62 bags

Thats how many bags of cement we poured this weekend.

Our side yard has been dirt & gravel as long as we've owned the house, and I didn't want to go through winter having that mud pit, so we decided to pave it.

We're paving the full side yard where the trashcans are, and a 4' walkway down to the back yard. That leaves about 3.5' on one side for an herb and annual garden, and about 3' on the other for neighbor-blocking plants :)

The area we paved was about 95 square feet. We had to rent a mixer from Home Depot to make it go faster. We poured a 4'x4' section last weekend and mixed it by hand, and that was too much work.

Now for a quick weekend rundown, since I need to go to bed!

Friday PM:
* Pick up magnolia and plum tree from nursery
* Drop them off at home, go to Home Depot for 24 bags of concrete mix to go with the 4 left over from the last pour.
* Pick up concrete mixer and bull float from Home Depot Rentals.

Saturday AM:
* plant magnolia in front yard, and plum in back yard.
* Dig down 5 inches for most of the 95 square feet we paved. It used to be gravel and bark.

Saturday PM:
* Pave one 5' by 6' section (25 bags)
* Go to Home Depot, pick up 30 more bags of concrete (the most my truck will carry).

Sunday AM:
* Go to home depot and buy 12 more bags of concrete.
* Pave another 5'x6' section (25 bags)

Take a nap through lunch and wait for the conrete to dry a bit

Sunday PM:
* Pave the last 4'x6' section, around the air conditioner (12 bags).
* Return rental equipment.
* Eat pizza, post this story, and go to sleep.

And for those keeping count, I have 8 bags of concrete mix left, for the rest of the walkway. I figure its about another 100 square feet or so.

I need to get more mix.

Our mark:

The Magnolia:

Sunday Morning View #1

Sunday Afternoon View #1

Sunday Morning View #2

Sunday Afternoon View #2

Happy Fall

Happy Fall Everyone

Andrew started working on our side yard last weekend. We were able to mix and pour one little square of cement. Unfortunately, as much as we like to see our own elbow grease in our projects, mixing cement one bag at a time is too much for us. We are looking into options for speeding up this process. Anyone have a cement mixer laying around?

Also, we had our first fall time thunder storm. Teenie freaked out so much she climbed up on the kitchen table. I wasn't anywhere near her when she did this herself.

Andrew and I drove out to the Discovery Bay marina so we could watch the lightning over the farm fields in Stockton. Pretty amazing.

Trash in Space

My husband insists we must be part of the first trash heap sent to Pluto. His "Government" status is slowly trying to break my "eco" self into pieces. Here is the first attempt:

Hurst Trash In Space

Our Pre-Anniversary Weekend

Andrew and I decided to celebrate our two year anniversary over the Labor Day weekend. First, we drove through Napa and stopped at Healdsburg to browse the cute shops around town. We hit the Farmer's market first though!!!

After being a little to chi chi for our tastes, we got back on the road and headed towards Ukiah. We were fortunate enough to see a truck like this on the highway:

We then arrived at our destination. We chose Ukiah because Vichy Hot Springs is located a couple of miles NW of town. We had a great time walking around Ukiah's downtown. I loved the fact that most of the food is organically grown. We ate great food and yummy treats.

We spent all day Sunday at Vichy Hot Springs. It was sooooo relaxing and less naked-hippy than Harbin Hot Springs (our first anniversary trip). We went in the mineral pool baths, the hot mineral pool, and played around in the big, cool pool. After soaking for hours, we went on an hour hike to a beautiful waterfall on the property. There were frogs, newts, banana slugs, and bones to keep us interested on our hike. Here are some captured moments:

By the way, my Mom sees the Virgin Mary in this picture! I see a Jamiacan man!

On Monday, we drove over to Bodega Bay to enjoy some surf.

Happy Anniversary Andrew (technically tomorrow). You are the best husband a girl could ever want or have!

I've Been Baking

I think I am ready for Fall to start since I have been baking like mad! I have ventured into the world of bread making (from scratch). Nothing smells better than rising/baking bread.

I offered to make our neighbor's children's birthday cakes and they actually took me up on it! This is my first "kid" cake. It was so much fun to make and it is always fun to lick the spatulas.

P.S. I added Hello Kitty's pink bow after I realized something was missing.