so much for yard work

We took out all our bushes the other day, but mother nature thought some tree's should go too. We lost a big tree and 2 medum sized trees. They were all behind the house and fell into the woods so we luckily dont have to do anything because they just get added to the pile. But, they all fell ontop of where we pile our leaves. Now we need to start a new pile.

There are 3 down in his picture

Goodbye bushes!

They were overgrown and never taken care of by whoever lived here before us. We could have cleaned them out and hoped for the best but it was easier to get rid of them since it would make our yard look bigger. Cause of course, our yard isnt big enough already...

Inside or bush fortress

Progress!

Cleaning up is not as fun as taking apart.

We found this little fence thing. The tree root grew through it! We did manage to get most of it out by hooking it up to a vehicle and pulling on it. We need to go at it with wire clippers still because it is still stuck in a few places.

Clearing away the parts of the bushes that gew up the tree.

Looks better already.

Thanks mom and Bryan! And Matt worked hard too! I sorta helped. I also worked at 4:30am. And it was 90 degrees out!

Animal update and trim painting.

"Need help measuring that?"

"Hmmm, it says..."

"I need my reading glasses for this"

Snickers looks small

"I'll get that!"

I took this picture at 3:45am before work.

mommy motivation

So, Matt decided to get the trim up after my dad gave us his air compressor and my mom let him borrow the finishing gun. Then my mom came over to help me paint closets. We painted the hallway one and the spare bedroom one. Both have 2 coats of primer and need one coat of white. Then I can put up shelves and stuff them full. The trim in the kitchen is done being painted white and we just need to find a stain for the window trim. The kitchen is almost all done. I really need to put something on the walls though cause they are so bare. We have a few small projects planned for the near future. We would like to paint the second bedroom white for now just to make it easier for when we do have a color in mind. We need to paint the dinning room and replace a few ceiling fans. The bathroom needs to be gutted but, we think it might be better suited for a professional. Outdoors is just boring. We need to add plants to the retaining wall and paint the white concrete of the house. We need a new garage door. Long picture shows us needing a new rood, furnace, water heater, and whatever else wants to break on the way. We are finding it hard to get everything done with Matt working so much and being tired and me never being home at decent hours. The dogs have also been getting more walks so we dont spend time painting like we should. We need to get as much done as soon as we can because I dont need to add mroe distractions to the mix when we are already procrastinators.

I took on a project!

The closet! I made Matt take the shelves out so I could do what I needed to do. I wiped it down with water and went to town with spackle. Well, time came to sand the spackel. The closet is too moldy fo me to want to sand. So, it sits unfinished with a layer of spackle to be sanded. Im too scared of the mold to want to sand it. I need Matt to sand it so I can paint it.  I need that closet to be done but, I dont want to get sick. He can wear the ugly mask and sand it. I have the mold killer paint and I wish I had used it first. He told me not too. His problem now.

remember the trim in the kitchen?

It is still on the dining room floor. Matt did however, paint the heaters last weekend.

New car!

How I convinced my husband to get me a new car is still a mystery. But for now, Im having fun with it! After one week I have already loaded up the trunk/bed of it with crap to bring other places. Its kinda lonely though drving alone in it, but it wont stop me from going places. And Im not parking very good. Perspective is so much different. I get like 4 feet away from a car when parking and think im about to hit it, and get out and have to get in and move it more, lol. I've driven many SUV's before, and trucks, but never in a daly basis with my own driving habits. And thank goodness the brakes work because a few days ago I just knew I was going to hit someone crossing my lane, but lucky for the girl in the passangers seat who's boyfriend almost killed her, my brakes stopped me. My focus would have hit them no doubt. Snickers loved the car ride in it! And Simon is not a car fan. He just lays there and looks uneasy and that is not usually like him. Snickers though, has traveled to a few states so he has come to like that the car takes him to fun places.

waiting for my new wheels

Im just waiting patiently till the car comes. Or not so patiently since my car has no heat and a donut on it. I have 5-7 more weeks till my car comes in.
Because! I picked out a car based on the paper for it. Matt and I came home and looked up the VIN number online and found it in New York but it had everything we needed. So when I went on monday to bring the title of the focus, he told me that they couldnt get that car, but found one just like it and I can get it tuesday. Okay...
So I get the call tuesday that my car is in!!!  So I go to the dealership, and Matt meets me there. I see my car. Beautiful. The guy pulls it up and tells me he's sorry. The interior is not the same as the one I picked out. I wanted the charcoal and this one has tan. I do not want tan interior at all. So, he let us look at it just so we knew what we were getting. Then we went inside and put one together and ordered it. So, 6-8 weeks was the timeline he gave me until I get my new car. Therefore, I get 5-7 weeks left. Until then, I have no heat and a donut.
At least I have a piece of paper that says I will soon have a car with heat and tires.

Want and need are the same sometimes, right?

I wanted a new vehicle, and we also needed one.
Matts car is not in running condition and has been in the back yard behind the shed since at least october if not sooner. His car has more crap in it than any of our closets. It had a news paper on top of the junk from march. We will /he will clean it out soon and call for it to be donated.
My car... oh my car. It was doomed from the start. I should never have bought it. But, I was excited to get rid of my "high school" car and get something that at leastmade me feel like a big girl. And after not wanting a focus, I liked it. I loved the color, I loved the manual, I loved the way it drove, and it was the top model with all the special stuff like the moon/sun roof and 6disk cd changed. Then I blew 2 tires and cracked a rim at once. Dont ask how because we just found it like that sitting in the driveway. We bought  new tires andhad to get a new alloy wheel that cost us almost 300 bucks. We saved the 2 "good" tires. Then I blew one on a pothole. I then had a flat out of the blue, assuming from a pothole. Now I have no extra tires and I have owned the car for maybe a year? lol. Then I got a nail in the tred and had a tire patched. Then I got a mattress spring stuck in my tire. How the hell did I run over a mattress spring?? New tire there. Then I had to get my car inspected and it failed. I needed a new tire cause I had a bubble. New tire. Then I got a nail stuck in my tire sideways. How the hell did a nail lodge itself into the side of my tire? Freak accedent? New tire. 2 weeks later, same tire, same nail situation. How the heck did that happen once? Twice??? New tire. Then I hit a pothole on out way to vacation last summer. I think I ruined the tire but it worked. Until the other day when I called Matt and he had to change my tire in the 5 degree windy weather.
My car also is electrical issues. The dinger dings when the car isnt running and the keys arent in it. The windshield wipers have 4 settings and not 15. The dashboard lights are odd. The heat works enough to melt ice off a windshield but not enough to keep you warm. It seems like the car may have been flooded before we bought it.
So when searching for a new car for myself, I researched night and day. I wanted the Ford Escape. I knew the next car would be an suv. We need something big enough as a family car and small enough for day to day things. We needed a car for us together because it will be our only vehicle. But, Matt has his work truck that he drives for everything. While it is our family car, it will be 90% my car. The honda CRV was a nice option, but it looked like more of a luxury car and we needed something that seemed more durable for the option of towing. The toyota rav4 is ugly to me and just seemed like a less value. People seem to mention the hyundai cause they are cheap but, the base pricing is almost the same and they didnt have a 4x4 option and didnt seem so durable. I called a friend who has owned an escape for years and recently got a murcury mariner and she compaired them for me and the vote went to the escape. So I wanted the escape. That was the only option for me. New? Used? Dont matter. But, the 0% apr on new was appealing to us and an option be decided to persue.
What if I drove it and hated my only suv option? Well, I drove them today. The guy let me drive 2 different ones even though I was not buying the ones I drove. We took them out and Matt and I both drove. We played in the parking lot and went on main roads. I fell in love. So we had the guy give us our options for the one I wanted. If I was paying that much for a new car, I wanted the color I wanted. So, he showed me the invoice for all the new ones in the color I wanted with the options and prices. We choose one. Put down our deposit. And they should be recieving it tomorrow for me to go insect and possible drive home.
I got 2k for my car as a trade in! We didnt bring it intentionally when we went car shopping. Its a mess. It is messy inside and I have a donut on it now. So we told him about and it and he is taking it. Probly cause we didnt haggle much on price and were easy customers making his quota on the last day of the month.
Tomorrow I call insurance and bring him the title of the focus. And make sure we got approved. He has all our info and said we should have no problems with the financing but they didnt actually approve it yet either. Wish me luck. If I dont get this new car, I need 4 new tires for the focus.

update on the Bard house

Simon the horse, is big. Snickers the hungry is content. The dogs love each other and are sleeping on each other as I type. I love seeing them interact and enjoy each others company. Simon takes up the whole bed though. We will be migrating them off the bed soon. I hope.
Nothing has been done in the house lately. The bathroom is a big project that needs to be done fast after it gets started. I've been cleaning and organizing on my days off, and Matt plays video games. I play too, but I get stuff done when I can. I can barely get Matt to shovel the driveway nevermind grab a paintbrush. I've also lost my motivation for this house. We will be buying another one someday so this is not going to always be our house. So I keep thinking to the days we will sell it and how I don't want to patch up holes in the walls from pictures or do something permentant that wont come with us. We do need to paint the dinning room, and the closets. And I want to at least paint the second room white so that someday if and when we have a kid, we wont have to do it. And the blue is just ugly. We wont be moving for at least 6 or 7 years at the earliest. We can stay here till we have a second kid. Unless they are the same sex. Then we can stay a bit longer but I think the house will get cramped fast. Its good for now though! Its perfect for now.