Amanda did get the landscapers to do a bunch of things to our yard. They were here yesterday (and one guy finished up today). Amazing how much 6-7 professionals working all day can accomplish. It did cost a lot of $$$$, and I admit that it was not stuff I personally would have paid for (as I am more concerned with structural integrity of the house and whatnot rather than aesthetics), but Amanda said it was worth it.
Some of this things they did:

• removed all the plants from the side terraces
• plant new (or some of the same) plants on the side
• put down new landscaping cloth and mulch and dirt on the side
• removed a lot of ivy from our trees in the front
• moved rocks from around our magnolia in the back to the front
• weeded, mulched front slope
• planted new plants on front slope
• made the front slope slightly safer to work on
• removed rocks lining front walkway
• put in paver stones underneath fence between our neighbors to the west
• ripped up bricks from west side
• replaced ripped up bricks with our old edging stones that were by the garden
• removed all the rotting rood used to edge the west side beds
• built stone walls to edge west side beds
• completed cleaned up west side bed plants
• moved some plants between our deck and tub
• did a lot of pruning of various plants
• replaced large stones around magnolia with smaller stone wall to match west beds
• general lawn cleanup

I voted today. I went to the post office to make sure it got postmarked today. On the way back I picked up the first two Harry Potter books from the library. I have neither read them nor have seen any of the movies, so it is time for me to become culturally educated.

There is a Parent Appreciation night at LK’s school later, so we are going to attend and get a free dinner. Woot.