This patio is going to destroy me. I was positive I’d be sitting out by the fire pit tonight, sipping a bourbon. But it took me about four hours longer than expected to pour and activate the polymeric sand, only to find that 25% of the joints I filled were empty by the time I was done. Apparently this broom is not an ideal tool for this job. I have a secret: This broom is not an ideal tool for ANY job. I plan to throw it into an active volcano the first chance I get. I have torn up both thumbs trying to sweep with it. But… next weekend has to be the end. I only have 25% of the joints to refill, the edging to backfill, and the furniture to move. I bought my “you finally finished this insane project” gift for myself and it arrived, but now I have to wait another week to use them. What are they? You’ll see.
Category: Patio Project
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September 6
The patio is almost completely finished. I finished putting down the last pavers this morning. All I have left is edging and sealing, which I should be able to do in a day. I am so unbelievably exhausted, though. Tamping the extra gravel was hard on my body. I managed to get Robin to an escape room with her friend from school. We managed to escape! We needed 13 hints, which feels like a lot, but our helper said it really wasn’t much. He had to give us the answer for one of the puzzles. We just couldn’t figure it out. We had a lot of fun. Then out to dinner and back to bed! The exhaustion is palpable. I can’t seem to get on top of it.
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September 5
While I was getting ready to work on the patio, I happened to spot the old pot where my mom’s peace lily had been. After I tried to salvage what was left of the plant, I stashed it in a corner under a chair. Apparently that’s exactly what it needed, because I found a very healthy-looking peace lily hiding in the corner. What a surprise! I think it needs to live on the patio when it’s finished. Which should be soon!
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August 30
Got a lot done on the patio. I’m very nearly finished. I think two more weekends and it’ll be ready for decorating. I’m immensely proud of it. Spent the rest of the day doing the usual Sunday chores. Sundays are so exhausting.
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August 29
Managed to get up early and do some work on the patio before taking Robin to tumbling. Went to Home Depot with Christina to pick up a new pot for her cactus, which may or may not survive its emergency surgery. I spent the rest of the day designing new beer labels for the work version of the beer game since I am headed down there next month. I find this stuff far too entertaining.
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August 22
I didn’t want to get up this morning to work on the patio because I wake up before dawn every damn day and I want to sleep in later than 6:30 sometimes. But then I was wide awake at 7:30 and it was too late to go out and work before taking Robin to tumbling. So I wasted a whole day of work for an extra hour of light sleep. But then I went out with some friends to watch some live music. I haven’t been to a standing room only bar since my mid-20s. Everyone there was old. Very few people did not have gray hair. And everyone acted like they were still cool. It was very entertaining. The band was good, too. I am a sucker for live music. I didn’t get home until midnight, which I haven’t done in so long that I can’t remember. It was a really fun night.
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August 16
I finished fixing that first section of the patio, and it looks really good. I’m so happy with it. I put up the edging, but it’s not tall enough, so I had to order more. What would this patio project be if I didn’t have to buy twice as much of everything than I originally planned? It looks so much better now that it’s (pretty much) straight and level. I still don’t love the plain pavers, but it’ll be ok. I can really start to smell the end now. I’ve only got half left to finish, and now that I know what I’m doing, I think we’re talking about another 3-4 weekends and then it’ll be done. It might be faster, but Christina wants to go to the beach next weekend and Robin wants to get together with her friend. There’s this life thing that has to happen. Still… the end is in sight. I’m starting to get excited.
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August 15
Billy and I had a date night at Java Game Haus. We played the Harry Potter game. It’s been a long time, but it was fun. It’s a little sad that we both started falling asleep at the table, pretty much exactly at 9pm. Other than that, we had pancakes and eggs for dinner, and they were REALLY good pancakes. I need to save this recipe. I spent the morning redoing most of the patio work I did the first two weeks. I thought I’d finish that today, but there is another day’s worth to do tomorrow. This is the neverending patio.
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August 8
I got a lot done on the patio today, but the biggest thing I revealed is that everything I did on the first day is a mess. It’s crooked, it’s not level… I will have to spend another day fixing that, but at least all the newer work is good. I learned that this part is about precision, not speed. It took me forever to get this section level, and then it was too low, so I had to do it all over again. I ended up finishing a mere ten minutes before I had to take Robin to tumbling. I had to take a sink bath and scramble to change, but we made it and I was mostly presentable. I’m about halfway done and getting excited because the end is in sight. Even though we won’t have all the furniture and decor, I’m excited to see how it looks and to use it for the first time. I’m very proud of it. So much work. But look what I am doing!
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August 1
It feels so good to finally have some pavers down! I’m really excited to be so close to being done. There are some spots I need to fix that aren’t level, like the edge where I didn’t think I needed gravel. Oops. Looks like my gravel days aren’t behind me. There’s a big surprise. Luckily I have some left over.
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July 28
I FINALLY finished building the foundation for the patio today. After more than three months, it feels overwhelmingly awesome to finally have this done. I have a lot of gravel left over, but that is still better than not having enough. I got it up to the height I needed and it looks pretty good. I’m very, very proud of it. I can’t wait to see some pavers down, maybe this weekend. We are coming down the home stretch!
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July 26
I realized about a third of the way in today that I still don’t have enough gravel to finish the patio foundation. I just about lost the will to continue. Then I thought I’d just continue until it was done no matter what it took. In the end I ordered another 85 bags of gravel, which are coming tomorrow. I think I only need 50, but after this purchase, the patio is just going to be at whatever height it is. I’d rather have 30 extra bags of gravel than not enough. I’m so over this! Went out to dinner with Lauren and Monica at a nice Italian restaurant in St. Augustine. That was nice.
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July 18
I moved all the patio gravel to the backyard by myself in three hours. It was so much easier this time than last time. I didn’t understand why until I realized it was because I moved 7 tons less than last time. But still, it’s done, it didn’t hurt nearly as much as I thought it would, and now I’m ready for the last lift before laying pavers. I cannot wait. I used the rest of the day to plan a tapestry for Billy to display all his National Parks patches and pins. I came up with a killer idea that involves old t-shirts, quilting, and wood etching. Because it would be TOO EASY to just hang up a plain piece of fabric. Who does stuff like that??
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July 4
Today was the big day. I finally rented the compactor for the patio. It is definitely heavy. I was moderately successful with it. I got much less done today than I wanted. Time just wasn’t on my side. I plan to go full throttle tomorrow and get all the rest of the compacting done. It will be a feat because I will most likely need to buy more gravel, and I will likely need to do it in several trips so it doesn’t destroy my car. That all takes time. I am going to give it everything I have. I don’t want to rent the compactor again. And I don’t want Billy to come home from work and ask me why I stopped working like he did today. That ruined my whole day.
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July 3
I spent hours getting my string lines up to level the patio and was almost done getting it leveled out when someone let Jackson out. He got tangled up in the lines and pulled everything down in about two seconds of drama. It was so fast and yet it felt like slow motion. I seriously cried. But everything is level. We went out to eat at Picasso’s for dinner and then went to this place in the same plaza called Frozen Fusion. It looked cute, but it was terrible. They had three flavors (the usual chocolate, vanilla, strawberry) of soft serve ice cream and you add toppings and pay by the ounce. Disappointing, but the kids had ice cream and let’s face it, it’s hard to have bad ice cream. Would not go back. Which seemed like the choice most of their customers have made, since there weren’t any.
Year in Photos 