So...restarting a great habit in a new month, let's get started with this week's weekend recap and a list of what I want to accomplish before next Sunday rolls around!
First, my weekend recap. You've already seen my teaser posting on our mini-vacation from Saturday...and a much longer photojournal posting is coming this evening. Beyond that, we spent Sunday getting things done around the house. After a nice hour-long phone chat with our niece and nephew, we headed out to the garden to pull weeks for a few hours.
With frequent breaks to account for the heat and our desire to see what was happening with the NASCAR race, we ended up spending about three hours on our knees. The result? Almost the entire lawn-clippings cart full of pulled weeds, and a much nicer looking garden. We concentrated on the back left corner, which is the biggest portion of the English garden, as well as the plotted garden around one of the pecan trees. The bulbs that we planted back in March in the back left corner of the English garden are coming up (pun intended) with mixed results. Some have flourished nicely; others don't seem to have done a thing. The result is quite a bit of empty space in the middle of the largest bed, which measures around 6 ft deep by 12 ft long. We'll be looking for other plants to settle there for this summer and beyond.
We completely cleared the bed around one of the pecan trees, and we'll plant fillers there - just for some color. It was the site of last summer's strawberry garden...which was a collosal flop. I think it'll look much prettier with pansies planted.
The filler plants we have in the ground surrounding one of the other pecan trees are doing well, thank God, considering we planted like six dozen little plants. The weeds are fairly well under control there, too, so that's encouraging.
In our veggie garden, the onions are flourishing, and three nice-sized tomatoes are busily growing. We've already picked and used the first crop of jalapenos - tasty! It seems that the asparagus and cucumbers aren't doign anything - we'll call those a loss. Strawberries aren't coming up either. Another loss. We're batting .500 here. I don't think we'll reattempt strawberries or asparagus, but we'll plant some replacement cucumbers most likely.
The rose garden is doing very well - lots of colorful blooms! The weeds continue to be a huge hassle there, however. We're basically pouring nuclear-winter-strength stuff into the ground and they still keep coming back. ARGH!
Out in the front yard, things are nicely groomed these days and well under control - some weeds need to be picked from the tall decorative grass, but for now, they're blending in nicely.
All-in-all, we're having a much more successful growth summer this year than last - yahoo! I'll post pictures of our pretty yard later! It sure is a lot of work keeping up with a property that measures almost 3/4 of an acre, but the end result is awesome!
We topped off last evening by spluring on pizza (my whim) and watching a few shows that our DVR had recorded. Nice evening, all around! I even got some crocheting done and added on about three inches to one of the blankets I'm making. PLUS, I organized all of the books that I've read but haven't yet reviewed for my book blog - more on that in my goals!
Now, on to the fun stuff: THIS WEEK'S GOALS!
I have a lot of ambition for this week, but am trying to temper that versus the reality of the time I have available. So here we go:
- Add six books per day, Monday-Friday, to my book blog: Read and Review: Tiffany's Tomes.
At that rate, I'll catch up with the TWENTY-SEVEN books that I'm currently behind by, as well as the one I'm nearly finished and the next that I should finish by week's end. Yahoo! - Add 1000 words per day, Mon/Wed/Thur to a short story I'm composing for a contest. Add 2500 words on Tues/Fri.
At that rate, I'll complete the story by week's end, since my target is around 7500 words. That'll leave me several weeks to edit, revise, and submit to my critique group, ahead of the July 1st contest entry deadline. More words expected for Tuesday, because I'll have four+ dedicated hours on the plane flying to MSP and back. More for Friday since it's week's end and Chris'll be at work that night. - Complete critique of remaining chapters for a critique partner's work in progress - 1-to-2 chapters per night, Monday-Friday.
I have, I believe, 6 or 7 chapters remaining. - Blog here at Breakfast at Tiffany's seven more times before week's end.
- Apply for Guide job at About.com that is totally and completely up my alley.
- Finish implementing design change to Breakfast at Tiffany's.
- Announce BIG NEWS and reveal THE HIDDEN BLOG.
- Sleep. Yeah, I need to do that, too!
Those are my goals for the week - what are yours?
Post a Comment