Sometimes progress comes slowly

As Mac and I have been working around the house this time round we've seen progress, but its been slow. We are almost finished painting the living room. Most of the blue on the walls had been done before, but we needed to get the ceiling patched up before we finished it up. So the blue was finished and Mac's been working on painting the trim/baseboards/crown molding/doors white with oil paints. Its a messy and time consuming job, but someone's gotta do it and Mac only bought one oil paint paint brush. Once he gets the crown molding done (that's all that's left) and we set the room a bit in order, I'll post a picture. It looks sooooooooo good! I can't wait until we pull up the carpets and expose the hardwood floors underneath.

I've been working outside mostly (when my shoulder will allow it). Those who visit this blog have seen my initial attempts with a veggie and herb garden. I'm please to announce that I haven't killed any of the plants yet! In fact they are all showing signs of growth. The tomato plants have strengthened and don't wither with the threat of sun anymore (they need tonnes of water after they are first planted), and the peppers, cucumbers, zucchinis and herbs have all been growing. I've even been able to pick and use some of the basil, dill, parsley and cilantro. Its been very exciting. But its also a slow process -- especially with the veggies. I want them to grow quicker than they are, but i will need to be patient. Never the less, for this week at least, i have a green thumb :)

Another project i've taken on is the front patio area. It will be a fabulous place for us (and guests) to use. We found a patio set with chairs and an umbrella for a smoking deal on craigslist.com. But there is a challenge -- before the area will be usable, the overgrowth of the bushes around the patio needs to be tamed. And as I'm working i'm finding that when the bushes are cut back to acceptable levels there is actually some bare ground! My goal is to get all the trimming done this time around. Then next time we're down I'll buy some flowers to put into the patio and bring some colour other than green. I am also planning on buying a citronella plant -- hopefully its smell will deter the mosquitoes! But this process is taking so much longer than I had anticipated -- which isn't overly surprising. I've never done this before, so I'm on a learning curve. In one week i'm moving from gardener to landscaper!!

We also got a new fridge today. The old one had a steady (though slow) leak in it. So we found a really good deal and got a new fridge. Its not quite as large as we had hoped (the cupboards were built snugly around the old fridge so we were limited in how tall it could be), but it is quite wonderful! When the fridge got pulled out there was a huge build up of mold and mildew caused by the leak. But while the guys who brought the new fridge got the old one out and worked on bringing the new one in, Mac and I were able to clean the floor -- I'm shocked at how clean it came actually!

So things progress around here. Our common theme of late is .... progress comes slowly! But thankfully, though things move slowly, they are moving ahead. (And speaking of moving slowly, still no word on the visa.)