A Well Spent Weekend!

My favorite show on DIY network, back when we had cable, was Yard Crashers with Ahmed Hassan.

I dream of running into him and Home Depot or Lowe's and ending up with a yard the neighbors will envy! Well a girl can only wait so long! We started without Ahmed this weekend! My dad was kind enough to drop 10 tons of lovely topsoil in my driveway on Thursday night. Sir house and I took off Sat-Tuesday to get some things done around the ugly little house.  Sir and I do not own a wheel barrow. Borrowing tools from your parents is a big money saver when you're a new home owner but sometimes repairs are required. The handles on my dad's wheel barrow were rotted out so the day started with a trip to Lowe's. We picked up handles for the wheel barrow. Dad guessed we'd need some new bolts as well so we grabbed those, two bags of grass seed for our Scott's Snap spreader (which I love!)

Two gallons of the white paint that I decided would be the trim, door, and ceiling color throughout the house and a handful of other things. Off to the house we went. Actually off to the house they went. I had to get a haircut! I arrived back at the house to find dad and sir still tinkering with the wheel barrow. It wasn't long before our awesome neighbor handed over his wheel barrow with the sentiment of "I ain't pushin' it!"  Lol really our neighbors are great and I couldn't ask this man to help us move 10 tons of dirt. With Sir's dad's  wheel barrow and the neighbor's we got moving!

We covered about a quarter of the yard and then we decided that the swing set needed to come down.

It was in the way, of no use, and no one wanted to buy it no matter how long it sat on Craig's list. Sir's dad had begged us to save the wood and repurpose it.

I was very skeptical, what could we possibly use it for? Well we did use it! On Monday we built a raised garden bed!

It's not much but it's enough to house the plants the Sir's dad gave us until we have places for them next year! We spread the rest of the topsoil and seeded. 

There were a few more things we got done this weekend but that was the bulk of the work! I'm excited to have everything moving now!

The roof!

So this weekend, the big project we have been waiting for got done! The roof!

These guys move fast! We got to the house before 10 am and 85% of the old roof had been stripped off! All of the plywood sheeting in the rear of the house had been replaced. They quickly put up the weather paper and shingles were started before lunch.

We've already gotten compliments from the neighbors! It was crazy to see everyone driving by sooo slow to take a look at the ugly little house transforming! I had not said this before but there was a part of me that was really embarrassed to own this house but more and more that's shrinking and being taken over by the part of me that is so proud to rescue the house! We still have a long way to go, the soffits and the gutters need to be finished for starters, but this is a huge, happy step forward!!

What's under that tarp?

TEN TONS OF TOPSOIL! Yes you heard right! Ten tons of topsoil has been dropped in my driveway and has to be distributed this weekend! I know it's been slow on the ugly little house blog lately but it's about to pick up real fast!!

When it rains, it pours! Inside!

So we've recently had A LOT of rain here recently. I know, I shouldn't be surprised to find leaks in a house with known roof damage. but I was, and heres why: When we initially went to visit this house for the first time, it was raining. There was nothing coming through the roof, no rain inside. About a week after we made settlement it rained pretty bad. At that point we found water coming through the hole in the dining room ceiling. Its to be expected I guess, it is after all, a hole in the ceiling. But this past rain; it poured! That drip, drip, drip, filled most of a five gallon bucket!

Then we found water coming down behind the electrical box!

 

Then we found water dripping off of the fan pulls in one of the bedrooms! the light cover was also half full with water!

Needless to say, this is a little more than we thought we signed up for! But we will handle it and we'll keep you in the loop!