Leaf Me Alone!

My back is killing me!!  If anyone is looking for a present for me, I would really love those leaf picker upper things...I saw them at Bed, Bath & Beyond:

Yes!  The LAWN CLAW!  Anyways, we did some major yard work.  Our backyard is full of trees and brush area so the leaves and sticks are endless!  We really wanted to clear some of it out so we worked ALL day.  Here are some images of our day :)

While Dan was burning sticks down in the brush, I raked out EVERYTHING from under this deck!  Our plan is to soon put lattice stuff up there to prevent any leaves and/or animals from going under the deck.  You wouldn't believe the stuff that was under there!

When I went to Ace Hardware to buy the rake last week (yes, that's right, we didn't own one), the cashier guy said, "Sooo, doin' a little spring raking?"  Embarassingly, I had to admit that it wasn't done in the fall so we're doing it now!  See all those sticks behind me?  Dan chopped them all up and burnt them!

As I mentioned, we found some pretty interesting things in the brush, under the deck, etc.  Here is just a sample of things we inherited from our yard:

Yes, those are folding chairs, boards/drawers, piece of a fan, yard tools, a fireplace wood holder, old door mats, a big crate, wires, etc.  WOW.  Really?  Sometimes I just wonder who was here before and what they were thinking.  Don't worry guys, Dan will take care of it!!

Don't you love his stance?  Go Dan Go!  He went to the store to get black trash bags for the leaves and some gloves I think but he got himself this ax too...maybe there's some Paul Bunyon dreams in him :)

  I was on a rampage.  Seriously.  Every leaf shall die!!

 9 bags of leaves and one big bucket of rocks!  I also sprayed for bugs around the whole house. Now what to do with these areas for gardening....

All clean!  How nice is it to get a jump start on this in March?!  Stay tuned and Happy Spring!

You've Got Mail

Maybe the best project to date!!  As many of you know, I LOVE real, good old fashioned, snail mail!  Nothing beats a personal letter found amidst all those bills and ads...handwritten and personally addressed to me!  It brings flutters to my heart!  So, naturally, we needed a great mailbox!  The house came with the beautiful  functional one below.  But it wasn't "pretty".  AND it was tilted.  So thank you to Dan once again for installing our new mailbox!  

There he goes!  It was kind of funny because we both thought it would take a lot of time and effort to get the old one out of the ground, but no!  Out it came in one swift motion! 

 (made Dan look SUPER strong!) :)

Meanwhile, I was inside getting the new mailbox ready.  I ordered the following:

-New white mailbox post from Flying Monkeys

-Black mailbox from Amazon

-Ground anchor to hold post up from Amazon

-Address decal from Etsy

Thankfully, we went to the new 2-Story Menards Grand Opening the morning of this project and picked up a shovel for $2.99!

And here are all the pieces of our project...our neighbor made sure to tell us not to upgrade too much or we'd make everyone else look bad!  Oh Louie :)

Dan called me outside to bring the camera...I thought he wanted his picture taken with his finished project.  But then he took the camera and said I got to put the top on!  YAY!  It was like putting the star on top of the Christmas tree!  

Now everyone write me a letter!!  

Backsplash Time!

So...FINALLY!  The project we've had on our list since, well, we moved in!  We were really hoping we could do it this past October but obviously that did not happen!  It was a very long process, if you ask me, and this is why: decisions have to be made.  What?!?  Picture Dan and me with our hands on our cheeks screaming like Kevin in Home Alone after he put on the after shave!  Let me provide you with a visual:

 It's hard for us to pull the trigger on things that are:   a.) Expensive and b.) Permanent.  It's just the way we're wired I guess.  So after months of research, Pinterest scouring, going to all the home improvement and tile stores around, and laying out 5 samples on our floor for weeks, we finally bit the bullet.   It was hard to compare the $25 per square foot tiles to the $4.98 per square foot tiles....ya know?  :)  True to our track record, we chose right in the middle at $10.97 per square foot from Home Depot.  "French Palace" it's called!  And so the process began...

The above photo is a before shot for your viewing pleasure!  The project took 3 weekends.  The first weekend was cutting and measuring.  We spent a Friday night measuring, marking, and laying everything out and then all day Saturday cutting the tiles.  I had to run to Ace Hardware to get Dan some goggles to protect his cute little eyes! :)

Yes, an alcoholic beverage is necessary for any house project.  McShane rules.

There were pieces of glass EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!!!!  The wet saw definitely took some getting used to!  Thank you to my sister's friend, Jill, for letting us borrow her saw and all of her supplies!  And also teaching us how to do this!

After cutting all the tiles, we started sticking them all on the wall the NEXT weekend!  Again, Friday/Saturday night routine!  We had a few panic moments where we thought we measured wrong but it all turned out ok.  There's a lot of "Ok, Dan, these 3 need to be cut down 1/2 inch!"  or "Tiny babies needed for this corner!"  After getting over the fact that we wanted to kill each other, we decided it'd be best if we worked as a team :)  For a moment on the first weekend, we paused and asked ourselves if we should hire someone...hahaha!  

In order to keep it all straight, we had to label all the piles of tiles by number so we knew where each of them went on the wall.  We had 25 numbers, or 25 square feet.  And, more importantly, 5 outlets, one window sill, and inconsistent cabinet levels.  BOO!!!  It's never as easy as you think it's going to be!

By the third weekend of this, I wanted to put this project to bed!  Good grief!  We had grouting left to do though.  We headed to Home Depot and picked out some grout.  We decided on an off white...I think it was called Bone?  Since our tile is half glass/half ceramic, we had to get unsanded grout, which is not sold pre-mixed.  We picked up a few buckets and sponges and went to work again! 

Do you like how I wore the same outfit for 3 weekends in a row?  :)  After the grouting and wiping down, we decided to call it a day!  But we do still have to finish caulking it and then seal it with some special spray.  So, here is a reminder of the "before".  It wasn't bad at all, I just felt like it said to me every day, "You guys!  PLEASE dress me up!"

And here's the AFTER!

We love it!