Lord, please help me to keep my big mouth shut!

When I was a kid, my mom had a plaque in the kitchen that said “Oh Lord, please give me the strength to keep my big mouth shut”!  I loved that plaque and always got a laugh when I saw it because it epitomized my mom.  She was always saying something that got her in trouble, usually with my dad (not big trouble mind you, just enough to get laughter going).

Well, as much as I try to keep my mouth under control so I don’t get into trouble, I obviously need to work on it more.  Case in point:  Recently I was talking with my husband about having a large hill in our back yard terraced.  This hill has served as a “ski slope” when our kids were small.  They would ride their sled down the hill right into the fence at our property line.  Good thing kids are resilient!.  Anyway, the kids are young adults now so the “ski slope” isn’t in use.  I want to reclaim that land (our yard is verrrrry small).  I want to go out into our backyard and get some enjoyment out of it.  I started spouting ideas:  we could have a fire pit, grapevines (think visions of my own vineyard to use in making my own wonderfully delicious wine), a vegetable garden (not likely – we have Siberian Huskies and they love to dig), a rustic Italian courtyard in which I could relax breathe in the smell of lemon trees while eating bread dipped in herbed olive oil from my own olive trees and drink wine (wait – we live in Colorado – no lemon or olive trees here), the list goes on and on.

  This is the ski slope.  It is 30 ft. long, 15 ft. wide, and an 8 ft. drop from the top to the bottom.

We got several bids – wow, landscapers charge a lot!   And just as we were about to give up, I got the freaking bright idea that I could work during the week digging the terraces and we could put the walls in place on the weekend.  Little did I know that he would go for that!  We priced the blocks and found out that the materials are just a fraction of the bid (I repeat – wow, landscapers charge a lot!).  I have now spent 6 days moving 3 – 6 inch cobblestones out of the border by the house and removing a bush by the deck.

    This is the cobblestones that had to be moved.  (What was I thinking by volunteering for this project?  Oh, wait.  I WASN’T THINKING!)

  The bush that I had to remove.  This was the easiest part of the project.  Just chop that thing down!

I will keep you up-to-date on the progress but for now let me just say “Lord, please help me to keep my big mouth shut!”