Thank you very mulch...

Working in the yard is definitely not my favorite task around the house. I'm not one of those people who can't stand getting dirty, but the minute I hear the words "do some yard work", I immediately get a case of Elvis-lip (you know, when your upper lip pulls up in one corner as if a fish-hook yanked it). I hate admitting it, because it makes me sound so obnoxiously whiny, but I think subconsciously I loathe yard work because I know being outside sweating in the Florida humidity will frizz my hair. You see, my hair and I have a very complicated relationship with one another. We fight like cats and dogs and rarely get along. We've threatened to go to the mattresses on more than one occasion, but somehow always manage to make up in the end. These days I'm sporting a chin-length angled bob, tamed with Chi silk infusion and my trusty straightener. She's behaving...for now, but she punishes me severely this time a year when it starts getting very hot outside. Our fights will undoubtedly escalate into the summer months, but hopefully we can work something out...I haven't told her yet that we're going to the Keys in June. I know she's going to be furious at me, so I'll have to pack lots of beach hats and rubber bands. Oh hair, I wish I could quit you...

Lucky for me, I have the most awesome husband in the world who works harder than anybody I know. Always willing to take one for the team, he dove right into the yard this past weekend. He's been dying to tweak the plant bed in front of our house that our builder created for us. We originally were given some basic green shrubs, some Heather plants, and a Japanese Blueberry tree right on the corner of the house. The shrubs are the only ones that made the cut. We loved the JB, but my in-law's have two of them in their front yard and those bad boys grow up to be monster-humongous trees. Seeing that it was planted right on the corner of the house (a careless move on whoever landscaped our house), we knew it needed to go. We actually ended up giving it to one of our neighbors, who had loads of backyard room for it. It has now been replaced with a very pretty Azalea topiary. We were told at the nursery that it will only grow to be about 8 feet high, which I can handle.

Our Heather plants, I'm afraid, didn't make it. I really liked them, but after the particularly nasty winter we had in Florida this year, they were too far gone and decided not to grow back. Oh well. We replaced them with yellow African Irises and some pretty Impatients. I chose Impatients because my mother had tons of them in our flower beds when I was growing up. My mom had a bit of a black thumb, but still managed to never kill the Impatients. So if she could do it, then I can do it! In addition to that, we re-mulched all of the beds and around the Red Maples along the side of the house. By the way, don't you just love how I keep saying "we" did this? The only credit I can really take is handing the hubby a few shovels and rakes and bringing him cold bottled water, but at least it's something! Thanks hun!