Middle Age and Beyond: Happy Anniversary to me!

Yesterday was my one year anniversary. It has been 365 days since I last had gainful employment. It wasn't until I was looking through my facebook notes this morning that I realized what a funny coincidence this is. Here is a picture I posted to facebook telling how I spent my first day of unemployment.

And here's a picture of how I spent my day yesterday.

I don't know, it just seems beyond weird that in my entire life, I've probably only spent two days working outside in my flower/herb gardens and it just so happens that they fell exactly one year apart. And it just so happens that I took pictures both days! I promise you, this was not by design!

So anyway..... the gardens were a mess! I had been thinking about working in them for almost two weeks and with each beautiful day that passed, I felt guiltier and guiltier for not getting this done. So yesterday, I went up the road to what used to be Sandpoint (it has some new name now, which I can't remember) and spent $50 on a few perennials and some top soil. I came home determined to work outside and get my patio looking nice.

Here are the steps I usually follow when attacking any project that demands physical labor:

1. Spend several days pretending like I'm going to do it, but then realize that it is too late in the day to get started. Make a plan to start first thing the next morning. Do this for several days, or maybe even weeks.

2. Realize I need to make a list of things to do and gather before I can start my project. Make a list and then repeat step one.

3. Begin collecting the items on my list.

4. Once everything is finally ready and all purchases have been made, sit down and look at the area in which I will be working. Check the time to see if it's lunch time.

5. Eat lunch.

6. Start in with the physical labor. Work hard for five minutes then take a break to stand up and look around. Work hard for ten more minutes.

7. Sit down and take a break.

8. Wonder if maybe I've been a bit too ambitious in thinking this is a project I can finish in one day.

9. Go back to work and repeat steps six through eight until the project is done.

Sometimes, it doesn't go exactly like this. Sometimes, after step eight, I decided the project is too big and I quit for the day. But yesterday, I was a whirling Turkish dervish! I got the project all done, including planting two tomato plants and washing down the patio furniture. Here are the before and after pictures of the garden.

Before......