Spring is here!

In the spring, a young homeowner's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of... yardwork.

Even though we never had much of a winter to speak of, spring is most definitely here, and with it has come the realization that while we may have accomplished a lot inside, we have a LOT to do outside. Also, most of it is going to require equipment we don't have yet. We have just acquired a lawnmower of the tiny-tractor variety, which is probably overkill for our reasonably-sized suburban lawn, but my other half pointed out, very reasonably, that between his bad knee and my bad back, neither of us is probably going to be up to dealing with a push mower. (There was a distinct undertone of "but I WAAAAAAAANT one," which didn't bother me any because tractors are awesome, and also did you know you can buy an attachment for it that turns it into a ride-on snowblower? It's true!)

I consider myself a pretty knowledgeable gardener, but I freely admit that I know nothing at all about lawn care. Back home, I had my little herb garden and a rose bed or two, and the lawn was just the big green expanse between the interesting bits. Every so often, Mom or Pa would mow it, and white clover would pop up in the summer to attract honeybees. Now that I have my own lawn, I'm realizing there's a bit more to it than just the occasional mowing, so I'll have to read up on the subject and find out exactly what we need to do to keep it looking nice. I'm not looking for golf course perfection - I find a few weeds charming, especially the little violets that show up in a lot of lawns around here. However, the big pile of rocks and sand left over from the previous owners' pool base is definitely going to have to go.

Checking In

Hey everyone! Did you miss us?

Sorry it's been so long since we've posted, but as you might imagine, things got pretty crazy for us with the move and all. As you may also imagine, the work here is still not complete. Baseboards and thresholds need to be installed in the living room, some painting needs to be finished, and the two extra bedrooms upstairs haven't even been touched, save for one that I pulled the carpet out of, and nearly immediately regretted. It seems that the previous owner, knowing that carpet was being put down in that room, felt that it was fine to not use any sort of drop cloth while painting the room. The floor is just about fully covered in paint, which is sad, because it's all over beautiful hardwood. We'll have to get someone in to refinish the floors (any suggestions?).

We did get lucky though, and a friend was able to give us a couch, arm chair, and coffee table, so we actually have enough furniture that the den doesn't look barren. In February, we went to a home show at the Seaport World Trade Center, and were foolish enough to actually talk to the exhibitors, and have been fielding phone calls and meeting with contractors ever since. We did decide to replace a couple of windows, which will be done by Newpro. They were kind of expensive, but after seeing some of the other windows on the market, I can see why. Theirs is much higher quality than anything else we saw. We wanted to see how much it would cost to do the whole house, and nearly died when the guy said $30,000. We liked the product though, so we decided that we'd do it a couple windows at a time, and bought two for the dining room. Those windows should be installed by the end of the month.

We also have been getting quotes for driveway replacement, which has been interesting. One company quoted us $4,100 and another wants $3,945 for the same job. Now that I look at it, that's really not much of a difference. If anyone can think of any paving companies that can do a 1,080 square foot driveway for less than those two, I'd be interested to hear who they are!

That's all for now...and I promise that there will be pictures of completed work, you know, just as soon as the work is actually finished, and the place doesn't look like a bomb went off!