In the Weeds

Back in February, we bought a new (to us) house. This was after selling the condo we lived in for eight years in a mere four hours thanks to an upswing in the real estate market just after the new year. The former owners wanted to stay until May which gave us months worth of drive-bys evaluating the yard projects ahead. The lawn needed some serious TLC and with quite a bit of it to work on, we knew we had our work cut out for us.

I know this is mainly a cookie blog but I also know that some of our friends and family would like to follow along with us on this journey so I hope you don't mind a few "house fixer-upper" DIY posts. Young House Love we are not (or trying to be) but we like a challenge and will try to update you when we're not raking a decade or two worth of leaves. :)

Okay, on to exhibit A:



WEEDS! Everywhere!

And Exhibit B:



OVERGROWN EVERYTHING! Everywhere!

This "situation" called for the big guns, including Mr. Preppy Cookie's recent yard sale score...a chainsaw.






I will spare you the step-by-step of what it was like ripping out what neighbors confirmed was up to twenty years worth of STUFF but there was a LOT of tree-hauling, weeding, stump chopping, onion pulling excitement. And even though you won't see me in these photos, I was 100% involved in the process. I have never worked harder on yard work in my life nor have I ever been happier to do it. We filled over 27 trash bags and at least 15 pick up truck beds worth of yard trash in three days.



By Saturday night, we could start to see the progress:



You could SEE OUR HOUSE FROM THE STREET! That alone felt good.

Sunday brought more of the same. Although we felt as stiff as the Tin Man, we prevailed knowing our time off of work is short.



We had come so far yet still have so far to go...



The reinforcements were brought in, including Millie who made herself right at home in the dirt.



And my hero, my mom. Also known as the queen of trimming the azalea (among MANY other things.) Thank you mom!





Prettiest trash run of the weekend for sure...



Clearly there is a LONG way to go still (we have not even started on stump removal, mulch, or grass seed yet) but whenever we got frustrated we had to remember how far we had come in only one weekend. A special thank you to the many neighbors who walked over to affirm that!



We forced ourselves into quitting time and here you have the first weekend results of the front "forest" only. (I didn't even do "after" pictures of the front walk or side beds yet, both of which my mom and I tackled.)



Needless to say this reward was extremely necessary at the end of the day (and hey it WAS Cinco de Mayo after all!)



I finished half and went to bed at 8:45, concluding our labor-intensive weekend of fun.

Did I mention we lived in a maintenance-free condo on a golf course for the past eight years? Talk about culture shock!

Change is good. :)