Blanchard the builders

Can we fix it???  Yes WE CAN!!!!!

As the girls spent their week at the "G's" in Florida  (G and Gdaddy- or Grammy and Granddaddy- or Rick and Betsy's)  Todd and I had a few days of checking out restaurants, listening to music in NOLA, and watching "House of Cards" late nights here at the house.
So on Wednesday, it was decided that the rest of our "kidless" time would be spent repairing the back fence.  Boards were loose and rotting, and it was a matter of time before Guinness truly used the state of things to his advantage and took a stroll out of the yard.
SO, Thursday the work began.  The physical work anyway, as Todd sat with pen and paper for hours configuring what we needed, and we made a trip to Lowe's on Wednesday just to get an idea of the supplies there in conjunction with his list.
Thursday we headed to Lowe's and after at least two hours, left with a trailer full of wood, concrete mix, tools, etc.  Thursday was all about post hole digging, which we soon found out only Todd could do in the unbelievably hard ground we had to dig in.  Friday after the post hole digger broke and we headed back to Lowe's for some more wood, we installed some 2 x 4's and prepared for the long day Saturday.
Saturday was a 14 hour day.. breaks only for lunch and dinner and one beer break. :)
But around 10 o clock PM Saturday, we installed the last board.
Here are the before and after photos:

BEFORE
The fence behind the retaining wall was surrounded by years worth of organic material and was rotting.

BEFORE
These wood slats had seen better days, the gate wouldn't even open when we first moved in  (who doesn't take a trip to explore their own woods???)

AFTER

AFTER

AFTER
with awesome new big gate that can fit a canoe through it

Here are some day by day photos to show the progress.  What a job!

I will never look at a fence the same way!

Progress after Thursday (Day 1)

Day 1 progress

don't make em like they used to :)

Day 2

Day 2

Beginning of Day 3

Day 3 at beer break o clock :)

Wonder Blammit twins activate!

At least we had an awesome view the whole time :)

My prediction of 2013 for the Blanchards

So every year for the last 4 I have done this prediction for the year to come, which I print out and put in a folder that goes in our Christmas box.  I don't read it again until I am taking out Christmas decorations the following November.  It has been funny to look back on the year through the eyes of early-January Patty.
So I was thinking last night that I needed to compose one of these predictions, which I can't even imagine the complexity for 2013... and here's why:

I will start with graduations.  Within the next 4 1/2 months, we will have two graduations in the house.  Taylor will graduate from North Cobb High School on May 24th.  What a milestone... I can't even imagine the emotional rollercoaster it will be.. I don't even want to think about it right now or I will start crying :)
So with that graduation comes the preparation for college.  And then some of the summer spent at a college campus.  But before we can even get to college, let's not forget the Spring, with Wind Symphony excitement, and a band trip to Washington DC in May, as well as AP tests for college credit, and all kind of other stuff I know I am not even thinking about right now.

Next is my graduation...the road to finish up for graduation will be hard and work-filled.. 4 months to get-r-done.  I don't even want to type more than that as I get anxious thinking about it. :)

The biggest obstacles to tackle in the next 4 months will be our pending move to Louisiana, hopefully to the North Shore.  We toured Mandeville  and really like the area.  The two high schools that are in the area have great state reports, so we are planning on heading there.  Of course, finding a house is the biggest step.  It is looking like we might attempt to buy a house, which will be an interesting feat.

Within the next handful of months, Taylor and I are running a 15K in January, and then hopefully the Publix Half Marathon on 3/17.  So somewhere in the chaos, we will be training for those... a good thing because otherwise I might be liable to shut myself up with a computer and pound out the hours for grad school!

I will say that I hope that this cold I have had for the last 3 weeks is the last one I have for a long time, as I ain't got time for the sickness!  Let's hope for lots of hand washing and hand sanitizer in the next 4 months to keep the germs at bay so that we can get through it all happy, and enough wine in our possession to momentarily be able to forget about it all :)

In closing, I leave you with this:
"Growing old is no more than a bad habit which a busy person has no time to form."
~Andre Maurois