Ugh.
I've started a handful of entries over the past few days which I haven't finished yet.
I'm tired.
We have a HUGE crowd of family coming in this weekend to see Grace. For the first time in three years we will be able to host guests. Offer them clean rooms to sleep in. Offer them a FULLY FUNCTIONING bathroom. Okay, so the kitchen is dismantled right now. But we have a grill! And it feels SO good to get back to hospitality because we love, love, love house guests.
In the meantime, we are frantically cleaning/rearranging/organizing so power tools and ladders aren't strewn about in every room. Yesterday, I was wrestling with the lawnmower at 8 pm. Then I decided to get ambitious and trim the yews (the yews that I despise). The yews have not been trimmed in so long that they resemble the Rubber Band Man from the Office Max commercials.
I started hacking away at these poor (but despised!) bushes. And decided that I am less about aesthetics at this point and more about damage control. Since I couldn't reach the overgrowth at the very top of the yews, they now resemble "Kid" from Kid n Play. I've decided to never trim Grace's hair myself.
Today, I am still exhausted. My back hurts and I really need to have it checked out. My sinuses are pulsing in my skull because my allergies are protesting, "Why did WE have to mow the lawn???!!! We hate LAWNS!" I feel old. And ornery. As in "Hey! You kids! Get off of my lawn!!" That type of old and ornery.
However, the weather is nicer this week. And the baby is temporarily done with teething. And it has been fun working with Aaron on our many projects. (He can make me laugh like no one else can. Well, except for Jon Stewart.) I accepted an adjunct faculty position at Northwestern starting this fall and I love to teach. I woke up under the skylights in the bedroom this morning and thought, "If anyone had asked me three years ago how I saw the summer of 2006 unfolding, I wouldn't have thought of anything as nice as this."
But I still hate the yews.
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Comments
hey! congratulations on the new gig!!
oh and we mutter "Hey you kids! Get off of my lawn" to each other on a regular basis. I understand the urge to yell it.
Posted by: merideth | August 9, 2006 2:14 PM
Hey thanks! It's actually an old/new gig. I used to be adjunct there in a different program in the School of Educ. It's been about two years. I've missed it!
Posted by: jm | August 9, 2006 2:21 PM
I second the congrats! Sounds fun!
Posted by: Kristin | August 9, 2006 2:29 PM
See, I wish that I loved houseguests. Theoretically, I should love houseguests. I'm all about Martha Stewart, I love my home and love showing it off, I like to cook for others, I love to entertain, etc, etc. But within about 48hr of the arrival of anyone into my domain, I am itching for them to leave. I think it's a privacy thing. Maybe if I had a full-on guest house and not just a guest suite, it would be better. I really hate this part of me. But it's there.
Enjoy your guests, the lovely Midwestern summer weather, and your new job!
Posted by: Pink | August 9, 2006 3:17 PM
I wonder if anyone out there likes yews anyway? I have yet to meet someone who does. But we all love yew guys at Hip. hahaha-very bad I know-but I liked this post :)
Kep on keeping on and I hope you enjoy you company!
Posted by: Jocelyn | August 9, 2006 8:54 PM
This weekend I was inside minding my own business when Dr. Tully Monster walked in and announced that he'd lost something behind the yews in front of our garage and he was going to simply hack them down and retrieve it.
I said, "OK."
An hour later, I walked outside to find bare stumps in front of the garage and a pile of yew carnage on the front lawn. We spent the rest of the afternoon hacking them up and bagging them. Surprisingly, it's not nearly as shockingly bare as I'd expected. Our across-the-street neighbors, who have also been gradually getting rid of theirs, applauded.
As a replacement, I'm thinking winterberry, which will feed the birds as well as be beautiful and intriguing for 3.5 seasons.
Yews are for developers and landscapers with no imagination.
Posted by: tully monster | August 9, 2006 10:37 PM
I hate yews also. I don't have any idea how they got to be so popular... We put ours out of their misery a month or so ago, and it looks SO much better! I was appalled at how many bugs made their home in the yews. We actually let the carnage sit for a day before cleaning it up in hopes that all of the buggies would migrate elsewhere (which was only partially successful, since they seemed to like the unattached yew branches almost as much as the full bush). Either way, I'm glad they're gone.
Posted by: Di | August 9, 2006 10:51 PM
I don't even know what a yew is! I subscribe to the neglect it until it withers and dies method of yard maintenance.
I am having over night house guests today, and I can't wait for thehouse to be in better shape so I can do it more often. You know it's bad when on your to do list is hang the bedroom door and connect the toilet plumbing
Hope you have a great time
Posted by: chris | August 10, 2006 4:56 AM
Ah, the dreaded curse of the yews. I think we have a pair that matches yours.
Posted by: jane | August 10, 2006 11:40 PM