Last night, Hubs and I took a walk around the neighborhood since it was so nice out. When we got back to our corner, we took a walk around the house, giving it the “It’s-spring-now-so-what-all-needs-to-be-done-outside?” checkup.

And ouch…it was not so pretty. I mean, I’m all for yard work (I spent a lot of years working for my Aunt’s landscaping business), but we don’t have the tools, supplies, or the money to do everything I’d like to get done out there.

I mean, for one, the garden project will be costly and time-consuming as it is, although we did come up with a plan last night to help protect out precious produce from the moles and bunnies while saving money at the same time, so stay tuned for that later.

But, we just really have a lot to do with not a lot of budget to work with.

In fact, it kinda makes me want to call up Home Depot and tell them their “Our First Spring” commercial is so ridiculously unrealistic that it makes me want to scream…or cry.

This Lowe’s one is also unrealistic, but in a cuter, more “I-know-this-isn’t-real” kind of way.

Anyway, I took another walk around the house this morning, this time with my camera, so I could share my findings with you guys.

Here’s the spot we’re planning on putting the garden:

Yes, the neighbor’s shrubs are hanging over the (needs-to-be-straightened) fence, but we think this will be a great spot to grow some veggies without disrupting our awesomely sized yard (big enough for soccer games with future kiddos and Wyatt’s-family-sized barbecues.

We’re thinking about using a combination of raised beds and garden beds, all along this fence.

Here’s a shot from the other side of the yard.

I also happen to pretty much hate all the shrubs currently surrounding our house. Namely, the barberries. Ick.

Although everything is so overgrown that it’s hard to tell where it all went wrong. Everything just looks so…unkept.

We also have a lot of leaves to get rid of…

(Being from the country, where we don’t care about leaves in the yard, I resent feeling pressured by all the neighbors’ bags of leaves to rake ours up as well.)

And the groundhog/possum/cat that we thought we had gotten rid of last fall seems to be back. Awesome.

And the back trees are a mess, too, with trash and stuff to be cleared out.

 

So many junky old boards to find something to do with!

The air conditioner/house/flower bed is being eaten alive by this giant bush…which is actually quite a bit smaller than it was last summer since we whacked part of it off last fall.

This side of the house isn’t much better.

However, there is one sign of hope and happiness out there in all that mess…

Yup, my tulip bulbs are coming up! (The ones we planted last fall before all the winter blues and blahs an snow storms.)

Plus, we’re just so blessed by the fact that we were able to find a house that we loved with a yard that spoke to us of summer and sweet barefooted children running around—it reminded us of home. Yes, we have neighbors close by, and yes, we pay subdivision fees, but oh my goodness, is this yard glorious or what?

So, I guess it really is an Easter celebration out there, who says you can’t have beauty in the midst of the mess?

“But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8

Happy Easter weekend, everyone!