Yard work and a trip to the store

After all of Travis' hard work, I sure hope everything survives the fall weather! Yesterday morning Travis left for Galveston at 7am to dig up a bunch of plants at his boss' house. He moved and is planning to transplant a bunch of his greenery from the old house to the new one. He told Travis he could take any of the leftovers he wanted, so that's exactly what Travis did. He took 10 waist-high palms of several different varieties to spread throughout our yard, plus two non-palm plants.

When Travis got back to our house in late morning we laid out the plants the best we could. Then I had a webcam conference with my dad (who is an architect that ends up doing a lot of landscaping for some of the fraternities and sororities he does work for) to go over our layout. He had some great ideas, so we rearranged a few items, had lunch and Travis started digging. He spent the rest of the day working in the yard and didn't come in for dinner until dark. He spent 12 hours breaking his back for the sake of our home's curb appeal.

And I couldn't be happier! It looks GREAT. I really hope everything survives. We have avoided planting anything new in our backyard for years because we were worried about what Callaway would do. Now that he has gotten past his digging phase, I feel confident about putting some plants back there. Everything that Travis planted is large, so I doubt it will interest Callaway in any way. I'm not about to tempt fate with flowers or ground cover - but maybe in the spring!

The flower bed lining the front of our house has been in bad shape for months. In spring of 2008, we had several plants die after Terminix sprayed for termites. Then after hurricane Ike we had several more plants die. Since then we've had nothing but a grey exterior. It was time for something that would pop! I'll try to get photos up soon. This week is going to be crazy. Actually, this is just a busy time of year. I LOVE all the holidays at the end of the year - so warm, so cozy, so familiar.

While I appreciate his dedication to our house and all the hard work he does, I told Travis he needs to spend all evening with our son to make up for more than two days without him. He worked for his boss all day Saturday and then in our yard all day Sunday.

I had some long overdue grocery shopping to do, so I spent a couple hours at the store Sunday afternoon. Since Travis was still working in the yard, Aiden had to come along. When I was 15 minutes into my shopping trip, I realized I had left Aiden's pacifier in the car. No big deal, really. He mostly only uses the pacifier when he's going to sleep. But it never hurts to keep one handy when I'm in public! (PUB LICK. Teehee.)

All was well until I was in line at the cash register. Of course, it was Aiden's nap time so he was starting to get cranky. THEN the formula wouldn't ring up. So the cashier called for the manager. Who did a price check. All the while, for some reason I can't quite comprehend, I had THREE bag boys bagging up the goods. And there were A LOT of goods. I have needed to go hard core shopping for three weeks now. So every 10 items, one of the kids would look up from his teenage chatter and say "Is this still the same customer's stuff?" ??? YES IT'S MINE!! Am I still standing here? Have I paid yet? Is the manager even back from doing the price check on that formula that I would just leave if we didn't need it so badly?! Pay attention!!

All this time, I'm pushing the cart with Aiden in it back and forth trying to keep him as calm as possible. I smile waveringly at the long line of people that has formed behind me (because of course this is the only non-express lane open). While the cashier was standing there doing nothing, I asked her if she could ring up the heavy stuff in the bottom of my cart that I had already mentioned to her several minutes prior. When she asked one of the three stooges to scan it I could have just slapped her. I don't think he has much experience with the scanner because it took him FOREVER to find the bar codes. To do this, the cart had to be still. You know, the cart with my crying baby in it.

The manager finally comes back with the formula and starts asking me all sorts of stupid questions, like will I being paying for this with cash. What?! Why does it matter?! Are you not going to give me the formula if I need to pay with a check? Just ring the damn formula up and let me get the hell out of here!! Then the cashier asks for my Kroger card. The one I gave her at the BEGINNING of all my groceries, that instead of scanning and handing back to me she set next to her on the counter. I point over the conveyor belt at the card that is mine, JUST SITTING THERE, and say yes I have a card. IT'S RIGHT THERE WHERE YOU PUT IT.

Ugh. Having a crying baby in public can be stressful. I'll remember the pacifier next time.