Around the House

After all of our excitement over the summer, we had some things to do when we got home. Unfortunately, our garden I had planted in May was overrun with weeds and in pretty poor shape, so we were unable to harvest much of anything from the garden this year. We also had to weed the whole rest of the yard and get flowers to plant in July (a little late to start planting).

Meanwhile I was trying to run almost every day to make up the 10 or 15 pounds I put on since Jenn had been gone and since we pigged out over our honeymoon.

Later on during the summer we rented a powerwasher with our neighbors Ken and D'Etta and powerwashed our house, deck, patio, and driveway. Our water bill was double that month.

Jenn working the washer on the deck

After powerwashing, we spent about a week staining the deck with a semi-transparent stain. It ended up taking much longer than expected, especially since the weather would not cooperate. Rain just about every other day. However, we finally got it done by the time school started. While all this was going on, I still had my summer project to finish. Jenn and I decided to build a patio in our backyard to get a firepit and another gathering spot. So I had to remove the bushes around our crawl space (we hated them anyway) and that was a pain in the rear. The next day I started leveling out the area for the patio, and Jenn came home early. At the last minute (actually about 30 seconds too late because I just began digging), Jenn mentioned she wanted the patio in the back corner by the trees. Lucky for her she got home early, because I would have pitched a fit if I had worked hours on the project before she changed her mind. So I started leveling out the back area which took a few days working a leisurely couple hours a day (before it got hot). When it was all ready, Jenn came with me to get the stones and she help set some of the stones in. It actually turned out really nice and can comfortably sit 4-6 people around it.





When Jenn got her first paycheck, we decided it was time to purchase a car. We had done a lot of research into safety ratings, etc. for SUVs with third row seatings and we decided to get a Toyota Highlander. However, after test driving the highlander and the Honda Pilot, even though the Pilot was slightly more expensive, we decided it was the best car for us. Unfortunately, when we tried to trade Jenn's Saturn into Carmax, they considered it junk and wouldn't give more than 100 for it. So we sold it on craigslist and received almost 1000, which made us pretty happy. Jenn loves the new car, which means I do too, even if she doesn't let me drive it much.