The Money Pit - Before & Later

Four years ago today, escrow closed and I officially acquired my money pit.  So first of all, let it be written and let it be known - I am a saver, not a spender.  So this whole mortgage thing, and fixer upper (money hemorrhage), has been quite an interesting experience.

Why'd I do it? Well, In my twenties I had this notion that if I wasn't married when I turned thirty - I'd buy a house.  But houses (especially out here) are super expensive, and I never actually thought it would happen.  Besides, I was thinking farmhouse, or ranch out in the country, somewhere I could buy the thing outright.  But then the housing market crashed.  And my first niece was born three weeks before my 30th birthday, so I didn't want to leave the area and miss seeing her (babies are my favorite!).  And affording a house in the Bay Area became a slight possibility - if I got a large mortgage.  Blasted debt, guess there's a first time for everything!

So I started looking nearby, and surprisingly found a fixer-upper with most of my requirements.  I wanted a fixer, needed the manual labor to put my focus into - to keep me sane (and drive me nuts).  It was in a safe neighborhood, had a big yard, newer roof and water heater.  It was a short sale.  I offered 2/3 of what the house had sold for two years earlier and 50k less than their asking price (thank you housing market crash).  They took my offer but left it open for other offers - which they didn't get, and a couple months later the bank approved it.

Happy New Year 2009, let the renovations begin.  And the spending.  Talk about painful.  But I learned something about money.  There's no sentimentality attached to a dollar.  You can always make more.  And when your projects take A LOT longer than you expected, you don't run out of it so fast.

Originally I thought, a couple months and I'll have the house and yard pretty well done.  Haha, four years later I still haven't started the front yard.  Granted, I have taken a year off, but ya live and learn.  And realize how little time you have when you are just one person and have to go to work every day, and can't focus entirely on projects.

Here's the house when I bought it - kinda lame that the garage door is open and you can't see it in the pic.  It was awesome.  Super old one panel, totally sliced my hand trying to open it manually on the old spring.  And it's hard to see the bars on the windows since the badly untrimmed tree is hanging so low.  Yep, bars.  Illegal bars with no release.  Only house in the neighborhood with bars.  Story from the realtor was the garage got broken into once, and the family had a cousin, who would do the bars cheap, so they did.

And here's a later pic.  I haven't done anything with the landscaping yet, that's on hold for the moment for a few very good reasons.  But the bars are gone.  My brother-in-law sawed them off with a saws-all since the bolts were welded to the frames.  And I paid a company to put in a new garage door with super quiet opener (best decision ever).  Put in a new front door.  Had to have the chimney rebuilt because it was cracked clean through (probably from the 1989 earthquake).  And I painted the house.  Yep, did that myself.

Whether it's painting a canvas or a wall, I know my way around a paint brush.  The house had been painted the not-so-lovely (in my opinion) bright yellow less than a year before, so no prep work was necessary other than hosing it down.  I used a tiny fan brush to do the edges by the eaves (I've sworn off painters tape - vile, useless stuff), and painted one wall a weekend for a month, voila new look.  Much better.  Why green?  Well, I grew up in a green house, but left for school one day and came home to find my parents had the painters paint it gray.  Guess I never got over that.  So I went back to green.

Moving to the inside.  The former owners had, shall we say - brighter/bolder taste than I.  The shade of yellow they used on most of the inside belongs quite nicely on my favorite Mexican restaurant down the street - not on my walls.  Lots of primer and paint layers later - totally different place.  And here's what I have to say about painting interiors ... painting one room - no problem! ... painting an entire house, insanity!  Many thanks to the friends and family who came to help at the painting parties, couldn't have managed without you!

This was the front wall in the living room.  Note the lovely 1950's soffit (pointless, nothing was under it), the fake brick facade (glued on top of nice real brick), and the fun discovery that the wall wasn't drywall - it was two thicknesses of painted over paneling.  So glad my brother-in-law loves demolition!  But the one thing I did save was the wall mounted mantle.  I liked it.

And a later pic.  Paid to have someone put in new drywall (I will try it myself someday, it's totally on my bucket list, but I was in a hurry). Also paid someone to put in "can" lights over the mantle and re-route the electrical outlets in the wall.  I did get very familiar with electricity switching out all the outlets and most of the light switches in the house for new ones.  But not rewiring.  If I want to tackle that, I can replace the old knob and tube stuff still going in half the house... a fixer upper is never done!

What did I do? Besides the obvious change in wall color - put in new molding around the reclaimed original brick fireplace, and new base boards and crown molding, built new window sills (with help from the bro-in-law!).  Wonderful that he worked at a cabinet shop and had access to necessary tools.  And some decorating.  That large blank wall is on purpose.  It was a requirement in my housing search - need a sufficient place to project movies on!

And a close up of the mantle - showing off the lights!

The dining room.  Same story, paint, moldings, oh and let me talk about the floors.  The previous occupants had little dogs, and smoked.  Carpet was super nasty.  When I pulled it up, found it was supposed to be light beige.  AND I found a sticker saying it had been put in only two years earlier!  So crazy gross.  But we left it at first in lieu of painting tarps, and then ripped it out when the painting was done.  Once again paid someone - this time to refinish the existing hardwood floors throughout the house.  Turned out pretty fantastic!  Oh, and I do have curtains for those windows, they just weren't up when the picture was taken.

Here are the bedrooms, pretty much more of the same - floors, paint, molding, oh, and I did get new windows in this one:

Exchanged original wall color, for something more my style.  And I bought a floor rug for this room (not wall to wall carpeting, just a rug that goes wall to wall), since it's the kiddos playroom and carpet is way more comfortable than hardwood.  And I removed a wallpaper border that had been painted over - didn't realize two of the walls were also entirely wallpaper.  Oops.  Someday maybe I'll remove it.

My room.  Was a nasty gray-green color, even in the closet...

I prefer a warm off white (and white inside the closet).  And yes, I do indeed have a princess bed.  Always wanted a four poster canopy someday, but then I thought, what if I marry some dude and he doesn't want to sleep in a princess bed?  Haha, so I bought it for myself, like eight or nine years ago.  Marriage hasn't been a problem yet...

And the last bedroom, the office.  Here you get a good look at those illegal bars that were on ALL of the windows.  So awesome.  First thing to go.  I don't particularly like feeling like I'm in prison!

And a more current picture.  This has become Destructo's sanctuary since the big fight...  The "rug" in this room is just a bunch of 18x24in carpet samples ($2 ea) from Home Depot with anti-skid stuff under them.  Makes it super easy to clean a section.  I remember when I was little, my brother had patchwork carpet in his room, and I always loved it!

Oh yeah, and I installed closet doors in the office.  That was fun.  Measured the opening and bought louvered bi-fold doors, but got home to discover that the closet header was designed for sliding type doors... oops.  So I put the project off for a while.  But no worries, I did get them in eventually, all it took was a steady hand with a jigsaw and a lot of sanding.

And now - the bathroom...!  Note to self: if ever you go to another open house, or walk-though, make sure to pick up the bathroom rug to make sure there aren't ancient remnants of one cemented to the linoleum!  Kudos to my sister who spent several hours with a bottle of cleaner and a plastic knife scraping it off - good as new! 

Other than that - I think I painted the walls five times before being happy with the color.  I detest the little swatches you get at the store to pick a paint color, so useless.  I finally just bought some tints and mixed my own custom color right there in the bathroom.  Yes I can be a bit of a control freak - and I'm used to mixing my own paint colors, so much easier than trying to describe to the paint people what changes I want.

I painted the cabinet and mirror deep brown, and replaced the hardware, toilet seat, put in a new light fixture.  And the caulk on the tub.  Totally disgusting.  I think it was cement.  Had to chip it out with a hammer and chisel.  And paid plumbers to copper re-pipe the house.  Water pressure was pretty bad.

As for the rest of the house, don't think I got before pictures of the yellow hallway, or the dark brown interior coat closet. But once again, some coats of paint fixed those.

So last but not least: the kitchen.  It took me about nine months to do the kitchen.  Nine months of living with a two cubic foot fridge and a tiny microwave.
My healthy eating suffered a bit...

The before pic doesn't do it justice.  Way yuckier in person.  White textured wallpaper.  Grease coated maple cabinets with flaking off finish.  And a floor that looked dirty even when clean.  The ancient windows wouldn't even open!  And super ugly florescent light fixtures with matching wallpaper pasted on the ends.  That stove contraption was awful.  No bueno.

But the cabinets were custom, hardwood, and with nice glass inserts.  So I decided to try my hand at refinishing them.  Which is why it took so long.  Stripping finish off cabinets in a sweltering kitchen on a 100+ degree day in the middle of summer is not one of my favorite memories.  I don't think I did a very good job on the cabinets, got fed up at the end and no longer cared.  But it was my first try, so oh well.  Now I will know better if I'm ever crazy enough to try it again!

And - the after.  Wallpaper gone.  New windows.  Replaced lighting with fancy track lights.  Personally installed a floating linoleum floor over the old one.  So, I got a little perfectionisty with some of the cuts on that floor, probably 3 hours each to cut precisely around the molding on the door jams, but I'm glad every time I look at those pieces.  If you come over I'll show you.  A professional dude would probably have just cut it close enough and filled the gaps with caulk!  Anyway, refinished cabinets, and all new appliances.  Oh, yeah, and put wood under the cabinets at the toe kick - after ripping out the old plastic stuff.

I like it.

And yes, I left the original teal formica countertops.  Someday maybe I'll replace them with granite, or corian, and put in a nice backsplash.  If they had been tile, I definitely would have replaced them - I hate grout.  But formica is functional, free (since it's already there), and the color is fun.  A bit whimsy, nothing I would have ever picked out in the first place.

And that's the status of my money pit.  Always projects to do if I want them, and (knock on wood) nothing new has broken recently, so I'm enjoying it.  Love not sharing walls or having people living under or above me.  So with all the headaches and expenses, I guess I still would recommend the experience.

All I Want for Christmas is: My Two Friendly Beasts

The beasts got nothing for Christmas this year - they've both been naughty and I don't think Santa delivers cat coal.

But since the internet desperately needs more funny cat videos, enjoy this one from 2010!

I did not plan it or set it up.  I sat in abject disbelief (after helping Santa stuff stockings), as Catzilla sniffed the air towards her stocking, jumped on the couch and sniffed, then hopped on the mantle.  No way she's actually doing what I think she is... yep.  So I replaced the stocking, grabbed the camera and pressed record.  And she did it again.  Round two.

And here's me trying to help her open it:

 

I'm thinking there has got to be some awfully strong catnip in that toy!  And amazingly, that really is her stocking, why she didn't also snatch her sister's, I don't know.  She opens doors on her own (and closets, drawers, cabinets, boxes), plays fetch like a dog with her favorite toy (the top part of a generic shoe insert that you cut off to make it fit), paws at the edge of the blanket to get under the covers at night, paws my face to get me up in the morning, and climbs up my back like her personal ladder, but so far as I know, she can't yet read!

And here's both of the beasts enjoying the new catnip toys.  I got Destructo's stocking down for her.  She is too polite to jump up on the mantle.

And that's all I really want for Christmas 2012:
Enjoying Catzilla and Destructo in the same room together, without them fighting.
But that would take a miracle.

They are sisters, used to be best buds, snuggled together, groomed each other, played together daily.  And that was the point of getting two kittens together four years ago, so they could keep each other company since I'm gone a lot.  But the morning of May 8, 2012, was the end of my world as I know it.  An epic battle occurred that left Destructo physically and emotionally scarred for life (or at least thus far).  Zilla scared the crap out of her - literally.

So sad, and stressful.  Can't even avoid contention in my home by living alone.  So now I must now enjoy my family one cow at a time, in a house ever divided.  Oh well, maybe someday I'll get my miracle.

Meanwhile, Merry Christmas from us!
(With the help of combining shots in Photoshop, since the cats can't stand each other - but yes, I did dress them up, haha, I guess that's a worse fate than coal!)

Out of the Mouth of Babes: Perspective

This happened last year, when Bubba was three, but I wanted to post it with a picture of the yard the way she saw it then, so it’s been delayed a while…

Bubba and her mom came over, walked into the office with its wall of windows, and peered out at a yard absolutely covered in leaves.  “Look!” she whispered and pointed. 

And I looked and saw the all the yard work I'd been procrastinating, the seemingly endless cascade of leaves I hadn't kept up with.  So, I started off on an explanation voicing my guilty conscience: “I know, I know, I need to rake the leaves, I’ve been putting it off, haven’t gotten out there in a couple weeks etc, etc….” 

And in her quiet little reverent voice filled with awe, she whispered “It’s pretty…”

That stopped short my ramble of weak excuses.  Oh sweet Bubba, you don’t see a yard full of work, and you aren’t judging my laziness.  You are simply appreciating and discovering a wonderful world.  Thank you for the reminder to stop and see the beauty.  

 Yes Bubba, you are right.  It is pretty.  And so are you.

Geek Outta Here

So, I'm having a bit of a "how I'm perceived" identity crisis.  What is it about me that gives people the idea that I should end up with a nerd?  Really?  No.  I do not want to date a geek. 

Yes, I'm smart.  After spending most of my life suffering from a ginormous inferiority complex (in which I was quite convinced that I was nothing, and so if I knew something, everyone else must know it too) - I finally now acknowledge that apparently I'm abnormally intelligent.

[This paragraph has been deleted by the author]
[Why?  I know, I know, the point of this blog is to get me to open up more, so I wrote a paragraph announcing some of my academic accolades to the interweb.  And I posted it.  Then I stressed out and un-posted it.  Then posted it again, then I un-posted, etc, you get the idea, and so now I've deleted it.  You wanna know more about my achievements, ask me in person, and I will tell you... maybe.]

Anyway, show me an example of something and I will reverse engineer it, figure it out, and teach myself.  I love logic.  I love a challenge.  I'm not afraid of hard work.  And in addition to book smarts, I have common sense, more than my fair share.  I've found that to be a rare combination.  The more genius people become, quite often the more they lack common sense.  True story.  But don't forget about my inferiority complex - I honestly don't have much of an ego.  My satisfaction comes from seeing a job well done, not in the outside recognition of it.  I don't like attention.  I don't need anyone to pat me on the back, or tell me how fantastic I am.  If I like me and Heavenly Father likes me, it doesn't really matter what anyone else thinks.

Sometimes I feel like I'm the last person on earth who not only isn't seeking, but sincerely doesn't want, Warhol's predicted "fifteen minutes of fame."

To make myself perfectly clear: I don't think being talented, blessed, gifted, or whatever you want to label it, makes me better than anyone else.  I simply think it means I will be held more accountable at the judgment bar.  "Unto whom much is given much is required" (Doctrine & Covenants 82:3).  I think I have a greater responsibility to help people, and that's my goal:  to help people.  Which by the way, will be so much easier to accomplish when (if ever) I am finally able to completely conquer my fear of people... sigh, blasted social anxiety!

But anyway, I am not a nerd.  I do not "geek out" over anything.  Ok, I do kinda love going into Home Depot and stopping to inhale the scent of the lumber section.  Ok, I kinda love that smell A LOT.  But I think of myself as a pretty well rounded and diversely interested person.  I like to learn about almost everything, more of a jack of all trades, master of none.

I don't know, maybe it's my own "social outcast" perception of the nerd that's my problem.  I've suffered enough in my life from being socially unacceptable in other ways that I don't want yet another reason to be mocked and ridiculed.  I've spent my whole life trying to blend into the background, and to not be noticed.  Attempting to avoid both praise and persecution.  But it was kinda hard to disappear when I was 5'10" tall at the ripe old age of 11 and kept growing.  That's what my friend would call Heavenly Father's malicious sense of humor, and what I would call simply - irony.

I want to be invisible, and the Lord wants me to be an example.  I want to hide my light under a bushel, and the Lord wants me to be a lighthouse.

Argh.

A little voice in my head just quoted the movie, What a Girl Wants, "Why are you trying so hard to fit in, when you were born to stand out?"  Fine, ok, probably right.  And as the movie, While You Were Sleeping, states, "Life doesn't always turn out the way you plan.  I just wish I'd realized ... he was talking about MY life."

And so my task is to align my will with my Heavenly Father's plan for me.  I have had enough experiences to know that whatever His plan is, it's infinitely better than mine in the long run.  But I've also learned that the Lord isn't so concerned with our immediate happiness, it's our eternal joy that He's looking at.  I get it.  And in this 2012 year I've made an extra effort - trying to force myself out of my comfort zone and be what He wants me to be.  Now the voice in my head is quoting Star Wars' Yoda, "Do or do not, there is no try."  Lol.  Bite me.  I think what I'm learning here is I need to watch less movies...

So how do I change how I am perceived?  No idea.  Frankly I think it would come as a shock to most people that yes indeed, I do have a personality!

I usually turn into a social "deer in the headlights," or shrink into a wallflower whenever I'm noticed.  And I feel like an absolute dunce when I make stupid or inane comments, after having psyched myself into forced and awkward small talk.  Many people don't know that I have a quick wit, enjoy sarcasm, love a good laugh, and friendly teasing.  But mind you, never at people's expense.  I never want to hurt anyone.  Ever.  Which I know cannot be avoided, because pain is a necessary part of life and sometimes saying nothing hurts just as much as saying something.  But whatever comes, I shouldn't give up.  A Chinese proverb I read once and quote to myself often, "Fall down seven times, stand up eight."  So take that Yoda - you never really fail, until you fail to try! ;)

The Adventure Begins

So, I have this friend Jenny, in Utah.  We originally became friends because I outlasted her older sister in the single scene, and she inherited me.  Years ago she wrote a fantastic email series for me - Fatman and Depression Boy.  The only line of which she can now remember is, "Holy hydrogenated oil, Fatman!"  So awesome.  But she didn't save it, and my old emails got deleted when the computer crashed.  So tragic!

Last week we came up with characters for a new drama - Captain Oblivious and Clueless Boy, and Jenny just provided the first installment.  I'm determined to make sure this one won't get lost - so I'm posting it here.  Enjoy!!

The Adventure Begins

We join our preoccupied pair in the Lost Lair. Captain Oblivious is checking his email and his scatterbrained sidekick, Clueless Boy is perusing Facebook. Unbeknownst to them, on the other side of town, the beautiful Dr. Obvious has just sent a languishing email to our heedless hero, Captain Oblivious. The contents couldn't be more tantalizingly transparent but will our hero discern its meaning? 

    
    Doubtful. 

   
    "Hey, Clueless Boy, check out this email from our arch nemesis, Dr Obvious," our hero calls out. 

   
    Clueless Boy shuffles over, a spaced out look on his face. 

   
    Our discombobulated duo read over the email from Dr. Obvious several times, their faces becoming even more befuddled than usual.

    
    "What do you suppose it means?" Captain Oblivious mutters. 

    
    Clueless Boy shrugs. "I'm not sure. I can't make out it's meaning. Best not to read too much into it, though." 

    
    "I'm not sure I get your meaning, Clueless Boy," Captain Oblivious says.

    
    "What's that?" Clueless Boy replies.

   
     "Come again?" 

    
    "What?" 

    
    "Huh?"

    
    Hours later, the email nearly forgotten, our muddled mates have come to a puzzled impasse. Luckily, this is nothing new to our often troubled twosome and their attention is drawn back to the email.

    
    "Well, I'm not sure what on earth Dr. Obvious is trying to say, couldn't she be any clearer?" Captain Oblivious shakes his head and shuts off his computer. This is a puzzle our heroes will have to ponder on for a day or two...or more.

Dr. Obvious. Stares at her computer screen. Why she expected a reply to her email from the exasperating Captain Oblivious is beyond her. She tried to make it clear but apparently it wasn't barefaced enough. 

Maybe next time the beautiful Dr. Obvious will get through to our dopey hero....maybe.

The email:

Dear Captain Oblivious,

I LOVE you! 

Dr. Obvious. 

Cupcakeology 2012

So, I have awesome friends.  Awesome friends with awesome ideas.  Enter Cupcakeology - an annual cupcake competition, with official tasters, prizes and all.  Brilliant.

I decided to take my favorite pie, vanilla creme with gingerbread crust (I invented that gem a couple of years ago when I tried to find a pie I'd actually like), and turn it into a cupcake.  The idea was to cut out the middle of the cupcake and put the creme inside with gingerbread cookie and whipped cream on top.  But I cooked the cupcakes a bit too long, had no more eggs to make another batch, and since I would have to cut off the edges - it became cupcake trifle instead.  Super tasty, best part is they were actually healthy (not low cal, but made with whole foods), whole wheat, no sugar (thank you honey & pure maple syrup as sugar substitutes).  And no one even would have known it had I not told them.

Did I win anything? Yes, best-looking (cupcake). 

Did I have a fantastic time?  Oh yes. 

And I had an admirer.  Mr. Right (ok, it was Wright) was so taken with me that he wouldn't eat.  I was actually more fascinating to a man than food.  That is super flattering.  Well, only when it's an adorable baby staring at me - pretty sure I'd think it was creepy coming from a grown up dude.

But it reminded me how much I love the company of children and animals.  They see you for who you really are, no pretenses or social games to worry about.  And staring is a perfectly acceptable practice.  Love it.

No Ma'am

One of my pet peeves is being called Ma'am.  I hate it.  Really hate it. 

Picture that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade where Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are stuck in the castle room with the Nazis barging in and Indy totally goes postal - killing all the bad guys when his dad calls him "Junior."  Yeah, I pretty much hate it like that.

Don't know why, I guess it makes me feel old.  And I don't have a better alternative to offer, because calling every woman Miss or Mrs. is certainly inappropriate, and Ms. isn't likely happen either.  Personally, I'd even prefer "hey you" to Ma'am!

But tonight at the grocery store, not only did I not get Ma'am-ed .... the checkout dude called me "young lady."  Love it.  He was super friendly too, totally made my night.  Can't remember the last time I got young lady-ed. :)

The Backyard - After

Remember the before:

And now, the after:

The most painful aspect of the yard for me had to be installing the "flagstone" looking cement pavers going across the front of the deck.  I can't remember how much they weighed (probably 40lbs), but I kept picking them up and down to re-level the sand, change the pattern, etc.  A full day of squats, with weights.  I was fine that day - just some shaky legs, but so sore later I could barely move for a week!

The path around the yard wasn't too bad, little light pavers. Only overwhelming in number, many carloads of them.  The people at Lowe's and the neighbor across the street took pity and helped me load & unload them.  And more blessings were evidenced by that path - once again, I was in a time crunch.  I started laying the path from the arbor area going to the corner of the yard, and started from the deck to the corner, with my custom made up pattern.  The pattern met at the corner perfectly.  Required zero adjustments.

And going from the deck to back to the stairs by the gazebo, I was worried because it needed to line up in front of the stairs - but I just started at the deck, and figured I'd monkey with the back when I got there.  Didn't do any monkeying.  I didn't need to.

It lined up and fit perfectly, not even the slightest fraction of an inch off.  I count it as evidence Heavenly Father loves me, and knows my limits, and fills in when I've done all I can.  Tender mercies.  I had to learn to cut pavers for some of the odd pieces - but since I'm storing my brother-in-law's tools for him, not a problem.  Angle grinder with a masonry disk?  Check.  Done and done!

And more pictures to follow from pretty much every possible angle:

The base decoration on the pergola posts is just some of the pathway stones laid on their side and glued together with concrete construction adhesive - the redwood part I fashioned from leftovers from the arbor purlins.  And yes, I know the pergola purlins are crooked - they aren't attached yet!

View from inside the gazebo:

Close ups of the gazebo:

I added a birdhouse looking like a mini gazebo on the top for a final touch.  And solar lights on the outside, and furniture on the inside, and a candle chandelier.

And a close up of the arbor:

The "arbor" really ended up being a small pergola, that's what happens when you build something with no plans, and let it evolve as it goes.  But I still call it an arbor, even if it is a little big for that.  And those cross boards perpendicular to the beams aren't just for decoration - they held up the 16 foot beams so that I could install them myself!  And I did not cement those posts into the ground.  Found these great spikes about a week after doing the pergola posts.  If I remember correctly they go about 30 inches into the ground, and provide a base to screw your post into.  All I know is I didn't have the upper body strength to hammer in the last six inches or so, had to call in the male reserves for the final push.

Hammock close up (Catzilla photo bombing):

At some point someone pointed out that all my patio/yard furniture moves, rocks, glides, or swings, etc.  Haha, until I got the park bench for the arbor, that was correct!  I guess I'm a fan of motion.  And I looked at hammock stands for ages.  Large unwieldy things - the tree straps ended up working out perfectly instead!

View from under the arbor:

 From the other corner of the yard:

The BBQ was courtesy of my dad.  My second niece was born a few days before my aunt and uncle came to visit (in the middle of my backyard project - I had just finished the deck), and I told my dad there's no way my sister would want to take a newborn out to a restaurant, but if he wanted to buy me a BBQ we could eat dinner at my place.  Haha, he said yes!  That thing has been well used since then!

Close up of the planter box by the back window:

The fountain I also found on clearance.  Someday my dream yard will have a real waterfall.  This money pit is not my dream house.  But this will do for now.  The kiddos poured bubbles in it during Bubba's third birthday party.  Haha, that thing was frothy for months!

And view from the back door:

And that is my backyard... mostly done.  Still need to attach the purlins on the pergola (but they haven't blown off yet!), and do some sort of overhang on the roof eave extensions.  And add some more pieces to the drip sprinkler system and get a fire pit.  But I keep changing my mind on what kind of fire pit I want.  And the continuous upkeep does take a bit of time!

I've been asked where my favorite place to sit is when I go out in the yard.  Haha, I don't sit.  I do maintenance.  I mostly just look at the yard from the house, like it's a painting.  But I do intend to change that in the coming year.  Need to spend more time in the hammock reading, or staring at the trees.  But to pick a favorite place, it would probably be the gazebo.  I still love it - and it has romantic potential...

After my break during 2012 (had to let the tendonitis in my right arm heal from pushing myself too hard on the backyard), my house goal for 2013 - the front porch & yard.  But first I have to decide if I'm going to add a second bathroom onto the house in the front.  I so wish that I could do it myself, but I'm pretty sure the city would frown on that since I don't have a contractors license.  And it would be difficult to pour a foundation, alter the roof line, and do the wall framing all by me onesies.  So since I don't really know anything about building codes, I'll have to get quotes, and pay somebody else if I really decide to do it.

Meanwhile, I can't do the front yard yet, since there's no point in landscaping if it's just going to be destroyed by construction.  And honestly, I don't care as much about appearances as I probably should.  I kinda like that the front yard is totally awful.  It lowers the expectations for the back!  Haha.  Besides, I know it's fantastic on the inside, so who cares what anyone else thinks?  But the front is getting pretty horrid, even for me, and the plumbers didn't do it any favors by digging it up last year for the sewer pipe replacement.

Anyway, I had some friends over for a BBQ who had been looking at buying a house, and they said they'd passed up many a horrible backyard that looked much better than mine originally did.  Said they were inspired by my transformation of it.  Well, good luck to them if they decide to take on their own monstrosity!

I thought of my backyard when I read this quote from Thomas Edison:
"Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."

Lol, I don't have overalls, but I certainly know about work!

All told, the backyard took about a year and a half - from the point of no return, to the mostly final product.  Then it was a year before I finally remembered to take the "after" pics.

The Backyard - Green Magic

So, I did have friends and family helping me out occasionally along this yard process, and I'm very grateful for all their help.  But it was mostly my solo project.  The only things I hired out were the breaking up of the original patio, and the installation of sprinklers and sod (oh yeah, and the trimming of the big tree in the center of the yard).  I actually do want to know how to install my own sprinkler system, but I was under a time crunch and didn't have time for the learning curve.  I am fully considering installing my own sprinklers in the front yard when I finally get to it, we shall see...

It was July 2011 when the sod magic happened.  After a couple days of the poor workers digging trenches for the sprinklers through my rock hard clay.  Seriously, the dude said he had never seen any harder soil before!

Before:

Drumroll please..... tadum - After!

Amazing the difference a day makes!  Who knew that a few rolls of grass could make the place actually start looking like a real yard, yay!!