Budget Entertainment

C2 can be a real busy body (especially if he hasn’t had a nap). Being on a budget really limits our entertainment options. Thank goodness he’s just as happy window shopping at the Goodwill store as he would be playing in the arcade at our local miniature golf place.

A couple of weeks ago at Home Depot he asked if we could buy this pumpkin plant for $1.00.

A dollar?…totally do-able. Especially if we get pumpkins out of it and don’t have to buy any in October.

It was supposed to come with soil and three seeds but as you can see someone had removed the soil pellet before we bought it and we didn’t realize it.

Not to worry, we have plenty of soil at our house. Planting seeds and watching them grow is soooo cheap and he really enjoys checking on them.

Planting the seeds is probably his favorite part.
(excuse the paint on the porch, it's under construction)

Then you just add a little water (from your new pedestal sink in the bathroom!)

And lastly, put the top on and place it in a window until your seeds sprout.

Hopefully soon, we’ll have sprouts. Until then, I’ll be researching how much sun and space pumpkins need.

Here's some more cheap plants we now have. Dianthus we picked up off the clearance rack half dead already at Lowe's for $1.00. It just needed a bigger pot and some fresh soil.

Sunflowers for $1.00. The smaller plants on the bottom right of this photo are sunflower seeds that we got out of our bag of birdseed just to see what would happen. They are doing great.

(This photo is from a couple of weeks ago.)

Just about to POP! We can't wait. And just maybe we'll get seeds for next year.

Time Flies

This past Thursday was my nephew’s first birthday. Saturday we celebrated with a cook out at my sister’s house. Hard to believe he’s one. No, I did not post the wrong photo, it is the same child.

Nature is Great!

I’ve never seen this process really from beginning to end. To be able to not only see it up close but get photos… Next time the kids find a catepillar, get a jar and enjoy it.

This is one of the caterpillars a co-worker of mine found in our front yard. He actually found 9 of them but some of them didn’t make it.



We searched the internet and found out that one day it would be a monarch. The cycle is only about 21 days.

Here it is after it turned into a chrysalis.


As the 10 days this stage takes goes on the chrysalis turns black. Just before it opens it turns clear and you can see the wings of the butterfly. (That photo is pretty blurry.)


When it’s time for them to come out, the bottom of the chrysalis opens up and they climb out. This process takes less than 10 minutes so if you aren’t there when it starts, you’ll probably miss it.


Their wings are pretty wet when they first come out. There were actually drops of water on the counter below where he was perched.


He stayed in our warehouse for most of the day drying his wings.



At closing time when he was still there, we took him outside and placed him on the bushes.



He stayed right there until I left to go home. As I was locking the door I looked over (quite sure he would not be there in the morning) to see him one last time. He moved his wings a couple of times as if saying goodbye and he took off around the side of our building.

Weekend Work

If you've spent any time here in the past, you know I put a fair amount of photos in my posts. So I'll warn you before you go any further that the photos in this post are absolutely nasty (and embarrassing but whatever).

Apparently the house has had plumbing issues for some time but we were never made aware of them by the previous tenants. Sick and tired of taking a shower while standing in 4 inches of water that had accumulated just since turning the shower on... we decided to do something about it this past weekend.

We debated on whether to get a snake and try to unclog the pipes or just replace the almost 70 year old cast iron pipes with PVC. We chose the latter and off C went into our crawlspace which is actually quite roomy.

This is what he found.

That nastiness is a mixture of hair, rust, gunk and I don't really want to think about what else. The white pipe at the top of that photo would be someone's attempt at updating things. If only they had carried that idea all the way down. It was simply inserted into the larger cast iron pipe below it and not sealed in any sort of way. Therefore once the drain pipe was clogged everything that went in after it was overflowing into the crawlspace (hey, I warned you).

But we got that all fixed up and I got the tub nice and sparkling again (ever tried to clean a tube that doesn't drain?) and it was on to the bathroom sink.

In order to get to the pipe we had to remove some of the tile. Some genius decided to install the tile using liquid nails so we had to shatter them to get them off. A perfect excuse to remove the rest of the tile that goes halfway up the walls, all the way around the bathroom. Added to the project list... check.

We also discovered that at some point, this bathroom was painted pink... I know, almost as bad as the pipes.

What we found in the sink pipe wasn't much better.

(This is after he cut it so about 6 inches below the sink.)

We ended up having to replace that pipe almost all the way to the point where it joins the other drain pipes and goes towards the sewer.

Once we got the sink and cabinet out of there, I couldn't put it back. We had so much room without it. And the storage space isn't an issue because the linen closet is way oversized. We found a suitable pedestal replacement at Lowe's for just $44.

Maybe this weekend we'll get to the kitchen sink... which hopefully is just a broken disposal (but we aren't counting on that).

Changes...

We've made a few changes since we moved to the OLD ADDRESS.

We ripped out the bushes in the front, removed the wheelchair ramp, and pressure washed a few things. We aren't done by any stretch of the imagination but it feels better already. Check out these before and I'll say current photos since we aren't done. Next on the list... probably painting the exterior and re-painting the porches.

Whomever built the ramp didn't leave space between the boards so that what's under it could dry out. We found a puddle of mud and full of all sorts of critters.

Like huge earthworms (too bad we don't fish)...

Slugs...




Spiders and babies...










Don't have a clue what this is. C called it a hammer-head worm...









We aren't sure if we want to keep those azalea bushes on the right.



The back porch used to have a huge (it's still there, just quite a bit smaller) gardenia bush growing beside it. I assume the sap from that is what was all over the back porch. But I kept my shoes on just in case.

Fourth of July Already?

Not so much. Our yard if full of flags of this variety…

We knew before we moved back to the OLD ADDRESS that the existing 4 ft. fence around the backyard was not going to work for our smart and very curious lab mix, Jake.

We checked into replacing the fence in the backyard with a 6 ft privacy fence. As you can tell in this photo, that is a lot of fence to replace (taken from the side of the back porch). The estimate to replace the existing fence was upwards of $1,200.

The pros list for the invisible fence really outweighed the cons (which contained only the price).

· We could enclose the back yard and the front yard. Should the little boy next door continue to randomly open the front door (that’s a whole ‘nother topic) our dogs would not get out and be gone forever.

· We could take the fence with us when we leave and the new owners would never know the difference. So technically, we’d never have to pay for another fence.

· Our dogs could spend more quality time with us outdoors because no longer would they need to be on a leash tied to the front porch while we wash the cars or deal with plants, etc.

So this is Jake’s new collar. Seriously, it looks worse than it is.


I have to admit I was nervous. The idea of shocking our dog did not sit well with me at first. Jake is a temperamental rescue to begin with. But he did (and continues to do) well with it. Typically, he chases anything that moves. Squirrels, birds, rabbits, bugs, he’s not picky about his distractions. The real test for me was the neighbor’s cats. He doesn’t even try it.

It’s hard to see in this photo but between the chair and the flower pot across the street is a cat. What you can see however, is how far he is from the flag that represents the “do not cross” line and that’s he just sitting there watching instead of chasing.



I also have to mention how professional and seriously awesome this company is. This is one of those companies that doesn’t put their profits before customer service and that is just rare.

Total cost…$978 (yes, it was budgeted for). That includes the wire (whether it was half the yard, the whole yard or ours and the neighbor’s yard combined), the collar, a two-hour training session with the dog and me and the flags that will begin getting removed 14 days out. There’s also a $55 charge per year for replacement batteries of which they will send 1 each quarter.

All in all, we are extremely happy with it. And Jake is a totally different dog. I’m guessing it’s because he knows it won’t be long before he goes out again, now we can call him in and he comes right to the door.

Maybe you noticed I didn’t mention K and the fence. She didn't get a collar for this fence because she’s just that well behaved. I don't know what I did right with her other than I've had her since she was a puppy. I usually just blame it on her being a female. Here she is watching the cat across the street. Don’t pay attention to the peeling paint on the front porch, it’s on our to do list.

Fishy Champagne

C is great. Really he is. But when it comes to being creative, he simply has no clue. So for holidays or our anniversary, I can always count on an overpriced bouquet of a dozen red roses from the local chain florist in an even more overpriced vase with a red ribbon tied around it. This is not a complaint as I know some girls don’t even get that, I’m simply stating the facts.

So imagine my surprise when last Valentine’s Day this 3 foot tall champagne glass was delivered and in it were a dozen long stemmed red roses. That is our reception area chair so you can get an idea of the size of it.

With a child and two dogs running around the house, I was afraid if I took it home it would get broken and I can’t let that happen to this major milestone. So the only logical choice was to leave it on my credenza at work.

The flowers were artificial and although you had to really get close to tell as they are pretty convincing, it was just there and looked really out of place. It took a couple of days to decide what to do with it, but after a little research I decided to remove the flowers and add this little guy who's not very photogenic.

Okay it's my photography skills but whatever...

I added some rocks, a rock scupture of sorts and a plant. Here it is almost ready for "Bloody". C2 said since he's the color of blood his name should be Bloody.

It holds just under 2 gallons of water. You have to add some drops to remove the chlorine and metals from regular tap water. Some sites suggested using distilled water but I don't.

This type of fish doesn't need a filter, bubbles or a heater. You do have to clean out the "aquarium" more often than a typical tank. This one is large enough, I can go about two weeks between cleanings and it usually takes about 30 minutes to clean. I do let the water stand overnight each time so the temp will be the same as his temporary home when he goes in. And I learned the hard way that you can overfeed these fish. Once he gets settled in he'll start forming a nest out of bubbles on the surface of the water. Supposedly, that means he's happy. I just changed the water out last night so I'll try to update with nest pics tomorrow.

Not Guilty!

I’ve been accused several times (by a very good friend of mine) of not letting my son be a kid. She says he doesn’t know how to get dirty and isn’t allowed to do things where the possibility exists that he may get hurt. After a lot of denying this and visiting said friend and her three boys… I realized she’s right. I never meant to shield him this way, it just happened.

So last night when C2 and our neighbors’ kids asked if they could play in the water the thought process was this: on a weeknight… in the dark….for what?....it’s going to make a huge mess….it’s getting late…this is part of being a kid. I caved and out came the water hose. It didn’t take long for all the kids to notice the mud hole they were creating in our yard.

C2 is on the bottom right in this photo.I didn’t get any pictures of myself as my hands were the only hands clean enough to operate the camera but I was soaked and a little muddy as well. I have to admit, this was a very entertaining Mommy-and-Me-Time deposit.

In the Beginning...

Here is a sort of timeline that prefaces our time before starting this blog.

September 2002: I bought my first house.

October 2002: C and I met through a mutual friend.

December 2002: C moved into the house I’d just bought (yeah, that was quick, some things you just know).

February 2003: We found out I was pregnant with C2. (No, we weren't married yet… so what?)

October 2003: Our son was born on our one year “dating” anniversary.

June 2005: The three of us moved into C’s parents house (and rented ours out) in order to save for our wedding.

May 2006: C and I were married. We moved into a rental house.

January 2009: C and I began the process of buying our first home together after realizing we had paid $39,600 towards someone else’s mortgage in the previous three years.

February 2009: My boss gave us a book by Dave Ramsey and our house plans were put on hold.

May 2009: Our lease ended on our rental house. Simultaneously, the tenant in the home we own moved out so we moved back in to OUR OLD ADDRESS to continue adding to the $10,000 we've paid off since February.