Random life updates not all that interesting

June went really fast! In just a few days we'll be flying to NY to visit family and I'm terrified of flying with a toddler, but am as prepared as I can be. My mom recently retired and I can't wait to spend some time together crafting and catching up. Around the same time that I finished the stonework around our patio, my parents were getting a new front sidewalk installed too.

Let's see, so our patio is finally done! I LOVE it and it really cleaned the space up in our backyard and we're so excited to decorate and spend time back there now. I'll eventually post more about the transformation once we get our furniture situation set up.



What I didn't love was the mess the workers left for us to fix after they cleared out, which I wasn't expecting. They left 200 lbs of landscaping sand in Lachlan's sandbox lid so we couldn't use the sandbox for 2 days (which after we called the owner and told him, he said "oh it's for your boy's sandbox! And we're like, "no, it's already full and besides, we can't even lift the lid now but thanks.") Granted, we did use some of that sand to fill in the gap between the cement of the patio and the grass that they left open. The gap was from the wood frame they used to hold the concrete in place while it cured. So I filled that in and had to bag the rest and throw out in the trash. They also left a few tools and junk in the grass, they left cigarette butts in the mulch, and they put our fence back up pretty shittily (they needed to remove a panel to bring back the heavy equipment). And they forgot to cap one of our sprinklers that we don't need anymore since the patio is basically covering it now, so when the sprinklers were going off, a huge puddle formed.



So as much as the patio looks great, the mess they left behind put a bad taste in my mouth about the entire experience. They did come back to fix the leaking sprinkler head, I'll give them that. But unfortunately for them, I won't be recommending their services to anyone looking for cement work done unless they like to clean up yard work. But, score! Now we have an extra hammer and shovel.

I told myself we got what we paid for. The company was offering a 40% off discount to customers who booked their services back in April before the busy season started, so we did because it was the only way we could afford it. So they just did the 60% we paid them for :)

Then a few days later I ripped up the grass that overgrew into the area that used to be just rocks, to put down my own stonework border. We could've put down some grass seed but we have a bitch of a time keeping our grass green as it is with all our sprinkler problems and direct sun so I figured stones would be easiest.

Brian did eventually figure out how to fix our sprinkler problem. Last summer, we had weak pressure and the sprinkler head wouldn't pop out when they turned on, so a HUGE patch of our grass burnt and died in the sun and crab grass grew everywhere. Then this summer, the same issue happened, minus the crab grass because Brian fixed the sprinkles in time. After going on YouTube and reading tutorials online, he bought a few new heads from Ace and installed them himself, after being told by TWO sprinkler guys they didn't know what the issue was and they couldn't help us. Seriously?!

But with a cement patio, comes Lachlan smashing his head into it. The other night Bri had sausages on the grill which eventually caught fire so we ran up the deck stairs to put it out and Lachlan was still down at the bottom. He came crawling up the stairs after us and I saw him and said let's go back down. Brian had the fire got under control. So we were going down, he was in front of me going down backwards on his hands and knees like he always does, and I was right there with him, only when he was 2 steps away from the bottom, he thought he was already at the bottom, and so he stood up and stepped back and BOOM tipped over upside down, head on the cement, feet in the air, practically balancing on his head for a few seconds before tipping over, and all within 1 inch of my grasp. I just couldn't react fast enough. I freakin missed grabbing him by one inch! It looked way worse than it really was and he didn't even have a bump, just a scrape. But I cried for an hour afterwards because it just looked SO awful. I couldn't sleep that night because it kept replaying in my head and I felt like the shittiest parent ever. He's totally fine but my god, he's always falling! His face has three scars already and he's not even 2.

Anyway, besides all that, I've noticed my wrists have been feeling better. Since my third trimester developed intense pain due to De Quervain's Tendinosis that never went away. A few months ago I noticed my right wrist was feeling better so that gave me hope that maybe my left one would stop hurting too without needing a surgery. And for a few weeks now, I've noticed my left wrist is indeed feeling better. I can pick Lachlan up without having to wedge my fist under his armpit. So I'm hoping that maybe it ran its course. *knocksonwood* But it also helps that I don't have to carry him all the time now...though maybe I should so he won't fall on his face every 10 seconds.

Let's see, I've been watching Wentworth on Netflix. A new season's out, but apparently I didn't watch the season before that so I get to watch two new seasons! I also watched and enjoyed Chris D'elia's Netflix special, Man on Fire. I follow him on Instagram and I love when he videos people without them knowing and says stupid shit under his breath about them. Sounds mean, and I guess it is, but it's more funny (if you go to his account, scroll down like 3 rows, to where you see people walking in an airport if you want a laugh!). I also watched The Keepers and I have plans to at least check out Glow based on how many people are raving about it.

I'm reading Strange the Dreamer and it's SO good! But I'm almost done so I need a new book to read. I have two books from my OwlCrate, but I'd like to bring a small book or an ebook on the plane with me so it's less to pack.

Ugh, the plane. We're going to try to do all carry on and I just feel ill thinking about how we're gonna carry everything plus a kid. We just don't want to wait for our bags to slowly arrive in the baggage claim if we check them. Because we still have like a 3 hour drive after we land that I just dread. When will they invent teleportation??