Starting on the landscaping

A few weeks ago our yard looked like this. That pile of dirt has been there since we excavated driveway almost two years ago.

Now that we are finally ready to do something about the yard we gave away the fence on Craigslist. I was surprised by how many people wanted an old fence that needed some serious work. Within a few hours I found someone who would remove the fence and haul it away. Free materials for him, less work for me.

We found a contractor who was willing to spread the dirt, remove the large rocks and put a 2% slope on the yard for $389, less than we would have spent just to rent the equipment. Plus the results are so much better than we could have accomplished on our own.

Now that the yard is level we need to install the sprinkler system, bring in top soil and get some grass started. Our excavation guy will be back next weekend to do some work in the front yard. I'm sure our neighbors are breathing a sigh of relief.

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Our New House - It Might Just Be Home

I recently announced that we had sold our home in Helena and will be moving to my hometown in July. We did some house-hunting over Easter weekend and I'm please to report success. We are in the process of buying our latest home: I know you can't see it well behind the trees. I'm so excited to have actual trees on the property. The house itself is nestled against the base of a hill which will block our views of the sunset but the east-facing front porch should offer some wonderful sunrises. And here's a sneak peek of our view. I won't be posting any more photos until we've actually closed on the house. Closing is still two months away and a lot could change before then. Still, I look forward to sharing our latest project.

Sold

We sold our house last week. This may come as a surprise since the house wasn't even for sale. We weren't planning to move. Everything in the house was designed with the idea that we would be living here for years. But sometimes God makes it abundantly clear that He has other plans. In the course of just a few days Luke was offered a chance to move to his company branch in my hometown and we met a family looking for a house in our neighborhood. And now our house is under contract. Closing is scheduled for mid-July so I will have a little time to recover from having the baby, but until she arrives I've been packing up all our non-essentials. We have already started looking for our next home; maybe it will be a home we get to enjoy for decades. We'll just have to wait and see.

Repainted

It might not feel like we've accomplished all that much since buying the house last summer. What progress we have been able to make comes during naps and after the kiddo is down for the night. But despite having to work in nap-sized increments, we have been able to get quite a bit done. Take for example the house paint. The siding was rough shape. A few more years and we would not have been able to salvage it. Before - Rust colored stain needed a fresh coat years ago After-Paint provides much better protection for the brittle pine siding. Before After Garage Before - Original combed cedar siding was in terrible shape after years of mistreatment. Garage After - It looks better, but the siding needs to be replaced. The new paint will buy us some time until we're ready to tackle that project. Stable Before - Probably hadn't been painted in 20+ years. Stable After - It took 8 gallons of paint for a 16x30 structure. ...

From Hovel to Home

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