My Dream Garden

This was our pool. It cost so much more money to maintain than it was worth, so we sold it. I am so glad to be rid of it and now I don't have to fish dead animals out of it ever again!

This is what it looked like after we removed the pool. With a lot of help from my friend, Melanie, we removed all (well, most) of the rocks and raked it all so that it was level.
And with the profit from the pool, we were able to put in my dream garden! Salsa fresca, anyone? You'll have to wait two months or so. The two rows in the back are our 8 blueberry bushes. Well, right now they look more like blueberry sticks, but give them a few years.

Two Windows

This is the unfinished part of our basement that we hope will be a much needed third bedroom by the end of the summer. The old window pictured here was way too high and too small to be a legal egress, so we replaced it. Actually, we watched while a friend of ours from church replaced it. He had a jackhammer!!

Here's how the new window looks. Much prettier! Cutting through three layer of cinder block proved to be a huge challenge.
The second window project was my kitchen. This was a much easier project because all it needed was paint, new blinds, and a new treatment. This was how it looked when we moved in. It was dark and gloomy, and I was not a fan of the wallpaper trim.

Here's the new look.

8 Years Old

Melissa turned 8 on Sunday!! We had a fun little family party for her. She will be having her "friend" party in another week, then in June will be baptized and officially become a member of the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We had to put it off until then for a lot of reasos, but she doesn't mind as long as it means lots of family will be here for her. She is very excited for that, and we are so proud of her. We love you so much, Melissa!

Yes, my yard is a mess of weeds. No worries, the flower order is on it's way.

Anyone notice a Thumbelina theme going on? She is all girl! Her dad finally got her hooked on Legos now, though, so I guess we don't need a boy.

I've Been Published!!

Ok, so it's only the local newspaper's opinion section, but it's still fun to see my name in print. Here's the letter I responded to:


Faith in politics
Although I carefully read Maggie Gallagher's recent rant ("Gay marriage and the future of religious liberty," The Daily Item, April 9 ) against gay and lesbian marriage, I came away just as confused as before. What I simply cannot understand is, "Why does she care?"
Indeed, why does anyone care? It is no skin off anyone else's nose if that gay or lesbian couple down the street want to marry.
How is Ms. Gallagher or anyone else, for that matter, even slightly inconvenienced by someone else getting married to whomever they wish?
Perhaps by way of argument, Ms. Gallagher writes, "... God himself made man male and female and commanded men and women to come together in a special way to image the fruitfulness of God."
Be that as it may, she is certainly free to believe it or not as she sees fit. So am I. And so is everyone else in this country. She, and everyone else in this country, is even at liberty to live her personal life by that rule, if that is what she wants.
But in this country religious belief is entirely a private matter. And what neither she nor anyone else is at liberty to do is to attempt to impose, by force of law, their private religious beliefs on other people.
Dale Hurliman,
Beavertown

And the link to my letter!:
http://www.dailyitem.com/0109_opinion/local_story_110000041.html

My Easter Girls

Easter Eggs

Hooray for the Jorgensens!! We were able to have another great visit with our great friends and colored Easter eggs together. Melanie and I worked an entire day shoveling rocks out of the garden while she was here. It's not finished yet, so those pictures will come later. Thanks for the help, Mel!

New Playhouse

Our neighbor loves to build things and had built this cute playhouse just for the fun of it. He doesn't have little children and thought our girls would enjoy playing with it, so he brought it down into our yard. It's got shingles and siding and real double-hung windows. The girls were so excited when they saw him bringing it! Maybe this will make up for the lack of a pool.