Home Improvements – Update!

I have been terrible at writing on this thing. I’ve been self-studying accounting and it takes a long time to complete the practice exercises for each chapter. But so far, I’m to chapter 8 (out of 15). And I’m pretty darn proud of myself.

And when I haven’t been doing that, we’ve been working on the house.

The yard has been seeded and had tons of weed killer dumped on it. I wish the “will kill your weeds, but not your grass” stuff was more effective. But it hasn’t killed the grass, thank goodness! And several (I mean 3) applications, the very front section is looking almost crab grass free.

By the way, when I say the “very front section” I mean, maybe, 40 square feet. And did I mention our yard almost 100 feet deep? There’s still a lot of weeds, but the grass we planted has grown in in most of the bare areas.

We also got the flower bed dug out the entire length of the house. That was some intense yard work! Let me tell you! We’ve also got plants in and garden fabric down…just no mulch. Not yet anyway, saving up some money.

Tonight Clint’s going to Lowe’s to get plastic latticework to replace the stuff under the porches. We have to get the plastic kind because the wood kind is so flimsy Lowe’s refuses to cut it for you. And there’s no way a 40″ by 9′ section of lattic will fit into Clint’s car uncut.

Ok, so there’s some news!!!! On a side note, Eddie’s coming home for 3 weeks before he’s deployed to Germany for 3 years, so you may not hear from me again until then.

~Megan~

Cleaning

Please note: This post is from last weekend. I have since put away all my Christmas stuff (except a box of lights I found sitting in Clint’s office).

I must admit that I’m terrible at cleaning the house. Don’t get me wrong, the house is NOT dirty, but it is cluttered. Fortunately, with just the 2 of us and the 2 dogs we don’t have a lot of accidents (aside from dog puke, dog hair, and more dog you-don’t-want-to-know smells). And thank goodness we have wood floors! We have been able to cheat and get by without much hardcore cleaning since the fleas.

I am also terrible at putting stuff away. If you walked into my house right now, you would see our Nativity and angels still sitting on our credenza. There are also lots of penguins, moose, and oh my goodness Santa Claus decorations hanging over the stove.

A River Runs Through It

…OUR BASEMENT, that is.

Since last night until about noon it poured down rain here in Williamsport, quite effectively bringing water into the basement.

We have a stone foundation because the house is older (between 1900-1910 ish). Most home now are built with a concrete floor and walls, so water leaking into the basement isn’t too bad. Fortunately, we don’t have a dirt floor (although most houses built when ours did do).

With the stone foundation comes leaks. And I don’t mean the kind of leaks that come from where the floor meets the walls. I’m talking about the kind where you can see a small stream coming down the wall between joints in the stonework.