Oops...

Last week I grabbed a ton of paint swatches from Home Depot and brought them home. I planned on picking out a new color for the sun porch in the entrance. After long deliberation, Deanna and Quentin urged me to pick this color.

It looks like S***. I HATE this color. Now with a little sunlight I don't mind it as much


Back to the drawing board. I wanted more of a honey beige or muted, neutral yellow. On Friday I'll be painting again =(. Hopefully this is the last time.

We have completed our walls and ceiling in the stairwell. Here is the finished look.

The stair sanding madness will ensue this month. I'm not looking forward to this at all. Sanding is the pits. We have to have it finished before July 4th so that we can get someone out to do the poly.

We begin planting this weekend!

Our dogs are doing good. They love to fight.

Not feeling so stumped anymore

I called a few numbers on Craigslist to see about getting 2 tree stumps grinded out that are near the front door (the prime area that we need to get plants going). The guy went out there today and removed 2 stumps for $65. He isn't insured so I'm hoping all is good. I've never even met him, just spoke with him over the phone. Hopefully I walk away with deal vs. a problem.

Will report back.

* Update* I got home yesterday to find both stumps removed and looking great. If anyone needs a refferal let me know. What a deal! Next task- rent a garden tiller and buys some plants!

What a great weekend!

I am so pleased with all of the progress we made over the weekend. For starters, I have been dying to get some furniture in the front sun porch, seeing as though it's pretty much useless without it. I went down to Target to check out this set that I've had my eyes on for the last 2 months and to my surprise it was 10% off. Not only that but I had an additional 10% coupon plus I got another 10% off of the love seat. Total I saved about $80-$90. I just had to yap about it because there is nothing better than getting a good deal on something you love. Good thing I waited! The only bad thing is that now I want to begin redoing the front porch.


Onto the big projects. We finally started removing the huge weed bushes that have turned into trees. We removed 2 big bushes/ roots by digging down and using the chainsaw. I'm hoping the bushes don't grow back but I guess we'll just have to attack them as they come. It's already made such a difference by removing them.


We got the landscape design back from the lady @ Indigo and she did an amazing job. We will hopefully begin planting our trees and shrubs 2 weeks from now. There weren't any hostas in her design so, to use of what was already in the yard, I planted a row of them on the side of the house that people don't really see. We also planted 2 trees, one to the right and 1 to the left of the driveway. Everything is really starting to look nice.


The two little white sticks are the new trees


On top of all of this, it was my nephew Luke's 4th birthday today. Nothing like a child growing to make you feel like you're really getting old- or just growing up. Ok, getting old. My nephew and neice are so cute! Why can't they live a little closer.
My baby and I.

Dog Training and yard work

The dogs really need training. They are both dominant (one more than the other) and think they run the show. I think I am going to sign the naughtiest up for training this weekend and then we can practice what we learn on the other. We are the ones who really need the training. They just need some rehabilitation. Thank you, Cesar Milan.

So, onto yard work. I meet with Lindsay, the landscape designer tomorrow. She was in the Star Trib yesterday in Home and Garden for work she did that HGTV was there to film. How cool, a local celebrity designing my lawn. I hate to say it, but my neighbors are going to have some tough competition on their hands once we get going. =)

I need to get the stucco fixed before be paint the house but I'm desperate to paint it this summer. I have so many projects I want to get done. I want to have more than one going at a time. Please god, let someone leave an anonymous bag of cash at our front door. We'll put it to good use.

Finally- warmer weather

What a productive weekend we had. First off, we got our babies, Tito and Roscoe, on Friday. They are the cutest things in the world. We pretty much fell in love with them right away. I'll post some larger pictures when I get some. They are the coolest dogs in the world.

On Saturday we finished sanding and painting the ceiling going up our stairwell. We had to put up new sheet rock tap and mud. It doesn't look as great as when we paid to have it taped, but it looks so much better than the tiled ceiling. We also too the living room paint up through the hallway. I'll post photos when we get the mirror hung at the top of the stairs.


After and before- sorry for the neck cramp

Since yesterday was so nice I finally got to begin some lawn work. Lanscaping can get pretty exhausting pretty quick. After an hour or so of shoveling I feel like quiting, but do I give up? No.
Baby steps right? Everything is starting to look better. I am starting on the back patio area. There is a large amount of extra dirt back there so I am sort of transferring it to different areas. I can't wait for our yard to be a little more pleasing to the eye. This week I should be getting back the drawings for the yard!






That fence needs to come down!

A new addition

I filled out a application for a miniature pinscher through the MN Min-Pin rescue. About 1 hour after I filled out the application I got a phone call about 2 brothers that were found wandering the streets together. Apparently these dogs had been found wandering before. The original owners actually came to pick up the dogs again. This time they microchipped the dogs, brought them up on all shots, etc. The original owners couldn't afford to take the dogs back so they surrrendered them to the rescue.



Originally I only wanted to start with 1 dog. I figured Quentin would say no way to two. However- the boys have been together since birth and we are all about keeping family together. I guess the lasy who is currently watching the boys until we come and meet them said they were in seperate kennels last night and they cried and cried until they were put in the same kennel. We just can't let these little guys get split up. Their names are Roscoe and Tito. They are both 3 1/2 years old. After our home inspection tomorrow night we get to go pick them up!

Ahh... Landscaping

I went to Gerten's greenhouse yesterday with Jackie, who also has a green thumb but plenty more experience in that area. If you haven't been there you must go. It was amazing, they had quite the selection. I was getting ideas for our landscape designer. I am going with formal type tree yet more modern with grasses, magnolia trees, forsynthia etc. The colors we were thinking we are going for are red, white, and yellow. We are planning on painting the house a dark taupe this summer with white trim so it should all play in together very well.

I can't wait! I have to wait a whole week until I get back the drawings she comes up with. The bad thing is I am picking up my sugar maple this Friday and I have NO CLUE where to plant it. Arg. I'll post pictures of our awful landscaping that we currently have tomorrow