One year later

October 26 was the one year anniversary of our house closing. October 28 was the one year anniversary of moving day. (The picture was taken after we'd lived there for about a month, and we hadn't done much at that point, especially to the exterior.)

Here we are, one year later. Wow. I know everyone says time flies, but in this case, it both did and didn't.

When we moved in, I had these grand ideas about what I'd do first and what color I'd paint which room and what I wanted to buy. But soon after we moved in, it was the holidays, so we got a bit sidetracked. Then it was the winter...and I think I had a little of that seasonal affective disorder. That, and home ownership overwhelmed me in regards to what to do first. I am very hard on myself, and I often bite off more than I can chew, even with just my ideas. When nothing gets done, even because I don't know where to start, I am hard on myself.

Spring came, and I was looking forward to spending time outside, reclaiming our yard. On April 1, which was Holy Thursday this year (see previous post to see how screwed up THAT timing was), I broke my hand. Lovely! Which, as many of you know, was followed by surgery, then recuperation, then physical therapy. It was July before my hand was close to normal. I scrambled to try and get things done before Fall set in, since when it gets cold here, it REALLY gets cold.

Turtle's work week is Tuesday-Saturday. Wednesdays and Fridays he works 12-8 and the other days he works 9-5. I work Monday-Friday, with flexible hours, but I try to keep it 9-5. I have a problem with getting myself ready and out the door on time, so if I get there AT nine, it's a miracle. If I get there BEFORE nine, my boss wants to take my temperature.

With only ONE day off together, it has been a challenge to get projects completed around here. Especially since our day off together is Sunday, and we attend a church which is a half hour from our house. Many projects could benefit with two people working together for two days, and we don't have that! We've had to rely a lot on my parents and his father to assist us. We are so grateful that they are healthy and able to help us, and that they live fairly close by. My mom has come over on Saturdays to help me clean the windows, my dad drops off firewood and has hung my curtains. His dad has come over on Mondays to help him split and stack said firewood. His dad, luckily, is retired, and has generously come over when we've both been at work to clean out our gutters or fix things. (The house next door is for sale, and we keep telling his dad to BUY IT! hehe)

Here's what we've done in our first year:

• Had the carpets cleaned
• Had the locks changed and a deadbolt installed
• Painted the TV room
• Cleaned all windows (inside & out)
• Deep cleaned the house
• Power washed the siding, deck and porch
• Stained the deck and porch
• Repaired the deck
• Made/set up a work bench in basement
• Cleaned up all flower beds, which included shrub removal, extensive weeding, planting some new things
• Trimmed the trees in the front of our house, which experienced stunted growth. They'll never catch up to the ones the neighbors have which were all put in at the same time.
  
• Rescued the lawn from a sure death
• Started a compost pile
• Grew awesome tomatoes :-)
• Bought a wood stove
• Acquired some new furniture, and not spending a lot of money in the process. Most of it was secondhand.
• Learned how to reprogram the garage door opener and the "head" thing that is on the ceiling of the garage
• Dealt with a broken AC unit
• Battled with ants!
• Found a firepit in the wooded area on the side of our property, buried in brush and overgrowth, and started using it.
• Hosted our first holiday--Christmas!
  

I think that's it...I'm sure there are other things we did, but those are the biggest that stood out. Even with a broken hand, DH's very stressful job (he celebrated THAT first anniversary in August), my job issues, family stuff, health stuff...we managed to get that much done. Of course, I'm still beating myself up on what I didn't do.

What do I want to do? Separate post!

ETA: Apparently we HAVE done a lot of work becuase the neighbors have raved at how great we are doing and how fast we improved things. I know that the house was probably spruced up a "bit" before it was put on the market, but I would have loved to see what it looked like before they decided to sell. Probably in worse shape than we bought it...and it wasn't THAT bad really, just neglected a bit.