PRIMPING THE HOUSE & YARD

I'm celebrating spring...I think it's finally come to the Midwest.  Well, I'm pretending anyway.  We have some sort of flowering bush next to our front steps and the fragrance is blowing in through the windows...I wish I could bottle it!  I have a busy weekend ahead of me, a busy week, so I'll dispense with the weather report, I think we can all agree that we're going directly from winter to summer!

First off, I received my area rug for the living room.  The dogs took to it right away, sniffing and rolling and stretching out on it.  Milo looks like a polar bear in a snowstorm!  You might remember the debacle I went through at the post office returning the wrong size.  Well, after a week I called LL Bean to see if they had received it yet (and did they credit my account) and I got some mumbo jumbo about it taking 3-4 weeks.  Well, let's just say that after I told them I really wanted the credit so I could order a larger rug...shazamm, I got an email and we were good to go.  Nothing against LL Bean, I love them and both times my rugs were delivered within 5 days.  And I love it...so soft and thick.

Now, to mix a little bad with the good, here is my front lawn thanks to our wonderful lawn service (this is turning into Consumer Reports).  Apparently we got some grubs last summer that slowly ate the grass and the lawn service did not treat it.  Actually, we thought we were in bad shape because of the drought, but they came out a few weeks ago and said the lawn was gone and they would rip it out and reseed it.  That's the last we heard from them.  We've had this service for almost 7 years and they are widely used in our neighborhood.  They just won't return our calls.

Last week I hired a nice, small company that is going to start the work Monday. Then we plan to send the bill to the old service.   It's obviously going to be a sore sight to see for awhile and it saddens me that we won't be able to get wedding pictures in front of the house, but the backyard is fine.  Anyway, I need this like a need a hole in my head.

My week actually wasn't that busy.  I went for another dress fitting Tuesday.  The seamstress, Maria, is incredible.  It was big in the neckline and shoulders and she just pulled that up and pinned it and the dress took on a whole new look.  I hate to jinx things but I think I actually saw a bit of my waist.  Shhhhh!  I've gone 3 weeks without sweets except some cookies yesterday for good behavior, so maybe I lost 1/16 of an inch.  I think I may have lost some of my boobs, too.  That's only because I got some new bras and the Gods do not want them to fit.  Anyway, I did a little here and there around the house all week and after a long day downtown yesterday, Abby met me and The Husband at a Mexican restaurant for dinner.  I'm working on her bedroom, too, as the bridesmaids will be using it for a dressing room.  She cleaned and organized (and found some birthday presents from 2 years ago) and I have a new dust ruffle, pillow shams and rugs to finish it up with. 

The rehearsal and  dinner is Wednesday night.  The dinner is actually at a more casual place than my son Kevin's was at.  I ordered this sundress from Gap and I'm going to wear a white jean jacket with it.  I was thinking of some straw wedges for shoes, hmmmmm...what do you think?  This dress will be great for the summer when we take little trips to small towns around the lake...it will go from day to night.  And it's navy, not black.

I had to throw this in, it's not as if you can read it, but it gives you an idea of the wedding party Emily and Mike have.  Yep, this whole page.  This is the church program.  16 bridesmaids and 16 groomsmen, 2 junior bridesmaids, 4 flower girls and 3 ring bearers. The Husband thinks Emily is nuts, I think she saw too many Disney movies!

I'm hoping to post after the rehearsal so that I don't have to mix that into a post with the wedding, which is Friday.  I hope I'm not boring all of you with this.  A week from now all in Blondie's world will be back to some sense of normalcy.  I hope.  

Have a great weekend! :)

XO,

Jane