Category Archives: House Projects*

Oh lovelies, I am so tired.

I’ve been up since 5:45am, and my book and my bed are screaming my name. However, I promised to give you another house update this week, and I will not disappoint!

A little while ago I told you all about our jungle backyard and shared with you The Story of the Sodcutter. We started out with this:

And a close up of our beautiful “grass”…

By the time that was all done and finished, I was pretty much ready to live happily with a backyard full of dirt.

Seriously.

However, the Hubster had different ideas…

On Monday he called a local nursery and ordered five yards of soil for our backyard. When I got home from work on Tuesday, there was a mountain of soil on my front lawn. He and a friend got right down to work.

Since our old lawn had already been disposed of, our palate this time was an uneven lawn of dry dirt with patches of weeds that had begun to grow again. Before we could put in our new soil, we needed to till the earth to loosen the soil and prepare it for seeding. The Hubster and BC (his incredibly handy friend) trekked over to our beloved Home Depot to rent a tiller.

It looked like it was a little easier to maneuver than the sodcutter was, but it was still a beast to push through the soil.

Tilling the backyard was no small job–it took the boys nearly three hours to complete it.

And what was I doing while they were playing with the tiller, you ask? (Besides taking fun photos, of course)

Shoveling, shoveling, then shoveling some more.

We had two wheelbarrows, and I stood next to our mountain of dirt and filled them as they emptied each one into our back yard over and over and over again…

By the time we finished on Tuesday night, we had gone through almost half of our soil. Needless to say, my shoulders and arms were a might sore the next day…

It was after 10pm by the time we finished and returned the tiller, so we decided to call it a night and finish the next day. BC offered to come over and work a bit during the day while the Hubster and I were at work, and we gratefully accepted.

I swear this man works miracles. When we got home from work the mountain of soil was gone. Our backyard was level and raked smoothly. Our mountain of crap and tree limbs from the trees the Hubster took out was safely deposited at the dump. I was so immensely grateful–I still don’t know how he managed to get it all done!

All that was left was seeding and watering our lovely level dirt yard. The Hubster seeded while BC and one of our neighbours followed behind to rake and water the lawn.

BC hard at work!

We are slave drivers and don’t believe in rest. Rest is for the weak! (And for me. ha)

Every day since we’ve been watering and watching, waiting for the first signs of our new lawn. I know it takes time, but I can’t help but run down the stairs each morning to see if there are any little buds yet.

It’s way more exciting than TV.

Tonight we fertilized the lawn and raked away the last remaining bits of our mountain of dirt. It was thrilling to was the soil off our entrance walk way, and I am longing for the day when I won’t have dirt tracked through my front hallway.

Maybe I’ll have grass tomorrow. :)

Hi lovelies,

Thanks for all your kind words regarding my post last night. It’s something I’ve been carrying on my chest for a while and it just felt good to vent and be completely honest about the way I’ve been feeling.

In general I think I feel a bit at odds with who I am right now. I’m turning 26 in less than a month, and it just feels… weird. Like I’m not actually old enough to be turning 26.

Anyway.

A little while ago I mentioned that the Hubster and I live in a “quirky” house, and several of you have wondered what that referred to. Here’s a little taste:

1) When we moved in we heard something strange in our kitchen cabinet. We soon learned that we have some “friends” living with us in our kitchen. Any guesses?

2) There is no overhead lighting in any of the three upstairs bedrooms. None.

3) Whoever painted our house for us before it went on the market decided to be a super painter and paint everything. You know, just in case we wanted our light switches, curtain rod holders and receptacles to match the walls. I’m sure they thought that they were being quite thoughtful. (Or lazy… you know.)

4) There is a window in my bathroom. That in itself is not weird, but it’s location is. Any guesses?

5) The windows have no screens. Seriously.

6) The bathroom door sticks… like it’s too big for the frame.

7) Our bedroom door doesn’t shut.

8) There is a random white trim that runs half way down the wall as you go up the stairs. It almost looks like a rail for a flying machine (aka: a chair that assists people get up and down stairs).

9) Our fence gate opens backwards.

10) The linen closet is actually inside the office closet.

…and that’s just a few of the quirks that we’ve come to love. Or something. haha

My main floor is really coming along now and I know I’m long overdue for another photo update. I’ll try and get a few done tomorrow for you!

Does your home / apartment have any weird quirks?

I am so sunburnt.

Today the Hubster and I had the craziest day ever. We woke up early to rush out the door to help out with our church yard sale at 7:15 am. Part of youth organization is trying to raise money to purchase a defibrillator for our chapel. The Hubster was involved with the organization of the yard sale, so I decided to go to help out.

We had the most perfect day for it… it was beautiful, sunny and warm.

And obviously I forgot sunscreen.

I have a magnificent t-shirt burn, complete with a neck collar and sleeves. It’s pretty hot, I’m not going to lie.

After the yard sale we were off to run a billion errands. We had a glorious sushi lunch, then made our way through IKEA, Canadian Tire, Home Depot, RONA, No Frills and Food Basics.

Today we made one of our most exciting purchases since buying our home: a lawn mower.

While our backyard may currently be a beautiful sea of brown dirt, our front lawn was still rocking the exotic jungle look. Again, I kind of liked it, but we decided to be good neighbours and, you know, not be the only house on the street with a jungle lawn.

(The rest just haven’t caught on yet.)

I’m absolutely exhausted–but we have a fresh cut lawn and I couldn’t be happier.

I think I’m officially an adult now–cut grass just made my day. ha

Seven days.

I can’t believe it’s been an entire week since my last post. *bows head in shame*

In my defense, things have been a little crazy around here. Being homeowners has been a series of adventures. And we all know that adventures make fabulous stories.

Tonight, I have a marvelous story for you. It’s called The Story of the Sod Cutter.

Once upon a time, a not-so newlywed couple moved into their very first home. They knew the house needed some tender love and care, but they were young and excited and decided they were up for the challenge.

As the snows melted and spring crept out from beneath winter’s heavy hand, the beauty of their new backyard was unveiled. It was lush and green…

…and yellow.

The girl briefly thought that having a jungle in the backyard could be wild and exotic, but sadly her hubster was not convinced. So, they hemmed and they hawed as they stared through the patio doors at their jungle yard.

After some discussion, they decided that it was probably best to start fresh.

…but how?

On one of their romantic date nights to Home Depot, the Hubster found their solution: a sod cutter. After a little investigation, he learned that it could be rented from the store and it was on sale that week.

Two days later, the Hubster announced that it was time: the jungle yard was about to be tamed.

With a help from a friend and some new neighbours, the mission began. Much like the way a rider jumps onto a bucking bull, the Hubster dove in a tackled the lawn with the sod cutter. The cutter had a mind of its own and wasn’t immediately ready to be tamed, but the Hubster took charge and showed it who’s boss.

Naturally, the girl stood by to take pictures and laugh hysterically support her husband.

He cut…

…and cut…

…and cut.

And slowly but surely, their jungle lawn disappeared into rolls and piles.

Because he has super sod cutting powers, the Hubster flew through the backyard and decided to tackle the front. While not as junglish as the back, their front yard was dotted with weeds and bright yellow dandelions.

He made it a few feet into the front yard when the girl heard the machine stop.

By this point the girl was up in their beautiful new office space resting from the arduous task of taking photos of people actually working. Much like the way Romeo called up to Juliet in the famous balcony scene, the girl heard someone calling to her from the ground below. She leaned out her window to see her beloved on the lawn, calling out  to her:

“….Is the internet working?”

The girl was perplexed. The internet?! Of course it was working!

…or had been a moment earlier.

She whirled around to her beloved laptop only to see that the internet had elusively slipped away while her back had been turned. Confused, she made her way outside only to see the stopped sod cutter and a piece of broken cable in the Hubster’s hand.

You see, the brilliant technicians that came to install the cable many years ago didn’t bury the cable properly. So, when the Hubster pushed the sod cutter through the front yard, it took revenge on them and sliced clean through their not-so buried internet cable. In fact, it was hardly buried at all.

…until they went looking for what was rest of it.

After they realized that the internet cable had been cut, they decided to take a break from sod cutting to play a game of let’s-dig-up-the-side-yard-in-search-of-the-cable. The end still connected to their house was easy to find… the end running out to the street was much more elusive.

After a 30 minute dig and many “this is the one, I can feel it!” ‘s later, the other end was finally found.

They discovered that the cut cable could be reconnected, but as it was quickly getting dark they decided to put it off and focus on hauling at least one load of the jungle lawn out of the backyard. A neighbour graciously lent them a trailer, which they proceeded to back into the yard to fill.

The men made short work of filling the trailer, then it was time to haul it out.

…except that the trailer wouldn’t come out.

They heaved, and they ho-ed, and they pushed, and they pulled, but the now heavy trailer just couldn’t make it back through the fence gate. Some extra manpower arrived on scene, and with a little extra rearranging and shifting the  men finally got the trailer out at 10:15pm.

The men drove away to empty the trailer, and the girl trudged up the stairs and collapsed into bed to wait for her Hubster to get home.

She was almost asleep when he crawled into bed shortly before midnight, utterly exhausted.

…and utterly triumphant.

The jungle yard was no more. They fell asleep knowing that even though it had lashed out at the internet, they had conquered the sod cutter and had a pretty, unlevel dirt backyard.

The End.