Spring Cleaning

It's been a long day, and there's still more to go. Jon and I decided to clean out our garage and plant some flowers. A few months after we moved into our house, my parents pulled up in a HUGE Suburban, FULL of boxes from my childhood and other oddly and large shaped junk. They were trying to clear everything out of their house before moving. So, our garage has sat there for about three years now, half full. We can only fit one car in, it's a pain! Jon and I never got around to cleaning the place out because honestly, it's a two person job with all the heavy boxes, furniture, lawn equipment and bikes. Noah isn't the type of kid who stays near by while you try to work on the house, so we rarely get much done, but today he finally seemed old enough to listen and stuck around. Our friend Genevieve helped us a ton, giving organizational ideas and really making me think twice about holding onto useless junk. We ended up throwing out a ton and sending even more to a garage sale my mother is having next week. Some of the garage sale pile will also be for the salvation army, so that feel good.

It seems over the winter, some chipmunks and possibly field mice have burrowed their way into the garage. There are tiny nests and teeny poops everywhere! I am freaked out about the Hanta Virus. We'll be safe when doing the final deep clean, it will feel great to have a nice, tidy garage. After all this, new doors are going up. A side door, and two garage doors. It seems the nearly rotting side door has been there for many many decades and the garage doors I believe are from the late 70's? It's time.

Flowers look nice, I chose hot pink. Are you surprised?

Next up is getting the basement in order, lots to organize and clear out down there. It's partially finished, with an ok playroom. We'd like to cheer things up some day.... new, plusher carpet, a light, bright coat of paint, maybe finish the bathroom. Oh and the laundry room, that needs some work.

In about a week, two super nice handymen are coming to do work on the house, I can't wait! Dave does most of the handy work, and Steve takes care of the paint. They are going to resurface and paint our front porch and back patio. We're also getting a new step for the front and back, and our columns will be sanded, fixed up and painted. Steve is going to paint our trim and the arbor next to the house. After all this, the guys will move inside. Depending on the balance of our budget, we might go ahead and have new counter tops installed, a new bathroom floor and vanity and finally after that....um...if we still have enough of our budget left, crown molding for the rooms that don't have it, and molding around the windows. They also priced out new closet systems. Woo Hoo!

When we moved into this house, it was in pretty good shape. The previous owners, my life long family friend, had basically gutted the place and re-did the whole thing. I heard every single room was painted some shade of blue and that there was also blue carpet throughout! Our friends laid hardwood floors in each room and added some nice paint and moldings. we're kind of just putting on some finishing touches.

Often times I get frustrated with this place, it just feels so small for us. Only about 1,100 square feet and that's on one, square shaped floor! We thought it was a three bedroom, but honestly, now I realize that the third bedroom, is really a walk-through den. At the time, when we bought it, the house was cozy and cute and move-in ready. I was in my second trimester with Noah and worried that we wouldn't find a house in time, and when we seriously considered this house, it just seemed like a logical move, not much fix-up work, nice neighborhood. Actually, we never thought we'd be here more than three years, that we would trade-up for some more space. But alas, the real estate market has TANKED in Detroit, if you haven't heard. It would be ridiculous for us to sell now, we'd lose a ton, we'd lose our down payment. So for now, Jon and I and Noah are here, in our little, cute house. Please stop asking me when I'm having more kids, there isn't any space! And stop with your storied about five kids growing up in a tiny house back in the day. Just because it's technically possible to cram more kids into this little place, doesn't mean it's a good idea. I'd go nuts, we'd all go nuts.

The backyard is super nice. Green and lush and spacious and fenced in! Jon planted our organic vegetable garden this week. Lots of tomatoes, grape tomatoes and striped green ones too. Cucumbers, peppers, herbs and lots of strawberries! Jon will have to fill you in on the details more, but it's going to be a great summer. This morning we even picked up a blackberry plant!

We're hoping that by mid-summer or so, the house will be in tip-top shape, and we'll have a big BBQ bash out back. You're all invited!

Well, I'm beat and there is still more work to be done around here. I hope you enjoyed this random post of the day. We rode last night and now I'm at 37.5 miles for this week, it's been great.
xo