I am queen of the mulch pile

On Wednesday we had 16 yards of mulch delivered. For those of you who don't know what 16 yards of mulch would look like, it was two dump trucks full. I know it sounds ridiculous but we have a lot of area to cover.

We were having company from my husbands NY office on Thursday so we had to wait until the weekend to tackle it. If you know me, you know that it really bothered me to have a big mulch pile at the end of the driveway and I couldn't even work on it.

We started working on Saturday morning at 8am. I was really excited to start. After typing that I am asking myself, what has your life become? Anyway.....it was pretty hot and humid already at that time of the morning. About an hour into mulching, I had sweat running into my eyes and I was filthy. I will be the first to admit I am prissy, but I do like to get dirty and work hard too. Once I start something I will not rest until it is finished.
I started off very slowly. Being the perfectionist that I am, I had to make sure every spot, even those unseen, were covered. My husband was watching my progress and taught me to just throw it and rake it later. It probably would have taken me a month if I had continued doing it my way.

We worked from 8 or 9 Saturday, Sunday and Monday until late afternoon each day. It was very hot and buggy. I could barely move on Sunday but thanks to Advil,  I made it through. I have bruises all up and down my arms from shovels and buckets. I told my daughters boyfriend that my husband had pinched me when I put the mulch in the wrong spots. I don't think he believed me but I am not sure.
My daughter helped on Saturday. On Sunday her boyfriend came and stayed until Monday (he lives in a different State and I would not make him drive all that way to turn around and drive home. I have guest rooms so it is not a problem, and I like his company.)
My daughter and her boyfriend helped a little on Monday. I told them to go find something to do. I didn't mind working in the yard. My husband and I were actually having fun. When we finished for the day on Saturday, we went and bought some plants to make a new planting bed. I also needed flowers for my deck pots. This weekend hopefully we will go get more flowers. We needed too many plants for the planting bed and pots to concentrate on what flowers to get too. We reserved a pile of mulch for after the flower planting.

We barbecued and had happy hour each day after working hard (after a one hour cool shower to get the dirt, sweat, bugs and leaves out of my hair). I barely had energy to do anything else. It is such physical work. I have a new respect for landscapers.
It may not be every ones cup of tea , but it was a very nice weekend. We could have hired someone to do it but the satisfaction we got from doing it together was priceless. We kept walking around the yard admiring our handy work and proud of how much we had accomplished. I am honestly amazed that we got it done in three days. I will tell you that I told my husband next time it is time to mulch, we are moving. I am joking of course. One of the reasons I wanted to blog about this is to go back to this post the next time it is time to mulch, to see how much it was worth it.  The way my body feels right now, I need convincing.

This was the mulch pile we started with. This picture doesn't even do it justice. It was HUGE.

Pictures of our completed work

My favorites in the yard. My peony's are open.

What is now left of the mulch pile

Today I will be trying to catch up on everything I neglected. I worked all day yesterday so that my friend could have a 3 day weekend too. I will try to get some relaxing in, but we will see. That little mulch pile outside is calling my name.