yard plans.

Our past several updates might lead you to believe that we chained ourselves to the kitchen for the past couple months.  While most of our time and energy has been spent inside, we also took advantage of the relatively mild weather to get a jump start on the yard.  We're fairly certain that it will be a few years before our yard is to a point where we are satisfied with its appearance.  Our house is on almost an acre of land and is surrounded by a lot of old trees, vines, briars, and other poorly maintained growth.  Getting rid of all the dead and unwanted growth is extremely time consuming but we're chipping away at it.  We had our land professionally surveyed so we know exactly where our property boundaries are - and know what we need permission to remove! 

We knew that a large pine in our back yard needed to come down when we moved in a year ago.  It isn't ours but would cause major damage to our property if and when it ever falls.  Despite it being on our neighbor's property, we don't expect them to volunteer the funds to remove.  We're willing to eat the costs of removing this tree now as opposed to pay for the damage it might cause in the future.  (We haven't had a chance to discuss with them yet so we're still keeping our fingers crossed that we catch them on a good day and find they are willing to remove for us!) We spent several days last year tearing out the briars that surrounded and wrapped around this tree last year and discovered that it's almost completely hollow - and is very likely to fall on our house with a nice gust of wind. 

We're not even sure our neighbor knows this piece of land is his property.  It appears to have been a dumping ground for yard waste for years.  Once we get permission, we will have this tree removed and proceed with clearing out the growth on our side of the property line.  Our goal to is clear anything off our property and erect a fence that will shield our eyes from all of this ugliness.  We also hope to remove the briars from the side of our yard and replace with some more desirable shrubs - for privacy, aesthetics, to give more space for us to run around, and to eliminate the need to pluck thorns out of our skin should we run too closely to this side of our property.

There's also a huge cherry tree right outside of our front door.  It's not completely dead but it's also not the healthiest looking thing.  We'll probably have this tree removed as well because it offers nothing in terms of privacy, it interrupts the flow of the yard, and it would cause severe damage to the main part of our house if any limbs broke off.  It also blocks sun from reaching the roof and front of the house - allowing snow to build up in winter months and prevents the roof from fully drying after rain (which then leads to mold and a whole other list of issues!).

And here are a few sketches because I'm a visual person and I have to see the whole picture in order to understand each of its parts:

Next weekend's weather forecast looks decent so we welcome you over to help with yard work.  You will be compensated with animal crackers.

first fourth.

To celebrate James' first Fourth of July, we decided to make a weekend trip up to one of our most favorite places: North Conway, NH.  This time, it was just the three of us so we prepared ourselves for a relaxing vacation.

For starters, Joe decided to mow our lawn before we left so we didn't come home to a overgrown nightmare.  I think he mostly wanted to test out his Father's Day gift...

We didn't get to North Conway until Friday night but James was able to stay awake long enough for us to stop into Red Parka for some quick eats.  We woke up early Saturday morning and had breakfast at the cabin...James LOVED it there.  He was even more relaxed and cheery than normal - as if that is even possible!

We hung around the cabin for a while, Joe showed James exactly where we were on the map, and James explored his new surroundings...

We walked around the shops for the rest of the morning, took a drive north through the mountains while James napped in the backseat, and then stopped for lunch and, of course, more pics.

It was getting late in the afternoon and we knew James would need more than a 30 minute nap in order to behave through dinner so we took a swim in attempts at tuckering him out.  It worked.

Before dinner, we went for a walk to build up an appetite.  I'm not exactly sure why because none of us ever need any additional help working up an appetite.

Sunday was warm, muggy, and drizzly.  We wanted to take advantage of the break in the clouds before the rain ruined our day completely so we took a short hike near Wildcat...

Did I mention that James loved it there?

After our hike, we took another drive through the mountains - no real plan or destination in mind.  We spotted this little fella on the side of the road and stopped to chat.  He wasn't much of a talker but I'm pretty sure his name was Phil.

It rained for most of the afternoon but we took shelter in Flatbreads (yummmm) and then peeked in on the cupcake eating contest that was going in across the street.  I love cupcakes.  I probably love cupcakes more than the average person...but I totally wanted to hurl at the sight of people shoving those things down their throats.  The weather cleared up later that evening so we were able to walk around "downtown" and check out the antique shops and little craft fair they had going on.  Don't worry, Joe wasn't totally bored - there was a stand with a hundred different types of dip.

Unfortunately, both Joe and I have to work tomorrow so we headed home from New Hampshire this morning.  We stopped to take the token family shop but, once again, I was reminded why to just opt for my camera's self timer and not the sweet lady passing by - especially if she has hairy pits.  Our token family shot will not be posted online for the masses to view but here is one of James reflecting on his mini-vacation...

We made it home and are already missing our little break from reality.  James wasn't able to catch any fireworks on his first fourth and I thought about having him watch Boston's celebration on tv - but lets get real, I probably won't even be awake to see them.  On that note, I hope all of you had/are having a wonderful 4th!  If you aren't, watch this.  I hope it inspires you as it does me (inspires you to love & appreciate your country, not to do crack)....

time off.

We've taken this week (and probably next) off from doing work around the house but James wanted to make sure everyone knew that he helped out with yard work last weekend.  Well, he helped after some cheerios - and after all of the hard stuff was done.  He learned that strategy from me.

With a full tummy, he was finally ready to help...

I have a black thumb so I don't know what kinds of flowers are in the following pictures.  All I know is they are growing like crazy in the back yard and they look purrrdy.

Oh yeh, and James met a few chickens.  And no, they are not ours.

Exciting stuff, I know.  As not to overwhelm, I'll wrap this up now.  TTFN.

month one.

We've only been in the house for a month and it already feels like so much has changed since the day that we moved in. 

Here are a few interior changes:

Living Room:

The walls were painted, we hung curtains, stained the tv stand, got a new sectional, got a new rug, and finally got around to framing and hanging a few pictures...

Dining Room:

The walls were painted, we replaced the light fixture, brought in our furniture and hung a few pictures...

James' Room:

The walls were painted, his furniture was moved in, we bought a new rug, and I replaced the old lace curtains with navy blue roman shades.  Now we just have to hang his frames on the walls and get some closet doors!

Most of our sweat has been poured into the outside of the house.  I should point out that my Mum has put just as much - if not more - time as us into the yard.  We've spent hours removing the pool and chopping down unwanted vines, briars, and branches but she has volunteered several of her afternoons to haul away much of our "debris".  We pay her by letting her watch James 3 days a week.

First, our pool was removed...

Next, we ripped out half of the vines/briars/brush that was growing uncontrollably in the back left corner of our yard.  It was crawling it's way up the surrounding trees and strangling them to near death.  For now, we have a 25ft. sandbox in our backyard.  We plan on putting a small stone patio down and then laying grass to cover the remaining portion of the yard.  That big tree in the middle of the picture below is what is rotted and needs to be removed - eventually.  We still have a lot of brush to get rid of on this side of the yard, obviously.  We're holding off on ripping the other briar patch out because there is an egg filled bird's nest inside.   Oh, and the drum barrel...we use that to cook...marshmallows?  No, town fire department, we wouldn't dare burn anything outside of the designated burn season!

We also started to rip out some more briars/vines from the back right corner of the yard.  The vines that are wrapping around these trees are even larger and stronger than the ones on the other side of the yard...

The next project I want to tackle is our bedroom.  Or maybe the main bathroom.  Or maybe the kitchen.  Arrgh.  The bedroom will probably be the least expensive of those options so I should probably focus my energy there.  (Although its getting more and more difficult to ignore the kitchen wallpaper and cabinets and bathroom sponge paint everyday.)  While we're saving up for bedroom furniture, we should be able to spruce up our room with a coat of paint, some new curtains, and a treatment on the back wall to mask the small, off-centered window.  For now, I guess I should just work on trying to figure out which piles of my laundry are clean and which are dirty.

And just because he cracks me up...

rug-a-dug-dug

As mentioned in a previous post, I had been looking for a black and white stripped area rug but hadn't had much luck.  Sites like Overstock have decent selections of rugs but nothing struck my eye - at least nothing within my budget.  I'm a member of thefoundary.com - a website that offers products at up to 70% off retail.  The daily selection is usually pretty random and consists of anything from cutlery to furniture to artwork.  It’s free to sign up for access to their site so give it a whirl!  If anything, it’s fun to browse through their interesting selection of pieces from up-and-coming designers, unique artisans, and even well known companies.

No, I don’t work for thefoundary.com but I DID purchase a living room rug from the site.  The rug we chose retails for over $1,000 but we got it for $310 – and that includes shipping.  And it’s an 8x10.  Even a thin 8x10 from Ikea would set you back over $300.  Needless to say, I jumped on it.  It wasn’t a striped rug that I had previously been searching for but it was black and white and had a classic pattern – houndstooth.  Like our sectional, men’s-suiting-inspired patterns tickle my fancy.  It hasn't arrived yet but I'm crossing my fingers and toes that it "goes" with our room.   Eh, if not, they offer free returns.  Until the rug arrives, here's a little taste of our new purchase:

We also hung a few pictures up on the bare wall behind the sectional.  James is already developing a hint of narcissism and looooves looking at himself.  If he is sitting with us on the couch, he practically does an owlish head spin just so he can get a glimpse of his picture on the wall.  If he is in his little wheely-chair-thingy, he will scoot across the room just to get a better view of his picture.  Despite being a little under the weather this week, he smiles and giggles each time he looks at it.  It’s pretty funny/weird.  Here is a pic of James enjoying his visit to the doctor and a pic of some pics. (Both are taken with my bberry so not the best quality.  Deal with it.  Oh, and the urine sample cup that James is playing with is clean and un-used so don't call DSS on me.)

We’ve also been doing more clean up in the backyard.  We don’t have much time to get anything accomplished during the week after James goes to bed and before the mosquitoes invade our space but we’re chipping away at it.  We got one of the huge briar bushes ripped out – no easy feat.  We started burning a bunch of the crap in a large drum barrel but the weather has been too hot/dry so we didn't burn much in fear of a spark getting away from us into the woods and burning the town down.  So, the briars are still in a heap waiting to be burned or dumped - but at least they're one step closer to being out of our life.  That also exposed the base of the giant pine tree – and exposed the fact that it had been attacked by termites and/or carpenter ants.  I don’t know how the tree is still standing and producing greenery at the top but it’s gotta go.  There are still more briars to be pulled out but Joe was yelled at by momma bird for getting too close to her nest full of eggs so we will probably hold off a bit longer to rip that bush out. There's way too much going on back there but I will try to organize some pictures to share at another time.

An area rug and a pile of dead briars doesn’t sound like much but it’s progress to us – especially considering the lack of any substantial time blocks that we’ve had to dedicate to the new house.  We'll continue to use any spare minutes we have to chip away at the yard before we lose the energy and enthusiasm to do so! 

Aside from the yard, a few other things on our semi-immediate agenda are:

• get wood burning insert installed
• build console table - to separate sofa from dining area and to provide another space for storage and lighting (and depending on how that turns out, maybe a smaller matching table to serve as a desk on the empty wall in the dining area?)
• hang new roman shades in James' room
• hang pictures/art in James' room
• make a drapery wall in our bedroom
• lose 50lbs.

...and on our not-so immediate agenda:

• paint and tweak kitchen cabinets
• remove wall paper and paint kitchen
• install new counters and backsplash in kitchen
• build a headboard
• do something about our ugly bedroom
• do something about our ugly downstairs bathroom
• do something about our ugly upstairs bathroom
• add a full dormer to the back of the house
• lose the 50lbs. that I put off losing from the other to-do-list

Check back in 2021 to see if half of this stuff has been accomplished.