While the inside of our home still looks like a mini minefield that I get under control every few days only to then succumb to some new giant card board box that shows up in the middle of our hall way, the great outdoors are shaping up nicely.

We’ve been doing some work in the yard – due to our opposing work schedules this months with quite the gender division. He’s been working really hard to save our poor, neglected deck. I’ve been working on more beautiful things – flowers.

So far he’s saved the trim and the privacy wall that sits on one side of our deck. First he patched up the damaged areas. Then he cleaned the wood with wood cleaner (it has amazing before and after photos on the bottle but our before must have not been that dirty to begin with based on the contrast we saw (or barely saw). Nonetheless it takes off grime and in our case more important sap from the trees. Then he applied a lovely looking brown solid stain to add some protection from the elements. He had actually suggested two very pretty colors, a tan for the deck and a reddish brown for the wall and trim. Looks great so far!

Yes, you saw that right, that’s a head lamp. Between coats we went on a little walk in the park and dinner at the brewery date with our dog. The housemonster then went back to work. He said he finished at 1am. Outsh! And yes, I tried very hard to help him but my gosh he’s so STUBBORN! I did clean the deck today so he can go at it tomorrow with RescueIt. Can’t wait to see it all done, put the furniture back on there and sip a glass of wine on our deck!