A tiny bit of OCD?

I’m only posting this because I’m having a laugh about myself. As most know, I am a well organised and tidy individual.... to a fault, some might say. I hate clutter and am not a hoarder. If I don’t use it in a year’s time, it’s out of here. I always donate the items that are thrown out because there is always someone else who can benefit from my rubbish.

Sometimes I take a photo of a room that I’m cleaning /organising to see what it looks like from a different perspective. If it looks messy or unorganised in the photo then I need to fix it. So, while cleaning my kitchen this afternoon, I took a photo of my pantry.


Not only do I think it’s perfect, I think I have a problem. What do you think?

How much wood can a woodchuck chuck?

The first sunny day in August and we get ourselves knee deep in landscaping. Let me assure you that Winter is not over, but, if we waited until late Spring/early Summer to get through all the work that needs to get done in our backyard, we would never get it done. We have a check list of things to complete before the arrival of my sister in late November, and then my Mom soon after. The list goes as follows (in no particular order):

• Landscape the pond area
  
• Extend raised garden bed
• Stain lower deck
• Build chicken coop (and get chooks!)

Someone (and it wasn’t Holming) had the bright idea of going to a landscaping warehouse to buy a trailer load of wood chips to fill an old pond area. That certain someone didn’t take into account that the only way to get from the front of our house down to the backyard is through the garage and down about 15 steep stairs. Teehee.

So, we ended up using 2 rubbish bins (one was 20 gallon/80L and the other was half that size) to haul the chips down to the backyard. Let me tell you, a 20 gallon bin of woodchips is not light! After about 2 hours of this abuse we decided to go get more woodchips as the first load didn’t cover the entire area. While waiting for the trailer to be filled, Einstein (once again not Holming) saw a man bringing in a bunch of cut down trees to dispose of at this place. It turns out that this place takes green waste at a very cheap rate. Since the trailer was on loan to us from this place at no extra charge, Einstein had the best idea of all ideas!!! She says “honey, why don’t you chop down as many bushes and trees as you can while I unload the second trailer by myself?” It took a bit of convincing and some much needed lunch, but he caved in.

About 8 hours later and 100 trips up and down the stairs while unloading the trailer then re-loading the trailer with tree branches and bushes, we are done!

Here is a picture from when we first moved in.

This photo was taken from the same spot, 2 years later, minus all the trees that Holming cut down.

This is the finished product.

Of note, we are making room further back for the chickens that we will soon start building for. Here is the photo for that.

The next day after completing this work, we could hardly move. Holming was better off than me. He got up and still made it to the gym. I, however stayed in bed till 8am, which for those that know me, know that is unheard of. We still have so much more to do but that’s the beauty of being a home owner. Till the next project!