More Yard Work, Parents Over

Very tired now... I felt like I never stopped moving all day.

I got up around 8:30 or so, had breakfast, watched TV, and did my morning news, mail, and blogs. I also finally started to get my blinkies up-and-running again. We switched to Verizon a few months ago, but still had been using our Comcast web storage space. Well, apparently the space expired, and we lost everything we had stored there, including the blinkie I made myself. :-( So, Meg went on a hunt for new blinkies for me, and I just got everything up again the way it was before.

After my usual morning routine, I got started on the yard work, which took pretty much the entire day. I...

• Raked up the bigger sticks on the front lawn.
• Mowed the front lawn.
• Weedwhacked the front lawn, trimming the edges of the sidewalk, driveway, and curb in the process.
• Started by blowing as many grass clippings off the lawn as I could, but gave up and decided it was easier to do with a rake.
• Cleaned up the sidewalks and driveway with the leaf blower.
• Watered the front lawn.
• Mowed the back yard.
• Weedwhacked the back yard.
• Cleaned off both decks with the leaf blower.
• Cleaned off (with bleach) one of the extra patio chairs, since it was all grey and gross.
• Re-filled the Tiki torch oil, and replaced wicks where needed.

After all of this, I went inside, and did the upstairs floors with the Floormate, and vacuumed our room and the nursery. Meg took care of cleaning the rest of the house, and going back to Wal-Mart to get the stuff we lost when we forgot to take one of our bags on Friday.

I finished the floors pretty much in time to shower, then my parents, Nick, and Scamp got here for dinner. Meggie had marinated London broil this morning, so I cooked it on the grill. This was a first for me, doing beef on the grill. At first I thought I didn't cook it enough, but I let it sit for a while after I carved it (I did let it 'rest' before carving too), and it looked better. It tasted delicious--very tender, and good flavor. We also had mashed potatoes, corn, salad, and beer bread. We had dinner out on the patio, which was nice, but it got a little chilly towards the end of dinner when it got dark. For dessert, my parents brought water ice from the Water Ice Factory, and a Friendly's Tiramasu roll.

I asked my parents to bring Scamp along, because the two dogs play, and it tires both of them out. It is good for Max to get some interaction with another dog from time to time. Sometimes they both ignore each other, but most of the time, they are chasing each other around the backyard, or wrestling, as seen below:

Dinner was fun, although I am exhausted, and probably won't remember much of the evening (good thing for this blog). After my parents and Nick left, Meg and I gave our next clue to Baby D's name. Check out the clue, and keep on guessing!