Yay, Freecycle!

The sand is gone! Finally, after three months of waiting, it's gone! Someone on my Freecycle group wanted it, and they came to pick it up when they said they would. It's so sweet, I can't even stand it. So, now, we finally have use of our patio. We cleaned it off yesterday (it's still got a bit of a sandy residue, but it'll get better with time). There's some crab grass trying to take over parts of the patio (and our sidewalk) that we need to address sometime (probably not until next year), but I think it still looks pretty sweet. Here are some photos from yesterday after we cleaned it.




As you can see, we now have a periwinkle chaise lounge. I did a little experiment with some fabric spray paint that went awry (do not buy that stuff: it's really, really terrible). I ended up spray painting it with an outdoor, multi-surface spray paint, and that seemed to work rather well. We'll see how it goes. I just know that buying new patio cushions is expensive, and if it weren't for the serious fading, that particular cushion would still be in good shape.

Doesn't the patio look sweet, though? It's going to take awhile before it's all cleaned up, but we're pretty excited about it. In a few years (once everything settles), I am thinking of tiling that cement slab that's under the patio table with a neat, durable, rough, outdoor tile. I think it'll dress up that nasty cement, and it'll really add something. If the brick ends up flush with the cement, I may do nothing. We'll see. Only time will tell.

Here are some other photos of our garden action:




We're going to have a serious amount of tomatoes very soon. A lot of these are volunteers, too. We didn't get them all caged (huge mistake), so I think we're probably going to lose a lot, too. Next year, we'll be smarter. We get a little smarter with this stuff every year.

In other Freecycle news, I am getting rid of some baby formula samples that I got while I was pregnant with Nora. People need this stuff, and Freecycle's a good way to do it. I actually got rid of some Enfamil brand formula this morning. I didn't realize it until I found a way to get rid of it, but I had a lot of that stuff. It would have been sad if I had just let it all go to waste.

This Freecycle thing is pretty sweet. So far, the people I'm meeting are friendly.

In other news in general, Willi's getting adventurous with the grill today. He's grilling beef ribs. It's going to take all day, apparently, and he's really nervous about it. I think it's going to be delicious. It already smells pretty good, and he's gotten to be quite handy with our charcoal grill.

Nora's not wanting to nap today. I finally just got her to go to sleep on my lap, and I think I'm going to go lay her down and join Willi outside. It's really nice out there. I hope she doesn't wake up when I lay her down. She's been doing that. Getting her to nap has become a bit of a challenge lately.

Dilly out!