Lessons Learned the Hard Way

Where the new tree will go in the front yard when I decide what I want.

A lilac waiting to be planted. The hole has already been dug and the bag of dirt is beside the hole.

Bags of mulch everywhere.

I've read before that it's best to do landscaping in small sections, getting one project completed before you begin another. Being impatient to do everything at once, I didn't do that, so I have unfinished projects in the front, back and both sides of my home. I work on a project according to my mood, what I feel like doing at the moment. I also try to avoid the sun so I work on which ever project offers me the coolest, shadiest spot. I have several groups of family and friends coming up starting at the end of May and I thought I had plenty of time to get all of my projects finished. I found out last evening that my husband's boss wanted to come over TODAY and meet the family while he was in town. Less than a twenty-four hour notice! YIKES! I'm not one to stress out too much over something like this, but it is somewhat stressful none the less. I get used to seeing my little messes but when looking at my yard through different eyes they are glaring and unsightly. Not only are there little messes in my yard, but I have a fairly large home and cannot keep up the inside while I spend every spare moment outside. Needless to say I had much to do before he came today. We got the downstairs clean and I made an easy pie to serve. Then I cleaned up some of my outside messes (with my son's help). The patio, which has been my potting station, had lots of empty nursery containers and looked cluttered and messy. I had been saying, "I need to get this cleaned off so that we can enjoy it", but since I was still planting I put off the clean-up. I got that at least presentable. Still not the way I wanted it to look, but sufficient. We also cleaned off the driveway which had mud and plant debris on it. One thing that I can't believe I put off doing was finishing the front porch flower bed. All I needed to do was break one edger in half to finish off the two end pieces. I'm not very good at breaking them evenly, so I procrastinated. I got that finished this morning. I still haven't found a tree for the front yard, so there is another glaring mess. We did put the dirt back in the hole, but it is piled high with bags of mulch. Not pretty. So, the hard lesson I have learned through this is, if I want my yard to look company ready, I really need to finish one project completely before I start another. It would have been O.K. to have one project going, but not fifty. That may be a little exaggerated, but not by much. I hate to learn lessons the hard way.

Anyway, the visit went well and the pie was enjoyed. If anyone is interested in a quick and easy pie here is the recipe.

Easy Cheesecake Pie

• 1 package of 8oz. Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of sour cream
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 8oz. container of Cool Whip
• 1 graham cracker crust

Beat softened cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in sugar. Blend in sour cream and vanilla. Add Cool Whip, blending well. Spoon the mixture into the pie crust. Chill until set. Garnish with topping of choice.

We top ours with chocolate shavings and chocolate syrup, cherry pie filling, blueberry pie filling or strawberries.