well, i officially have too much to say

Last spring Matt got a new job, with an office on the 55th floor of the tallest building in Philadelphia, the Comcast Center.  The building houses the company headquarters and some stunning views.  There are 56 floors, so except for a few people on that top floor, Matt's office is one of the highest in the city.  All year he's been bragging about the view and fancy building, so since I had the day off last Friday he invited me to meet him downtown for lunch.

I dubbed it the first annual Take Your Wife to Work Day.  When I told Matt that I'd given the day an official name, he said, "Okay, but just don't cause a ruckus."

Of course.  Because I'm some sort of serial ruckus-causer.

I didn't want to be late so I decided to take a 10:43 train into the city.  And I arrived at the station at 10:00.  That was a very long time to wait in the rain so I went to the Starbucks next door to get an iced coffee for my big day.

The ride into the city was uneventful.  Matt's building is directly above the train station, and there is a staircase that takes you straight up to his lobby so you don't have to go outside.  Of course, I couldn't figure that out, so I walked OUTSIDE, around the block, and eventually had to open Google maps.  To find the tallest building in the city.  I somehow went from being directly below it, to a quarter of a mile away.

I am a suburban girl through and through.

When I made my way to the front desk to check in, I laughed to myself because even though I was so confident I would be on that guest list, I still felt a teeny tiny bit nervous.  It's like the 30 year old version of waiting at the door of a frat party. 

Security took my photo and gave me a badge and guided me to the designated elevator bank.  

Floors 51-56 are the "executive levels" so I was directed to the reception area on the 51st floor.  I hopped in the elevator, which had a TELEVISION IN IT.

My ears popped somewhere around the 43rd floor due to the sudden change in altitude.

I got out of the elevator and am not even kidding you when I say that my jaw dropped.  It was BEAUTIFUL.  Floor to ceiling windows.  I could see a meeting going on in a conference room that was legitimately all glass.  It was like they were meeting in the sky.  I would not be able to concentrate for one second in that setting.  

There were also GLASS STAIRCASES connecting the four floors on the executive levels.

The receptionist called Matt and while I waited I sat down on the beautiful leather furniture and tried to forget that I work in an office with roaches and ancient purple carpet and a metal desk from the 1980s.

Matt took me up to his floor and I got to see his coworkers.  We had met once before, but it was at a Halloween party and I had been dressed like Wilma Flintstone so I'm glad they got to see me in more normal attire.  And then we took a walk around all four corners of his floor so I could get the full 360 view.  It was really incredible.  It was a cloudy day so I can only imagine how pretty it looks with a blue sky.







At this particular window, I took a good hard look at the river.  I tried to orient myself, thought about what I know of the geography of the city, and then said to Matt, "So, our house is that way, right?" as I pointed over to the right.

"No," he said, "We live that way," and turned around and pointed in the COMPLETE OPPOSITE DIRECTION.

My navigational skills don't improve with high altitude.



There is a cafe on the 43rd and 44th floors, but it was very crowded at noon because it was half price salad Friday and apparently Matt's has healthy coworkers who love their greens.  So, we took a little walk down to Love Park.



Here is Love Park from Matt's window.  It's that tiny gray concrete oval with the grass on the bottom left.




And here's his window from Love Park.



We went back up to the cafe which was SO FANCY and the food was delicious and it made me super sad that the cafeteria at my office closed a few years ago.  Although it was only one floor and it was located right next to the county morgue.



That's not a joke.

You could grab a slice of pizza and then swing by to see the coroner.

Matt had to finish up a little work so I hung out in the cafe for a bit wondering how much Windex is used in that office each day.  Everywhere you turned was either glass or mirror and there was not a fingerprint to be found.

Meanwhile back at the homestead, I can barely keep up with our three bathroom mirrors.

Here is Matt conducting very official business.  Or checking the weather or his fantasy baseball scores.  IT WAS FRIDAY CAN YOU BLAME HIM?

There is more to this story, but this post has already become obnoxiously long.  So, I am going to do something UNPRECEDENTED and say stay tuned for part 2.  

I'm sure you'll be on the edge of your seat.

Which I hope is a nice, comfortable seat, as opposed to a desk chair that's from the Eisenhower administration, with only one arm and a backrest that is unfortunately stuck in the extreme recline position due to an irreparably broken lever.

Not that I'd know what that's like or anything.

an underwhelming mid-week post

Well, I can't tell you how badly I wish I had a funny story to share tonight, but nothing too noteworthy or hilarious has happened in my life lately.  I spent last week at a work conference.  The hotel was in the same building as the convention center, and there were several restaurants inside, so aside from a few walks for fresh air, I literally spent five straight days in the same building. 

It was a great conference, but I was thrilled to get home.  There really is no place like it, as they say.

So, I don't have a funny story to share tonight, but I've seen people share lists of things making them happy so I figured I'd hop aboard that bandwagon because what's better than happiness and a list?

Not much. 

1 - Our back patio - It's currently my favorite "room" in the house.  I drink my coffee out there in the morning and we sit out back after dinner, reading and listening to music or baseball on the radio.  Matt takes great pride in the landscaping and lawn care department and I have to say he's done a great job. If you're looking for me, I'm probably in this chair.

2 - Father's Day dinner - We hosted a Father's Day barbecue for our families and it was the most people we've ever hosted, and the first big event with our new kitchen.  I already know a few things I would do differently in the future, but I think it was a success!

3 - Take Your Wife to Work Day - This Friday is Take Your Wife to Work Day.  If you haven't heard of it yet, it's because it was just invented this week.  By me.  I mentioned to Matt that I have off on Friday and he said, "You should come to my office for lunch!"  Obviously I accepted that invitation immediately.  Rest assured, I shall report back on how it goes.

4 - Watermelon - Is it possible to eat too much watermelon?  Asking for a friend.

5 - The library - Our library includes a blurb at the bottom of the checkout receipt to tell you how much money you've saved by using the library.  Of course, by the time I subtract my late fines, the amount goes down a bit.  But it still makes me feel fiscally responsible.


6 - New makeup - Sarah recommended Essence brand mascara.  I'm always on the quest to help out my pathetic eyelashes, and I loved this stuff.  This weekend I went to Ulta and got a bunch of other products, all of which are fantastic.  Plus, they're easy on the wallet.

I was going to write a list of 10 things, but I'm going to quit here because I need to go to bed.  Tomorrow is Take Myself to Work Day and while it's not as exciting as Friday will be, I still want to be bright eyed and bushy tailed.

What's making you happy this week?

what do kenny chesney and bemidji, minnesota have in common?

Back in the fall, I heard that my old friend Kenny Chesney would be coming back to town this summer for another stadium tour.  And then when I heard he would be joined by my new friends Old Dominion and Thomas Rhett, it took me half a second to text my sister and mom to see if they wanted to go and OF COURSE THEY DID. 

And then Emily decided to join Americorps and move to the (not so) bustling metropolis of Bemidji, Minnesota.  That's what you get for planning things months in advance.  

Anyway, the Trip Around the Sun Tour rolled into Philadelphia this past Saturday.  The concert was at the football stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, or as the locals call it, The Linc, and why do I suddenly feel like I am writing a report for school?

Between tailgating for the concert, and the Phillies game going on in the ballpark next to the stadium, I knew driving and parking would be challenging.  The train doesn't run all the way down to the sports complex, so to get there my mom and I would have to switch to the subway in Philadelphia to take it down to south Philly and please accept my sincerest apologies for including all of these logistics.

Matt travels to the city every day for work so I asked him his thoughts on mom and me taking the subway.  He said, "You'd be fine taking it there.  Don't take it home after 11 p.m. unless you want to get robbed and/or mugged."

I expect a phone call any day now from the Philadelphia Board of Tourism asking Matt to be the next spokesman for the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.

It turns out my cousin was driving to the concert and said she could drive us home, so that afternoon, mom and I headed out to the train station to make our way down to the stadium.  Actually, it wasn't just my mom and me.  We brought Emily along, and please get ready for a photo series I have so proudly named "You Really Can Be(midji) in Two Places at Once.

Mom took out her phone and said, "Okay, I've never taken a selfie before.  This is going to be my very first one."  And here you have it, folks.  I don't think she would disagree with me that we could not possibly look any worse.  Nowhere to go but up with that selfie game.



We successfully made it to the stadium and sent my dad a text to let him know that all three of us arrived safely.

You can't bring food in, so we got some dinner on the way to our seats.  I'm only including this part because of the insane fact that two hot dogs, two water bottles, and two cups of french fries cost FIFTY TWO AMERICAN DOLLARS.

Luckily Emily was able to enjoy some fries.

And get all settled into her seat.

The first act was Old Dominion.  I LOVE Old Dominion's music, and they came out, sang their songs, and sounded exactly like they do on the radio.

Thomas Rhett was next, and he didn't simply sing.  He performed his little heart out.  He is a real entertainer and was so fun to watch.  I loved his whole performance.  Mom said that Kenny Chesney should be nervous!  Thomas Rhett nearly stole the show.

After Thomas Rhett, we waited a little bit for the sun to set and Kenny Chesney to come out.  Luckily it was a busy night on the river and there were lots of boats to watch.

They also literally rolled out the carpet for Kenny, covering the entire stage in gray rugs.  We figured Kenny Chesney wouldn't wear shoes and therefore, required a carpet, even though wearing shoes would a lot easier and cheaper.  We also knew that if Emily had been there she would have rolled her eyes at that discussion so we took this photo to commemorate the moment.

And then, Kenny came out and had shoes on so we're still not sure what the whole point of the carpet was in the first place.  Kenny pretty much sang non-stop for two straight hours.  He couldn't really speak because even when he tried, the whole stadium just screamed and cheered so you couldn't even hear him.  He came onstage at 8:50, and after what felt like only four or five songs, my mom looked at her watch and told me it was 10:15. 

SHUT THE FRONT DOOR.

As a grand finale, the Philadelphia Eagles coach and owner and several of the players came out onto the stage with the Superbowl trophy.  The crowd LOST THEIR MINDS.  Kenny sang his song "Boys of Fall" and then announced that the team made a $25,000 donation to his charity for hurricane victims.

Everyone cheered again but Mom was not easily impressed.  She said, "I just paid $52 for two hot dogs, and they could only give $25,000?"  

We met up with my cousin and as we walked to the car, we rehashed the experience.  My cousin and her friend had quite the interesting crew in their section, and my mom said she'd seen a lot of unfortunate bra choices, and I had to agree with her.

As we drove home we talked about music and I told my cousin I still have my very first cassette tape, which she bought for me.  It was a 98 Degrees tape, and I remember playing that it over and over and over on my walkman and boom box, earnestly memorizing the words to The Hardest Thing I'll Ever Have To Do and rewinding the tape with the eraser of my pencil. 

We dropped my mom off at home, and then pulled up to the intersection near the train station where my car was parked.  I told my cousin I'd just hop out and walk over to my car so she could just keep on going home.  She said, "Laura, I am not going to let you 'hop out' of the car at 12:45 at night and walk alone to your car in a dark deserted parking lot."

So, she may not buy me cassette tapes anymore, but 20 years later she's still looking out for me.

At least my taste in music has improved.

we're pretty cool around here. actually, never mind.

Well it's official.  Spring has sprung and I've caught the spring cleaning bug.  I have cleaned every window in this house, and I'm convinced that there is no better cleaning product on the market than Windex with vinegar.  It makes the windows as clear as, well, glass.  I was feeling pretty puffed up with clean window pride on Thursday afternoon when I decided I'd run my damp cloth over the screen, and then looked down to see that my cloth, which had heretofore been white, had turned black.

Pride goeth before the fall and the cleaning of the window screens which are, evidently, quite filthy.

Anyway, in addition to all the reading and window cleaning, we've also been getting some use out of this.



My parents Santa Claus brought this for me for Christmas, 2004 and for whatever reason, I saved it.  It now lives a good, useful life as a doorstop for my office door.  Our (very clean) windows have been wide open lately and it's the perfect height and weight to keep the door from slamming shut when the breeze comes through.

Plus, my parents Santa paid the elves at Kaplan, Inc. $32.00 for this sucker and I intend to get every penny out of it.  It's been living the doorstop life for a few weeks but apparently Matt never noticed it there, because the other night he walked down the hall and said "Well, well, well, what do we have here?"

Before I knew it we were six questions deep into practice test 2.

Just as I was thinking, "Well, either Penn State had MUCH lower admission standards than I realized back in 2006, or I've gotten a lot dumber in the last 12 years," Matt proudly announced, "You know, I really think I'm a LOT smarter now than I was when I actually took the SAT's!"

Well.  Isn't that nice.  That makes one of us.  He was practically giddy and I'm over here struggling to pick the prime number out of a lineup. and feeling nauseated over the sight of the impending word problem featuring two trains leaving the station at the same time but at different speeds and at what point does train A pass train B and FOR THE LOVE CAN WE PLEASE GET TO A READING COMPREHENSION QUESTION?

I flipped through the book tonight just to see if my sixteen year old self had actually written anything in it.  I found two problems that I'd worked on.  Here's the first one.  To my credit, I did attempt to show my work there on the right, but I kind of trailed off at the bottom and then proceed to RULE OUT EVERY SINGLE ANSWER.

The other problem I worked on was this word problem.  I knew enough to make a chart but didn't bother to complete the problem because listen, let's just hope Joe and Stella each had at least five bucks on them.

Speaking of intelligence, or lack thereof, let me tell you about another little situation that went down in our house this week.  We don't have central air in our house, but we have wall AC units in our kitchen and our downstairs den which do a great job at keeping the house cool in the summertime.  We replaced the kitchen unit when we started our remodel back in the fall because while the old 1983 model worked like a charm, it featured actual wood paneling and some sort of now-illegal coolant.

(This is not a stock photo.  This is an actual photo of the actual air conditioner that was in our house when we bought it.)

The fan in the new AC was broken when we got it, so we had it replaced and it worked fine the two or three times we used it before the cool weather set in.  We turned the air conditioner on last week, and other than the display lighting up with the temperature, nothing happened.  The fan didn't turn on, the compressor didn't kick in, NOTHING.  We called the store where we purchased it, and they sent out a repairman named Pedro last Friday.  Pedro pushed a few buttons and told me that it was in such bad shape that in order to fix it, it would need to be taken to the repair shop for three weeks.

Since it's a wall unit, that meant we would have a giant hole in our wall.

For three weeks.

In June.

Matt and I discussed this AT LENGTH and voiced great frustration towards the manufacturer, the store, and anyone and everyone associated with this lemon of an air conditioner.  It was the cherry on top of a bad week for house repairs around here.  There may have been tears.

That poor Matt gets so emotional.

Anyway, we finally decided to buy the exact same unit from Home Depot, brand new, because our downstairs unit is also on the fritz after a solid 30 year life.  We figured we could put the new one in the kitchen, send the original to the shop, and then when that one got fixed, we could put it downstairs.  That way we could avoid a three week hole in the wall, and not feel like we were living on the surface of the sun.

So, on Wednesday night, we picked up the new unit, which weighed approximately 783 pounds, hauled it into the house, unpacked it, heaved the old one out of the wall, put the new one in, and then plugged it in and pressed that power button.

And do you know what happened?

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

I may not have aced the math section of the SAT's, but I knew the probability of us buying TWO faulty Whirlpool air conditioners was pretty slim.  So I said, "Do you think the problem might not be with the air conditioner, but with the outlet?"

Matt and his brother replaced all the outlets in the kitchen and (I'm just throwing out numbers here) put a 120 volt outlet under the AC.  Turns out, it requires 150 volts.

The English major triumphs again.

So, for the moment we have two giant air conditioners in our kitchen, but they will be rearranged and outlets re-run and hopefully, we will be cool again in no time.

Well, literally.

Figuratively, we have a long way to go.

two weddings and a duck call

Well, I started this post yesterday, May 23rd.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to get married on May 23rd, for no real reason except I feel like May 23rd is always a perfect day weather-wise, and I thought it would sound and look so pretty on a wedding invitation.

I also wanted to marry a man with the last name Darling, so my name could be Laura Darling.  Hence the name of this blog.

Anyway, as it turned out I married a man with an Italian last name on March 8th.  Which is fine.  But I still spent a few minutes on my drive home yesterday thinking about a May 23rd wedding.

And then as I made dinner, Michelle texted me this:


Listen.  It takes a TRUE FRIEND to remember to wish you a happy anniversary on your ACTUAL anniversary, but also to text your on your fake dream perfect wedding date.

And yes, Michelle's identification photo on my phone sure is a picture of her wearing a Kate Middleton mask because OF COURSE.

And speaking of Kate, let's have a moment for the royal wedding.

I know there are people who think the royal wedding was stupid and dumb and a waste of time and I am here to tell you, I am not one of those people.

I'd been waiting for this for MONTHS.  Matt and I have watched the show Suits since the beginning, so I feel like we basically discovered Meghan Markle. I watched the cheesy Lifetime movie and all of the specials in the week leading up to the big day, and when Saturday arrived, I went to a viewing party at my cousin's house with my mom, my aunt, and another cousin.  

We had mimosas and scones with lemon curd and quiche and themed cups and napkins and it almost took the sting away from the fact that it wasn't me walking down that aisle at St. George's Chapel.







It's a good thing the wedding wasn't on the 23rd.  That would have been almost too much to bear.

Anyway, I got home from the viewing party, put on my pajamas, made a cup of coffee, and climbed right back into bed to watch it again.  I cannot get enough.

When Prince Harry and Meghan announced their engagement, I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel a slight twinge of disappointment and think, "Well, it will officially never be me."  Not that I wanted to marry Prince Harry necessarily, I just thought it would be so cool to be a real life princess.  However, it was never going to be me for a variety of reasons, not the least of which I AM ALREADY MARRIED.

And Friday night, as a kickoff to the royal wedding extravaganza, Matt came home with a bouquet of roses.

So he may not be a prince, but I think I still hit the jackpot.



And right now Prince Matt is sitting in the living room, blowing (whistling? calling?) his duck call at the ducks who have made a nest in our neighbor's front yard.  

Meanwhile, I'm in the kitchen bemoaning the status of my droopy eyelids, which in the last few days have been droopier than average.  I come from a long line of people with a similar problem, and my Poppop was even known to scotch tape his eyelids up when he had to go on long drives so his eyelids wouldn't impede his vision.

Not kidding.

Basically, we're spending our evening just like I'm sure Harry and Meghan are.

Except I bet he didn't bring her flowers.

Or a duck call.

he was kicked when he was down

I feel like so much has happened since I last wrote a post that I don't even know where to start.  So I haven't written anything.

It kind of reminds me of when my parents and I got to my sister's apartment last Saturday, exactly 39 hours before she was leaving to move 1500 miles away, and she had not packed one item.  Not one single thing.  What she had done was dump everything she owned on the floor of her bedroom.  And then she didn't know where to start, so she just didn't.

Anyway, in the last few weeks there's been a bunch going on.  Emily graduated college.  And moved to a remote part of northern Minnesota.  There have been some tough things happening in the lives of family and friends and work has just been weird/busy and we've been working outside a lot and then last week Matt came down with a cold.

Now, Matt's tough.  He has had type 1 diabetes for 17 years, since he was 12 years old.  He wears an insulin pump and a continuous glucose monitor attached to his body and takes shots and figures out insulin doses and has bad days and high blood sugars and low blood sugars and lousy physical side effects and yet in the 9 years I've known him with diabetes, not one time, NOT ONE TIME EVER, have I heard him complain about any of it. 

I can tell you with complete certainty that would not be the case if I were the one with diabetes.

I asked Matt if I could write about his cold tonight and he said, "Why don't you write about how I dream of being a farmer in Texas?"

"Because that's not really that funny," I said.

"Well my cold is certainly NOT funny," he said.

His symptoms started last week and after a few days of debating whether or not it was allergies, he self-diagnosed himself with a "chilly," which is apparently not quite as bad as a cold.  By mid-week it was a full-fledged cold and by Friday it had progressed another level, to a frozen.  

Yesterday I tried to keep my eyes from rolling all the way back into my head when he mentioned labored breathing, and today he ran into some unexpected trouble when he took the elevator to his office on the 56th floor and the sudden change in altitude wreaked havoc on the pressure in his head.

The elevator ear pressure put him in a funk and he started in with a little Monday morning airing of grievances session.

May I add a number 18 to the list?

Matt got to this truck in the parking lot after work and found this.  He parks in the train station parking lot on rainy mornings and doesn't pay the $1.00 fee because he doesn't think he should have to pay to park after he already spends $174 a month for a train pass.  Fair enough argument except for the fact that RULES ARE RULES AND SOME RULES ARE ACTUALLY LAWS.

So, tonight I'm basically harboring a fugitive.

I am just waiting for the police to knock at the door.

Except, when they find out he has a cold they may change their mind about taking him into custody.

It's supposed to storm all week, so tomorrow morning I think he needs to take $1.00 with him to the train station.  

And some DayQuil.

what i read in april

Once again it's time for the monthly book post with Steph and Jana.  I have three to share this month.

First up, 2 Ways Your Phone is Changing You by Tony Reinke. 

A few months ago I downloaded an app that shows the amount of time I spend on my phone each day.  Holy cow.  Talk about an eye opener.  Around the same time I noticed a lot of people recommend this book, so I added my name to the waiting list at the library.  It made me think about what I share on social media, why I share it, and what I consume and why.  I deactivated my Facebook for a few weeks after I read it and didn't miss it a bit.  I reactivated it last week and noticed that I'm spending more time on my phone in general when I have Facebook on there.  It's like I waste time on Facebook, then go from app to app just wasting more time.  When Facebook isn't on there, I'm not as tempted to mindlessly scroll from app to app and spend a lot less time on my phone overall. 

So, I'll be deactivating it again this week I think!

For a total change of pace, next I read And Every Morning the Way Home Gets Longer and Longer by Fredrik Backman.  

This was a short novella, and I read it in one sitting.  It's about an aging grandfather, and his connections to his son and grandson and memories of his wife.  It's sweet and nostalgic and a little emotional.  I really enjoyed it.

Last up was Sisters First: Stories from Our Wild and Wonderful Life by Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Pierce Bush.  

I love the Bush family so I had high hopes for this book, and it didn't disappoint.  Barbara and Jenna shared so many stories, hilarious and touching and unexpected.  I laughed out loud several times and would highly recommend it.

I've been on the wait list at the library forever for Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine and it came in on Friday.  I'm about sixty pages in and so far, I'm loving it!

What did you read this month? Anything I need to add to my list?

the most epic arbor day celebration ever

Now that our kitchen remodel is finished, and with no major projects on the renovation horizon, I had visions of leisurely weekend mornings drinking coffee, afternoons spent reading or gardening or lounging in the hammock, and evenings spent with a glass of wine, trying a fancy new recipe in our fancy new kitchen.

Well.

Let me tell you about last weekend.

Actually, it started early last week.  One of neighbors isn't big on the whole "house upkeep" thing. She is a lovely person when we run into her in the driveway, and she hasn't even held a grudge against us for calling the cops on her granddaughter's underage drinking party last spring, but she doesn't do a thing to her house and her yard is a mess.

We planted about 15 arbor vitae along the property line last year, but the drainage on that side of the yard isn't great, and the soil was so wet that the trees didn't grow at all because the roots couldn't, well, take root.

My next career will obviously be in botany.

We've been talking about other methods to create a privacy barrier, and last week Matt said, "I ordered some trees to plant on the side yard that thrive in moist soil."

Some trees?  Great!  Fine!  Terrific! I figured "some" trees was 10 or 15.

Well, we went to a First Communion party on Saturday morning, and when we got home, do you know how many trees were in a giant box on our front stoop, shipped straight from the heartland of privacy hedges, aka the great state of Tennessee?

ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY TREES.

Or, more realistically, ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY 18 INCH TWIGS THAT WILL HOPEFULLY GROW QUICKLY AND IN A ROBUST FASHION.

Anyway, since they were alive, we had to get the trees twigs in the ground quickly.  Matt got to work digging a trench, and I started planting.  At first I thought, "Well I have GOT to write a blog post about this! What a funny little adventure, planting 120 trees twigs!" 

By about tree twig 37 I said, calmly, "Matt, I want to let you know that I am losing my steam and my good nature."

(I was not joking.  Here are the trees twigs.)

But, we plowed through and planted 60 trees twigs on Saturday.  And then I drove my muddy self straight to the Acme and bought us two pizzas and a big box of mozzarella sticks for dinner, I am not even kidding and not even sorry.

We sat in the kitchen and ate our junk food and watched it rain.  And rain.  AND RAIN.  All night long.  The trench Matt dug turned into a downright canal.  I walked outside Sunday to assess the damage and swore I saw a goldfish swimming in it.

Matt tried to "shovel" the water out, but it was an ill-fated pursuit. 

I planted the remaining sixty trees on dry(ish) ground, which worked out because we learned that we didn't have enough for the entire yard and so, Matt ordered thirty more trees  twigs, due to arrive tomorrow.  

I won't lie, I'm secretly thrilled that I am going out of town this weekend.

Matt's on his own to plant the remaining trees twigs and he also decided that he wanted to remedy the poor drainage situation as best he could, and I literally just walked into our living room to take this photo.

It arrived in the mail today and is some sort of a well that is apparently going to be buried in our yard this weekend.

I'll make sure to stock up on mozzarella sticks before I go.

This project may require two boxes.