Still Digging Those Rocks

It actually took me all of Thursday and most of today to finish putting down my rocks. By the end of school on Thursday I had finished all the digging. However, once I starting laying the rock I realized that I had gone a little overboard on on the digging. I was not about to pick up the rock just to put some dirt back. It seemed easier to just go buy more rock. (!) A total of five trips and over fifty bags of rock later I finally had enough rock. I think it will look great. It's a little hard to tell as the rocks are covered in dust. We'll see what they look like after a good rain storm washes all the dirt off.

I'm Diggin' This

Wow, really on a streak this week - four good days in a row. Started the day on a high note by having breakfast with a friend. Breakfast ran almost all the way to lunch, we were having such a great time. Then I started a yard project I've been meaning to do for several years. I'm putting landscape rock along the fence in the back yard. I'm tired of growing weeds back there. I'm also hoping that the rock will help with the rainwater runoff back there. Before I can put the rock down though, the old mulch and some of the dirt has to come up. That meant three hours with a spade, a shovel and a hoe and a five gallon bucket. Ended the day with a bit of a downer - rehearsal for Theo's confirmation was BORING! However, since the rest of the day was so good, I'm willing to overlook a few things.

Keeping Up the Good Work

Today was another good day, which makes three in a row. I treated myself to a pecan sweet roll for breakfast. I then proceeded to work it off by cleaning the living room and dining room. I was supposed to plan birthday parties for the boys, but decided that I'd done enough work for one day. The boys and I ended the day in front of the tv again as today was TV Tuesday: NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles, our favorite shows. I watch Top Gear, but my heart isn't in it. I live for Tuesdays. Mark Harmon is still handsome, if not as young as he was on St. Elsewhere. The original McDreamy, in my opinion.

On this day in history:
1945 - my mom is born - Happy Birthday, Mom!
1990 - Tim proposed - on the beach, at sunset, on one knee with ring

Getting Off to a Good Start

For the second week in a row, I had a productive start to my week. I planned my meals for the week, bought my groceries and still had time for a nice lunch at Panera before going to Theo's volleyball game after school. After dinner, the boys and I watched the season finale of Top Gear on BBC America. All in all, a very good day. I got done what needed to be done and still had plenty of time to do a few things I wanted to do as well. I think I even got the dinner dishes done.

A Day Off

Today should have been a very busy day. We were supposed to go to 9:30am mass followed by Theo's final confirmation class. Then we were going to rush home to make two soccer games. When I woke up this morning, I decided that I just couldn't do all of that. So we skipped the only thing I had any choice over - mass. Theo still had to go to confirmation class, but that didn't start until 10:45am. Brendan and I went to a nearby bakery during class and had a nice leisurely breakfast. As we left church, it started to pour. Just as I was trying to come to terms with standing outside in the rain for four hours through two soccer games, the phone rang. The park district cancelled all the games! I got my entire afternoon back! The boys and I did do a little housecleaning, but mostly we enjoyed listening to the rain while we rested. I love rainy Sundays!

Running Around Again

Today I finally got Theo registered for summer track camp, something I've been meaning to do since registration opened on April 6. My sleep till noon teenager is voluntarily signing up for a running camp that starts at 6:45am every week day. Which means I have "volunteered" to leave the house at 6:30am every week day to run him across town in my car. Ought to be an interesting four weeks for both of us. I'm not exactly a morning person myself. After all, I spent the entire morning on the couch watching tv. The only thing that got me going today was my promise to be the flower lady for church this week. I had to run to Home Depot for new flowers for the altar, run up to church to drop off the new flowers and take out the old ones and run back to the middle school before band ended at 4pm. I ended the day "helping" our friend Julian install a new wireless access point in our house to replace the two outdated ones Tim installed several years ago. Now we're running around the house finding all the electronic devices that talk to the wireless network and moving them to the new access point. Whew!

Last of the Lasts

Tonight was the spring open house at the middle school. This was the last of the lasts. The last time we did something with Tim, like the last Boy Scout camp out, the last movie we saw together or the last Christmas. The 2009 spring open house was the last school event that Tim attended. A week later he was back in the hospital and never came home again.

We are also nearing the end of the year of firsts. The first father's day without Tim was a week after his death. That was the first first. Theo will be confirmed a week from tomorrow. That will be the first big life event without Tim. I have no doubt that we will encounter many more firsts, but after this June 13, the first anniversary of his death, they will come less often. At least, I hope so, although I don't expect them to be any less painful.