Spring Cleaning

I think I write a post like this every year, but this is the time of year where I get very antsy waiting for the weather to break--so that I can start spring cleaning! So fun, right? ;)  There are so many things I want to work on but it's too cold to be washing windows outside or cleaning the garage with all the doors wide open.

Today in particular, I really wanted to finish weather proofing the windows (I did half of them when we had a few nice days outside). To do that, though, I have to remove the bottom half of the window--and with temps in the SINGLE DIGITS over the past few days, there is no way that I'm going to be opening the windows.

Instead, I walked around the house and made a list of all of the things I want to do this spring. Housework things. Aside from cleaning, I also want to touch up paint, hang pictures, and stuff like that. I'm sure my excitement to spring clean will wane after a couple of days of actually doing it, but I figured I might as well make a list while I feel motived. I'll be so glad to get things done.

So, for what is quite possibly the most boring post of the year, I'm going to list the tasks that I hope to get done before summer. It's a long list, and I likely surely won't get everything done, but here goes...

TO CLEAN:

*Vacuum all of the air vents.

*Clean the living room sofa.

*Clean the kitchen cabinets, inside and out. Touch up paint where it was chipped from moving furniture and things.

*Wipe down all of the walls from floor to ceiling. Today I noticed the dust up by the ceiling and wow--I really need to keep up with it.

*Clean the appliances--stove, refrigerator, dishwasher--really well.

*Wipe down all of the floor molding. I didn't realize just how much dust that would collect over the winter!

*Clean the blinds. Worse than grocery shopping! ;)

*Clean and organize the garage. It's never ending--every time I do a project, it's a disaster again.

*Power wash the exterior of the house. Someone egged our house in the fall and threw the eggs really high (near the top of the rise of the roof). Spraying it with the hose did nothing. We like to power wash the house every year before the "bug guy" comes to spray in the spring (to prevent spiders!).

*Go through closets and donate, sell, or throw away what we don't want or need.

*Clean the things that get ignored most of the time--the top lip of the casing around doors and windows, light switches, washing machine (the exterior), behind the TV console, things like that.

This is 100% how I do things, haha

TO REPAIR/REPLACE/ADJUST:

*Replace a small section of floor molding in the dining room. I removed it when I thought I wanted to put a cabinet there, so there is no molding in the corner.

*Fix or replace some of the interior doors. That was the first thing that Jerry and I did when we started remodeling and we had no clue what we were doing. We didn't do it correctly, and I really want to fix it.

*Replace the bottom sill of one of the windows in the living room. It's gotten a little warped over the last year so I want to fix it before it becomes a big problem.

*Rent a carpet cleaner to clean the carpet in the boys' bedrooms.

*Adjust the towel holder in the bathroom (to make it smaller).

*Replace the thermostat in the hallway. It hasn't been very consistent and I think it's just old.

*Replace the felt pads on the chair legs in the dining room. They tend to collect pet hair over time and the adhesive wears off.

MAINTENANCE:

*Re-caulk the boys' bathroom.

*Level and weatherproof the patio door. I really don't want to have to replace this anytime soon, so I basically want to give it a tune-up.

*Stain the back deck and the stoops. (Jerry and I have been wanting to do this but we're so intimidated! We even bought the stain last summer but we never started.)

*Flush the tankless water heater with vinegar. (We do this once a year)

*Landscaping! My nemesis. Now that I have a blank canvas after the work I did last year, it's time to plant some stuff. Low maintenance stuff.

Okay, that list is long! I would say that it's overwhelming, but I'm actually looking forward to tackling it. (I say that now, but we'll see how I feel when I've been working on it for a while, haha.) Some of the stuff I can obviously do now; today, I replaced the door knob/lock set of the garage. Our key kept getting stuck in the lock and I didn't even want to lock it because it was hard to get back in! So I went to the Habitat for Humanity Re-Store and bought a nice replacement knob. (I love that store for when we need things around the house! Whenever I have to replace something, I like to check there first.)

My favorite part of spring cleaning is going through closets and choosing what to keep, sell, donate, or throw away. And then organizing what's left! I'll probably work on that this week while the weather is still cold. And as soon as we have some nice days outside, I plan to start doing the outdoor stuff.

Does anyone else look forward to spring cleaning like this? No?

I saw these "Monica clean" spring cleaning tips and I thought it very appropriate--as you know, Jerry and I are huge Friends fans. And as much as I hate to admit it, I am very much like Monica!

Continue Reading...

My Spring "Wishful Thinking" List

Happy Spring! Today marks the first official day of spring and I couldn't be happier that winter is over. Although, Michigan always surprises us with a big snow storm in March and we still have 11 days left in the month, so we'll see. But I'm hoping that the gorgeous weather we have today is going to stick around.

This was from 2017:

I've been trying to think of things that I want to get done this spring--something that I do every year, even though I usually only knock a couple of items off the (very ambitious) list. So, I figured that I'd write my list out here on the first day of the new season and then take another look at it on the last day of spring.

1) Get a new roof. We fought with the insurance company after a storm destroyed parts of our roof, but they said they'd only cover the parts that need to be fixed--they'll pay to replace a few pieces of siding on the house and the shingles that were damaged. How ridiculous is that?! We've been paying homeowners insurance for 19 years. You can't get a contractor to replace just some of the roof or some of the siding.

So, we're using our tax refund + some of our savings for a roof. No fun at all! But at least it'll be done; one less thing to worry about. The siding is going to have to wait; that is going to cost $35,000!!! And we need new windows. But... one thing at a time. And this spring, we're getting a new roof. We've already signed a contract and they'll get started as soon as the materials are in.

2) DO SOMETHING WITH THE LANDSCAPING. Right now, there is nothing there. It looks terrible. If I ever have an "after" picture to show, I'll post the "before". But it's embarrassing.

3) Go through the house and touch up any spots that need paint, caulk, etc. The house settles differently during the winter and some things need touching up.

4) Paint Noah's bedroom. I was supposed to do this last week but time got away from me.

5) Clean out all of the kitchen cabinets, the pantry, the fridge and freezer, and the oven.

6) Clean the windows, inside and out. Clean the blinds.

7) Paint a couple of pieces of furniture that I bought on Facebook Marketplace to refinish, but couldn't work on because my carpal tunnel flared up big time. I'll have to do this a small bit at a time to keep it from flaring again.

8) Possibly extend our front porch. The price of lumber has gone way up again, so this may not happen.

9) If money allows, I'd like to replace our exterior doors. I just finished reframing the side door but we need new doors themselves.

10) Start summer at my goal weight. I'm not going to be a total freak about the number, but I'd like to aim for 133 and work really hard to get there.

11) Have a game night with friends. Jerry and I used to do this frequently, but it's been two years.

12) Plan a family vacation for late summer.

13) Fix loose boards on the back deck and then power wash and stain the whole thing (Jerry will help).

14) Make appointments for my "old age" tests: a mammogram and a colonoscopy (most people don't need one until age 45, but my mom had something abnormal on hers and the doctors told her that her kids should have one at 40). I also need to schedule my regular check-ups with my primary care doctor and gynecologist.

15) Catch up on email. I feel so guilty every time I look at my inbox, and I think it'll feel great to finally reply to personal emails. I love reading email! But since I am so wordy all the time, I always wait until I can sit down and write a thoughtful response rather than a brief reply... and then I just forget to go back until it's been an awkward length of time!

Okay, I think that's it. See? Ambitious! But if I can knock at least a few of these off the list in the next three months, I'll be thrilled.

I'll end with the random fact of the day:

I don't remember the last time I had a Toblerone bar (I think I've only had a couple of them in my life--they make me think of airports. And Joey from 'Friends' when he was obsessed.) This fact didn't actually surprise me; I'm curious how many they sell. I'd rather have a ton of smaller bars that an enormous one. How would you even eat that? But I do love chocolate :)

Continue Reading...

My Fall "To Do" List

Since I let summer escape so quickly--did it even happen?--I want to make some sort of loose plan for fall so that I don't wake up and realize it's winter and I haven't even taken advantage of fall yet!

As you know, I love making lists; I decided to write one for things I'd like to do this fall. This isn't a "must do" list, but rather a way to keep ideas at the front of my mind. Now that I have a working printer, I'm going to print out this list and hang it on the refrigerator so that I see it every day. I'm so forgetful! I need a reminder for just about everything.

So here goes... my fall "to do" list:

1. Go on a date night with Jerry. (In the photo below, I don't know what movie we were there to see--October 2019--but that was the last time I was at the theater!)

2. Do a couple of fun woodwork projects. By "fun", I pretty much mean something for the cats. There are just so many cool things I want to make! Here are a couple (I don't have the correct sources for these pictures because I found them on Pinterest and Pinterest is notorious for linking to incorrect sites--super annoying--so if you happen to know who to give credit, I'd be happy to add it!):

The honeycomb jungle gym would be a fun challenge to make. I've never made anything with those angles before, so I'd have to learn some new techniques--something I love to do!

Aside from making things for the cats, I'd love to use up as much scrap wood as possible.

3. Complete the refinishing of the dining table and chairs set. It's a big task, but I know it'll be worth it when it's done. I'm just not looking forward to fixing the rungs on chairs. (After doing some research, I learned that you can't just dab a little wood glue into the holes--you have to remove the rungs completely and clean out the hole and the ends of the rung, then glue it back in.) It's going to be tedious. But rewarding!

4. Host a "newlywed game" with a few other couples. (We played a version of this up north at my sister's cabin, in honor of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary--it was so fun!)

5. Figure out a storage solution for all the shovels/rakes/brooms/etc in the garage. I've been wanting to do this for years! It's super simple, but I always tell myself that I'll do it later.

6. Deep clean the refrigerator and freezer.

7. Organize the coat closet and get rid of stuff we don't wear. That closet is neglected and I always forget about the stuff I have in there!

8. Organize all of my crafting stuff (and get rid of the stuff I won't use).

9. Put together a time capsule with the family. We have the time capsule, we just need to fill it!

10. Put some decor in my bedroom--the walls are super bare.

11. Carve pumpkins with the family before Halloween.

Jerry's hair! This was in 2017. I can't believe how much my kids have grown since then.

12. Get all of the pets into the vet for check-ups (COVID kind of screwed up the schedule to keep the pets up to date on everything, so we need to catch up)

13. Adjust our exterior side door--it doesn't line up like it should and it always drives me crazy.

14. Enjoy the weather! Sit outside on the deck, hang out in the garage with all the doors and windows open, go for family walks, etc. I planned to try to enjoy summer nights by sitting outside but it flew right past. Fall is my favorite time of year, so I want to take full advantage of that.

---

Okay, I think that's at least a good start! I just have to make myself do the not-so-fun things (like deep cleaning the refrigerator and freezer). Obviously, nobody is going to come along and tell me what I need to do and when, so I have to make a plan to get things done.

Continue Reading...

My December "To Do" List

Even though I didn't exactly follow my list last month, writing down some things I wanted to get done actually did help me. For this list, I'm going to print it and hang it on the fridge where I will see it frequently. And hopefully I'll get the full list done!

***Prep my goal planner for the new year. For the particular goal planner that I recently bought (Amazon affiliate link), there are a lot of pages to fill out about goals in all areas of my life and then mapping out how to reach them. I want to take time working on that and really thinking about what I'd like to accomplish.

***Empty my inbox! I am so so so bad at keeping up with emails. It would feel great to start the new year without feeling bad about taking so long to reply to people. 

***Buy some winter clothes for walking. Walking in the cold is so different from running in the cold! When I was running, I'd warm up fast and I didn't need to bundle up. It's not even winter yet, but I have felt miserably cold sometimes while walking. And I never know how to dress! It's odd that it's completely different from running. I just have to learn as I go.

***Touch up the paint in the kitchen in the spots that have gotten dinged here and there. This was on last month's list, too, but I didn't do it. I also need to replace the caulk. 

***Make a list of projects for 2021. I'd like to have things lined up so I always have something to work on. I love to work on projects, but after finishing the garage, I haven't been able to think of something that really excites me (other than building nightstands, but I've already written my problems with that).

***Deep clean each room of the house. From top to bottom, I want to make it feel like it did just after I was done remodeling. It's not filthy now, but I want to clean all the spots that usually get ignored for too long (like the ceiling fans, baseboards, nooks and crannies in the windows, etc.

***Read one book. I was reading a lot the past few months (the 10 pages a day goal helped me go through books quickly--usually because I'd get caught up in them and keep reading) but I haven't been reading at all the past few weeks. So if I can finish just one book this month, I'll be happy with that!

Okay, I think that's enough for now--the cleaning and the inbox alone will take up 90% of my time, hahaha. I'm going to plan out a schedule specifically for these tasks so that I don't forget about them or put them off until the last minute. I can chip away at them a little at a time!

Continue Reading...

My "To Do" List for November

I should probably just write this out in one of my scrap notebooks, because it's not very interesting and more for my own organization, but coming up with something to write about on my blog every day is hard! I'm impressed with myself that I've not missed a single day this year, though. One of my goals for 2020 was to write every single day.

I feel like the last couple of months have been really chaotic--getting used to the new school system last month was a nightmare. It still doesn't feel "right". October feels like it was kind of a blur. It's my favorite month of the year, but my fall schedule is so different than it used to be because of COVID and it didn't really feel like October.

Anyway, I was just thinking about the things I'd like to get done this month. My (hopeful) To Do list:

Buy the materials to build nightstands for my bedroom. I've been dying to build something in the garage, but I am just never in the mood to go pick out the materials. Once it's all in the garage, I'll be excited about building!

Mend some clothes. I usually accumulate some articles of clothing that need a small repair or hem or something like that. Jerry is SO insistent that he keep several pairs of his favorite jeans, even though they have a trillion holes and I've patched them numerous times. There are patches on top of patches! Haha.

Make cuffs for my jacket. I have a fleece jacket that I have been wearing when I walk in the mornings and the cuffs had a tight piece of elastic to circle the wrist. It was super uncomfortable with my Garmin, my gloves, and that cuff at my wrist, so I took apart the cuff today and removed the elastic. Now, I'd like to make cuffs with thumbholes to add onto it. It won't be pretty, but I'm all about being practical when I walk in the mornings. I looked up a tutorial today and then fell down the rabbit hole on YouTube watching so many videos about clothing alterations!

Clean out my closet. I need to get rid of clothes that I'm not likely to fit into again. I've held on to hope for the last three years that I'd get my weight back down in the low 130's, but now I'd just be happy to get back to the mid-140's! If I ever get back to the 130's again, then I'll buy some new clothes, but I'm not going to dwell on it.

Touch up the paint in the kitchen. I've been meaning to do this for months now. There are a few little nicks in the paint here and there on the cupboards, mainly due to moving everything around when we were putting the house back together. It bothers me every time I notice a spot, so I want to just fix it and be done with it!

Organize the pantry. Somehow it turned into a catch-all for random stuff because it's big and has a lot of shelves. I had it very organized when I finished painting it and building the shelves but now it's a mess.

Start a gratitude journal. Being November, the month of Thanksgiving, I feel like it's a good time to do it. I've been feeling really negative lately and I want to make an effort to be more positive. In 2017, I was on a mission to find my happiest life--and I felt great! This year has been far from ideal and it's hard to focus on the positive. I am hoping that the gratitude journal can help me to appreciate the little things more and to feel happier in general. 

Okay, I'll start with those. If I can get those things done soon, I'll come up with some more "to do" items. 

Do any of you keep a gratitude journal? Do you find that it helps you to feel happier/more positive in general? I've never kept a journal specifically for gratitude before because it seems like it would be redundant. I can imagine I'd be writing the same things all the time. But it's certainly worth a shot--I do have a LOT to be thankful for!

Continue Reading...

Mid-July Check-In

It occurred to me today that it's the middle of the month already and I haven't even paid much attention to my July To-Do list. Between Jerry switching back to nigh shift, the July 4th weekend, the Cookies Summer Challenge, Noah's birthday, and now plans to go up north for a mini-vacation at my sister's, the month just seems way too short to get things done.

So, my list for July was the following:

• Pull out the enormous bushes on each side of the house
• Prime and paint the garage
• Clear out my inbox
• Touch up paint around the house
• Make a plan for the front porch

It's the middle of the month, so I still have time (especially since I won't be coaching cross country this year--I'm still feeling kind of bummed about that, but I think I made the right decision). I've made a little progress, though...

Pull out the enormous bushes on each side of the house

Yes! Well, partly. While I love working on things in the garage, I despise anything having to do with landscaping. I'm terrible at it and I don't enjoy it at all. And Jerry thought it would be fun to do this project, so I just stood back and took videos as he worked on cutting them down today. After our hilarious attempt at splitting our hostas together, I knew that if something didn't go as planned, I wanted to at least get a video, haha.

Here is the smaller of the two...

And here is the bigger one after she used some shears to trim the bottom branches off...

It actually went really well, so I don't have a funny video to share. Jerry trimmed the branches off the bottom first, so he could see what he was doing, and then he just used a sawzall to cut through each of three branches that came from the base. He and the boys just dragged them down the driveway and tossed them into the woods across the street. He'd cut down both of the bushes in less than an hour or so. (I was cooking dinner while I did the second one, so I don't have pics from that)

Now, we still have base and the roots to deal with. We'll save that for another day, because it's going to require a lot more work. There are also green stains on the siding where the bushes were, so I'll have to see if I can get that to come off somehow. 

I'm glad the bushes are (almost) gone. According to Tim, the man who sprayed the house for spiders, those things are like spider magnets. And I trust him! We haven't seen a single spider, indoor or outdoor, since he sprayed. I am definitely going to have him come out annually.

We do need to make a landscaping plan, because now that the bushes are gone, we have hostas and weeds, hahaha. Nathan's girlfriend, Alex, enjoys landscaping and just did a lot at his house, and she said she'll help me when I'm ready. Lord knows I can use it!

Prime and paint the garage:

Done! I'm super excited that I managed to get that done. Now I'm going to be working on the finishing touches trimming the windows and door, etc. And finally moving things back into place! I don't have a better picture than this to showcase that the entire garage is painted, but it is. When I am able to move things back into place, I'll take more pics.

Clear out my inbox

I feel so horrible when I look at my inbox and see that I still haven't made a dent. I'm not a "canned response" type of person, and when someone writes me, I like to be able to sit down and write a thoughtful, genuine response. The problem is that I tell myself I'm going to do that later, but I never make the time to just do it. 

I certainly don't dread replying to emails from readers--I love to hear from you all! And it's because of the fact that I enjoy them that I take forever to reply. I'm always waiting until I can write a "good" reply. I feel like a canned response is disrespectful, but I also feel like taking two months to reply is just as disrespectful. 

Ideally, I would have a schedule for my blog. Writing a blog post at a certain time of day rather than waiting until just before midnight. Spending one day a week replying to emails. Updating the organizations tabs ("housekeeping" stuff) every two weeks or so. Maybe I'll make that an item on my August "to do" list--write up a blogging schedule.

I do have to say, though, that I am proud to have posted every single day this year so far! My goal on January 1st was to post something every day, even if it was short and meaningless. I enjoy having a post every day, even though sometimes I just can't think of a single thing to write about.

Anyway, as far as clearing out my inbox this month... no, I haven't. But the month isn't over! I have a 10-hour car ride up to my sister's place, so maybe I'll work on it in the car. That would be a nice way to pass the time.

Touch up paint around the house

I haven't done this yet, simply because I forgot I put it on the list, but it shouldn't take more than a couple of hours. It would take much less time if I was only using one color, but I'll have to switch out colors for different areas. 

There aren't any big spots that need touching up. I'm just talking about a little chip here or there from moving things around.

Make a plan for the front porch

This is stressing me out. I need to make a decision soon because we really can't wait any longer on it. It's falling apart and I need to either build a new one (which I think would be fun) or call some more people about doing concrete. I'd like to have concrete because it stays cool in the summer and it's more durable. I'm at least going to write down a few options and try to make a decision asap.

---

So, as far as my mid-month check in, I think I could be doing a little better, but I've checked off two items (well, one and a half, because the bushes aren't totally done yet). The hardest item on the list was to get the garage primed and painted, and that's done now!

Continue Reading...

June Recap and July To-Do List

I like that I wrote a "to do" list instead of a list of goals last month. For some reason, calling it a "to do" list seemed less intimidating than setting goals. So, if I can manage to remember, I'd like to do this monthly.

For June, my To-Do List was as follows:

• Finish hanging the drywall in the garage
• Dye my hair (my grays were horrible!)
• Spring clean the house
• Read one book
• Use up all the meat we have in the freezer
• Open the box with my new serger and actually try it out!
• Start the annual Runs for Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge
• Clear out my inbox

I did fairly well with these! I didn't complete them all (or at least entirely) but I did knock a few off.

- I finished hanging the drywall (both walls and ceiling) and I actually got most of the taping and mudding done, too! I didn't expect to get that far with it at all, but I worked on it a LOT. There was a period of about a week where I just didn't want to even look at it, so I didn't; but I made up for that time tenfold once I started the mudding. This is what it looked like while I was hanging the drywall on the ceiling (and the insulation):

- I did color my grays--finally. The box of dye had dust on it because it sat there for three months during the quarantine! Unfortunately, I also decided to cut my hair differently than I usually do, and it was WAY too short for my liking. I just want it to grow back right NOW.

- I did not spring clean the house to my liking, but I did do some things that needed it. I don't feel bad about this, however, because I got a LOT of the garage done. The taping and mudding is done, and now I am ready to sand and paint!

- I've actually been reading two books, and I'm in the middle of both of them. So, this is a yes/no as far as whether I completed it. I'm reading "The Happy Runner" and "Delay, Don't Deny" (Amazon affiliate links) I like them both so far!

- I used up about half of the meat we had in the freezer. I think all I have left is the seafood--salmon, mahi-mahi, and shrimp. The problem is that we all (Jerry, Noah, Eli, and I) have different tastes, and it's hard to make a meal out of one particular item. I like all three of those; Jerry will eat them, regardless; as far as the kids, one of them likes salmon, the other does not (and the same for mahi-mahi and shrimp).

I used some frozen chicken breasts to make some Chicken Taco Soup. (Actually, while I was working the drywall, I told Noah to make it--it's so simple! You just throw everything in the slow cooker. And Noah felt proud that he made it himself.)

- I did open my serger and I tried it out for a short period one day. But today, I actually used it to mend a couple of shirts! The armpit seam came apart in a shirt of Eli's and a shirt of mine, so I used the serger to fix them. I couldn't believe how easy it was and how good it looked! SO much easier than using the sewing machine for that.

I also unthreaded the multi-colored threads (shown below) that came with the machine and I threaded the machine myself with white--which is a big step! With four spools, it's intimidating. This is what it looked like straight out of the box, and I did the practice piece just to keep note of what each color did in the stitches).

- I did start the annual Runs for Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge on the day of the summer solstice. I didn't do as many walks/runs as I would have liked so far, but I am still working on them. I feel really determined to complete the list this summer! So far, I have only been walking (no running) and I'm okay with that. As long as I complete it, I will be happy. Here is a photo from my "Penny Pincher" walk yesterday:

- I did not clear out my inbox; nor did I even come close. With making the face masks and then having so many of them get lost in the mail, I was emailing a lot of people about those. But I need to schedule a day that I dedicate solely to working on my inbox. If you've written me and are awaiting a reply, I am SO sorry... I will get to it soon!

I want to say that I don't avoid my inbox for negative reasons; I'm just the type of person who likes to reply individually to people that write me and I tend to get wordy (surprise surprise! My blog posts aren't wordy at ALL, hahaha). So, emails are not a nuisance (except for the spam ones)... I just need to set aside time to dedicate solely for that purpose. If I haven't gotten back to you, I promise that it's not personal.

---

So, I think of June's list as a success. I'm happy with what I've done, even if it's not "complete". As far as July goes, here is my "to do" list:

Prime and paint the garage

This is the fun part! Now that the mudding is done, I can start making it look like a "finished" garage. And then I'll get to hang trim and do finishing touches. And then FINALLY have my garage back again!

Clear out my inbox

As I said, I didn't do this at all in June. So, I'm going to try to make it a priority in July. Now that Jerry is working nights, it'll be easier. I can use the evenings to work on my blog and emails and all of that. (Not that I couldn't do it when he was working days--but I liked spending time with him in the evenings.)

Touch up paint around the house

This sounds odd, but I've noticed a few nicks and scratches here and there in the paint from moving things around (even from when we installed the flooring) so I want to touch that up. I still have the leftover cans of paint for this purpose.

Make a plan for the front porch

This is SO frustrating! We've had several people come out to give us estimates on how much the porch will cost, and we've asked a couple of them to do it; however, they don't call us back. I really want a concrete porch, but if we can't get someone to give us a definitive date soon, then I might just have to build a porch with wood. Then maybe in a few years we can try again. Our porch is literally falling apart and it's a hazard to even step on! We literally cannot wait another season to do it.

This is horribly embarrassing to post, but this is what it looks like now, so you can see why I am desperate:

My dream was to have a 10x16 concrete slab close to the ground (so we wouldn't need a railing). I wanted to put some chairs out there so I can sit and drink my tea in the mornings. Right now, I just sit on the steps of our porch that is falling apart. The porch itself makes the exterior of the house look shabby.

Pull out the enormous bushes on each side of the house

These things are daunting, but they need to come out. The guy who sprayed the house to keep the spiders away said that these bushes are basically "spider magnets". I also want to pull the weeds from the landscaping. Basically, we need to redo the landscaping altogether, but for now, I just want to take care of those bushes. (Shrubs? Bushes? I don't know the difference, and a Google search wasn't very specific.)

---

Okay, I'd say that's a pretty big list for July. I might even have to start cross country practices this month! Technically, I can start them whenever I want to, but last year we started in mid-July. Renee is going to coach with me with year(!) and I'm so excited about that. We are going to get together soon and talk about it.

Well, I am going to my brother's tonight to watch his fireworks show (which is amazing--literally, it's better than the city's fireworks). Have a great 4th of July tomorrow! (And if you're doing the Cookies Summer Challenge, I can't wait to see your red, white, and blue running/walking outfits!)

Continue Reading...