Sorry I've Been Away!

I was so proud of myself for doing a couple of blogs a week and then I kind of dropped off the Earth for a bit. Sorry about that. We're slowly easing back into "normal" (whatever that means) at work which means I've been able to spend more time at home, on my bike and with my 2 favorites: J & Frank.

One big thing we've been project we've been involved in is a complete overhaul of our landscaping. This week marks week #8 of a 3 week project, so I have yet to show you a complete set of before, during and after pictures because we're still in the "during" process. I'm told that dealing with contractors and their apparent lack of time is normal, but EIGHT weeks? C'mon! It's our first interaction with contractors and we've learned a couple of lessons like:

1. Get EVERYTHING in writing
2. Get CHANGES in writing
3. Explain that for every day they go over their estimated day, we'll be taking $25 off their bill. (we didn't do this one, but just had it suggested yesterday by my awesomely smart FIL...you live you learn!)
4. Have them sign for everything above

While it isn't complete, we're in the home stretch and we've been getting a ton of compliments from our neighbors about how much better it looks. That feels great! We went from being "those" neighbors to being the neighbors with GRASS! And flowers! And mulch around said flowers! And a new mailbox that stays closed!

It's nice to know that we're adding value to our home and our neighborhood. The awesome/not-so-awesome feeling of true adulthood has set in. We own things! We're responsible for things! When things break (like our air conditioner in the middle of this mess) we get to fix them! YAY!

So there are no finished pics yet, but I thought I'd share this little gem. A couple of weeks ago, we had the air conditioner guy, the landscapers and the AAA guy because J's truck wouldn't start out all at the same time. The wind shield repair guy for my car didn't show up till later, but yeah...sorry neighbors!

"Strive for continuous improvement, instead of perfection."

-- Kim Collins

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