Operation: Grass is Greener

April was a very looooooooooooooooooong month for us. There has been a lot of stress and frustration that were completely out of our control. So one day my husband and I sat down and had a long talk about our lives where we are at, where we want to go, and how to go about it. The one thing that we were in agreement is that we needed to have some control over our lives and our future, so we began to look around the house and decide what truly needs to be done so that if we have to stay, we can stand to stay or have our house to be ready to sell at the soonest of next year. (Oh please! please! please!) So Operation: Grass is Greener has now commenced!

There is a lot to do since we are having to undo what previous owners have done and our home is 10 years old. We are hoping to complete at least one project a month, and that should get us to our goal. It is going to be a lot of work, money, and time. However, it is a necessity for our own sanity.

So here is what we have done so far:

We got rid of the stupid, broken, plastic border around the flower beds and trees in the front yard that the previous owners had, and will be putting in curbing when the weather cooperates. We have had two of our neighbors come over and thank us for doing this. Guess it was bugging them as well.

We had a truck load of dirt brought in, so that we can raise the garden and try to smooth out the backyard better. The first owners of the home never took out the big river rocks in the dirt before planting grass seed, so you almost sprain your ankle walking across the yard. Plus we also had two professionals come and look at our yard and found out that due to the neglect by previous owners our yard is basically all weeds (Quack grass is the devil!) and junk. The only thing to do is to completely rip it out and start over. They both estimated around $5000+ to do it, which is just not something we have. So we will be killing the backyard this summer ourselves and front yard next summer and then planting seed. We figured this would be the best summer to do it before Little Man wants to go out and play. The hilarious thing is that our first couple of summers here we worked so hard fertilizing and babying the yard because it was in such bad shape. LOL Boy, we sure know how to make those weeds grow!

Lesson learned: If you can help it, don't buy a home in the middle of winter and there is a ton of snow on the ground!

Because one of my biggest gripes about the kitchen is the lack of counter space, we put the counter top microwave in storage and put in the microwave you see here. I can't believe how liberated I feel! Still would love more counter space, but even this extra couple of feet as been great!

We weren't planning on the new dishwasher until next year. However, with all of the rebates that we were able to get and the 10 % off the sale price, plus free delivery and haul away, we knew we wouldn't be able to get the dishwasher at the same low price next year. It's pretty basic, but is so incredibly more quiet and does such a better job cleaning.

I would love to have a greenhouse. However, it's just not practical when you know you aren't going to stay. So I was able to find this little semi-one from ShopKo. It has allowed me to start things from seed and hopefully we will have plants to plant when it is safe to start the garden after Memorial Day. If nothing else, it allowed me to play in the dirt early (which I LOVE!).

Anyway, that is what has happened so far. There are many more projects in the planning stages with some to begin after this semester is over, so stay tuned!