checking things off

We're checking things off the to-do list that weren't even ON the to-do list! But man, we had a productive weekend!

We spent a lot of time at Lowes...they got way too much of our money...three different trips...oi...

Chris brought to my attention that the edging around our landscaping in the front yard was rusted and falling down and just plain tacky. So we decided that new edging would greatly improve our curb appeal. Add it to the to-do list...he was able to get most of it completed this weekend. New brown edging and mulch to go into the beds...looks so nice!



This is the Before. Click on the picture to enlarge it, so you can get the full idea. What a disgrace! It's hard to believe the stuff you put up with when you're just living in a house. When you decide to sell it, though, it all comes to the surface and it's a little embarrasing!!



Here is Chris, hard at work, pulling those ancient pieces out of the ground. Back breaking work! He'll be sore tomorrow for sure. At least I finally convinced him to wear work gloves! After he had many a blister already...



Look at it now! So nice and clean and new. Looks even better with the mulch in there, I didn't get a picture of that though. Things are looking up...thank you to my super man, for taking this project on and doing such a superb job! I appreciate him, and am thankful that we are in this together...



And I'm almost too embarrased to show this one...how it got this bad, and how we've never done anything about it until now, just amazes me. What people must have thought when they came to our house...this is the front porch! The first thing they see! I got out a plethera of cleaners and tried to improve the situation, but alas, nothing really worked. So we decided that our best option would be to put a fresh coat of paint on. Add that to the to-do list too. Dave Ramsey says that prospective buyers spent more time on the porch waiting for the real estate agent to unlock the door than they spend anywhere else in the house. It's an important spot. We have to make it look as good as possible!



So, off we went to Lowes to have them color match the paint, and off I went to getting the front porch repainted. Took me quite awhile to do, but you know what? I was excited to do this! I've never painted the outside of a house before! And the results were instant, everything looked sooooo much better right away. I'll be sore tomorrow from looking up, from using the paint brush for so long, from holding the paint container for so long. But damn, it looks so much better!I used Pledge on our wood door, and the entry is starting to really look nice now!

So...we were quite productive. This week, we'll be taping off the kicthen and sanding the cabinets down. Then Jon will come in and spray them white. Billy is hopefully hard at work on the doors, and then we can call that done. It will still be awhile on those. In addition to that, our other goal this week is to get the stuff organized for the garage sale that we're having this weekend. We got most of our storage stuff taken over to the storage unit, and all of the trash thrown away. I dread the idea of getting prepared for the garage sale, but hopefully we can make some decent money to put toward the storage unit.

And hopefully our blueprints will be ready this week for our viewing! We are so excited for that...

Ok, now that I've bored you with endless house talk...GO CARDINALS!! I'm excited that my hometown team is moving on to the next playoff level! I sure do hope that Amy and Dronda were both in attendance!!!