About This Picture

See the flower pot in the corner to the right of the grill?  I fear I have never successfully grown a single flower in it.  No, not one.  You see, when we moved in, it was sitting there full of trash.  Somehow, we continued to use it for trash.  And that has been it's purpose ever since.  The flower pot trash can.

See that round thing to the right of the air conditioner?  That is our old pool filter.  The very same filter that a certain dog who is now gone chewed a hole in.  It has been moved from point A to B all over our yard.  We can't seem to part with it as it must have a purpose.  We were just unsure what purpose it had...But now that my husband is all set to make our back yard an outdoor living space he has decided to use it for a water feature. He has attempted to explain the details to me numerous times, but I fear my eyes glaze over and I begin to fantasize about what to cook for dinner, and I lose track of where he's going.  I just know it will someday be a fountain.  And it will be made well, because Studmuffin does nothing halfway.  That is enough for me to know for now.

See that table and chairs with the lovely turquoise bench?  I got that table at a junk store for $25.  I painted it with a can of outdoor paint I had to buy because I was utterly in love with the color.  I had no concrete plan for the paint when I bought it.  Studmuffin rolled his eyes and lived in secret fear that I was going to paint the house that color.  Or the door.  Or the shutters that we have plans to build...Imagine his relief when I came home with that table and announced I had found a purpose for the paint!  The bench was from Aunt Aleta's basement.  It was brown, and you could see flecks of blue, green, and even white paint under it.  I sanded it down and slapped some paint on it, and called it good.  I love that bench.

See the flagstone under our grill?  Originally that was a flower bed filled with white rocks.  It was full of weeds.  It was unsightly.  Last summer Studmuffin tore out the rock and went to a local store to buy pave stone.  The guy practically gave it to him along with the crushed granite we used to grout it in place.  It looks so much better now, and the grill is in the perfect location to cut through the garage to the kitchen with our burgers!  I love that flagstone.


See the awning on our gazebo?  It originally had a canvas awning that did not last through one summer of Oklahoma winds.  I went to a home improvement store to find a cheap remedy to the problem.  I found this sunshade fabric on clearance for about twenty bucks and bought some electrical ties to anchor it down.  One day we ripped off the old, tattered canvas and guesstimated a pattern for our clearance sunshade fabric.  We strapped it down and have been enjoying it ever since.  Oliver the cat loves to get up on it and sun.  It is his personal hammock.  I love this gazebo.

See the flower pots?  I planted zinnia and wildflower seeds in one of them.  I'm not sure how well they will do, but right now it's exciting to watch the little sprouts grow bigger each day.  In another I put in the salvia that I got for Mother's Day from my girls.  In the other I dug up the marigolds from around my yard and planted them.  They are doing wonderfully.  Why buy flowers when you can just pull the dead heads off of your existing flowers?  They will come back year after year from seed.  The challenge is when spring comes to know what's flowers and what's weeds in your beds!  I love flowers.

See the freshly painted siding and trim?  Studmuffin and his brother painted the house one weekend.  It was fun to have his brother and two of his children spend a few days with us.  I love how the tan and dark brown make our house look fresh and new.

See that man sitting on the newly built flower beds?  The one with the hideous burnt orange Browning hat that he swears he makes look good?  I despise that hat and he knows it.  That man works very hard to make things for me that I will love.  He is meticulous and a perfectionist when I would build everything out of duct tape and bailing wire.  He takes his time and works hard to make things look beautiful.  He is methodical and organized where I am impulsive and carefree.  He balances me.

I will have been married to this man for fifteen years in one week.  He has put up with  my remodeling ideas and endless paint schemes and even responded gracefully to coming home to find things ripped apart in a moment of inspiration.  His patience will surely be greatly rewarded in heaven!  He gets more handsome every year and I grow to love him more with each day.  I am so glad God gave him to me.

I love that man.