Landscaping vs. Raising Kids

The neighbor is putting up a fence.  My husband firmly believes that this is because they no longer want to see our yard.  They have a beautifully landscaped yard, a nice deck, a couple of older kids, and a wandering dog.  I could also point out that they can also afford to have a maid service...but I don't think that matters much to my husband, who envisions our yard as having an abundance of fruit trees, a pond with a bridge leading to an island with a statue of Buddha in the center, and a perfectly cut lawn.  Of course, our yard has none of these...outside of an apple tree that seems to have issues with pests. 

Currently our yard is in need of some work.  We do not have a working lawnmower at the moment, so we have to borrow someone's...needless to say, this has not happened in a timely manner...and our grass is pretty tall, with an abundance of dandelions.  The garden areas are in need of some weed-pulling...and they need to be cleaned out in general.  The main probem is that I do not have the time or ability to get out there myself during the week...not with three little ones and no fence around the yard.  Although my husband says he understands this...he still cannot seem to comprehend why our yard does not look like our neighbor's. 

Now, I do not want our yard to get so bad as to be the center of the neighborhood's redneck jokes...but I do have to say that I'm not quite as concerned as my husband.  We will find some time to get out there and make sure it looks appropriate.  The grass will be cut, things will look clean.  Will we have big, beautiful gardens?  Nope.  I like beautiful gardens as much as anyone else...but I'm realistic.  We are at a different point in our lives right now...my priorities are a little different.  I am busy nurturing a different garden right now, and helping it to grow.  And how well these little sprouts turn out will have a much bigger impact than whatever we might plant outside.

I'm sure that when our kids are older, and we find we have more time on our hands, our yard will start to take shape.  I'm not sure my husband will ever really be happy with it...but at least we will have time to dedicate to improving it.  In the meantime, he will just have to live with an "ugly" yard...unless, of course, instead of complaining...he would actually like to go out there and work on it...I'm only sayin'....