Productivity & In-laws

I had a productive week.  I baked oatmeal raisin pecan cookies for the other new neighbors (long overdue).  I also raked leaves for the first time in my life.  I realize this sounds strange, but as I was doing it, it seemed quite new to me.  DH said to leave them so they break down & help the lawn.  My mother -in-law said that they actually have to be mulched with a lawn mower in order to do that, though.  I left a few, but got most everything.  I used ten very stuffed paper lawn bags.

Also, I finally cut the rug pad in the living room.  It was getting to me.  It took me a long time to get to this because I knew it would be an involved process.  I couldn't cut it with a scissors alone, so that meant I had to score it with a linoleum knife.  Well, I wanted to protect the hard wood floors, so I used a 2x8 as an improvised cutting board.  It took a bit of time, but it worked well.  I think it looks much better now.

Before

During, but the utility scissors didn't do a darn thing.

After!

My mother-in-law came this past weekend and we had a great time.  We went shopping on Saturday and discovered some new stores in the area.  I bought a few things for the house (for future posts.)  We also went out to eat and took a lot of walks with Roy.  She also brought a ton on irises with her.  This was specifically for the lowest area in the back yard to help soak up some of the water during rains.  I planted them this evening, but they aren't much to look at now, so I didn't take any pictures.  I'm sure I will have some wonderful pictures in the Spring, though.