Productive (FAST) weekend!

In between helping the neighbor roof his house, hauling rock with my parents, and all of the other fun stuff going on, I decided I needed to make 'fall' happen. It's been way too hot lately, and I needed fall weather and fall food. So, on a recent trip to Trader Joe's, I bought a BUNCH of arborio rice, a packet of pancetta, and a little wedge of Parmesan to make risotto. Roasted carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower along with onions, white wine, and homemade chicken stock.
Tastes like fall, AND the cooler weather rolled in almost immediately! :)

Yesterday afternoon was spent at my sister's house in Ankeny. She is expecting a baby girl midway through January and is crafting and decorating enough for twins! :)
She and I had talked about a mural of some kind for the nursery - she found an artsy little tree online and decided that's what she would like for me to do. So, my lady friend and I made the trip to Ankeny, mapped out a tree over most of the wall, and painted it for her while she made little flowers out of felt and pretty fabrics downstairs away from the paint smell. We hung all sorts of embellishments on the wall even after this picture, but this gives you the best view.
Didn't turn out too bad, did it? :)

Moonflower

Among the new plants in the ground at my house now is Moonflower - aptly named as they bloom at night and close back up during the day. They spread and spill out over the area where they're planted and fill an awful lot of space..which is nice for me right now because I have a good amount of space to fill! They also have great foliage, so they're pretty even when they're not blooming...as all of my plants are in the process of doing at the moment.
As you can probably tell, I took this picture when I pulled into the driveway last night...headlights and camera flash: ON!

Manscaping

This weekend was a lot of fun! Friday night was Knoxville Movie Night – a free outdoor showing of a film in the public park..open to all..big screen, big sound, big fun!

Any guesses as to which movie we watched this time?
http://www.facebook.com/#!/Knoxvillemovienights

Saturday I slept in a little, woke up and started pulling weeds in the garden, clearing the yard of dead and dried flowers (the drought really took a toll on..everything) and did some laundry.

Then my parents came over, and – within about 15 minutes – we went from this..

..to this..

It's always amazing what a truck and a log chain can do..

The house looks so much bigger without the bushes, don't you think?

This should make it quite a bit easier to hang the new siding and replace the windows in this part of the house. It’s also just easier for me (mentally) to get rid of everything and start fresh. Hopefully next year the weather will cooperate a little better and I’ll be able to landscape the yard, completely. With the changes I’ve made to the house and the paint colors I’d like to use on the outside, I’m excited to have a cohesive plan in place for the plantings in the yard..I just hope it’s not 115F all summer next year so I can actually work on it!

Saturday afternoon, I drove to Cedar Rapids and hung out with a group of old friends, and made some new friends while I was at it. The cool part was, we hung out in a $2,000,000 house on an acreage, complete with horses, dogs, four wheelers, and a whole lot of crown molding.

I didn’t take any pictures this time because my phone was dying all weekend..but I have these pictures from a previous visit. Pretty sweet digs J

The front door, complete with gas lamps on either side of the entry.

Foyer, complete with James Bond style secret closet for coats and shoes.

Immediately inside the front door.

Massive crown molding throughout the house. All the ceilings were at least 10-12 feet tall.

Kitchen, living room, breakfast area with a wet bar to the right. Yes, that's a freaking harp.

Bar area..with two mini fridges. You know..just in case.

From the living room: kitchen with bar to the left.

Sunday afternoon was the drive home with a brief stop at the Iowa State Fair to meet a friend. Within 10 minutes, I was being thrown through the air and spun upside down on a giant death-trap ride. Good fun! J

These were our seats. There were two other riders on at the top, and we spun like a GD windmill possessed by the devil for a couple minutes. They were even kind enough to take video of your screaming and yelling. "You shouldn't have..really"
http://www.iowastatefair.org/

There we are...flying! :)