I see weeds...

...when I close my eyes. This last weekend, my parents came up to help L. and I with the yard work. We figured out a few more species (?) of plants in our yard, and went to Fred Meyers to get some additional gardening equipment that will make our lives much, much easier when it comes to the yard. L. and my step dad went up to L.'s old townhouse to do some yardwork to make it a little more appealing for prospective renters. It's amazing how out of control a yard can get without a few weeks of care.

While they were gone, my mom and I went to work in the yard here at the house. We started out with an empty yard-waste bin and ended up with an overflowing one full of weeds, pine needles, leaves, and clipped branches off of trees and bushes. It looks amazingly better. We have a couple more areas to finish up weeding, but it's all pretty much done now. We got a couple of soaker hoses, so we need to lay those around some of the plants in the next few days. That will make watering a lot easier than it currently is.

Tonight, we took some flowers and a card over to our next-door neighbor, G. It was a thank you for hauling away some stuff from our yard for us and helping us out by trying to get in touch with the sellers for a few things. He's been so nice. He invited us in, and we chatted with him and his wife, S., for awhile. We were pleased to hear that they are also liberal, so we had a nice discussion about the state of the union. Turns out that several other neighbors are also liberal, but there are a few conservatives around. I guess that makes for a well-rounded neighborhood. We'll all cancel each other out at the polls this year.

Overall, we're starting to get into our groove here. We still have a lot of unpacking to do, but that is in part due to an uncertainty about how we're going to use certain rooms. I got some of the bathroom stuff unpacked and put away on Saturday after we made a run to Fred Meyers for some baskets and other organizational items. On Sunday, we ordered a corner TV table for our family room, and once we get that, we can situate it and the bookcases, and then unpack everything in here. The table is off getting finished in the same distressed black that most of my furniture is, so it will be a few weeks until we get that piece. The other room is in serious need of some furniture, but we're going a bit slowly because it's rather expensive to buy good-quality pieces. So, that may need to wait a couple of weeks until the next paycheck and then we'll do a little more shopping and get that room in order. Until then, these two rooms are full of boxes. Upstairs, the guest room is full of boxes of collectibles, but L. is going to put those in the attic. Then we just have to tackle the craft/music room and unload everything in there. Right now it's just a mess of boxes and random crap that has nowhere else to go. All in good time, I guess. At least everything is here, so hopefully we'll get it all sorted out over the next few months and then we won't see boxes again for a good, long time.