Aah, Monday. You came too fast.

I know many of you wonder, “Where does that mad woman get her inspiration?  What adorable cute desk or chaise lounge does she compose her most endearing posts?”  Well folks, question no longer.  I present you my throne:

Oh, and that would be Fat Boy.  Yes, my friends.  That little stool is my spot while I type away and play w/  my Madpie during her bath.  Cute, ain’t it?  (In case you were wondering, we can’t keep the toilet paper in the holder b/c Mr. Fatboy and his gang like to shred it to pieces.

Anyway, where was I?

First let me thank everyone who commented on library challenge.  I had a total of 49 comments/tweets. Well, since I didn’t meet my goal, I can at least double YOUR efforts, right?  $100 to the San Leandro library.   And thank you Jenn Hubbard for such a great idea!

So wanna know what I did this weekend?

Mad and I went for a lovely stroll to the coffee shop where I got a Chai latte.  I’m going to have to find that darn tea again so I can make these at home.  On the way coming and going, I was really inspired by the “desirable” neighborhood’s landscaping.  Just what I need to get this weekend started.

Then a friend, Mad and I went to a wonderful garden exchange.  We’ve been a quite a few times, even the Mad (in utero!) and we always are pleased with the results.  I took lots on knick knack pots the Hubs had been pestering me to get rid of, a few tomato cages (b/c I really only need one!) some stepping stones and some plant food.  (I’m always good at bringing the NON-plant stuff to these things….don’t ask me to give up my babies!).  This exchange is really organized.  They block off the parking for half the block for drop-offs and pick ups.  We pulled up and are immediately swarmed by people to unload the back on my truck.

An awesome thing happened.  As these lovely helpers were unloading my truck, my GF was right there as an ENTIRE flat of flowers were being set out.  Oh yeah, she grabbed them, threw them in the back of the truck and we sped off to find parking.

We casually returned w/ Mad strapped in the Bjorn (amazing she still fits in that thing and that I am still strong enough to carry her.)  Our booty included a yucca, some tropical plants whose name escapes me and a Christmas cactus, for me and for GF, she got some interesting things, some small pots for starting seeds and who knows what else.  It gets pretty crazy.  Its really tight, lots of plants and lots of turnover.  You never know what you’ll find and each table was constantly getting restocked with something new.  I usually have to walk away.

So I came home and got to work in the yard.  Wanna see what I got done?

This was that raised bed w/ the Maple a few weeks ago:

Here it is now, technically not done but getting there…I need a few more liriope and Hubs needs to work on the lighting.  (I spent quite a bit of time getting that area more level, putting in more plant friendly soil, laying down weed block and spreading mulch.  I left the area closest to the wall mulch- and weed block- free so I could put the grasses in next weekend.)

We spent a good amount of time looking for patio furniture and the hunt is still on, darn it.

Because I like to be dramatic, here is a BEFORE before pic of our patio.

I’m cheating a little bit.  This was the patio last year, before we paved it.  The color is supposed to resemble terra cotta.  It was originally half beige, half peeling pink.  First we tried to resurface it and then we lost our minds and did this:

 Next weekend?  Gotta make new cushions for those love seats.  We actually bought them for the original back corner patio (where the Hubs was hanging out) but we since decided we want a sectional back there.  These guys have been abused, ignored at a garage sale and almost thrown out by the curb until I got a bright idea to use the pads from the old cushions to make new ones.  Now, does anyone know how to sew?

Oh and the fence you ask?  The one that looked like this:

What would you say to this?

Thanks to Bro-in-Law who helped out the Hubs a couple of weeks ago to finish that project. And yes, we were able to use a significant amount of the old fencing.  I think we’ve repaired 2/3 of the fencing for our back yard for under $300 (maybe less!)  That’s a whole lot better than the $3K the fence people wanted to replace it.  Another delightful results:  the bits of rotted (redwood) fence we couldn’t use?  I craiglisted them to a gal who is going to build raised planting  beds!  How is that for some green awesomeness?  Now I just need to get those palms in the ground and maybe buy a few more.  I’m still shuddering from the site of what was behind that fence!

And the free flowers….with a few more I picked up:

Next on the to do list?  Fix the stucco right there and just maybe replace that hideous basement door!  Oh yeah, the hubs built the deck.  I’ll save that story for another time.

What did you guys do?