Home Improvements

I've been meaning to write something about all of the home improvements that we've taken on over the summer. I know, not Riley related, but I'll have a post on her coming soon. It will be a long one to include her very first parade, new shoes, and Lake Okoboji!. By the way, she is practically running, turning in circles everywhere, "talking" on the phone, chasing boys at daycare, and the list goes on.

Anyway, our list of home improvements is quite long and we are very impressed with our skillz. I really felt inspired to write this blog after last nights episode of Renovation Realities. I like to call it Renovation Real-idiots because the people they find for this show are so stupid that Brett and I laugh through the entire half hour show. It airs on DIY network and I have no idea at what time because we always seem to watch it at different times. So last night we watched as two middle-aged women tried to renovate a room into an Art Gallery, all the while wearing bike helmets as hard harts. Really? Really. Seriously...funniest thing ever. Then to top of their ridiculousness, they couldn't even cut a piece of wood. We watched as they attempted to cut a two by four 72 in. in length. It was in inch short the first time. They went back to cut it again and came back with a board that was 12 inches too short! If these women could complete their renovation, we look like master builders. Here's a list (and a few pictures) of our home improvements.

1. Finally got rid of all the dead branches that we cut from the trees last year. put down grass seed to re-grow all of the grass that we killed from being procrastinators.
2. Replaced all of our outdoor lighting with brand spankin' new fixtures. Looks quite nice. Although, Brett bought the brightest lights for our motion lights on the garage so now we light the entire street. I'm sure our neighbors love us for that one.
3. Painted our door black and hung new door knocker. We are no longer the Lindamin's who live in a house with a PURPLE door!
4. Landscaped our entire front and back yard. This was our HUGE project and Brett hopes he never has to pull a stump ever again. This was hard work. First we transplanted our spiral mini trees (real name??) and put them around our deck in back. Then we planted all new lillies bee balms leading up to the house, and put down new mulch. Then, we planted spireas in the back with the spiral trees. Then we removed umpteen hundred pounds of rock from in front of the house. Removed 4 dead stumps. Planted 14 new plants. Put down all new mulch.
5. Hung a mirror in the dining room.
6. Hung a spread of pictures in the front room.
7. Painted all of our woodwork in the master bathroom white. It is so refreshing and feels good to get some of the last filth from the previous owners taken care of!

*******Pictures to be posted later******