Party on the Patio

So last post I hinted at needing a patio for my super sweet new-old patio furniture. And guess what? My husband delivered!

Our house didn't have any backyard patio space, so we knew that we would want to, at some point in time, put in some sort of patio. The opportunity came sooner than expected: My folks had a ton of pavers that they had dug up from their house, and they offered them (the pavers) to us at no cost. Stephen hauled them across town, laid them out in the pattern and space we wanted, and then got to work over the weekend. He dug up the ground to a depth that would roughly match that of our sidewalk and got the dirt as level as possible. We decided on a dry set patio, meaning that we simply laid sand over the freshly dug ground, set the pavers on top of the sand, and then used sand to fill in the cracks when all of the bricks were laid. It seems to have worked marvelously. And all told, we spent $15 on the whole process. Not bad.

Here's Stephen starting the hardest part of the process, the actual laying-down of the pavers:

Ouch. My knees hurt just looking at him.

I'm sure he wasn't feeling very smiley when I commanded him to smile.

Before I show you the finished product, you should know that, for the better part of this past weekend, our house looked pretty redneck. Dug-up ground, plastic toys everywhere, a patio set precariously set on our bumpy, weedy lawn, merrily-colored underwear and t-shirts littering the clothesline. Stephen worked really, really hard to get this finished by Saturday evening, and he succeeded! I think me incessantly fretting over the condition of our backyard may have helped provide him incentive.

Anyway, here's the patio:

Looks great, eh? If you look to the right of the next picture, you'll see that we even have a little room to go until it lines up with the sidewalk, in case we feel like expanding it in the future.

And just because I think Charlotte's sprouty hair looks funny in this next one, I'm including it. (Please ignore the Cozy Coupe. Doesn't everyone with young children have one of those? Our neighbors, whose sons have grown out of Cozy Coupes, gave us ours. So it was free, as opposed to the $50 price tag on the Little Tikes website. Yeesh.)

You may commence congratulating Stephen and gushing over his work ethic. Honestly, he is amazing. But then again, we've already settled that my love language is having him do stuff for me around the house, so I guess he knows he'd better be amazing.

And lest you think Stephen was the only one working off his bottom this week, I'll have you know that I am also sore and pathetically tired from my antics over the last two days. Yesterday I rode my bike, with Jack and Baylor in our on-loan bike trailer attached to me, to and from my parents' house. My folks live over 2 miles away, across town, and I have to cross a bridge over a major river as well as go through three busy stoplights to get there. I honestly didn't think I would make it home. Honestly. I prayed out loud to God. He saw me through, but I thought I might have a heart attack.

And then today I pushed myself beyond my limits yet again, but this time I did it edging the lawn.

Hmm, you say. Really, Christine? Edging the lawn pushed you to the limits?

Yes, really. See?

 

Several things about this picture stand out. First, we have a manual edger. (Thus the fact that, yes, I pushed myself today.) Hey, it's all I've found at the garage sales so far, so it had to work. Our lawn was in desperate need of a manicure, so the old edger it was. And using it very nearly gave me another heart attack.

Second, I am doing the edging as opposed to Stephen doing the edging. Well, he mowed the lawn today, plus he put in a patio this weekend. Plus I was the one itching to get it done, and I just did it without asking. I'm sure he would have done it if I asked, but I didn't, and I don't think he's complaining.

Third, and most importantly, notice my attire. I didn't dress for yard work today, to say the least. I am wearing a sundress, flip flops, earrings, and makeup. Yick.

But the important thing is that I got a good portion of it done, and I feel great about how our front looks now. I would include a picture of that if it wasn't simply, you know, a neatly edged lawn. Pretty boring, truth be told.

In closing, I'll share a conversation between Stephen and me while he was helping me collect the excess dirt and grass from the edging:

Me: "What would we be doing right now if we didn't own a home?"

Stephen: "I guess we'd be watching TV."

Me: "I'm so glad we own a home. I like this work."

Stephen: "I'm so glad we don't own a TV."

And there you have it folks. Some of our major opinions, summed up in one simple conversation.

Happy lawncare!