Does she ever sit still???

What do you get when you cross a Type A personality (some of us would say anal retentive or obsessive compulsive) with a stay at home Mom? Projects, lots of projects. I thought I would show a few of her bigger ones, although by no means does this cover the whole list. While I am sure to suffer more ridicule on my next golf game in Nashville (although winning money almost every single time takes the sting away from the abuse I receive), I have to admit when it comes to home improvements, I am married to the female version of Bob Villa. Thank god, because unlike those masochists in Nashville, I have no desire to build a deck in the middle of the summer in the South. So let's start down the road. When we moved into our house here near Atlanta in 2004, the inside of the house was pretty awesome, but the outside was a mini-disaster. So, Shireen's projects started with the front yard as the before and after pictures will show here.

Then, out of the blue, came the inspiration that our kitchen should be splash guarded to death. While I have been known to splatter some spaghetti sauce, I don't think I could send it 20 ft. away, but as usual the wife disagreed and for the better part of a month, our garage was filled with the sound of a tile saw and the remnants of tile dust. And while, as usual, Shireen's math was horrendous (are you sure that 7/16 is more than 3/8) with that wonderful Wisconsin education, the project came out extremely well, especially for all of the cursing and mistaken cuttings.

After that her attention turned back to the outside. The back yard and the wooded area has been a constant source of Shireen's obsessive nature (we should buy stock in Roundup) and so we went from just a god awful yard with half of it not even having sod and a woods that looked like it hadn't been touched in 20 years, to sod, to an expanded irrigation system to finally a complete ripping up of dead sod that wouldn't take and the laying down of mulch and plants. Just for the record, Shireen's Mom, Linda, has been pressed into service of all of these outdoor projects and usually heads back to Wisconsin overly glad to get away from her daughter. Even I was pressed into service in this latest venture and had the enjoyable experience of roto tilling the mounds of dirt and dead sod which was an absolute joy. As usual, the yard came out looking great and if we could get a rain shower sometime this year and have a heat index under a 110, we might even get it looking better.

So next on the list, and currently underway is the digging up of the ground below the deck in preparation to lay stone and tile for a patio flooring. This time Shireen is springing the project on her Dad when he comes to visit (last time he got the next fixture for the sink). Luckily we have leverage with the grandkid and are able to parlay that into projects. We will post the completed project when done along with the 2 or 3 more that I'm sure Shireen has added to her list by then.