friends' babies

not one but two of my dearest girlfriends had babies this week - what a week!

jami texted on saturday night to say that her water had broken, contractions hadn't really started yet, but they were planning to head to the hospital by 6am sunday unless thing picked up pace that night.  i didn't hear from her or her husband naseem at all on sunday, but finally monday checked facebook and saw that her sister-in-law had posted online late sunday that they'd had their baby boy, kaiden, on sunday.  (i still have yet to see pictures or meet him, but she e-mailed wednesday saying they were a little overwhelmed with the adjustment and would be in touch when they're ready to see people, which is of course fine with me!)

then this morning i got a text from alison that miranda was born early this morning - wow!  from pictures and commentary that her husband matt posted on facebook later today, it looks like she went into labor late last night and things progressed quickly enough that miranda was born by 6:30am.  she is absolutely adorable and has a full head of hair - so excited to meet her this summer!

mulch

one of the big things i'd like to change with our landscaping is the river rock we have going on in our yard.  rock seems to be a big thing for landscaping in colorado, and i kind of get that because it never needs replacing, doesn't require water, and doesn't blow away ... but it's just not pretty.  maybe i say that because i'm a midwesterner used to lush growing things and rich dark dirt, but as much as inanimate ground covering can say cozy and homey, mulch just says it to me and rock doesn't.  rock is fine in moderation, but i don't love it as a covering for the 800 or so square feet (very rough estimate) that it is currently occupying in our front and back yards. and that's not including the side yards!  since our rock is old and desperately in need of removing, washing (to get out all the weed seeds), and replacing the weed barrier under it bare minimum, we're trying to balance wants, price, and, to a certain extent, environmental impact.  research thus far reveals:

• river rock
• cost:  free.  even if we needed more to cover thin spots, there's always some for free on craigslist.
• pros:  only cost is to replace weed barrier underneath.
• cons:  we (i) don't love the look.
• wood mulch
• cost:  about $300.  consumer reports says wood mulch averages $1.50/cubic foot, recommends wood mulch 3" deep, which over 800 square feet would require 200 cubic feet of mulch (according to gardenplace.com).
• pros:  up front inexpensive replacement option.  if used without weed barrier, provides organic material to the garden as it decays, which neither rock nor rubber mulch do.  no need for weed barrier as with rock, but weed barrier can help the decay problem and thus mean less potential upkeep cost.
• cons:  needs a top coat of mulch each year or so to replace decayed/blown away stuff - averaging an extra inch of fresh mulch every year would cost about $100/year.  bugs love decaying wood mulch, and i don't love bugs.  environmental impact depends on source of mulch (ie, cypress mulch is bad, pine mulch from colorado potentially neutral).  if use weed barrier, mulch decay on top of barrier can provide material for weeds to grow on.
• rubber mulch
• cost:  about $1000.  lowes.com has .8cf bags for $8/each, consumer reports recommends 1.5" depth, so 100 cf total would require 125 bags.  we also have a 10% off lowe's coupon that may work with rubber mulch, so that could bring the cost down a bit.
• pros:  doesn't blow away, run off with heavy rains, or fade.  guaranteed for 10-15 years.  made 100% of recycled tires.  no need for weed barrier, and bugs don't like the stuff.  no annual upkeep.
• cons:  expensive out of pocket (although after 7-10 years the rubber mulch would likely pay for itself).

honestly, my gut instinct is to go with the rubber mulch - put in something environmentally friendly and low upkeep and be done with it.  clearly that sort of out-of-pocket outlay of cash requires some input from scott, though, so we'll see what he says!  i dubbed tomorrow a homey day - cleaning, mowing and pulling weeds, finishing laundry, grocery shopping, calling the tree trimmer/landscaper for an estimate and the masonry guy to set a date to fix our chimney, and maybe making a lowe's trip to get the water rebate toilets (and maybe mulch, and maybe light fixtures to add on the back of the house).  here's to productivity and trying not to sleep in too terribly late.

green thumb in training

i planted my little herb planter garden last night!  i planted from plants this year - maybe next year i'll brave seeds, depending on how this year's expedition goes.  we now have cilantro, sage, sweet basil, onion chives, and rosemary growing in a lovely green planter.  it's a little more crowded than i thought it would be, so i may have to separate them at some point.  again, we'll see.  i'm so excited for a summer full of tasty cooking, though!  especially the basil and rosemary - yum.  i saw an article a few months ago suggesting that you cut long sections of rosemary, strip the herby leaves, and use the wood as skewers for kabobs.  i'm not sure my rosemary will get big enough for that this year (it's a perennial, so hopefully i won't kill it this season), but how lovely does that sound??

when our friends jordan and miranda moved to minnesota, they gave us their railing-mount plastic planter.  i dumped out the soil last night, cleaned it up, and am spray painting it the same cappucino color as our shutters, with plans to mount it on the iron railing in front of our front door with some pretty flowers in it!  i have a notoriously brown thumb, so i'm not sure how my forays into gardening will go, but i'm mildly optimistic.  i also have plans to start a mini garden in a bare patch in our lawn next to the back patio - cherry tomatoes and zucchini are currently what i'm planning, but i may branch out.

oh, after pictures of the roof project are finally posted on facebook!  (as well as an early look at my gardening attempts.)

overview

ooh la la, a non-bargain-hunting post!  as i find the boundaries provided by numbering things comforting, i'll do list form (also to keep my verbose narrative in check):

1. we officially have our camping reservation for yellowstone in august!  plus, i spent the morning reading my frommer's yellowstone guide, and i'm getting steadily more excited.  there's just so much to see and do, i'm starting to wish we'd planned more than three to three and a half days there.  our campground is near the grand canyon of the yellowstone, and near the upper and lower falls, which are two of the things that i'd most hoped to see.  it's going to be challenging to balance getting out and hiking and experiencing the nature of the park with driving and wanting to see everything because it's all so cool and beautiful.
2. whoops, went onto facebook to find a link and got totally distracted!  our friends zach and casey, who were our first friends in denver, are moving to africa to work with friends at the recreation project.  their website explains it better, but basically uganda has tons of kids (and adults) really emotionally scarred from the history of war in their country and from being forced into fighting, so they're building a ropes course and sports rec leagues as a sort of recreational therapy, to help the kids channel their aggression and competition and passion into constructive things, and help build leadership.  we went to a fundraising bowling night last night to see them before they leave.  (we haven't seen them as a couple in ages, and casey and i haven't hung out since we both left our first apartment complex, but scott and zach still play poker, watch football, and do the occasional sports team together.)
3. in celebration of being alone in the office today, i had a diet coke with lunch (which i just finished drinking now, four hours later - i'm a slow drinker), and i've totally got the post-caffeine jitters.  i hate that feeling.
4. scott and i pulled our first weeds of the season yesterday.  we do have some more to do, but thankfully it's way less bad than last year - i'm hoping that if we start early, we can keep it under control and not have a thistle forest in our sideyard by mid-june.  we're also planning to call our tree trimmer who also does general landscaping work to get a bid on taking out some dead aspens and pulling out one of our dead-bush-and-dirty-river-rock areas so that we can start making our yard look pretty.  (it desparately needs new weed barrier and bushes, and we're debating whether to clean up the river rock or switch it out with mulch - either the traditional wood stuff or the rubber stuff.)  we're undecided how much to do ourselves vs hiring someone else to do ... it's just so much easier to write a check to someone else, but also obviously more costly.  also, we're excited to start re-planting trees this year!
5. tonight is my last night of tutoring gerardo.  (actually, not tutoring - it's the end of year celebration/dinner.)  he's ending 5th grade, which means that next year he starts middle school.  whiz kids is thinking of opening up a middle school tutoring site in the area since there are so many 5th graders moving up, but i'm not sure if he'll continue with it next year.  we shall see - it could be my last night with him ever, or i could get three more years!  (when i asked him about it last week, he said that he wants to not do it so that i can stay with the elementary school kids and tutor his little brother, who'll be in first grade next year.  how sweet is that??)

heart amazon

i love amazon!  i just ordered an svga cable to hook my computer up to the tv to do things like watch hulu.com on tv for $6.99 including shipping, an audio cable also for computer to tv usage for $6 with free shipping, a wirless rain sensor for $45 with free shipping that will be eligible for full rebate from our water company, and two filters for our vacuum for $8.15 each with free shipping.

for comparison, bestbuy.com listed a comprable length svga cable for $45, had a shorter audio cable for $9, and the reason that i haven't changed my vacuum filter in close to two years is that the filters at target/walmart cost $15-20 each which made me cranky.  that's a savings of approximately $55 total!

now, off to watch lost.  we decided that we're doing nothing but laundry and lounging today.  so far, we're on target!  (slept in til 10am - love it.)