Can't You Feel Its Pain....?

Before I get to Fern Gully and my sympathies, an announcement.

Have you seen the retiring stamp list for Stampin' Up! yet?  Um, WOW.  The list has never ever been this extensive.  It's very likely that some of your favorites may be retiring, and some of these sets are only as supplies last, so you'll want to snatch them up!  Last chance to order is May 31st.  You can click on over to my website to order online, or shoot me an email at diykindagirl@hotmail.com and I'd be happy to help you figure out your order.

Okay, so now let's talk about Fern Gully.

So last spring, our very first spring as homeowners, we attacked our front yard.  'Cause it was awful.

This photo doesn't even begin to show the disaster state it was in (the owners moved out in August, we closed in February...months of neglect), not to mention the terrible landscaping.  I mean, who plants a tree RIGHT in front of the door?!  And all the shrubs and trees were situated in "mounds," as we call them.  Oh, and let's not forget the heart shaped strawberry patch in the middle of the yard.  Awesome.

Anyway, we tore out tons of shrubs, and one tree (which I tried to replant in another place...totally didn't work) and leveled the "mounds."  Except around the trees.  We couldn't, or the trees would be no more.  And I love trees.  I REALLY love trees.

However, the trauma of it all evidently took a toll on the smallest of the three remaining trees...and about a third of it died.  Plus the mound was especially terrible around that tree, and it was hard for my husband to mow.  So....after much difficult deliberation, I decided that my husband could cut it down, which he's been aching to do ever since we starting ripping our yard apart the first time.

I informed him of this as we were driving up to spend the day at his folks' house on Saturday.  Before we left that evening, he borrowed a saw, and when we pulled into our driveway, he got out of the car, opened the back, grabbed the saw and walked straight over to the tree and started sawing.

Just to shed some light on things, it was 7:30 PM, we had two small tired hungry children that needed to be taken care of, and the next day was Sunday, which for us means the Sabbath, a day of worship, rest and definitely no yard work.

His only defense: I had to cut it down before you changed your mind.

I guess he had a point.

Maybe it was Chrysta's influence at a young age (either that, or Anne's influence), but watching anyone cut down a tree leaves me with a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  It was no different this time.  I'm a tree killer.

On the bright side. our yard is going to look much better....you know, once we get around to digging the stump out of the ground, leveling the "mound" and planting grass.....