Drip Lines, Pallets and Raising the Wall (AKA the Part Where I Firmly Bang My Head Against the Wall)

We're going on close to a month of this adventure.  Almost one full month of no backyard and our house being cased in a fine layer of dirt/dust from the backyard. Seriously though - I could have filled my garden bed with the amount of dirt I've swept/mopped up in the last four weeks.

This has quickly evolved into the biggest, most expensive, most time consuming project we have taken on since we moved into this house....and I want it DONE. (Pretty sure so does the man-friend)

We're nearing the home stretch....well not really...I can see the finish line but we're still miles from it.  Kind of like we're stuck in the middle of a desert and there is an oasis glimmering on the horizon.  It's there BUT SO FAR AWAY!

The backyard has become the bottomless pit of time and exhaustion (mostly on Vern's end).  The poor guy hasn't really gotten a break since we started this.  On one level it's his own fault.  He's the one who keeps adding things like electricity and irrigation.  But... on the other hand, I can hear him in my head saying "If you're going to do something do it right." And to think...I thought we were just going to build a box. HA!

Last week he finished installing the outdoor conduit for electrical and the sprinkler system for the main portion of grass.

The Backyard Saga Part Two

In the last post, we left off with this...

The Backyard Boom

I'm pretty sure over the last few weeks I have yelled at Vern more than once "I THOUGHT THIS WAS GOING TO BE SIMPLE!!!!????"

I should have learned long ago, that nothing is done the "simple" way with that man.

Let's rewind....

Roughly three weeks ago our back yard looked like this:

I Used a Saw and It Was Awesome!

I just checked the last time I posted.

I have concluded that I am officially the worst blogger ever!

In all reality though, we haven't been doing a lot of "home improvement" things these days, and I'm pretty sure people don't want to read about how Vern and I have spent the last month basically working, sleeping, eating and watching every single episode of Duck Dynasty. (Which if you haven't seen that show - you obviously live under a rock.)

Exactly.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?! Part Two.

When we left off earlier, my kitchen looked like this....

13 Years in the Making

Once upon a time...

A thirteen year old girl walked out of the gym locker room to stumble over a boy sitting on the ground. The boy exclaimed "You just stepped on my girlfriend!"

The girl looked around in confusion.  The only two people around were that boy and girl.  The girl smiled and apologized before walking off shaking her head.

Unbeknownst to the girl - that boy had made the first move. He had gained her attention with his imaginary girlfriend.

Two years later, that same boy leaned over the girl in their shared computer class and entered his e-mail into her Hotmail.  She couldn't get rid of him from that point on.

He chased her till she finally gave in.  She fell in love with him, but he wasn't ready for her. He broke her heart and she spent the next three years trying to make him realize that.

They moved on. Both eventually became involved in serious long-term relationships, but something wasn't right. Neither one of them felt whole or content.  They stayed friends, leaning on one another when life threw its curve balls, but by that point their relationship had grown into a mutual respect and admiration.

What Have I Gotten Myself Into?!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. We had family and friends come visit, Vern was climbing, then I went to visit friends, Vern was climbing, then I got really sick, Vern was climbing, now I'm better and guess what? Vern is climbing.

Big surprise huh? Needless to say, house projects have been on hold the last few weeks.  We've been busy, and sick and climbing - so everything home related was put on the back burner.

Vern is currently on a big climbing adventure in Wyoming.  Which I decided was perfect timing to get on to painting our kitchen cabinets, that way he wouldn't be around to get in my way or tell me I was doing it wrong or distract me with his beauty.

What was I thinking?

All About the Faucet

There are two rooms in our house that I absolutely despise.   The bathroom and the kitchen.  I've found myself many, many  times staring at the kitchen in complete frustration over what to tackle first and how to go about doing it.  There is also the unspoken agreement between Vern and I that he will handle any major renovations  while I handle the little stuff like painting and....well...that's about it. Pretty sure that's all I'm allowed to do anyway.  I mean, anyone who knows me should know I cannot be trusted with power tools.

While we've had many discussions over what our first steps are going to be in the big kitchen remodel, one of the few things Vern and I agreed upon was that the kitchen and bathroom would have to wait till the Spring and Summer. There is just TOO much to do right now and Vern can't give up any time that could be devoted to climbing. (I roll my eyes as I type that). 

So imagine my surprise when he came home Sunday afternoon with this...

Map It Out

Ah Pinterest. What did women of the world do before it?

Seriously though. Pinterest is amazing. I can honestly get lost for hours on that site, pinning crap that I most likely will never do, cook or wear - but one can hope. It did however, give me the inspiration for this project...

Shitty Ideas That My Boyfriend Has Had This Week:

This was an old post that never made it to the blog. It amuses me so I had to share..... :)

November 9, 2012

Sometimes Vern has good ideas - sometimes Vern has bad ideas....very bad ideas.
This week he was on a roll with two rather horrible suggestions.

It's been a long week in our household - with him having conferences all week and me starting my new job - we've both gotten home pretty late. I would love to tell you that these ideas come from his sleep-deprived brain, but lets be honest...the kid comes up with this stuff on a rather consistent basis.  I don't even notice how ridiculous he is anymore because he has conditioned me to his weirdness.

The Couch that Almost Wasn't

Ahhh, the joys of buying furniture. Who knew that such a simple task could be the epitome of stress.

The man-friend and I moved into our new house the weekend before Thanksgiving. That following week he took off for one of his many ice climbing adventures, while I stayed behind to bring in the money and start the growing list of projects that needed to be done. I wish I would have taken pictures of what we started with, but trust me, it was pretty dismal.

Over the last few months, we have: