::::Tap,Tap,Tap::: Is this thing on?

Were you lost without me? Have I been removed from your favorites section on your browser yet? I can't believe it's been two weeks since my last post!! I have to say, I've been busy, but not THAT busy. I know, I've neglected you, but in the past couple of weeks I came down with an itch. The DIY bug. It doesn't come often, but when it does, you must act quickly to get the most you can done with the maximum amount of results, before laziness sets back in.

Last year Ben and I installed hardwood floors on the main level of our house. Now that we are no longer novices at this art, Paul decided to enlist his brother to help him lay hardwood floors in his entire house. After laying the floors at Paul's, John & Sherry purchased wood to finish their flooring remodel upstairs. So we packed up last weekend and, now flooring professionals, laid their floors in a day and a half. Impressive I know. The unfortunate side effect of all of this is that it gave me the itch to get back working on our house. But what would be our next project?

Wednesday morning, while in the shower, I decided my entire house is painted with some sort of color, why is it that our bathroom and master bedroom is the lamest shade of tan in the entire house? I MUST resolve this, and resolve it quickly. No waiting. I decide that tackling the bedroom was out of my league, but the bathroom I could handle. I called Ben later that afternoon from Lowe's and ask his thoughts. He thought I was crazy since I had already painted it once. I told him too bad, they're already mixing a nice blueish/teal to match the bedspread. Actually, come to think of it, it's more of a sea foam, like the mini van. Huh. Anyway, Ben hates to paint, and isn't the best painter, so I tackled the project myself. Done in one night! I'm now able to shower and feel complete, like our bathroom has personality. Which every master bath should have, right?

Then, the next project became clear to both of us. Our neighbor had the retaining wall surrounding his in ground pool rebuilt and in the process tore up some of our yard. No biggie, they replaced everything with fresh sod and even fresh soil in our designated flower bed. So this is where the obvious project hits both of us. This flower bed used to have six bushes growing in it last year from when we planted them. Now it holds a bagazillion weeds, 1 1/2 bushes still alive, a couple of dead bush trunks, and a few holes from where dead bushes were removed. Just a sad sight.

After visiting several landscaping for dummies websites, we headed off to Lowe's Thursday night. $190 bucks later we had purchased, a couple burning bushes, ornamental grass, six purple hedgemajiggers, four purple perennial thingies, three blooming bushes, two black eyed susans, and a partridge in a pair tree. Yes, they really sell those. Friday I worked a half day and was able to start the weeding and hoeing prior to Ben getting home. When he did arrive, he made the mistake of asking what was for dinner, I told him cereal and he better be out in ten minutes. I crack a mean whip. By 8:00pm we were done, and very proud of our work. The only thing left to do (besides not killing them) is to transplant some of the ornamental grass this fall from the front yard to the back center to cover the hideous sandbox in our neighbors yard. Hopefully, we have luck with the new plants and can keep these alive, if not, I'm pouring concrete.

So what's next? Not much, we have aspirations of new kitchen counter tops, but the likelihood of that happening before we move is probably slim. But I did buy some spray paint to spruce up some bathroom lighting and to update our outdoor lamps. I must admit, I love spray paint, it will transform any unsightly object into a masterpiece for $3.97!

I'm beginning to think I should have my own DIY show or, better yet, book! "Jodes top 10 decorate for less ideas, with a bonus feature, in depth insights on how to win/threaten over your husband on any DIY project."