TIMBER!!!!!

So when we purchased our house over 2 years ago we had one dyeing evergreen tree on the side of our house.  Over the next few months that tree completely died and whatever caused the first tree to die, started killing our other evergreen tree.  Around this fall we it was pretty obvious that both trees were now dead. 

Here is a picture of the trees on either side of the house.

 

Having two dead trees in front of our house was the advertisement for every tree trimming, yard cutting and landscape company who happen to drive down our street to stop by our house.  And since their quick sale pitches were normally done during regular business hours I was always the person to answer the door to some sweating contractor with a truck and a chain-saw. 

(The thing of housewife nightmares to tell you the truth.)

So last Saturday I decided to spend some time with my mother doing garage sales, thrift stores and general antique shopping.  It's one of my favorite things to do with her and since it was her birthday weekend I was able to kill two birds with the same stone.  So I'm out and about when I get a call from Phillip.

 

Phillip:  Hey, Gloria what was the quotes from some of those contractors for taking down the two trees?

Me:  I'm don't remember exactly, but all within $1,000- $800.  I think I got a quote for $600.00 once, but the guy looked a bit shady.

Phillip: Cool, just saw these guys down the street.... said they would do it for $400.  Only thing is they won't carry off the wood.

Me: We go ahead and do it.

 

That was the whole conversation.  Below enjoy the pictures.

 



 in progress

 in progress

After

P.S. we finally purchased a camera!!!!  Cost us  a little over $120.00 but it's a nice camera and serves the purposes of this blog.  :)

Bye, Bye Metal Junk!

So last fall we had an old 1995 Jeep.  It was running down and had a bunch of problems with it.  Our neighbor across the street had a 1996 Jeep.  Most of the parts were the same so we bought the 1996 Jeep for $500.00 as a spare parts vehicle for our Jeep.
Phillip gave up on saving our 1995 Jeep a few weeks later after attempt after attempt of fixing it to no avail.
We junked the 1995 Jeep for a few hundred dollars and sold the tires for a couple hundred as well.  But we had this 1996 Jeep sitting in our driveway.  See pictures:

As you can see it is a piece of junk now.  We salvaged a lot from it. Now it is time to get it out of our driveway before the neighbors call the code enforcement on us :)...  just kidding our neighbors are really sweet.
So we got rid of not only this junk Jeep but all the old copper pipes and wires when we gutted the plumping and wiring in the house.  We also had some type of pump from the 1920's in our basement that we also took to the salvage yard.

The money was helpful but the best thing is driving up to the house without looking at that piece of junk or going downstairs to the basement without tripping on old pipes and wires.

***Refreshing***

Air Conditioner

So as we find new and affordable projects around the house to do we became aware that our air conditioner was sticking out like a sore thumb on the side of our house.  We.... ok I wanted something a little nicer looking and something to protect it from the puppies.  As we mentioned we now have 3 dogs. 1 older dog and 2 puppies.  That being said the puppies have been busy digging around the air conditioner.  See picture for reference: 

So off the Lowe's we go!  We went over a ton of possibilities and their corresponding prices but in the end we found these ready made fencing.  See picture below: 

Here is the link to lowe's if you are interested in purchasing these as well.



www.lowes.com

  

Barrette 46-in x 32-in White Vinyl Fence Panel

• Fence Panel

Item #: 41009 |  Model #: 73004316

Overall Rating:

Overall Rating: 

3.9 / 5

 

$19.97

 

At $20 each they were a bit expensive, but when we factored in the time it would take in order to cut, sand and paint wood we sat down and admitted that we were a bit tired a lazy.  It's hard with 2 kids under the age of 3 to get the time to do any type of project.  Someone has to watch the kids while someone else has to do all the heavy labor around the house.  So... is it d.i.y. ?.... Not really, but we did stick them in the ground ourselves :)  !!!!  I think that counts.