My outdoor oasis

The final touches placed at 7am this morning

Mulch spread
Bushes pruned
Brush removed

Patio furniture acquired
Hoses untangled

Shed organized
Tools and scraps organized
Brown sink finally thrown away!

Flag stone and bulbs discovered
Ornamental trees planted

Drift wood collected
Alpine gardens created

Privacy beds sculped
Butterfly bushes, beauty berries, palm trees, grasses, and blueberry bushes...YUM YUM

Walkways installed

Roses transplanted
Herb garden started

As the rain came down

Rain or shine worker bee Maryanne had my entire family, neighbors, friends, and the dogs all outside for 3 days straight working on the lanscaping
of the house. We are all sore and exhausted except for Maryanne!!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU Maryanne :)!

Before and during the madness......

Hair Cut

In honor of Laura Alex visiting and Croquet Day at Beth and Chris's house, Lula got a fancy hair cut!

This past week or so.......

another several tasks have been crossed off the list.......

re-seeding the mud pit (formerly the cement patio)

planning for the re-landscape job happening in 2 weeks courtesy of Maryanne


and super duper cleaning of the old linoleum floor which had 40 years of wax covering it.
Thank you mom for all of your elbow grease!!!


I also finalized what I'm going to call my "sophisticated room" aka the guest room. Many have asked why the guest room is fancier and nicer than my bedroom. My response....what a joy to have 2 bedrooms and flip between them from night to night.

(Martha - this is your room when you come home! I hope you like it. The bedspread you bought is perfect for this room. Thank you!)

JD2 Outside Tour

Coming up the driveway...be careful!


And you made it to the front of this awesome abode!



The view of the back of the house from the woods.


Here we go on our walking tour.




Jeremy and Jessica (home owners) and good friend Emily!


The wigwam out back.

Me squatting (bad girl) to get out of the wigwam.

Jessica giving us the woods tour.

Jeremy giving a garden and shed tour.

The lawn and the sunbathing rock.

Pocket sized?

I just spent the last 4 days in front of my computer from 6 am until 10 pm working on what is supposed to be "Clinical Midwifery Pocket Guide: The Efficient Midwife". I'm not so sure how the publisher is going to make this stack of paper into a pocket sized guide!



Working working working......


Happy co-authors (3rd author via phone) with the final product!

JD2 Tour

My good buddies from grad school, Jessica and Jeremy, moved into a new home the same time as I did and never took any pictures. I bugged them often but received only a cell phone text pic. So, I headed north to NH to see the place and take my own photos. Here is a tour of their incredible NH abode!

Welcome into a house of many levels, rooms, nooks and crannies.

Straight ahead from the front door is the "great room" where all future fiestas will take place.

Around the corner is the dining room

And around another corner is the kitchen. That door on the left is an opening to the entry way. I

just took you the long way around on this tour.

Off of the kitchen is my favorite spot, the breakfast nook. Jessica envisions benches, pillows, coffee....oh wait I must be dreaming for her!

Off the kitchen (and over the garage) is the sunniest room in the house which is Jeremy's office.

If you venture to the other side of the house you will find:

One of 3 full bathrooms featuring movement sensitive lights which keep the night time monsters away.

Jessica's woowoo office full of good birth energy.

The guest hippo room. How many hippos can you count in this picture?

Missing from the tour is the master bedroom and bath which is upstairs and incredible. For some reason I forgot to take pictures up there so you will have to wait. A tour of the outside 5 acres is yet to come.