There have been lots of workers here over the last few weeks. Trees have been cut down, bad ones, like Hackberry which stains everything, and weed trees and bent over the house trees which could come crashing down on my roof. They are gone now, including all that wood. My yard had been a dumping ground of just junk and the landscaper also cleared all that away too, which made me so happy.
And even more happy making, the plumbers moved the water and electric lines to the back wall of the garage and now I can blissfully park without crashing into anything. My washer and dryer are where they belong, and my stairs have been painted, as well as the two doors. They brought in a brand new water heater too, and if a water heater can make anyone happy, it is making me thrilled. I can now have hot water much quicker in the back bathroom and what's not to like about that?
You would not believe that the original dryer vent just vented no where, just into the garage itself. Stupid. Now it has an appropriate outlet.
The water lines had to be updated and so did the electric. so now I have state of the art fixtures. It's not sexy but it is a relief to have this awful job finished and so workable.
Tomorrow my blinds get installed and on Wednesday my previous house goes on the market. Yay!
Now that it is March, garden thoughts are springing up. Whoa! Way too early, but still one can dream. My landscaper is bringing in earth moving equipment, to level out my back yard, which is like the surface of the moon, only with weeds. With many of the messy trees gone, I can hope for grass to grow, and can expect top soil and grass seed soon. Two huge shade trees remain, so it will not be a completely sunny back yard, just sunny enough. The weather has been lovely and I can lounge on the deck with a cocktail now and then.
While all this is happening, have I been creative? Nope. I spent at least two days doing nothing. Well, unless you count reading novels on my laptop from Libby the library app. I know lots of people who count reading as doing something. I am considering joining them.
And then my sister and I spent a few hours at the big new America's Thrift store in town. And Goodwill opened a new store in the vacant Food City building which is huge! I found some stuff to buy but the line to pay was too long, so I left it all there. But at America's Thrift I found some great shirts and since it is closer to home, I will be making that a regular stop. That caused me to go through my closet for donations and I got rid of three coats which took up quite a lot of space. Yay!
But the best thing is that I have become a Great Aunt!
Freya Stralka, age one day, daughter of Marianna and Michael Stralka, of New Jersey. Michael (my nephew) is the son of Dave's sister Carol and her husband Dan. Freya is long, plump and perfect, weighing in at 8lbs 4oz. Everyone is thrilled.
This is the before picture, or the 'after the grass was removed' picture and before the top soil was added, with grass seed and straw at the end. O nevermind. This is the middle of the work picture. Notice the white something in the dirt next to the walkway. This is a large tree root, which cannot be removed, but will not be an issue since I plan to built a raised flower bed over this area.
Here we are at the end of the day with the Bobcat still here, sitting on the future widened driveway. I plan on having that area paved, since so often off-street parking is needed. In this picture there is a space without straw for that future raised flower bed, which is exciting to me. 
The view from the street. I am trying to imagine all of this as green grass, which by the way will be fescue, not Bermuda grass, my nemesis. The entire back yard has also been leveled, seeded and straw covered. A buried concrete foundation for some previous outbuilding was discovered and broken up and removed.
This area here, adjacent to the porch, is always shady, so I am happily planning a large Hosta bed, my fave. 
