three hours

This summer, James and I have accomplished many things together...MANY things!  But, every once and a while, we have the opportunity to surprise each other with something that we accomplished on our own.  We like seeing the expressions on each other's face, more than anything.  Maybe the other would be please in the surprise and smile...maybe they wouldn't and frown {but James and I both like taking chances on each other}.  So far, there hasn't been any frowns or upsets with surprises.  But if there ever is, James and I are going to tell each other to "Turn that frown upside down".....'cause that works, right?!  I guess we will never know, until it happens.

 

I decided a surprise was in order for James.  He had gone to play league softball and then had a meeting for church.  This meant I had a good three hours!!  So......I hopped to it and let me tell you..........I love how it turned out! 

 

I planned on just weeding the front garden and make it look spiffy!  It was desperate for some good TLC.  So much so, that I didn't even take a before picture out of embarrassment.  This is what the front garden looked like after I weeded and raked the lovely dirt: 

 

I still had 2 1/2 hours before James was home, but I didn't know what to do next?!  I thought about it for a bit, and then it came to me...I'm going to cover the lovely dirt with "black garden paper" {I called it that because I didn't know what it was called}and then fill it with rocks! Brilliant! Brilliant! Brilliant!  So, I went to Lowe's and picked up the "black garden paper" and got to work.  This is what it looked like after I was done rolling and cutting and "masterpiecing" {you know what I mean}:

 

Of course, I couldn't leave it looking like that! By this time, I had 2 hours left still! I would have everything done by the time James got home.  All I had to do was pick rocks and relocate some that we had around our house.  Easy!

Ha! Right!?  I was mistaken! I didn't realize how hard and time consuming it was to pick rocks.  I thought our wheel barrel would assist greatly, but the tire was flat! So, I grabbed a pale and began the lengthy process.  I would walk up the hill, pick the rocks, and then walk down the hill with the heavy load that it was.  These rocks were going to be more of a hassle then I even knew. 

 

Nine Loads later...............{yes, nine} I had picked and picked and wished I was done! I still had at least 2 more loads to carry and then I hear James' car coming down the road. NO!!!!! I hadn't finished my project and then it was going to look like a mess and he may have a frown on his face. Ooooooh nooooooooo!  He pulled in the back of the house, so therefore he had not seen the process yet.  All he could see was that I was covered in dirt and sweat {no glistening here....it was SWEAT}, carrying a pale full of rocks.  He may have questioned what I was doing, but then he knew what was up.  I brought him to the front and revealed the 85% done project!

He was smiling!!! No frown in sight, even though it wasn't complete! I was happy that he was happy, but wasn't happy that it wasn't complete.  That was when James surprised me and took the bucket from my hands and went back up the hill.  He was going to help me.  We were going to work to complete this project: together!   In the end, he was proud...I was proud....and we both saw something beautiful in the front of our house home!

 

 

I've said it before, and I will say it again: I love how it turned out! 

Now, what should I fill those empty flower pots with?!....They will not be filled with more rocks, that's for sure!