Sunday: 9a.m.

Saturdays have become a sort of 'errand' day for us. It is the only time Hubby and I have together to get things done...since the world shuts down on Sundays. We're still trying to figure our best route for the fence. I hate looking at our neighbors, so I'd rather put money into a really tall hedge than to just fix the fence I already don't see the purpose of. This is how it looks from our patio (which Hubby put in himself...the yard was just a big dirt field when we moved in.) The upper right hand corner is just about where the neighbor's deck is. You can kind of see the slope of the yard and if the neighbors are on their deck, which is a normal raised deck, their eye level is just over the top of the fence. This is a slightly better view of how the back corner of the lot slopes down. It's a good couple of feet below the level of the house. Here's the patch job they (mostly Hubby) did on the broken section of fence.

We looked into having a new fence put in, but we wanted to raise the level of the 'ditch' so that the fence would actually give us a 6 foot privacy fence, instead of the 4 feet it gives us now. The only place we went to that was open yesterday, does not do any landscaping aspects, so wouldn't be able to grade the yard. I have some friends who landscape so I am hoping to catch them before they are too busy, and see if they'd be able to do it. Then we can maybe salvage the panels that are not broken (or rotted) and put up the 'new' fence ourselves.

The other possibility, since we are putting money back into this, is to ask my friends the price tag of a fully grown (or nearly fully grown) hedge. Then I don't really care if the fence eventually falls into the neighbors yard. In the meantime, I've already bought bare root hedges that I'm just going to plant elsewhere and then transplant them later, when I know where they are going.

In other yard news, My bleeding hearts are growing about 4 inches a day, it seems! I saved this one from our front yard the year after we moved in. There was a white one and a pink one, but the white one was too far gone. The brilliant man who lived here before planted them in full sun, but they are shade plants. It grows to a height about mid-way up our outdoor shower wall...that's about 4 feet I think.
My parsley kept on growing through the winter. It wasn't particularly pretty, but now that the weather is warming, it's doing quite nicely. This is actually from just a couple days ago!
And, my hair cut. After leaving the salon, I went to the bank. The first thing the teller said was, 'I like your haircut! It's sharp!' I think she maybe meant it makes me look like a serious person...not the bum that I looked like in my raincoat and muddy shoes?

At work the next day, most people said it was nice, though I definitely felt some were just being polite. One girl, who couldn't believe I was cutting it, and even said, 'I love your hair longer' saw me and said, 'WHY DID YOU CUT YOUR HAIR???'
It is a bit drastic at first...even when I keep it short, I feel a little regret the first couple of days. But I think it's because I used to keep my hair long. Last time it was long and I got it all cut off, I had 17 inches to donate to Locks of Love. But I really do like it short. It gives me an odd feeling of confidence. Maybe because I don't have my hair to 'hide' me, I have to be more assertive on my own?? Whatever...I'll look into my issues in private.
And this coming week I have to seriously think about what to do with my etsy shop. I have it in vacation mode right now, but I am not sure if it's worth reopening. I haven't made anything new, or even gone into my studio in several months. My schedule now certainly leaves me with plenty of time to create; but, I never feel creative any more. Maybe I need to just get in there and 'play'...no expectations or projects...just play time. Hopefully by week's end, I'll know where I stand.

Until next time...