Our life, our way

So Brian and I have started our spring cleaning. I am ridding myself of all the the clothes in my closets that

1) don’t fit, or

2) I haven’t worn in a year or more.

You’d think this wouldn’t be much, right? WRONG!!! I filled 4 larges bags, about equal to the 13 gallon kitchen bags and one box with about 20 pairs of shoes. We also tossed out an old mattress hiding in the guest bedroom closet. All in all, using the Salvation Army’s valuation guide, we have a receipt for $300. Yay tax write off. It probably should ave been more. I estimated on the low for all the clothes and there were some that still had tags. I purged like 5 winter coast that haven’t been touched in 3 years. I finally said good bye to all my evening/formal gowns from high school/college.

My bedroom closet is still pretty full, but I think I will try to do another run in the next couple of weeks.  I did not however get rid of any eeyores, in case you were wondering. I also still have the tan bear that Lauren gave me way back when during Freshman year. I wonder if she still has her grey bear with a crooked head……

So its our first Christmas as Mr. and Mrs. Brian did such a wonderful job with all the lights outside (in freezing temperature).

As I sit here and enjoy the last of the Gin Rickeys I made earlier, I cannot help but think about what a nice weekend we had, and as much trouble as it is, the yard work which I had planned and then executed on, and what a darned good investment we made when we bought the gas trimmer I’ve been using for well over a year now.  It’s one of those units that takes the various branded attachments, and between my brush blade and chainsaw attachment, I made quick work of our hill in the backyard. Muwahahaha. Die brambles!  Die vines!  Die sumac, you frakking rash causing plant!

Okay, enough of that.  I also got a chance to work on the flower bed in front of the house which we kind of let get out of control.  These was once a time it was a nice, circularly stoned flower bed with yellow marigolds and red salvia evenly planted.  Yeah, not so much anymore; the marigolds have completely taken over, and also have bent as they grew outwards and only has a few inches of soil for support.  Today, I trimmed them back within the confines of the stone circle, and then dropped in another row of stones (making 3) and yanked out the centipede grass that was growing between the stones and weedblock under the bed’s soil.  Much prettier now, and until the marigolds die out, that will probably be the end of that work.  Shouldn’t be too long now, and then I can add some more soil and level it out for the next round, where maybe will do it right and put the salvia on top and the marigolds on the periphery (sorry, we didn’t know).

Now with that work done, I can look at taking a road trip or two to peep some leaves…

So we didn’t get everything done. We found ourselves somewhat short, financially.

1. hard wood floors
2. fix the shutters
3. replace trim that is rotting on windows and chimney
4. Paint all the trim around the house
5. Pressure wash the house
6. Fix up the deck
7. Replace the fencing in back yard.
8. Replace the countertops
9. Paint kitchen/dining/bathrooms
10. Clean and paint gutters

So still some stuff on our list but at least we got the obvious done.  Good thing we didn’t go all out. We discovered a link in that appeared to be coming from our master bedroom shower to the half bath on the first floor. So we call a plumber. I don’t need to worry about falling while showering.

Plumber confirmed our suspision and gave us an estimate. I asked him to also check our water pressure while he was there. In doing so, we discovered that our water heater was leaking……great….

So tomorrow he will be back to replace that, fix my shower. It will also take care of the fact that our water pressure was 90psi when it should have only been 50-60 psi. *sigh* We debated on whether or not to go with a tankless water heater. Due to cost and that we don’t plan on staying in the house, we decided to not go all green and are getting a traditional water heater.

As part of the planning process for the wedding, we ended up finding a vacation home near our home. It is amazing close. Not across the street, but for Metro Atlanta, it might as well be.

In any case, I met the owner of the house when I went out to visit the home. I had to check it out and make sure it was suitable for my future in-laws. It’s nothing fancy but at least it has everything they will need.  If you are interested in searching for a vacation home in any state, take a look at http://www.homeaway.com/. They even have listings for outside teh country. I was checking out the ones in Paris!

Back to my original topic….The owner was very nice and in touring the home, I found out he did all the renovations on the home. His specialty is hard wood floors but also does a lot of other stuff. So today, he came by the house to check out all the wonder home improvement projects we don’t have the time or skills to do ourselves.

1. hard wood floors
2. fix the shutters
3. replace trim that is rotting on windows and chimney
4. Paint all the trim around the house
5. Pressure wash the house
6. Fix up the deck
7. Replace the fencing in back yard.
8. Replace the countertops
9. Paint kitchen/dining/bathrooms

Okay, so he thought he was just coming by to estimate the hardwood and kitchen. Overall, he prices were good on most. He will be starting on some of the smaller stuff in the next coming days. The big question is, with the wedding approaching quickly….do we move forward with the hard wood floors or wait until after….or never?