So Much For Lazy Days...

I meant to take it easy yesterday. Honestly. Then the front porch started calling to me...

You see, we live in a small apartment (700sq ft) at a house with no yard to play in (the other tenants park on the back lawn). There's a little bit of side and front lawn, but it slopes drastically and quickly. Though we do have a lovely Japanese Maple on the side of our house. So we used to have seats on our front porch to enjoy the outdoors... something that has been neglected since the year Maggie was born. Last year the owner was supposed to paint the house and we had to remove everything from the porch... the house never was painted. So now I'm moving it all back.

It started with the heavy potting bench. It used to be part of our kitchen (very little counter space) before Maggie was born. Now, that space is occupied by our desk and computer so the potting bench has sat on the front porch until we could find a permanent place for it or we move. I decided to move it from one end of the porch to the other. It should have fit where I wanted it... except our air conditioner was in the way and I couldn't make the swing. So I had to push it all the way back to where I started.

Then there's the metal frame bench. It's old... really old. Something we got for free that I repainted a few years ago. But it's also something that requires cushions to utilize it, and the cushions never seem to last more than one season. Last year, it sat on the lawn, empty and unused while we waited for the house to be painted. I moved it back on the porch.

Then the plans started... hanging planters with flowers, flowers to put on the potting bench, cushions or a new bench for seating, and a gate to keep Maggie contained while we're out there.

So we started at the greenhouses. UGH. Pregnant women do not belong in greenhouses in 85 degree weather. Maggie rather enjoyed it, but I was wilting fast. I was also not willing to pay $20+ for each hanging basket since I will admit to having a sort of brown thumb. We ended up at WalMart (as much as I HATE that store!!!!) where I found 2 hanging baskets of peach Gerber Daisies for $10 each, plus some gorgeous begonias to put on the potting bench. I also found a plastic bench there but I didn't buy it because there wasn't enough room in the Blazer to bring it home, now that there are 2 carseats in there.

Got home, hung the plants... realized I forgot about looking for the gate.

Went back out last night (instead of going to bellydancing) to KMart and found $25-$35 cushions for the bench (I need 2 and I won't pay that much), no bench alternatives that are affordable, and no gate. I think the kind of gate I'm envisioning is something that's probably no longer in production (accordian style... needs to cover about 79" opening but easily be removed for the mailman to get on the porch).

In any case, I'm losing interest fast in my plans for the porch given the limited budget I have. I would so love a wicker loveseat style bench out there but I definitely can't afford that. And all of this is reliant upon a gate... can't hang out with Sprout on the bench and have Maggie loose in the front yard - our street is way too busy for me to have to worry about her running out into the road.

SIGH.

In any case, I'm going to take it a little easier today. My sister was actually appalled that I was moving furniture yesterday, claiming Sprout's going to just pop right out. If only it were that easy, I'd rearrange the entire apartment.