If at first you don't succeed...

...try, try again. We had to put that phrase to good use today.

We have some special visitors coming at the end of June and we have a list almost a mile long of things we want to get done around the house before they come. The funny thing is, they wouldn't care at all if we did nothing on that list before they arrived, but their visit is a good inspiration for us to keep pushing forward. For this long weekend we picked a few things on that list to get done.

- lay mulch

- finish garden boxes and plant seeds

- stain dining room chairs

- install hooks for roll down shade to protect from wind

- finagle some sort of shade for our pergola

- find some patio furniture

- continue to baby proof house

At the end of day one we are in the middle of several items on the list. As of 3:00 today we were pretty bummed because several attempts at completing these items failed.

We called this week to have mulch delivered today at 11:00. At 2:00 on Friday afternoon they called to inform us they were out of the mulch we ordered. They were kind enough to offer a more expensive type of mulch but after asking questions about it we learned this pricier mulch was old wood pallets which probably had pressure treated wood and which used to hold who knows what chemicals. Did we want this in our garden beds or on the ground for sweet Carter to inspect? No thank you. They ended up only offering an apology for not being able to deliver this week so we plan to find a new supplier hopefully by next weekend. Bummer.

After Carter went down for his morning nap we got right to work in the garden. We finished the fourth and final raised bed but as we were laying newspaper and getting ready to lay the paving stones for our path, Carter woke from his nap and was ready to eat. Time out for that project.

Next it was a trip to Lowe's for staining supplies and a trip to Target for patio furniture. The patio furniture at Target was more expensive in the store than it was online so we walked away empty handed.

We got home just in time for Carter's afternoon nap and we were pretty excited to take a shot at staining our dining room chairs. We bought them at an unfinished wood store at a great price and thought we could handle the staining. Boy were we wrong. The chairs have a "X" back with lots of nooks and crannys which makes for very difficult staining. This is what the first coat looked like.

Pretty awful, huh? Yeah. We thought so too. So once Carter woke up we made a quick trip back to Lowe's to go for Plan B - spray painting the chairs cream. Our plan is to add foam to the seats and cover them in this fabric. So we think the cream chairs will look nice. We sure hope so. The good news is that we completed one chair and the spray paint worked and looks great! So guess where we are headed tomorrow? Back to Lowe's to buy some more spray paint. There you have it - our day in a nutshell. After re-reading it I sound pretty pitiful don't I? Don't mean to whine so much. On a bright note I had a fun day hanging out with my husband (who didn't have to study) and my son (who is the happiest little kiddo) - what could be better than that.

To end on another bright note - check out our planters on our front porch. Just a few short weeks ago the green vine was barely hanging over the pot. Now the vine is touching the porch and...
...we have new blooms. I forget what these are called, but I really like the look. They are all starting to burst open. Beautiful!
We have another full day planned for tomorrow - planning to scratch a few things off the list.