Sunshine, Dirt, & Lots of Elbow Grease!

This past weekend, my hubby and I took advantage of the beautiful, unseasonably warm, Ohio weather and did some gardening! We're overachievers (me by nature - Alan by force), so this wasn't just a typical day of gardening... we tore out the ugly hedges that lined the front of our home, planted trees, shrubs, bushes, and flowers. Then proceeded to work in the back yard, prepping the garden and planting what seeds we could (many of them shouldn't be planted until after the May 15th frost-free date.) I've included a before & after shot of the front of the house. I think it looks much better... and this is just phase 1!

I'm hoping that the many daylillies and hydrangea bush that I planted in the northern corner (left-hand side of the photo) will grow to fill that area. Otherwise, it will be pretty bare-looking this summer! We decided to keep the zebra grass on both ends of the house, but the new growth is still rather short at the moment. Our not-so-appealing aluminum enclosed porch windows are still in existence, unfortunately. But I think we will have to live with them at least for a couple more years until we can come up with a good (and somewhat cheap!) replacement for them. If anyone has any ideas, by all means let us know!

I can't wait until the flowers bloom and put on a colorful show in the front yard! Because we have been able to get most of this project out of the way, I'm now dreaming up ideas for a patio in the backyard ... or... maybe that can wait until next year. :)

I'll end this post with a pic of the kids (and big kid) prepping the garden. I wish I could keep them this little and cute forever.... *sigh*

Renovation Update!

We've been working hard (still) to get fresh coats of paint on the walls room-by-room! Alan and I's winter projects have consisted of: 1. getting my piano back and moved into the dining room! 2. painting Jake's bedroom, and 3. painting the basement.

We were able to get Jake's room painted and to get things up on the walls. Down came the baby-ish Snoopy paintings (so lovingly handpainted for Marissa long ago by Nanna) and up went Jake's new Barry Larkin pictures. Although - I did sneak a couple ribbons on the wall so that the room didn't seem too "grown up" just yet... mommy's not ready for that! :)

Even though we haven't quite finished the basement... meaning we have yet to finish priming the walls and clubhouse before we can even paint...we're hoping to get it done before Spring arrives. Because we know our to-do list will keep growing by leaps and bounds once warmer weather comes to Ohio! A few of the items we would like to accomplish this Spring are: refinishing the dressers in our bedroom, painting our bedroom, installing a new chandelier in the dining room and ceiling fans in the bedrooms, new carpet in the hallway and Jake's room, tile in the bathroom, and flooring throughout the rest of the basement. This of course is supposed to all happen while we're getting ready for the community-wide garage sale. Yeah... we're not ambitious, are we? :)

We'll keep you posted on our progress....