Leaflady,
Awesome on the shredded paper and the mulch! You won't be weeding much this year, LOL!
Besides. It can't look worse than the day I took one feather pillow apart to stuff into another. These were real chicken feathers from old pillows I slept on when I was a teen. Yep, pretty colorful yard for a while. I don't have the pillow anymore. It got so rock hard that I composted the feathers.
We got rid of the wind we had for two days. It's cold, but warms up, starting today. And we have sunshine. Haven't seen that for a while.