Goodness it has been a long time since I posted!
Most of that is due to the sheer magnitude of the project we just finished up.
It all started when I had our trusted contractor come out to take a look at the siding and see how soon it needed to be painted.
The good news is that it can wait a year, maybe two, but the bad news is that our soil level had to be dealt with first.
See how the mulch comes up above the siding? Yeah, that's bad. The siding should end, then there should be 4-8 inches of concrete foundation, and THEN below that the soil level.
Because the dirt is above the siding, things like bugs and moisture can get under the siding causing damage and rot. Not good.
See above, how the wall juts out? That is our front window. As the landscaper was digging the soil down, he discovered there was no foundation under it. That is normal for a bay window but you do NOT want dirt packed underneath which is what we had. This rotted out the sub floor and could have caused structural issues had we discovered it too late.
So just dig the dirt down around the house, right? Nope. If you do that, when it rains all the water will drain toward the house and down along the foundation. This has the potential for causing erosion or flooding.
So instead you have to lower the level of the soil, AND make sure it slopes away from the house.
Since we moved in we have been battling the overgrown weeds, but since we knew we would be having everything scraped away, we didn't even bother to try and keep up with them... so here's the before and after's!
Before:
After:
Of course it looks a little sparse now, but I'm hoping the plants will fill in after a year or two.
We had them move the too-big hydrangeas and had them plant ones that would stay smaller. We also had them put in some holly bushes, a couple knock-out roses (they are low maintenance), and a couple other things. We also decreased the size of the bed a bit so it would be less to maintain.
Before:
After:
This one is a big difference... that overgrown tree-bush is some sort of weed left over from when we had the busted plum tree removed. We had them remove all the prickly bushes, but kept the rhododendron.
Before:
After:
Before, this was just a mess of weeds. I think there was maybe one or two plants that were good ones.
We had them plant a bunch of low maintenance plants. That tree on the corner is a red-bud tree that won't get very big, and will have pretty flowers all spring.
Such a huge difference! This was a much more intensive project than we anticipated. SOOO glad we hired someone to do a majority of the work. It took about 2 months from start to finish.
Now our front bay window has room to breathe underneath free of moisture and rot!
Over this time it was also my birthday and let me tell you, I am such a lucky girl. My Dear Husband (DH) knows the way to my heart is through power tools! Lol! He got me just what I wanted: a more powerful corded drill! The wimpy battery one I had is good for hanging pictures and that kind of thing, but not for more construction-like projects. Yay! I was thrilled when I opened it.
After opening my present, we headed right up to Wisconsin for labor day to visit our new niece! She is absolutely precious! But since I know NOTHING about babies, I volunteered to help out the new mom by cooking and cleaning.
I cleaned the bathroom, made two chicken pot pies, two meals worth of chicken tetrazzini, hung a shelf in the nursery, and helped take 1-month photos. (It was the least I could do, since I can't change a diaper to save my life!)
New mom, SisD, is doing a fantastic job with the new one. To the right is DH with Maddy. She is a month here.
To the left, she is with me is a few weeks later when we went up for her baptism. Look how much she grew already!
She makes some of the best faces. So many expressions!
Don't worry, Eva is going to be my only baby for a while yet!
(She sleeps in with me, AND there are no diapers to change!)
We didn't have a huge tomato harvest this year, because I hadn't consistently trellised and harvested the plants as they grew. I don't know where the Summer went and I didn't get nearly as much time in the garden as I usually like. This is ok with the tomatoes though because last year was such a huge harvest, I still have bags of frozen tomatoes stocked in the freezer. 
This was the first year I had tried growing both carrots and beets. I neglected the beets too long, so they turned tough and woody. No good. The same thing happened with a couple of the carrots, but with the majority turning out ok I ended up getting a whole bucketful!
Yeah, the center of these giant carrots were pretty tough and woody. They were a bit bitter too. Lesson learned for next time!
After blanching, I vacuum sealed them in smaller bunches. While probably not the best for straight eating, I think they will be good in stews and soups. 
