Dreaming

I do some of my best dreaming while riding the lawn mower.... Nope, I'm not sleeping, just day dreaming. I don't know what it is about the lawn mower. Maybe it's the fact that I can see the entire house, yard and landscaping. Whatever causes it, I enjoy it immensely!

Today as I was mowing the lawn, I looked at the swing set we will replace, and the neighbor's trees hanging low onto our yard. (We should have had our friends cut those before the new neighbors moved in). I notice the beautiful green of the Leyland cypress trees and how pretty the crape myrtle is set against that back drop. I dream of planting Leyland cypress all along the property line of the new neighbors fence, giving us a sound buffer, and a privacy screen. (Not to mention saving the wiffle balls and tennis balls from heading over their fence, never to be seen again).

Today I dreamt of a lush green grass with no weeds, and no bare spots whatsoever. The kind of grass that our neighborhood minor league baseball team would enjoy playing on! I dreamt of a swing set rebuilt with a beautiful stain finish setting slightly closer to the house, so it doesn't interfere with the aforementioned baseball games.

I notice the the back deck/patio and I dream of adding a set of stairs so that access to the swing set is quick and easy. In my daydream there are lots of flowerpots with an array of gorgeous colors accenting and softening the hardscape.

I ponder if we can do all this by ourselves, plan and plant our huge bare landscape.... or do we need to call a landscaper to get a design. Well, then maybe the landscaper could plant the beds too.... And then somehow in my musings dollar signs start interfering. $$$ $$$ I try to get back to my previous thoughts hoping the mowers rhythmic sounds will take me back.... but the dollar signs and landscaping company won't go away. I begin to doubt we could do it without such services. And I remember that we are saving every penny for an international adoption. No, landscaping is not exactly in the budget this year... or next year for that matter.

My mowing is done and as I look around, nothing has changed.... but it sure was a nice daydream! :-)

Simply Beautiful!

This is the view from my patio deck. Gorgeous isn't it! I guess some things nature just handles on it's own, and I don't even need to work at it! I wish all things were that simple.

Yard Update

The van is still clean... shocking! The yard still looks the same. But we have a plan! Next week, we will begin operation overseed. Unfortunately our yard is at least 60% bermuda, 20% fescue and about 20% bare dirt spots. With all of that bermuda that continues to spread, it makes no sense whatsoever to try to kill it all off and plant fescue. Since the bermuda has been spreading each year, dh and I decided we are just going to work with what we have. And ya know... that sounds just like us. We are constantly utilizing things we have, or re-finishing things to give them a new life. We both don't want to be slaves to yard work each year either, so hopefully this will also be low maintenance.

While I really don't care a whole lot for bermuda grass... it is hearty for when the kids play, and it does tolerate our southern heat well. When it goes dormant in the winter, we just may overseed with a rye grass, like they do on golf courses, so that we can have somewhat green grass all year. :-)

So, that's the plan for next week sometime. Lots of overseeding and filling in bare spots with bermuda seeds. Hopefully it will take well!

Our Yard

After giving my van a very good detailing today and washing the windows both inside and out... we began to focus on the outside of our home. There are so many projects to keep up with...it can seem never-ending.

Though like any other thing in life, I'm learning it's about a little self discipline. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that self discipline is the answer for everything... but it's something that I am learning...personally. And as I am learning it in one area of my life, it spills over into other areas.....

For instance our yard, which I have posted in the past is just daggone awful. The bare spots are worse than last year, and we cancelled our lawn service to save money....so I think the weeds may get worse. We have a neighbor who has a beautiful lawn. It isn't because his land is better than ours...it's the same earth, for the most part. The difference is that he tends to his yard. He takes the time to work on those weeds and to fertilize it in the spring and fall. He waters it, and overseeds it. Sure it sounds like a lot of work, but it's sustained over a long period of time. He isn't out there every weekend working on that yard.... he's enjoying it. Because he has put in the time, in small increments, to tend to his lawn.

Our yard isn't going to change overnight. Not hardly. There isn't a quick fix, it's going to take some effort, and consistency on our part. Not all at once, but little by little it will improve, if we make the time to tend to it. Just like those others areas of my life. :-)

Organizing Closets

First, I have to say I am kicking myself that I forgot to take a before picture of our master bedroom closet. Dh and I already moved all the junk out, and rearranged the clothes. Even if I took a picture now, it still wouldn't reflect on how bad the closet actually looked.

Having said, that I will show an after shot. When we bought our house the people utilized closet maid organizers. I am not a real fan of this product in general. I really don't care for the metal and the slotted shelves are just waiting for things to fall through the cracks. But as you know we are a frugal family, and had no intention of completely ripping out the material that already was available...just for brand new. We are all about utilizing what we have, and making it work for us.

So, dh went to Lowe's today and got a few more items and accessories that would help organize the closet to suit our needs. One thing we needed was a shoe organizer. Actually dh purchased two of these. Very helpful, as our shoes are here, there and everywhere.... and we don't even have a lot of shoes!

The tie racks we already had, but we purchased some additional shelving and pegs for hats etc. Here is a finished photo showing how organized it is! I just sooo appreciate when things are put together. We will begin working on clearing out the two guest closets this week. I hope to remember before and after photos of those!

Projects, Projects, Projects

When you own a home, the projects can seem never ending. Seriously. Even when you have it organized, something is always changing...or breaking etc etc.

Today dh and I are working on cleaning up the house. Our garage is on the mend from many yard sales we had this spring. I should hopefully be able to park there soon!

Next we will tackle the guest bedroom and those closets, as well as our own master closet. There are so many things to store, and with the humid weather here, I don't like to store them in the attic. So, this afternoon I will be working on cleaning out the guest closets to make room for clothes for our expanding family.

Lots to get done..and the hours are passing more quickly than I would like! I think I'll post before and after shots of the guest closets and master closet.

Our Playroom...

Yikes! Never leave the playroom cleaning up to the kids for months at a time! Seriously, sometimes it is easier to just not look. lol! But yesterday I decided to check on how they had cleaned it up. Oh my word! I really couldn't believe it! I pulled out tons of toys from under the couch and chair! The closet was unbelievable. So yesterday for over 3 hours we worked on re-organanizing our playroom. Things went into the correct bins, and puzzles were put back together in their correct boxes. What a nightmare!

I would really love to put a small table and chairs up there to keep puzzles and games off the floor.... but I'll have to wait on that one. I have an idea in mind, I just have to find the replacement for my kitchen table first! :-)

We are away this weekend, but next weekend we are starting on some projects that just need to get accomplished here at the home. I can't wait! Finally some progress!!

A matter of perspective.....

The only bad part about starting house projects is seeing all that really needs to be done. Not a problem if you are a Rockefeller, or a Hilton or Tiger Woods, or anyone of the very wealthy. Unfortunately I am not. And so the projects that I see that need to be done, are expensive. There in lies one of the problems, we lack the financial resources to do any one of the projects, and we don't want to go into debt to do them.

We could really use a new front door. Ours is peeling and looking very shoddy. I'm sure dh could sand it and completely re-do it, but that would take an awful lot of work. But, because we are frugal.... and pretty much re-use whatever we can.... that's what we'll do. Then onto the decks that I just mentioned in the last post. We had a deck up north where we used to live. A huge deck! It was built much better than our current one. Plus, we stained it. These decks have been painted. And they are peeling up in areas. It doesn't look pretty that's for sure. So, that too is going to require a lot of work to re-do the decks, and I'm not sure how we will handle that. Probably a lot of sanding. ugh!

I already mentioned our garage door that is falling apart. And our roof needs to be re-done in a few years as well. That grass in our side yard is soooo not looking good! I mow it each week, and we really really need to re-seed it! We need to fix our playset too... (Oh I could show you a picture of this!) Currently we really don't want the kids using it, as it is unstable. So that will require a big fix as well. A new huge swing beam with A-frame supports cemented into the ground to stabilize it. We will be sanding the fort that is attached and re-staining the whole thing as well.

Have I mentioned I would love to put a fence around our yard to keep stray dogs out, and to have a safe place for my new little ones to play? Or that our central air is one the fritz? How about the windows that were the cheapest ones the previous owners could buy, that have no screens at all? We need to add screens to all the windows!! What a project!

All these projects require time and money. We do have some time.... but certainly not the funds. Even a few hundred to fix the swing set area is not "doable"right now. So, I'm just going to have to choose to look at each of these things is a different light.

We have a porch, and though it is peeling paint in areas, it is clean and bright and inviting. It provides shade on a sunny day and is a roof over our heads. And speaking of the roof that will need to be replaced. Well, it is providing shelter without leaks which is more than can be said of millions around the globe. And the yard and swingset, well I have a yard where my kids can play in safety, not on or near a busy street, or quite frankly no place at all. And my central air does work some of the time. To help cool me off when I come in from washing my deck.

It's all how I look at it... and while those other things still jump out at me, and compete for my attention and focus... I'm going to choose to look at the blessings right now.

There, I already feel a lot better. :)

Weekend Projects

It's a little late to say "Spring Cleaning" as it's almost summer here. But there are projects that need to be done, even if we missed spring. And quite frankly, now is the time to do them,as pollen season is almost over. (Tree pollen). Last year I made the mistake of deck washing our front porch and back deck at the end of April. Before any of the tree pollen became really bad. I had clean and bright white decks, only to turn a dingy yellow color a few weeks later.

This year, our two decks look absolutely terrible. The front porch is covered in pollen, and the back deck is just dirty. (And covered in yellow pollen). So, today after looking at both closely,I decided it was time to deck wash them. I started out on the front porch because it's covered, and it's smaller. I'm sweating and exhausted from just that project! The porch looks better though, and I feel like it will look a lot more inviting when guests come to visit.

It complements the pink cottage roses so well now. And speaking of those roses, we really cut them back by about 1/2 this February. You wouldn't know it though.... those bushes have just grown and grown. They are blooming profusely right now,and give my house a very cheery feel from the outside! we'llbe mulching finally today after almost 2 years of not mulching. That should give the front the finished look that we want.

Clutter,Clutter, Everywhere

Those who know me know that I really can't stand clutter. It's weird, and hard to describe. I feel less organized for sure, when everything is all over the place, and things are piled up in areas all around my house. I also can describe the feeling as frazzled. It certainly is not a calm or peaceful feeling as I rush from pile to pile, searching for what I need at the moment.

There is a show that I have occasionally caught on cable called Clean Sweep. The premise is a design team and host go into someone's house to help them declutter it (ie:get rid of junk) and organize it to make it a less cluttered, moreorderly, and peaceful living space.

The people they select for the show really must be heavy pack rats. Because just looking at their home I have to wonder....do people really live like that? Did they go in and make it a whole lot messier for the show? The stuff is abundant and overflowing everywhere.... So the homeowners have to go through all their stuff and have a yard sale to make money for the renovations to make their house more organized and less cluttered.

The before and afters are just amazing. Their homes go from piles and piles of junk, to clean,clear, tranquil retreats. Just looking at the makeover makes me feel better, and I don't even live there! I wonder to myself if the homeowner's will keep it up.... or will they fall back into their old packrat ways.

So,what does this show have to do with me? Well we just finished up our third yard sale to raise money for our adoption. We had a ton of stuff donated to us from our Sunday school class. From this month of having a house full of yard sale items .... well my house is a bit cluttered. There is literally not one room that gives me that peaceful easy feeling. No, not one. So, it's time to work on getting rid of the clutter and getting the house back to normal. I am recommending to myself to start one room at a time. If I have just one room that is my little sanctuary, while I work on the rest of the house, I'll feel better.

So, it's a Clean Sweep at my house! Time to clean up and clear out!

The Remodeling Itch...

I'm not sure how many people can relate to this, but it has been quite some time since we have remodeled and I am getting the itch to begin again.

Last night I needed to buy some spray paint to paint some picture frames. I stopped at Lowe's to pick up the spray paint. As I was walking into the store, I realized that it was well over 6 months since I had been in there. 6 months!! And I love that store!

We have been diligently saving money for a two-fold purpose. One is to get out of debt, and the other is to save for our adoption. Anyone who is focused solely on that, will concur that there is just nothing that can go towards home remodeling. Especially when that remodeling is not a "necessity".

So, I'm thinking of projects that I can do that are very cost effective. One of those is taking the jerseys that are hanging over my boys dressers, and changing the name on the backs of each one to reflect each boys name. Then I will hang them on dowel rods over each bed.

The second project in my head that would cost next to nothing is finally using the fabric I bought to make door panels for our french doors in the living room. The blanket that has been hanging there for the past two years has got to go! lol!

Both of these require sewing.... a task that I have never been taught and that while dh can do.... he loathes. So, we'll see if we can manage it, and if he can teach me. Patience Patience patience.....

Finishing Touches....

It takes me forever to get all the finishing touches done in our house. I am not good at this detail work.... and much prefer the broad sweeping strokes of a remodel. I'm finally getting around to finishing up the boys bedroom... :-)

I got a lamp for free that someone was giving to Goodwill. It is perfect for between my boys beds. I may eventually change the lamp shade.... But for now it is fine. Then I have had these pictures laying against a wall in the bedroom for a year. Dh and I finally decided where to hang them, and they are now on the wall!! Those two things make a huge difference. The room just feels more put together. Now all I have to do is get a shelf for trophies, a peg board for ball caps, a new frame for a great old poster we were given and a hamper for dirty clothes. I feel like the boys room is really just about COMPLETE. It only took a year! lol!