On Saturday Eric participated in another Table Tennis Tournament. Thankfully this time there were no eight year olds in sight ;). He ended up doing better than last year, and had a lot of fun in the process. Being the supportive wife that I am, I made a bedazzled t-shirt to show my support. It was pink (of course!) with a rhinestone paddle on the front and our last name spelled out on the back. I kept it as a surprise for Eric, so Friday night before the tournament while he was telling me that he hoped he could get a few more wins at this tournament compared to the last one,

I told him “hold on one sec.” I ran upstairs and came back wearing my t-shirt, exclaiming “maybe this will bring you luck!” We had a huge laugh about it. I remember Eric telling me last time that the infamous eight year olds mother wore a shirt with a sequined paddle on the front, so I vowed to one-up her. Unfortunately, Reese got ahold of it last night before I was able to take a picture. These are the pictures after she had her way with it (and injested several rhinestones in the process, I’m sure!).

I couldn’t believe the intensity of some of the participants in the tournament. Supposedly one of the guys is the ranked 3rd in Texas!

On Saturday night we went over to the Parker’s house for the second annual Paella night. The food was great, as always.

Sunday, oy Sunday. This is where the “Manual Labor” portion comes in. So for about a year and a half now (read: ever since we moved in!) I have hated our garden. It is way too big for a first time home owner, and the 14 standard plants that the builder put in were promptly eaten by deer (remember?). Ever since that day I have cringed every time I drive up to our house. I LOVE the inside of our house, but the outside is not my favorite. I have obsessively driven past the other houses in the neighborhood with our same model to see what they have done with the insanely huge garden and have concluded that ours is the biggest in the neighborhood! Well, last week I finally had someone come out to design a plan for me. Nothing fancy, mostly a lot of native plants, but hopefully much better than what was there. So yesterday I pulled out everything in the garden, except for the crape myrtle (which had a nasty case of aphids and is still recovering). After battling with the very stubborn established plants for about 2 hours, I headed over to our local organic nursery to get some advice. After talking to 3 different people, it became clear that I was going to need a lot of compost to get our yard into planting shape. And when I mean a lot, I mean 10, 10 gallon bag’s worth! Because we are trying to be really frugal right now, I decided to bag the compost myself and save $15. So, another hour later I had finished bagging and loading the bags into my car and I was TIRED! But I still needed to get plants! When I got home, I unloaded the compost and plants, raked the compost out into the garden and called it a day. I could barely move my neck last night and I honestly don’t know how I got out of bed this morning! Hopefully the more I do this the easier it will get! Next up for this week- rent a rototiller and till in the compost, then plant the few summer-loving plants that are part of the plan. I won’t be able to complete the garden until the end of September when the weather cools down, but I am on my way!! Wish me luck!