I used to love getting out in the garden, and would pretty much spend the entire weekend gardening. Now? I look at it as work. Too much of it. Time I'd rather be spending doing something fun- like taking Einstein to the dog park or, when my foot is better, hiking.

Or even sitting on my keester, reading a book.

But then I look at my yard and cringe. I see all the hours it's going to take to prepare it for spring, and then the cycle of working on it every weekend just to keep it up. It's no longer fun for me. I like planting stuff during the spring, and want to continue doing that- but the weeding, pruning, etc. etc. etc. is just too much.

So, we've decided to hire it out. We interviewed our current landscaper- the guy who mows and fertilizes our lawn- and we're interviewing another one (Mr. Ho!) tomorrow. It's going to cost a lot to get it ready for spring, but the weekly outgo doesn't seem too bad.

Last spring and summer I wouldn't make plans for the weekend because I knew that I had to work on the yard. Then I'd procrastinate it until the weekend was over, feeling guilty the entire weekend. Not a good way to spend a weekend, if you ask me.

I'm really looking forward to having a yard that I can enjoy again- and having weekends to do fun stuff. I've been simplifying my life over the past few months, and this is just one more step in the process. Pretty soon, I'll hire someone named Raul to feed me grapes and fan me with big leaves.

Yeah, that's it. I'm sure BJ won't mind, right?