Getting Our Landscape in Order

We've finally done it - we have a landscape plan for the front yard!

It will be a few months before we have the cash in hand to pay for the work that needs to be done -  removing our trees, tilling the yard, repair/install the irrigation system, installing sod and installing the new decorative landscape.

I.Can.Hardly.Wait.

In the meantime, we've taken advantage of warmer winter days and cut down a bunch of the trees and shrubs in the backyard that need to go. While it will be a while before we have a plan designed and installation done back there (no one can see it in its pitiful state, thank goodness!), the trees were harming the foundation and the shrubs were half-dead. By removing them ourselves, we've saved quite a bit of money in the eventual project.

On Experiencing a Foundation Repair

Have you ever wondered what getting your foundation repaired looks like?

Here's a glimpse at the process. For reference - We had 21 helical piers installed; two inside and 19 outside.

From arrival to departure, the foundation crew was onsite for 6-and-1/2 hours and took a 30 minute lunch break. Most of that time was spent in prep and clean up. The installation of the piers and lifting the house went very quickly - maybe 30 minutes total.

Step One: Move all furniture away from the work area. Side note - realize that you really should clean behind your furniture more often, so quickly clean before the work crew arrives.

Step Two: Wonder if your foundation might go back into alignment naturally from the weight of all of your furniture in a different part of the house. Also: Realize that this is an excellent time to purge the crazy things that you've kept for far too long (like that 1999 hardback edition of Roget's Thesarus).

Step Three: Take a final glance at your landscaping as you once knew it. In our case, wonder how much worse it can look than it already does. (You'll regret that question later.)

Step Four: Goodbye holly bushes. We were going to remove those within the next few months anyway, so we opted to have the foundation crew cut them out rather than dig and replace.

Step Five: Make sure you verify where they should be drilling before they start drilling. Our sales rep forgot to write down that we wanted the porch-side piers installed from the inside of the house rather than through the brick of the porch itself. At least we stopped it before they went further than the two starter drill holes...

Step Six: Protect the tile entryway and pull back the carpet and padding. Fight the temptation to pull the carpet out altogether - even though we're going to do something different with our flooring within the next 12-18 months, the carpet will be nice, even in its old worn-out state, for the interim.

Step Seven: Make sure you put any pets in the house far from the action. Jackhammering sounds like gunfire. In our case, we should have taken Bridget to be boarded. She had a seizure from the stress of everything later that night.

Step Eight: Realize that you shouldn't have worried about cleaning.

You really, really, really shouldn't have worried about cleaning.

Step Nine: Ready for piers.

Step Ten: Meanwhile outside, similar holes are being dug (without the jackhammer and dirt thrown around the interior of the house) along the foundation at points identified by the engineer.

  

Step Eleven: Piers go in.

Step Twelve: A machine helps drive the piers in.

Step 13: After the piers are installed and the house is lifted (the crew measures as they go to make sure it's being adjusted correctly), the crew cleans up and fills in the holes.

But surprise (or maybe not) - the concrete has to cure for two days before you can replace the padding and carpet. If you're thinking of letting your pets out and about in the house, beware of doing it too soon because you may end up with little pawprints in the concrete. (They are very cute, by the way.) We quickly learned that we had to keep the boys locked up until we could put the carpet back after Jasper jumped onto a carpet tack and left a blood trail throughout the house. Kittens just aren't careful or graceful enough to stay safe.

Part of the final clean up was putting all of our holly bushes in the back yard and stacking them according to our city's guidelines for collection. The work crew carried the bushes to the back, but Kelly took care of stacking everything.

The next steps are to get a plumber to check our water and sewer lines within the next 30 days or our pier warranty is voided.

We've also been given a laundry list of MUST DO's (which we already knew) with prioritization and timelines (which we weren't sure of, so this is helpful). Here's what's in store for the Hayley House in the days to come:

• Plumbing check | 30 days. Since we just discovered a water spot in a guest room ceiling, we'll have him check if we have an interior pipe leak as well
• Gutters | 60 days. Thank goodness Kelly works for a gutter/roofing/painting company
• Drainage | 120 days. We have an irrigation company coming to talk to us in a couple of weeks
• Landscape plan | This isn't necessary, but it's crazy to put in an irrigation system without thinking through what we're going to do with the yard. We can't afford to do the whole yard at once, but we can do it in stages if we have a plan. The irrigation company we're talking to is also a landscaping company.
• Tree removal | Six months. We have to remove the two trees in our front yard and our redtips in the back yard because both are killing the foundation. The trees in the front yard have also successfully killed our grass, so it's time to move on (they are nearly 30 years old and too big for the yard size we have - right trees, wrong place).
• Relandscape the front yard | Six months. Because when those trees go, we can't leave the yard as is. There's only so much public humiliation that we can endure.

What will have to wait?

• Fixing the broken tile in the entryway (we want to take out the raised entryway so we have a single level throughout)
• Repairing and repainting drywall cracks
• Removing worn out carpet and putting down new flooring.

What does the house look like now? The furniture is back in place, many books and other knick-knacks have been packed up to donate and our front yard looks completely different.

It's hard to look much worse than the Yard of Desolation did in the first place, but we've always been overachievers. The good news is that while the yard looks bad, we do think it looks more open without the bushes against the house. That gives us some idea of what to do with our new landscaping.

My Little Garden

I've killed more plants than I care to count. The only one I seem moderately successful at keeping alive is my ivy - and I'm pretty sure that's because ivy is notoriously difficult to kill even if you use Roundup.

I've even killed a cactus. But that's a story for another day.

Anyway, I decided I wanted to try my hand at a terrarium. They're supposed to be easy. They're certainly cute. Bonus: They can be DIY'd with minimal effort.

Fine and good on the minimal effort part, but no one told me that I might buy a platter and cloche last summer and let it languish on my dining table for 8 months. Then buy decorative shells and a plant pot, only to let them languish on my dining table for another month.

I guess minimal effort doesn't necessarily mean that you have time to give even that.

Finally I did. While grocery shopping, I picked up an interesting succulent (poor thing...I hope I don't kill it) at Whole Foods:

Then I assembled my supplies:

All I had to do was pour the shells onto the platter, repot the plant into my decorative pot and cover it all with the cloche. Easy!

And super cute in its new home.

Pray for the plant. I have high hopes for it.

Cold but Content

It's Sunday. It's cold and rainy outside, but here in the Hayley house we're warm and cozy.

Kelly's got a cold. Ben and Bridget are tired babies - the boy is curled up next to his sick dad (a great way to recover from a cold if you ask me). Meanwhile, the girl is doing her impression of a hot water bottle on my lap and giving me occasional cold nose kisses.

I swear it can't get much better than this (maybe it could if Kelly wasn't sick).

Contentment is a funny thing, made mostly by plenty of life margin and making wise choices.

So here we are. Content on a Sunday, a rainy cold Sunday at that.

Wild Kingdom: Hayley Style

Kelly came in from taking out the trash and said:

A bunny had a lucky escape last night.

Then he took me outside to show where a bobcat unsucessfully pursued a bunny under our fence.

Lucky bunny indeed!

Fall in Texas

Temps in the upper 60s and lower 70s at the end of November - plus a 4-day weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving?

We'll take it. And we'll also spend most of it outdoors.

1. Nine miles around White Rock Lake

2. Naughty neighbor kitty, Cupcake.

3. The Plano trails...the leaves are finally starting to change colors!

4. Taking Old Glory out for a spin.

PS - we replaced our iPhones and I couldn't be happier with my new iPhone 6. I can take photos again!!!

Just Another Saturday Night

Rest and relaxation - and that's just the furbabies. Typical.

[ Plus rooting for K-State ... beat TCU!! ]

I Fixed That

It started with a handle that was tough to operate. Then one day, Kelly said, "Well, that's not good."

That was the day the toilet arm broke.

I'm not too proud to admit that we lived without an easily flushable toilet in our master bathroom for more than two weeks.

Life happens, you know. Take this blog for example - not exactly a priority recently.

Anyway, one day I'd had enough of stumbling halfway through the house in the dark to use the hallway water closet. That evening on the way home from work, I picked up a new toilet handle and arm at Home Depot.

I also watched four YouTube videos to make sure I knew what I was doing. Best to be sure, of course - especially since I was attempting to do this alone while Kelly was at an evening meeting.

I will admit that I lived slightly on the edge. That's right: I didn't turn off the water to the toilet before swapping handles, even though all four YouTube videos suggested I do that step first.

And...five minutes later I'd successfully removed the old handle and broken arm, and installed their replacements. No problems, no water disaster and NO crying.

There was also no recognition by the husband of my achievement, but that's another story for another day.

Truism

While working through clean-the-house-monthly-system, I've learned a really important lesson:

Tasks aren't so terrible if you keep up with things.

Cleaning the oven? Terrible the first time. Cleaning it a second time two months later? No big deal.

I've also learned another important lesson:

If you cheat, you will regret it later. 

(I'm looking at you, baseboards.)

After nearly an hour on my hands and knees scrubbing the baseboards, I can promise you that cheaters never win.

Interested in my yearly task list? Download it here.

Source

This Still Doesn't Make Me A Gardener

This past weekend, I went to a free garden class hosted by our great city, Plano.

They didn't pay me to say that - I truly mean it. We live in a great Dallas suburb.

And on that note, I used to feel apologetic about being a suburb-dweller, a Plano-ite. However, the longer I've worked in downtown Dallas, the happier I am about living in Plano. I see people I know at the grocery store, I have a tremendous variety of ethnic restaurants nearby. Our city spends money on road improvements and hike/bike trails. I could go on. It's a great place to live.

Anyway, Plano is very focused on the extended drought and it's effect on our region's water resources. We're in "Stage 3" water restrictions, which means that we can only water our landscapes one day a week, every other week, in limited time blocks. There are exceptions to the restrictions related to soaker hoses, hand watering and drip irrigation.

Still, it's not good and no one wants it to get worse.

No one, it seems more than the city. So Plano has started a series of classes about waterwise gardening. Topics range from plant selection to irrigation options to DIY demonstrations.

Last weekend, I sat in on an irrigation class and learned all about the differences between soaker hoses and drip irrigation.

It truly was an informative class. Kelly and I are very close to paying off the Hayley House, and once we do we intend to do an extensive landscape overhaul. Our beloved trees in the front yard are near the end of their lives and, I suppose out of spite, are killing our grass (shade and water hogging) as well as threatening our foundation.

Before the great landscape overhaul commences, I wanted to be an informed decision maker.

Now I know - drip irrigation is the way we'll be going.

I also spent some time out in the city's demonstration garden, getting ideas for plants that we might like to install. Our goal is to be as native as possible, so we can cope with years of drought as well as years of rain.

However, I know myself - and I know my guy. When it comes time to redo our garden, we'll be hiring out the work.

Making an Upgrade

For years - years - we've had a sad little block of knives. These knives have moved with us nine times and prepared countless delicious meals.

Yet still, they were showing their age. That's how "get real kitchen knives" ended up on my 101 list.

However, I knew that replacing our knives wouldn't be an inexpensive proposition. I also wanted to purchase precisely what we needed and wanted, not simply what was provided in a preset knife set.

I researched knives, read reviews and built a list of what we wanted in our own set.

And, after several months of shopping using holiday gift cards and fitness program rewards shopping cards, we finally have our full set:

I purchased a nice block from Henckels that had a configuration of openings that worked with the knives I intended to buy. Our knives are a combination of classic American (Chicago Cutlery - old knives, that I had resharpened by a local pro), German (Wusthof) and French (Opinel).

Cooking has never been more fun - or easier! The difference great knives make can't be understated.

If you're considering replacing your knives, I thought this article in particular was incredibly helpful.

Just for Fun

For years I've enjoyed reading the Young House Love blog. They have a fun writing style and are great at providing practical home improvement lessons.

So naturally I was thrilled to see them partner with Target for a line of decorative hooks. I stopped in and picked up this:

Then, thanks to strategically placed Command Picture Hanging strips I did this:

Now I'm guaranteed a smile when I see my multi-armed friend waiting in the shower each morning!

And Yet Another Fix

So the dryer hasn't really been working well and I knew exactly why. Our vent needed to be cleaned out.

I'm not talking about the brush-out-the-vent-hose kind of clean. We needed the pull-everything-from-the-wall-vent kind of clean. We were fairly certain it hadn't been done in years and years and years.

I called a local dryer vent cleaning specialist (Superior Dryer Vent Cleaning, for those in the Collin County region). Technician David showed up this past weekend and 30 minutes later had our vent completely cleaned out.

The dryer is working wonderfully well now, which makes me wonder why we waited so many years to get it done. I'm now of the opinion that dryer vent cleaning will be on the first-to-do task list the next time we purchase a home, be it for our residence or as a rental unit. It's just amazing the difference it makes - not to mention how much it reduces the change of a house fire.

Source

Correcting a Sad Situation (or Two or Three or...)

The Hayleys spent some time (and hard-saved home improvement money) to do some much needed repairs around the house.

Our handyman/pastor friend, Travis, spent a few days at the house checking on valves (finding one that needed repair in the garage), flushing our hot water tank, re-caulking our tubs/showers/sinks and replacing all of our toilet flappers.

It's amazing how a series of long-awaited, but necessary, fixes can make you so happy. The caulk and properly running toilets alone made us feel as though we are living in a new house.

The most dramatic change, however, was our mailbox. For years we've lived with a droopy, pathetic mailbox - we knew we needed to replace it when we moved in.

But now, five years after we moved into this house, the mailbox became a critical situation. I even put it on my 101 list and hoped to get it repaired before the thing completely collapsed in the street:

So last week, I was overjoyed to see the results of Travis' efforts:

MUCH better. I'm sure the mailman will agree!

Now to save up to fix the yard...

How-To: Clean Your Blinds

My new yearly commitment to cleaning meant that I had to tackle something that I hadn't touched since we moved in nearly five years ago - our blinds:

You can enlarge that photo to see just how dirty our blinds are. But do yourself a favor (or perhaps I should say do me a favor!) and trust me. They.Are.Dirty.

I was pondering how to clean my blinds without killing myself or ripping the blinds out and throwing them away when I found a tutorial online for a simpler way to get them clean.

All I needed were old socks, vinegar and water. I am married to a boy, which means old socks are easy to find and sneak out of the drawer. (Just don't think you can do that without them noticing that their old "favorite" socks are being used in a non-boy approved way.)

Mix equal parts water and vinegar. Slip a sock over your hand, dip into the vinegar water mixture and scrub away.

The sock makes cleaning go quickly because you have a lot of control over where you're focusing your efforts. If you want to get really fancy, you can slip the sock's mate on your other hand and use it to dry as you go.

Pretty soon you'll find yourself with nice, clean blinds:

No matter what, cleaning blinds isn't a fast process - at least, not if you have 19 sets of blinds. Yes, I counted. I have 19 sets of blinds - 11 downstairs, 8 upstairs.

But it's faster and easier than using a rag. It's also less expensive than ripping down the blinds and having to replace them all. So that's something.

How-To: Wash Your Kitchen Rugs

We've been in the Hayley House for a number of years now and I've decided it's long-past time for me to unpack all of the boxes.

There are a lot of boxes. I'm not going to take a photo to share with you - it's embarrassing and makes me look like a somewhat of a hoarder, which I'm not.

I've also decided that I should really really try to develop a system for cleaning the house on a regular basis. I'm not talking about sweeping and mopping (though it's awfully good to do those on a regular basis!).

I'm talking about scrubbing the windows and blinds, oiling the locks and maintaining the garage door, cleaning rugs and the dishwasher filter, and so on.

I have a spreadsheet that I built, using a list I found on the internet of monthly tasks. I've been working through each task as I have time - in the interest of full disclosure, I'm still dealing with some February tasks (though I'm also taking care of April tasks)!

Last weekend, I washed my kitchen rugs.

If you've never washed your rugs before, it's pretty simple. If you have a rubber-backed rug, you can toss it in the washing machine. Wash on a short cycle in cold water with a slight amount of detergent. Do NOT use bleach as it will eat through the rubber.

Air dry your rugs. If the weather won't cooperate to dry them outside, toss them over the shower or lay them on your washing/drying machine. Do NOT dry them in the dryer or you will melt the rubber backing.

Another cleaning task checked off the list!