Hotel Yorba Landscape Project

Earlier this Spring I told you how we got our pool renovated. It was a pretty easy, fast and Bob from AquaVision was very easy to work with. Even when we did have an issue, he was on it quick. The only real issue with the pool is that we can never use it since all it does is rain in the ATL. Total Bummer.

Our next big project is what we call the side yard. It is a mess and is usual Hotel Yorba style, has been for some time. We have been saying we needed to get it fixed but the hassle of meeting with people always got in the way. Well, since I am working from home, I can now meet with people for quotes. I went on a neighborhood social page and asked people for suggested landscapers. Well, one of the landscapers lives in the area and she contacted me. On a Sunday no less (via e-mail).

Need gravel and ground cover

Need gravel and ground cover

One big mud slide waiting to happen

One big mud slide waiting to happen

I met with Molly Welch of WDesigns Landscape yesterday. Points in her favor:

1. She was on time.

2. She liked Timber (he did the tour with us) and is also a cat person.

3. She is a woman who runs who own business.

4. I liked her.

Need more stone, rocks and cleaned up.

Need more stone, rocks and cleaned up.

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We walked around the whole yard, me with my list of different projects I want quotes on and she with her note pad. We then came in and I saw her portfolio of work. She worked a lot of huge houses in Sandy Springs. I have no idea how much this kind of thing costs. I have a meeting with another firm tomorrow and want to meet with a least one more, see their suggestions and get their quotes before we make a decision. I plan to do before, during and after pictures of the project.

Grass won't grow and Timber likes the area too much.

Grass won’t grow and Timber likes the area too much.

All that green stuff is weeds. This area gets no light and grass won’t grow. I had some mint growing to one side of it until the lawn maintenance crew weed wacked it all away. Just so happens I am looking for a new lawn maintenance crew too.

Death trap stairs.

Death trap stairs.

On the left we talked about putting in some blue berry bushes. I learned something new (or was reminded of it), you must have at least two blue berry bushes for them to grow. They are like an old married couple.

Does it need to go?

Does it need to go?

We had this tree looked at a few months ago and they said it was injured a while back and would need to be taken down in a few years. Molly is going to have a company she works with and uses to give us a second option. That thing falls and there goes the guest room. She is also going to give us a quote for a new fence. I think the one we have was built back with the house in 1982. There are a few other areas that need work but I won’t bore you with the pictures….yet.

It has been a busy morning working.

My workmate...so tired.

My workmate…so tired.

Reader’s! It is overcast and grey here in the ATL. Looks like rain. Hope the sun is shinning where you are. And if it isn’t, make you own sun shine!!

Succulents…I like saying that word.

Good Day Y’all!

I hope you had a wonderful Sunday. I did. I went out and about to Lowe’s, TJ’s and Peri 1. First stop was Lowe’s. A few months ago my friend Chad made me a planter with some succulents in it as a gift. He makes the planter in his wood shop and then I his mom adds the succulents. I saw one when we went to dinner one night at his and Kristin’s home and told him how much I loved it and how it reminds me of my Honey (grandmother); she always had succulents. Well, I loved the one he gave and guess what? So did Panny!!! I think she ate one of the plants and then one died. I wanted to replace the missing plants, so I got two plants and did my best to replant them in the planter. I was VERY messy but it rained and cleaned up my mess.

Planter By Chad Elley

Planter By Chad Elley

I also got some baby mums to plant in a planter, a bag of daffodil bulbs, a lamp shade that turns out not to fit the base we have and a few other things.

Mums!

Mums!

I then went to Peir 1 to order a cushion. It had been out of stock on the website but they were able to get it for me. Woot! Then is was off to Trader Joe’s to get some food. When I got home I ate lunch and took a nice long rest. I needed it!

After my workout on Saturday went so well, I realized I needed to get back to doing my yoga. I am planning on going to a class on Wednesday at noon. It is a Yin/Restorative Yoga class at the club. Yin/Restorative Yoga is a deep tissue stretching form of yoga. You hold the poses for a long time but the are mainly poses where you are sitting down or on your back. Great class for beginners. I have taken it a few times and loved it. Last night I did some of Vinyasa and Yin/Restorative Yoga. I practiced for about 35 minutes and it felt good. This morning I did a short practice but was pretty tired and sore from Saturday’s workout and last nights yoga. While I was finishing up, laying on my carpet floor, I thought about our side room. It had my exercise bike in it but has really been a place we put crap in and then shut the doors! I decided to make it my yoga room!

IMG_2686 IMG_2687 IMG_2688 IMG_2689I moved all the crap into another room where I can shut the door! Are you wondering about the sub-flooring? It is that way in our closet too. A few years after we moved in our cats Tommy and Simon had a pee fight. They peed in our closets, they peed in the side room. Pee! Pee! Pee! So much so, we ripped the carpet out. That stopped it but that was like six years ago! I kid you not. However now I am happy! It is perfect for my yoga mat. I should pop up the tacking that runs the perimeter of the room…maybe.

Shout Outs!

Angie H. & Dora M.- Thank you ladies! I love my goody box! You two are soooo sweet!

Sara Attali Design- I don’t know this woman. I have never met her or spoken to her. In fact, I send her money and she sends me things. But the things she sends me! So lovely! If you are looking or know someone who is looking for a head covering, check her website on Esty out!

New scarf from Sara Attali Design

New scarf from Sara Attali Design

Readers!!! I need your help. I would love to get my average daily views up to 150. Right now I am around 110 and have been as high as over 400. How can you help? If you come via Facebook, share the link with your friends. Retweet if you are on Twitter. You can subscribe too! I really want to share My Hotel Yorba with everyone. Hopefully they will enjoy it! Now get out there and rock your day!

Pool and Birthday updates…

Happy Saturday!

I hope you are all having a great morning. We here at Hotel Yorba are having a great day so far. We got some good news on Wednesday afternoon. Bob, our pool guy, called and told us that they were going to be able to do the pebble-tec on Thursday and Friday. They got here at 7:30am on Thursday and were done before noon on Friday. It looks great!!

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My Man and I are very happy with it. Can I tell you how excited I am that we are now filling the pool with water? Can I tell you how I am not excited to get the water bill? We started filling the pool on Friday afternoon and it is still going! I think it will take till Sunday to finish the filling the pool and then we have to fill the jacuzzi. Like I said, not looking forward to the water bill.

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So my big birthday is on Monday. I will be turning the big 40!! Woot! Woot! My Man gave me my gift early on Friday night. Isn’t it pretty?! Love it! It is all shiny and it sparkles. I am such a girl.IMG_2288

This morning we woke up early and went downtown for breakfast. We had to get to the jewelry store, Worthmore Jewelry, where My Man got the watch, so they could take some links out. While we were there, we had our rings cleaned and I gave them my older Tag to get serviced and cleaned.

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While out and about, we found a bakery and bought some challah bread so that My Man and The Boy can make me french toast tomorrow morning! We also bought a loaf of olive bread. I can’t wait to dig into that! The boy also got two cookies and ate them…it was 9:45am!

IMG_2289Tonight my boys are taking me out to The Optimist for my birthday dinner. I will make sure to take some pictures and post them. It now 11:30am and I am going to go check on the water level of the pool and then hang out with The Girls before it starts raining. Oh! While checking out the garden yesterday, look what I found!

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My first tomato of the season! Woot!

Question: What is your favorite way to eat tomatoes?

The Boy’s New Hairdo!

The Boy got his haircut the other day.

Getting it cut.

Getting it cut.

The Boy: Will she wash my hair?

Me: Yes

The Boy: Does it cost extra?

Me: No.

The Boy: That’s awesome!

My neck itches!

My neck itches!

Today has been a pretty good day. Work went well, I have been meatless all day (but that may change around dinner time) and I got to work out with SK. I have missed my last two training sessions with her and boy did I feel it today! It is either the missed sessions, the fact I was up at 5am, allergies or because someone didn’t realize it was 80 degrees outside and didn’t turn the air on inside the gym cause I just was not at my usual form today. Goodness! I was a mess. At least I felt I was a mess. My heart rate took forever to get back into Zone 2 and I just couldn’t catch my breath. I don’t think I have address this yet but I am missing two wedges out lungs. On two different occasions I had a soft tissue tumors located in the top lobe of my left lung. To get them out, they had to go in and cut out the tumor and the surrounding lung tissue. I usually don’t have an issue with breathing but I did today.  SK said I was doing ok. I go back to her bright and early tomorrow morning. I told her I hoped I was able to move!

Speaking of allergies, The Boy is all clogged up and coughing. For those who are not from the South, it is a mess here right now. My car, our outdoor furniture, the chicken coop, they are all covered in bright green pollen. Our poor screened in porch! Thank goodness I remembered to bring in the cushions this year. I have been getting severe pollen warnings from my Weather Channel app on my phone for the last three days. The Boy had to miss recess because he was such a mess today at school. I can’t wait till it rains!!!

Homework

Homework

The Boy is back at school and the homework has begun again. I can’t wait till summer, I am so sick of homework. After homework I went out to hang with The Girls and plant in the garden. I planted three rows of beats and one row of bok choy. I have never grown bok choy before but I love it, so my fingers are crossed. I also added arugula to the lettuce tub I have on the porch. I then sat a little with the girls and watched them kick dirt on each other. Two grumpy old hens.

Guess what I was covered in when I came back inside? Pollen. :(

Question: Have you started planting your garden yet?

Veggies, Flowers and More Veggies!

Basil

Basil

Weekend

It has been so beautiful out this weekend in the ATL. I think Spring has finally sprung! Saturday I took The Boy to guitar practice in the morning. Afterwards we hit Lowes and I bought a ton of bulbs to plant in my front yard. Now, for those who have never seen Hotel Yorba, it is located up on a hill. I have one of those steep driveways that frightens most people. Now, trust me and our garbage man, when I say it really isn’t that big of a deal. Anyway, apparently my house is built on top of one large ass rock. I can not begin to explain what a pain in my (now firmer) pale as paste, ass it is to dig a simple hole. AWWWW!! If it wasn’t rock, it was clay. After a lot of sweat, scratches and bad language, I planted most of the ones I bought. I still have a little more to do but that can wait till next weekend. I had enough!

After a quick lunch, I moved on to the backyard. I had bought eleven tomato plants and some purple and sweet basil to plant. The herbs are planted in containers that I have on our porch. The tomatoes and other veggies are planted in our garden.

Tomato

Tomato

After I was done, I realized only got one cherry tomato plant. My Man likes to use cherry tomatoes on his salads that he takes to work, so today I headed back to Lowes. This time I bought two more tomato plants, two cucumber plants (the only two I could find!), cucumber seeds, two yellow squash plants, rosemary and two soaker hoses. When I went in the backyard to plant, I let The Girls out. Poppy took a dirt bath and Turbo did lots of scratching. I found a few grubs (I think that is what they are called) for her to eat, while I was planting. She comes running when I call her and eats them right out of my hand. Don’t be too grossed out, I wear gloves. And just so you know, I try to give them to Poppy but she does not come when I call her! Silly Chicken! I still have to plant beets, carrots and radishes in the coming weeks.

So the pain in my (now firmer) pale as paste, ass moment was laying that damn hose out! Ugh! Once again there was bad language and several times I looked over to find Poppy laughing at me! No Grubs for you Poppy!  By the time I got done, I was soaking wet and pissed off. I better have to best garden ever this year!!

Garden

Garden

Garden

Garden

One cool thing that happened this weekend is that our friends, who live in Kentucky, stopped to spend the night on their way back from FL. It hd been awhile since I had seen them and it was a lot of fun catching up. It just sucked to see them go this morning!

Bye-Bye

Bye-Bye

What am I listing to

The Civil Wars

http://thecivilwars.com/index.php

The Hunger Games Soundtrack

http://www.amazon.com/The-Hunger-Games-District-Beyond/dp/B0072HTHKS

Is that an Owl in your lettuce?

Is that an Owl in your lettuce?