Curtin Call

Back in July, I had told you about the birds/birdhouses in our yard. In particular, I told you about the Tomorrow’s Treasures Birdhouse and how happy I was that I actually had hummingbirds using that particular birdhouse.

Well, I’m the easily-excitable-type and I was so excited that I went out and bought another one.

Hubby had the idea of getting one without the stand so we could hang it on a tree and enjoy watching the birds from the level where we sit each night. So we hung it on a tree. Up there:

We sat and watched and waited. We watched a little more and we waited a little more until one night, we saw this:

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Are any of my readers able to identify that species of bird for me????

My yard, silly! What were you thinking I meant?!?!?!

I just realized that I’d told you all about the six yards of stone that we had delivered but never did show you what we did with it so here you go!

Underneath our great room, hubby had put a patio and he went ahead and extended the walkway to the deck stairs:

It was a lot of work but, fortunately, the man has patience:

Its so much prettier now:

Along the end of our driveway, we have a row of nice tall hedges which give us some privacy. I don’t have the best picture of it but you can sort of get the idea here:

No, that’s not the nice tall hedges you’re seeing in that picture. That’s the peony that was planted underneath them. How do I know its a peony? Cause my friends Katie and Angie told me it is.

Here’s what it looks like now, though:

Much prettier! Its hard to explain (and comprehend) in this last picture but when you enter the yard from the driveway, where the point and light are, the grass almost forms the bottom of a heart. This was not done intentionally but I positively love the end result! Every time I walk into my yard, I feel like its giving me a great big hug!

Update: I went to B0st0n Interi0rs website yesterday to show someone our new tables. They are no longer referring to the series as “Rustic Oak tables” but instead, “Natural Oak tables”. Heehee. Li’l ol’ me got B0st0n Interi0rs to change their website! So, do I get some sort of a discount for having saved some future manager from having to deal with the likes of me?!?!?!

We were on vacation last week. We took the week and agreed that we were going to “take it easy and relax”. Yeah. Right. With my husband??? Relax is not in his vocabulary.

Really, though… we spent the better part of our vacation furniture shopping. We had set our goal to have our living room furniture ordered before our vacation was over. I would be perfectly happy if I didn’t have to step foot in another furniture store for many, many years!

We had picked our tables out at B0st0n Interi0rs and our sofa/chair/ottoman at J0rdan’s. We went to order at Jordan’s first. The price on the couch was $799. Until I specified which fabric I wanted. Then the couch was $1149. WTF?!?!?! $350 more TO CHANGE THE FABRIC???? I was very impressed with Brian’s calm “Thank you for your time. Let’s go!” I, personally, wanted to say “WTF?!?!?!?!” I figure if we’d stayed around to hear what more she had to say, the ~$1800 I thought we were spending on those three pieces would have been closer to $2800. BEFORE the tables and television we need to buy! Fortunately, we found another set that we like just as much, if not more, at the little local guy, whom I prefer to deal with anyway. Total cost? $1200 – including Scotchguard, two extra pillows AND delivery. Thank you very much.

Yesterday, we went to order the tables and I was successful in confusing the saleswoman AND the manager to no end. The tables (cocktail, end and television stand) come in natural oak and rustic oak finish. Their website refers to this particular series as “Rustic” and says that the finish is natural. Okay, so one place says rustic, the other natural. Are you SURE the finish I’m asking for is what’s on the floor??? YES. And if its not? IT IS. BUT if its not and it comes in wrong? I’VE WORKED HERE FOR 13 YEARS – ITS THE NATURAL FINISH. Okay, I didn’t ask how long you’ve worked here, I’m asking what happens if you special order it and its WRONG????? Grrrr… she finally put it in writing that we’re not responsible if it comes in wrong cause, you know, she’s worked there for 13 years so SHE KNOWS!!!!!!!!

I do not want this to sound like a bashing to B0st0n Interi0rs as everyone that I dealt with was extremely cooperative (and I WAS a pest trying to confirm that what I’m going to get is what I’m expecting) it was just that the manager we talked to was rather easily offended (I used the word “confusing” which I think set her off for some bizarre reason.) In fact, I would highly recommend them!

As for J0rdan’s???? That’s an entirely different story. I do not plan on visiting that store again anytime soon. I have a real issue with that “bait and switch” sales approach.

Okay, its been 1-1/2 weeks and I think I finally have the strength in me to write about what happened to us a week ago this past Sunday.

When we moved into our new house, we were aware that there were bees above the front door and we were aware that we needed to deal with it but it was just one of those things on that list that we hadn’t gotten to.

Last Sunday, Brian was working on the woodwork above the front door inside the house. I walked by him to go downstairs to swap the laundry. He asked me to pass him something from the garage and when I went to hand it to him, I noticed a couple bees on the wall near where he was working.

He grabbed a newspaper and started swatting at them when he realized that there was a HOLE where the wall and ceiling meet and those f*ckers (apologies if that offends anyone but there’s nothing else to call them) got real aggressive, real fast. By the time he could get down off the ladder, he’d been bitten three times on his face and once on his arm.

All we could do was lock the cats in a room and run out the front door. I don’t recall being so petrified in my life (I didn’t actually cry, but damn I was close!)

Everyone’s question at this point? “Is he allergic?” Well, yeah, I asked that, too, but since he doesn’t remember being bitten by a bee since he was a kid, we weren’t sure. I was horrified at the thought of him having a reaction, my having to get him to a hospital and then figure out what the heck we were going to do. Remember, I said this happened on a Sunday?!?!?! A Sunday morning, to boot!

When things calmed down, he covered up and went back in the house to get some local phone books and we started calling one exterminator after another. Leaving one message after another. We finally got to one that actually had a live answering service, they relayed our message, and within one hour, the exterminator came and gassed those f*ckers.

Let me share a couple lessons with you from this one:

1. If you see ANY signs of a bees nest in the eaves of your home, call an exterminator. Immediately.

2. Just in case… find yourself a 24/7 exterminator and keep that number handy.