Summer 2016: Goals, Bro

Now that I've got the blog back up and running with some changes. I think some goal setting is definitely in order! Since it's the last week of school for me (I'm teaching summer school) that means these are going to be specific summer goals. Let's see what we can make happen!

House Goals:

• Keep the place clean. Sorry, reality is, that's a thing. 
• Repair chain link fence
• Install privacy fence along the back of the lot
• Repaint deck awning roof
• Successfully combine boyfriend things and my things
• Set up a "Dude" space for Brennan
• Set up a blogging and computer space for me
• Optimize storage
• Clean out storage shed (sell unneeded items!)
• Increase efficiency in the house. 

Personal Goals:

• Read at least 4 novels! I have an entire box that I want to read, but to at least get a few knocked out would be magical!
• Join a club or group, even if it's a digital blogging group! (Any suggestions? Comment them below!)
• Make fitness more of a habit. Not just FitnessWholePizzaInMyMouth, but being active at the gym and outdoors.
• Take the dogs on more walks and focus on their training more intentionally. They're barky little assholes sometimes.
• Enjoy the great state of Colorado that I live in more often and more thoroughly!

Finance Goals:

• Use energy and such in the house more efficiently to cut down on expenses.
• Pay of Sebastian's Vet bills! ($2100.00. ugh. PETS!)
• Use cash ONLY.
• Build a couples budget that works!
• Consistently use the Everydollar.com budget program to keep track of expenses and bills. I've used it for about a year and so far LOVE it. For not-so-mathy people like me, it really helps to visualize and see where my money is going and what it is doing. 

Blog Goals:

• Post once a week.
• Revamp social media presence
• Maybe get 5 new followers?
• Make 1 new blog friend!
• Get some great new pictures of the casa for the Home Tour tab!

Just Porchin' Around

It is officially summer for this teacher! And I am super glad! It has been a whirlwind year of testing, Speech & Debate coaching, planning, and a lot of changes. But it is over. Next year will be easier. I plan on doing some decorating and updates to my classroom next week, so I shall have to post about that here soon. Speaking of changes... I finally bought a new computer! The first new one I have owned since 2007. It is a refurbished MacBook Pro and I love it! 

Plus I love my Little Mermaid sticker that I bought for it, check out all the different options on Etsy.com, I found mine {here} and it was an easy fun way to accessorize my computer. I also put a clear case over it that I bought from Amazon. com to keep it safe. 

I've also made progress on the porch! Remember last week when I showed you the new (safer) decking?

Well, I had a four day weekend and decided to take that time to stain it! I used the color Gunstock by Minwax. I did it all with a brush. It was ridiculous to try and use the pad and the handle thing from Lowe's. It soaked up so much of the stain that I used 5 times as much on three planks as necessary. Ugh. It only took me a few short hours to complete and do the steps at the same time. 

Though I confess... I did accidentally forget to unlock the back door, it was cool. I hung out in my yard for like awhile.

Here's the after!

I totally love it! I think it gives the house more character and pop, plus it looks way fresher. Which is always a plus. Of course... once you finish one thing there are still more things to do.

Here's a few images of things that remain on the the To-Do list:

Summer Porchin' Re-do List:

• Install new decking  $650.00
• Stain new decking $20.00
• Spray paint lawn furniture
• New accessories for tables
• Plant flowers
• Touch up front door
• Install dead bolt
• Paint roof
• Repair wood damage
• Hang lights beneath awning
• Paint trim and sides of deck

Hopefully I can manage to get a few of those things done before the summer really gets going. It would be great to have friends over to hang out and grill, and just have a good time. Until all that is done though... here's one last look at the cozy porch!

Team Should-Finally-Fix-That

It has been so long since I posted! The end of the year is such a busy crazy time for a teacher, especially a first year! But now it is officially summer (6 weeks of paid vacation!) and I have finally the time and energy to get things done. So I have made a simple list of things that have to get done. Mostly things I've put off for about five years. No rush right?

First things first: I need paint this outdated light fixture and make the light actually work. It has worked since 2009, whoops.

2. I started this project last summer. I think I should probably go ahead and like... I dunno... finish painting the beam...

3. My bedroom needs to have all the trim updated and painted out. It looks so tacky being the outdated 80s faux wood.

4. On that same note... I should probably install the trim I bought for the door in March.

5. Oh and this other randomly not updated light fixture in the master bath. Should do that too.

6. I exploded a bottle of nail polish on my wall... my favorite new color. :( I need to repaint the wall and the trim. 

7. Within the next couple weeks I am going to replace these doors just like I did with the master bedroom, that is going to be fabulous! Fully updated trim and doors! Amazing! Fully updated and no more ugly wood!

8. I am also thinking about replacing this door to make it coordinate with the others in the house, though it is in the best shape of all, so it might be one I can postpone for a bit.

9. New backdoor! That is actually happening this week! Finally. It is going to be great to have a secondary entrance that is fully functional and safe. 

10. Though it is hard to see... I am also getting new gutters this week! Super expensive... but it will be nice to have a fully functional system on the house. Then I can actually repaint the porch and beams without losing all progress from rain the next day. 

Operation Get-er-Done has officially begun! Here's to an excellent summer. :)

Mulching Around

One of the most challenging things in the home ownership process for me has been working on my yard. It seems like this year all of the exterior issues I've been putting off or babying along have finally started to break and die. Dang it.

 For example all the grass that I planted totally fried in the yard as you can see in the next two pictures:

And it even died over in the side yard. Totally stinks. Starting over again this year is what has to be done but it's not really all that much fun.

One area that actually did get some improvement was in the "backyard!" It is actually starting to look way better! Here's a picture of it before:

{Ignore the weeds... every time I try to get out there with RoundUp it randomly starts raining. Weed killing is this weekend.} Here's the random not cement section. I used to wonder if maybe this was a dog run in it's former life? Who knows.

Sebastian likes to run around in this section so instead of buying rock that would only attract heat (it gets NO shade in the summer) and burn his little baby puppy paws I scored a great deal on mulch at my second job. 3 large bags for only $10.00 plus my discount. Not bad! I would say if you're doing a large area it wouldn't be a good deal to buy bags but I was only covering some smaller spaces.

Here's the new view from farther back. I think it looks way better! Especially once I get the weeds totally taken care of. Try not to look at the neighbor's yard. Two years ago they covered the whole thing in brand new sod and then let it die. Seems like a waste. It looks awful now.

I also added mulch around this beautiful old tree in my yard. I love the view of the park. However I am jealous of the grass at the park... #yardenvy.

I still have some other major projects to get worked out in terms of the exterior of the house. Porches still need repair plus I found out I have to totally replace my entire skylight because it is leaking. Joy. 

How are your yard projects coming along?

Just a Bunch of Scrappin'

Well our meeting with the realtor went very well this weekend, she came over and checked out the house and left a bunch of paper work in terms of the comparable houses in the area. I felt like there should be an HGTV camera crew nearby or something. She did tell me that my house looked like something out of "Country Living" magazine. I don't think my house is country but hey! I'll take the magazine reference!

Anyways, the only problem that we're facing is that we bought my house way above value back in 2008 so basically what we still owe on it is more then it is currently worth on the market. We are weighing our various options to see if making a sale is still a good choice or just reworking it so that I am not on the loan and it's an income property for my parents. It's been a bit stressful.

There were some things that the realtor, henceforth referred to as Carol, suggested that we do in order to make sure we get a good appraisal if that time comes. One of them being to repair any exposed wood or cracked/peeling paint on the porch.

So Dad got to work with his extenda-scrapper!

Sebastian was a big help for Grandpa. He kept trying to eat the paint that Dad peeled off the roof. Probably bad for tiny puppy dogs. I'm gonna guess, so he had to stay inside.

We were able to get all the paint off that needed to be and also removed some of the broken down gutters. PS. That was nasty.  I will keep you posted on what we decide to do with the house, it might be nice to keep it as a rental, but it would nice to have a totally fresh start. We shall see! Be sure to follow on Facebook so you can see all the decluttering craziness that I have started.

Next step?

Painting.


Lots. Lots of painting. (Luckily! I have an outfit for that!)

Summer Before Project: Look Up!

So since I like to copy Sam at The Junk House all the time. (hehe Hi friend!) I have decided to join her in the summer link up party action that is going on. What is my project you wonder? Well here's a clue...

You'd think it would be fixing my lights... okay well that's sort of part of it. My big summer project is to paint my jail cell ceilings. The disadvantage to living in a manufactured home is that there are very weird things that the builders did when assembling the home. Such as making the ceilings look all weird. Super weird. Death yellow and beige weird. Obviously not my favorite.

See how uglio that is? I'd prefer to drywall it all and make it pretty but let's face it that's a lot of work and probably wouldn't get much return on it. So to be practical and get what I want I must use the power of white paint!

It's worked wonders on all the other ceilings in the house such as the guest bedrooms...

I also want to paint the big ole beam and the trim that is up around the ceiling to really update the space. You know, de-trailer-ify it. That's always my goal. Good thing I have a couple months to get it done!

A Little Desk-perate

Since the semester is finally over and the summer has begun, I've finally been getting around to the things I should have done a long time ago. After this summer I move into my student teaching semester and then graduation (!!!) so I really needed somewhere a little more organized and ready to take on a full teaching work load. And that looked prettier.

The chaos of my desk before:

Needless to say there was not very much work going on in this corner. Just looking at it I feel panicked. Not good. Since my roommate Karly moved back to Alaska (sad face) I decided to take the desk that I had originally purchased for her room way back when and put into mine. 

Here's the switcheroo (and of course Lucy investigating. Cat.):

At least she's kinda cute....

After I chased her off and rearranged a little bit...

It's not very comfy on the wrists to have the keyboard on top like it is so I want to convert this little top pull drawer into a keyboard drawer. I think it'd be fairly simple and would look way better.

But for now this is the set up that I have going. It is much better! It first of all looks way better because it coordinates with all the other white furniture that I have in my room but it also has those handy storage drawers. I can fit stuff inside of them! It's magical really.

Here's an angle of the whole "office" corner:

When I grow all the way up I am definitely going to have a separate office area so that I can have my bedroom for it's original purpose but for now this definitely works much better then the old desk situations that I've tried. Not too bad for a thrifted $30.00 desk!

What do you guys think of the switch? Better?

Linked to: Liz Marie   Beyond the Picket Fence