Garden State...

Once it warms up a little bit more I will be out in the garden today. I keep putting off the Spring things that need taken care of. Some trimming, some weeding, some planning for more plantings.

I don't enjoy gardening.

That's a big part of how we ended up in the townhouse before. After buying house after house with a yard for Katie to play in and then spending all of our weekend time taking care of those yards while Katie stayed inside with a video game I said  THAT'S IT! NO MORE YARDS! 

And honestly, it was kind of great. 

Except for the times you wanted a little outdoor space to yourself and it was nowhere to be found. 

We looked at house after house with small backyards, or no backyard but a good sized deck that backed up to a green space or a backyard that had been turned into a low maintenance oasis. And that's pretty much what we did with this one. We tore out the grass and put down pavers. There are a few areas of plants, but not a lot. 

It's not no maintenance, but it's pretty low. 

Which is great, except when it's time to do the maintenance. Which this year (everyone say it with me, When we get back from Hawaii) we will need to clean the pavers and re-sand them and then get new bark chips for the backyard as well. 

And we need to do a little more rearranging and planting to get it the way we want. 

And when we are sitting outside looking at the pretty blooming flowers I will love it. 

But I do not love the part that I have to do to get it that way. 

I want all of the reward without any of the work.

But that's not the way it works. So I am finding the balance between a little work with a good reward and living with a weed patch for a backyard. And of course I have to weed the front yard or the HOA will have a fit. 

I bet there's a political metaphor in there. But instead of finding it for you, I'm going to go put on a sweatshirt and dig in the dirt. 

Also probably a political metaphor in there...

Enjoy your yard, don't worry about anyone else's. Find what works for you and do that. 

Weeds are just plants that are doing their own thing...Think the HOA would accept that as an answer for why I haven't weeded the front yard?

Yeah...probably not.