as he's always discarding waste from his car into the cans as he's walking into the house.

I've begged.

I've pleaded.

I've yelled.  and threatened.

I don't know what it is about loose trash that makes my blood boil, but it does.  When I open the cover to one of the outdoor cans and I see a discarded McDonald's cup with a straw dangling lightly from it's cracked lid, I want to scream.

And I usually do.

"Godfriggindammit!!!  DAVE!  Get OUT here!"

He peeks his head from around the open screen door...
"Ye-e-e-e-sss?"

"Is THIS," I snatch the offending trash from the can and hold it up in the air, dangling it in front of him like a dead rodent, "Your frigging soda cup???"

"Oh, ummmmm......" he looks thoughtful, "Yea, I don't know.... Is it?  Umm..."

"You don't know?" I say through clenched teeth.  I then begin spewing my usual rant about how disgusting I find loose trash to be and can he please, please, PLEASE, for the love of god, NOT put LOOSE TRASH in the outside cans!!!

He agrees, but he doesn't really care enough about the issue to take me seriously.  And, apparently, neither does anyone else.  Because when the weather breaks and spring is in the air and the birds are chirping and the sun is shining---Instead of prepping my gardens for planting, I'm scraping browned Target receipts from the inside of my garbage cans with a stick from the yard.  And then I'm flushing out cigarette butts caked to the bottom with the jet setting on my hose.  And then I'm cursing whoever dropped what could be a french fry or a soft pretzel chunk or a pizza crust or whatever because I can't tell what it is because it's deteriorated into a pile of stinky mush inside the barrel!

When we have a party, I tend to get a little intense about the trash situation.  I put large black trashbags in every single outside can and then I scatter them around the party area with a little pile of trashbags next to each can, hoping that partygoers catch the hint to throw a fresh bag in if the first one gets full.  However at the end of the night, I'm undoubtedly faced with bagless cans full of loose trash.

It. drives. me. bonkers.

Dave points out quite frequently that these cans I speak of and so desire to be clean are, after all, trash cans.  They are meant to hold garbage and whatnot.  

I care not.  You barbarians can have your stinky waste monsters baking in the hot summer sun omitting foul odors of past discarded refuse.  Call me crazy, but I prefer my trash tidy. 

*This post was inspired by Mama Kat's Writer's Workshop.