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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, April 21, 2016 | 18 dulting (v): to do grown up things and hold responsibilities such as, a 9-5 job, a mortgage/rent, a car payment, or anything else that makes one think of grown ups. -- UrbanDicionary.com. I know I'm an adult. I do. I'm reminded each day when I wake up way too early in the morning to an energetic toddler who needs me to clothe, groom and feed him before he heads off to daycare. But feeling like an adult is, well, difficult for millennials like myself. As we move into the next stage in our lives, it's overwhelming to think about all the adulting Welcome to `adulting' column in the Oakville Beaver A Julia Le Oakville Beaver news reporter (yes, baby boomers, millennials are using the word as a verb) we have to do. I recently added a mortgage to my personal list of responsibilities -- with that came an even longer list of tasks under homeownership. The struggle suddenly became more real. # DIAMOND DIAMOND 1 in Patios & Driveways! · stamped concrete · interlocking · exposed aggregate · flagstone J.M.C Concrete Interlocking LTD · french cUrbs · retaining walls · garage floors · free estimates like Us on Every day, my husband and I look at the big backyard we had always pictured having and have made a reality. It's not in awe though, like when we first purchased our "forever home" and saw it in its green glory. Nearly a year later, we stare at our backyard with furrowed eyebrows and anxiety that often paralyzes us as we scan all the holes and dead patches of grass. "Look at those squirrels just digging away at our lawn," my husband says at least once a week, standing at the sliding window doors. It's more frequent now that the snow has melted. "Did you see that one? He's been well-fed. Probably from the pine cone feast we left." So, we raked our backyard. In April. A proud moment for us (Look at how we're adulting). We thought we found the solution to our lawn woes. No more pine cone feast for the squirrels to gnaw away at or to dig up our grass to store the snack for later. They've gone to the curb side. But yet another problem arose. Our grass was being rolled up around the edges of our home and deck, which we naively blamed on the squirrels. I passively complained about what the furry creatures were doing to my yard to an avid gardening friend, who told me it probably wasn't all the squirrels' doing. Skunks are known to dig up your lawn or roll up sod to find grubs. I broke this news to my husband. His response, in typical millennial fashion: "Everything I know about skunks comes from Pepé Le Pew." That, of course, isn't the most accurate portrayal of skunks, save the odour issue. Then another bump in the road -- it snowed on the young eastern redbud tree we eagerly planted weeks earlier when we were feeling particularly ambitious about adulting. "Is it still alive?" I ask my husband, full of hope. Neither of us know -- and we're too afraid to Google the answer. So, for now, we're OK with checking up on it every day to see that it's still there, standing straight. We also haven't really found a solution to our Pepé Le Pew problem. Future Julia and Jason can deal with that. We've moved on to our next project -- building a raised vegetable garden. We're hopeful this will be something we can do right with some sound advice from the Internet and Jay's dad. -- Julia Le, reporter Oakville Beaver 905-878-8595 Ask for John www.jmcconcrete.ca ABBEY ARMS GlEn ABBEY'S OnlY AuthEntic BRitiSh PuB! Join us every sunday live music, James anthony Band's "sunday sermon" 3:30pm ­ 7:00pm visit our website for upcoming events! Great Fish & chips served here! Burlington Summer iS Coming 100% Cotton's 100% silk 100% linens & MAny More *Ask us about May 12 481 North Service Rd. @ 4th Line, Oakville 905-825-1109 www.abbeyarmspub.ca *With the purchase of an adults meal MOndAY niGhtS KidS EAt FREE Trunk Sale 4019 New St Burlington (Marilu's Market Plaza) www.jusbgauze.com 2376 Parkhaven Blvd, Oakville 2376 Parkhaven Blvd, Oakville · 905-257-5880 905-257-5880 maximekitchens.ca maximekitchens.ca