Me vs. the Tree

I actually hadn't planned on getting much accomplished this weekend, so I was pleasantly surprised to find our Sunday relatively free and was able to do some outdoor updates. Saturday was super, super busy for us, but all with fun things: a brunch with some girls with whom I used to be in Bible Study, a friend's birthday party and another friend's going away party. Good times. Friday, J and I watched Mission Impossible 4, which was pretty good and fairly corny.

Back to today. We went by Home Depot for supplies for a project J is working on. While we were there, I got some stuff for the outdoors: a few plants and some tree trimmers.

My hyacinths aren't looking so hot. I'm not entirely sure why. Are they getting too little sun? It has been raining a lot and I used fertilizers and minerals and good soil when I planted... Oh well.

Here are the new plants I bought today! They are annuals and are supposed to last all summer. Here's hoping!

And some pictures of the front. I also bought the hanging impatients today. Impatients do really, really well in our yard because it's so shaded and will definitely be planted soon for the summer months. But right now, our pansies are doing super well (except for the one that one of our neighbor's kids was jumping on -- that one isn't doing so hot).

Overall, the front of the house is looking bright and happy.

Now, for the back. I have been battling our tree in the back. I like the tree, please don't get me wrong. It blooms in the spring, provides privacy in the summer, and turns pretty colors in the fall. However, it also constantly wants to steal the sunshine. I feel like the thing encroaches on our house whenever I turn around. So, I went to take down some branches. Oh and this bird's nest came down too. I think that explains the dead baby bird we found on our deck last year.

At other points today, it looked worse than this...

See the branch closest to the camera? Yea, I took that down. :)

Now the back is looking more open:

To give some perspective, this is the tree last year during the previous owner's open house. See all the low hanging branches? Now, the deck is getting more sun and space, while still getting the benefits of the tree.

We also cut down another branch of the tree in the backyard that we have been taking down in pieces. One day, that project will be done...

That's all for now. Bathroom work starts this week so get ready...

Hope you all had a great weekend!