Honey-Do Weekends (part 1)

I’m not sure what it is about being pregnant that makes you want to remodel your whole house, but whatever it is, I have it!  Last time, with H, Rick and I removed carpet and plywood to find the original hardwoods in our bedrooms, and then refinished them.  We also installed a sprinkler system in the front yard ourselves.   This time around, I’ve made an equally challenging Honey-Do list for Rick.

This weekend was the start of, what I’m sure will be a four or five week long, series of projects.  But, despite the rain on Friday and Saturday, we got a lot of the projects crossed off the list, or at the very least, started.   On Thursday, I began pulling weeds and crab-grass from the front flower beds.  The grass invasion was especially bad this year, so this was a big project.  I have five flower beds, and it took me about two hours to get half of the biggest one done.  Rick mowed the lawn and got most of the other beds done on Friday before it rained.   I just have the second half of that big bed left to do this week.

Saturday we went to Englewood’s first Farmers Market (it was small, but you have to start somewhere), and then to Home Depot to get the parts for the other projects on the To-Do list.  Rick got pieces to repair our back yard hose, and a new valve for the sprinkler system, as well as everything we needed for the Diaper Sprayer.  The guy in the plumbing department was really helpful, since we wanted to combine both the tutorials that we looked at.  We wanted that ball-valve, but we wanted to use connections that didn’t involve clamps.

We ended up with something that will be easily detached from the system when the new baby is out of diapers, but it did cost a bit more than we anticipated.  With tax et all, it came to about $32.  We used a gift card, so it was free to us though.  We figure that by the time you buy one online and have it shipped, we still came out about $18 ahead.  Here are the pictures (click for best view, the thumbnail too):

The sprayer has great pressure, and the ball valve is already proving it’s worth, since Henry wants to spray the hose.  It took all of fifteen minutes to install… if that.  All we need now is a hook for the wall next to the toilet to hang the nosle on.  🙂

While at the Depot, we finally got two gallons of paint for our living room/dining room.  I’ve been dying to paint in there for over a year.  I did most of the painting yesterday, with another coat to go.  It should be done by the middle of this week, and then I’ll post before and after pictures.  Stay tuned!

Rick also patched several holes in the walls (some from nails, one from a hook, one from moving the thermostat, etc.) with plaster, so we could paint and hang new pictures and shelves.  He caulked around the front porch columns, and plans to get the final coat of paint on them this week as well.

Sunday morning, Rick and our neighbor, “Mr. Mitchell” as Henry calls him, set up H’s new Big Boy Bed.  H was literally jumping up and down with excitement over this event.  he couldn’t wait to see the bed, and helped me fold his new twin-size cowboy sheets.  Once the guys got the bed in, H just had to help with the assembly…

The bed is BIG!  Compared to our little guy, it’s ginormous!  Once it was all built, Mr. Mitchell set him up on it and his eyes got so wide.  he couldn’t believe how high up he was!  I couldn’t either!

We really like this bed because of all the storage it has.  But it will be a while before H gets to sleep in it.  We need to get a few items for it first:  a side rail so he doesn’t fall out, a ladder so he can get up himself, and a waterproof mattress pad to protect the awesome mattress.  It is nicer than my and Rick’s mattress, and we are a little jealous!

As if that weren’t enough for the weekend, Rick also managed to get the garden roto-tilled so it will be ready to plant this week!  Hooray!  We’re about a third of the way done with the list, so stay tuned for more updates as we continue to fix up the house.  🙂