Cotton Tornado!

 We've had sooo much cotton falling From the trees this spring. It feels like we are in a continuous snow globe or tornado of cotton seeds. They are blanketing the deck. driveway and grass. It's everywhere. I'm super glad we made the blower purchase, as its gotten a daily use! It doesn't work great on the cotton as it swirls up and all around, but still works better then anything else. 

Zoey even made a bed out of all the cotton!

I can just imagine all the cotton trees that are going to start growing in all the wrong places from all these seeds everywhere! I'm going to have to get the blower out and get them out of the rocks and mulch! 

Since my photos won't load, I'll do that later!

Yesterday, was a productive day. 3 houses and some advertising. Two calls for jobs, one for me, which I picked up an every 2 week and an estimate for Steve. Not sure he wants that job as it's siding and up high. Yikes!! At least we are getting calls from my small amount of advertising. I'll do more today since I'll be out in Lake Elmo close to Woodbury. It is supposed to rain tonight, which is a little concerning, but hopefully, most will be picked up today with the mail. 

I also need to mow the back yard. The front yard's new grass seed and sod is looking good. Just can't mow it or it will get recked. I will wait as long as possible before cutting so it has a chance to take hold. We are suppose to get a lot of rain again over the weekend into next week! Ugh! I mean that's good for the grass and plants, but bad for advertising or painting outside/doing and finishing up project. 

Zoey also needs a grooming as her fur is already getting a bit long. I'll probably do that Sunday since we have nothing going on and it's going to be a rain filled day. 

Logan started his summer class and needs a $95 dollar book. The next class starts in June. He is taking two summer classes to graduate on time. He also needs new shoes and some hangers. They are on the todo  list! 

I have a new house today. Just a 1 or 2 time a year job, but it could turn into some close to home work too for this client. I sure hope so! At any rate, it paid for my time advertising and replaced a schedule change this week. A good trade off! Just a bit far to drive, 30 minutes. 

 

Summer temps are coming!

 I see 80*f degrees soon. I just love summer temps! They are now here to stay. It will be a bit cooler this week with some rain and then summer temps! 

Today its work in the morning and then again at 1pm. I'll get some cash on the 2nd client of the day. I save that for if Logan needs money or bills (Car and Insurance) at the end of next month. 

Steve has work and a dentist appointment today. I will be doing the advertising by myself, so that's not fun. I'll be doing that all week by myself in the afternoons since he is working. Not complaining about that! Its just a lot easier and not as bad when I have help. Hopefully, it will turn into a few calls for both of us!! 

This weeks frugal attempt is to eat what we have in the house. Steve and the kids have a hard time with this. We do have enough freezer and pantry food to put together a few items, maybe meatless meals? 

I will have to stop at the store since Logan used up all the cherry tomatoes that I was wanting on my salad. We also need a new air mattress pump before camping again. I'll go to Walmart to see if one is stocked on the shelves. I need one bottle of orange spray. We will also go to the Farmers Market this Saturday and buy some flowers $10 to $15 for a birthday gift. I'll go to the Dollar store to get a card since I could use a few more pairs of reader glasses and maybe some windex refill. 

The weather looks dry through Thursday night. I'll pick up more paint tomorrow and after I advertise, I'll paint the rest of the deck legs. I'll let Steve paint the ledger board that is hard to reach even on the ladder. Then the deck will be 100% done. 

I'm going to prepay some bills due next week. Otherwise, I'd have zero bills this week. Trying to get a head on some and check them off early to spread them out a little more.  I used to pay all at once and just be done, but it seems less painful to spread them out, but in trade off, more time spent remembering and paying bills, which is endless. 

Every month we are getting closer and closer to paying off our mortgage and Logan's graduation date is ticking down too. 

Our neighbors are building a massive house at the lake. Steve is excited about building up at the lake, so that's good. It will be nice when we finally are able to build and the kids can enjoy. I looked up rental amounts up at the lake and they get any where from $150 a night on up to $300/600. Plus, places are selling for $700K for just a normal cabin up to a million plus for a nice house on the lake. A good investment amount. Not sure how we handle the property if it's owned by Steve's parents, but we build the cabin on it and his brother owns half the property with Steve. I'll have to do some reading up on the subject to get educated before we build. We are renting it out when not in use/4th of July for sure. Even thought the holidays are the big money makers, I want to make sure we are up there at least 1 time. We have all winter to enjoy and early spring/fall. We have other places to go in the summer. 

Memorial Day weekend!

 It sure was a quick weekend at the lake. We didn't leave till Saturday morning and got up there around 11am to mow and set up the camp/tents. We probably should have brought up the tent to go over the picnic table as it rained. Instead, I brought up an extra tent we used as the new food tent and the hang out tent while it rained Saturday. It's a leaker, so not super great, but worked. It was one of the oldest orig instant tents. Our tent and the very large dark out tent was also bone dry. Can't say that with the other green tent with the back storage area. It leaked a bit, but wasn't too bad. I think we can get by this year without having to replace our tents. We do have one more dark out tent with a not so great zippers that still works. That is always another option for us to use on the 4th. 

You can't see the two other tents, but it was a tent city with 4 up. Gave us more room to set up games on the beach. 

We had a beautiful sunset Saturday night after the rain. We all went to bed early since it was chilly and everything was wet. 

I love our view out the tent window on the beach! 

The flower seeds I planted last year grew!! I was so happy to see that some of the seeds made it! The little purple flowers were so unexpected! Now I want to plant more up there! 

I tried to make a fire on Sunday after all the rain the night before. It kept dying. I kept at it and was able to cook our sweet potatoes in foil over the fire. They are my favorite like that! 

Sun tanning, ladder ball and floating in the water. 

The lake was far too chilly to be in, so the kids just floated on the big tube. Our air pump is pretty much shot! We tried to purchase a new one from Walmart and they were all sold out for the plug into the lighter kind. I'll have to buy one asap, so we have it for our next camping trip. The old one blows up all sooooo slow! 

Celina and Mady participated in the  5K winery run. Celina came in 2nd place in her age group. 

The website listed a T-shirt and drink after the race, but they said it was either or. Sounds like false advertising to me for $35!Here's what it said on line!

See all are guaranteed a drink ticket! Nope, they even asked and said that was not correct. Well, you have it on the website and that's why people ran the race! Hello, we are at a winery! 

Kids are all 21 now and were bummed that they didn't get carded! Go figure!! lol.. 

China running the race through the winery

Glad we got there in time to see her at the mile and 2 miles then finish line. 

See that paw print!! We might have had a cougar kill some animal at the top of the hill in our woods. It sounded like it was right outside of our tent! At first I was thinking raccoons fighting, then it sounded a bit like a squealing pig. It was LOUD and lasted quite a long time. We were freaked out! I tried to look out the tent window, but couldn't see anything due to the woods being so dark and not having a flash light. We didn't even think of recording the noise with our cell phones! Ugh!! Really wish we would have set up the game trail camera and thought about recording! Here's what I found out later

This article was January 2024! in new London pretty close by. 

Here's an example of a cougar print.

I'd say dido match!! 

We go to the north shore all the time and camp and have never had issues with any animals, but go to Sauk lake in Central Mn and get all kinds of animals!! Yikes!!! 

Some Photos Maggi took, We cooked brats, corn and roasted veggies for dinner. We also played a few games of dominos. 

The kids went for a country 2 mile walk around the square. They all must have been tired of being around us. lol.. 

It rained again last night/ Sunday so we woke to everything wet. We did put away the chairs and food etc to keep everything we could dry. Thankfully, it stopped raining pretty early and then the sun came out, so we were able to dry off the tents etc. We still have some rugs to dry and the grills to clean, but in all easy to put away. 

In all with the food we purchased and gas, I think I only spent $100 for the weekend. That isn't including both cars filling up with gas before the trip and then pre-buying some food, alcohol, ice etc. 

We did by 3 beers at the winery, a pizza and pretzel. 

Purchased ice, corn, potatoes, chicken, veggies, tums, water bottles, gallon plastic bags, Orange porta-potty liquid, paper plates and coffee. We also bought mcd's on the way up, sandwich/coffee and apple pie, smoothy and then this morning pancakes, smoothy, sandwich and a coffee just for me and Steve. 

We had purchased brats and a big 40 bottle package and some chips at Sam's along with some alcohol and juice we had on hand. We also had hash brows in the freezer and eggs in the frig along with some coffee, butter and mustard with seasoning. 

This week is a semi -busy work week. I have houses every day, which is good! Plus, the weather should be okay Tuesday- Thursday todo some much needed advertising. I also have a good plan of where to go to advertise. Steve also has a full week of work, followed by doing his parents house/paining and window/sliding door replacement and carpet on the stairs. After, he has a few more smaller jobs and then doesn't have anything lined up till the fall. That should buy us time till July at least.  Plus, I should also pick up more work too with doing more advertising for both of us. 

We are staying home next weekend since it looks like rain Thursday night - Sunday. We do have a 60th birthday party on Saturday afternoon. So that is something to do and we will go to the farmers market and pick up flowers for the party. 

We only have Monday TV with Below Deck now that Survivor is over and the Amazing race. That too is almost over, but they do tend to do another below deck right away. Plus, I think Summer house is also coming to an end. 

Steve has a dentist appointment this week and that's all going on. Celina had one more week before her new job starts next Monday. It will be an easy last week of work for her. She turned in her work laptop last week and has finished up projects. A good way to end her work contract for GM before starting her permeant job. It's all remote, so we will see lots of her at home. I do think she needs to set up an office and not make the porch that forever more! 

No photo Monday!

I took zero photos last night of our neighbor women get together. Ugh! I made some cute little turkey and ham round sandwiches that I stacked and added a pick to keep them together. Along with a salary rose and some grapes and strawberries then a cup of small potato straws. It was a super pretty platter. Although, I had a few leftover sandwiches! No-one touched the salami roses and most of the fruit was gone. Ugh! I ended up eating the rest of the sandwiches for dinner so they wouldn't go to waste. I had to use up a whole loaf of bread for this as it's very wasteful making those round sandwiches. I'll use the leftover bread to make a french toast bake and use the cheese for melted nachos or on a sandwich. It all will be used up. 

I was going to make crackers for the occasion, but of course was tired out from my busy workday and then making the platter after shopping. I just decided to rest. I'll make crackers today and the french toast bake for dinner tonight. 

 Steve is still in search of an e-bike. We might be able to get a rebate at some time. This would surly save us on the purchase. Steve found this ebike style that he liked. It's not too bad of a price either! 

I had a super busy Monday and so many schedule changes for today that I only work an hour! I'm now working the morning on Friday as a trade off! Trying to accommodate my clients since it's going to rain that day anyway and we aren't leaving for the lake till Saturday morning. 

I slept in, so I'll go to the gym this afternoon. Its supposed to rain, so a good day to be inside. 

I really need to concentrate on weight loss! I start but don't continue. I need to just stay focused! 

Is our 25th anniversary tomorrow. I should pick up a card for Steve. I was going to make dinner reservations somewhere for Wednesday, but its the survivor finally. I don't want to miss that! We can always go another weekend we are at home. We have some gift cards to use up, so I'll just save those for another time. 

Monday once again!

 I have a busy work schedule today and all this week! I would like all work weeks like this! I just like the money making aspect! Being self employed fending for ourselves and getting jobs is always on my mind. More so now that Steve's work schedule isn't filled up! It's unusual as spring time is always gang busters. This year is different with coming out of covid with everyone doing home projects and now everyone wants to spend money on travel and not their house. There will always be work out there, we just have to advertise to find it! Zero calls for his ads we put out last Wednesday. At least I got a call and an email. Still haven't heard back from the email and the other woman who contacted me back in March! Guess, I can forget about picking up those jobs. At least I did get a 1x a month new client from this last advertising. Made it worth the effort! 

I'm not doing any advertising this week as it's going to rain every day, but Thursday! Plus, my work schedule is pretty busy all week. I'm also cat feeding two times a day till Friday morning. I'm on count down to how many days I have to do this! The hardest part is just remembering to go there. 

New sod!

Sod down and seed/dirt filled in the front yard. 

Sunday, we purchased 2 rolls of sod at $7.99 each for 6ft rolls. It was enough to cover the top part of the front yard where the dog tramples. We didn't want to plant seed/dirt since she would just bring in the mud and constantly walk on. The new sod is a bit thick, so I've been stepping on it to get it down. We roughed up the bare ground, added some black dirt and put the sod on top. I just ripped on sections and placed them down. It was a little bit of a dirty job, but it's done and I sure hope the grass gets fixed! I made sure to mow first since I won't be able to mow for a few weeks. We should get enough rain this week to take care of the watering but I'll still water today, and the days we don't get rain so it gets a dousing once or two times a day. We still have the back yard to add seed. We are supposed to get a ton of rain Tuesday, so didn't want to have it all wash away. We did seed/dirt some other spots in the front yard to cover up the tree roots. Hopefully, that doesn't wash away! You can't always count on the weather report.

Last night we made slider burgers. We picked up a package of 18 slides and a large bag of hotdog buns because there wasn't any slider buns. I think the sliders were $12 and the buns $4. Steve made some coleslaw and fried onions. Such a good meal on the flat grill. 

Saw this cute little pail drink cup idea. I might have to go to the dollar store and pick up some little pails with paper straws. We have a few umbrella drink toppers too. 

We also did our returns to Lowes and DWS. Steve ordered a different pair of shoes in his size to be shipped in 5 to 7 days. We never did find any stove side replacements to finish off to prevent food from getting in between the counter and the stove. We need to figure that out asap or order something soon! 

Other home projects we can do rain or shine, clean the garage and paint the walls on my side. I'll probably start working on this one of these weeks if not this week! I'd like my side of the garage all nice looking before all the camping stuff is in the way. 

We also have the seed/dirt to do this week on Wednesday. This will give it time to get rained on, so we don't have to water. We have a big sandy area that we had the tent/pool in for years that needs to grow grass. I have more flower seeds to plant somewhere in the yard too. I still don't see the old seeds I planted growing. At least I tried! 

I'll be taring the driveway in two weeks. It really needs to be done. Then probably the week after get mulch for under the apple trees or in the big berm to freshen it up. I'll have some weeding to do/ cutting growing trees before  we can add more mulch. Probably need to spray some weed kill. That will take care of that corner of the yard. 

I still need to clean the window screens. I probably should have done that over the weekend, but forgot all about it. Plus, wasn't feeling well yesterday after eating some watermelon. Made my stomach hurt for a few hours. I ended up taking a nap and I still slept good last night too. Now I'm afraid to eat any more watermelon for fear it might hurt my stomach again. That was pretty awful! 

Madelyn's Dance Recital

 Madelyn and the 4 year old's Dance Recital

After we all went out to dinner

I had the pizza. Thankfully, I have half the pizza in leftovers for breakfast

The only other thing I did Saturday other than the dance recital and going to dinner. Was bike 10 miles and the gym. Then came home after and fed the cat and went to get ice cream with Steve. A nice Saturday! 

Today, is the gym, feed the cat two times today. Get the seed/dirt down on the lawn as it's supposed to rain at 5pm. Maybe do the Lowes returns and shoes. Text my client reminders for tomorrow's work day. 

The week mostly will be working, paying a few bills and seeing if we can go to the lake this weekend. All weather dependent. looks like Saturday - Monday will be okay. I was hoping to go up Friday, but it looks like rain right now. We will just leave super early Saturday morning and get all set up/mow the lawn before the kids arrive in the early afternoon. Monday is supposed to rain, but I think it will hold off until the evening, so we will pack up and get home by 5pm at the latest. 

It's a very full work schedule next week as long as there aren't any schedule changes/cancelations! I'm hoping I don't have any of those, but seems every week there are changes. Usually that is pushed to the following week, which is less busy anyway. I also have the cat to feed two time a day through Friday morning. That adds extra work too. I'll be doing more advertising after the holiday weekend as long as the weather looks good. 

We don't have any other camping plans till the 4th of July when we will be back at the lake. Might go up again if the weekend looks nice as we will have to mow for that weekend too. I will probably set up the back yard tent on the patio this year. That way it won't kill the grass, but it will be weirdly close to the house. It's the only spot in the yard other than if I were to put it on top of the old garden. lol... actually isn't a bad idea if only there was a deck out there to put it on top of! I love my back yard camping option for nights where it's warm and to extend the summer of being outdoors as much as possible. 

Saturday... all this rain!

 I looked ahead to the weather and we are going to get rain pretty much every day into the holiday/Memorial Day weekend. Ugh!!! Not loving that! Plus, temps are going to be only in the low 60's. Not idea for being outside 24/5! 

Friday Steve and I went on a bike ride across the Hastings bridge over to Wisconsin/Prescott. Stopped along the river at a new to us, bar/restaurant where we had a drink and a very late lunch. They only serve shrimp and pizza. Which we got both. I ordered just 2 of their very large shrimp to try. Delicious! They were only 2.50 each, min of 2. Very well seasoned! 

I will have to make this hard lemonade with vodka and fruit this summer! So refreshing! Maybe less alcohol or a mock-tail! 

Great views of the river

Riding across the bridge. 

After we came home and Logan needed a ride to Mpls to be dropped off at Dinky town to meet up with friends. 

Driving over the bridge. A great view of the river with the Mpls skyline. 

We got home around 10pm and then headed to bed. I was pretty tired from working with the new client and until 1pm and then going biking! 

I was planning on running errands yesterday night, but of course that didn't happen. 

I need dog food, paper towels, hand sanitizer, popcorn and we need more paint for the deck. Although, I'm not sure when we are going to finish the deck with all the rain in the forecast the next week plus! 

I'm going to Madelyn's dance recital today at 2pm and then out to dinner after. It's going to be a long day waiting for the performance to start. I'm not sure how many dances of other kids we have to go through? Reminds me of the days Kendra was dancing. 

I also start cat feeding tonight through Friday. It's easy and close to home. The hardest part is just remembering in the evening. 

I was planning on taking this Friday off, but now? Not so sure?? Since we most likely will be home and not going to the lake. No need to take the morning off! I'll probably just work for an hour. This way, my Wednesday won't be overly busy! 

I'd like to get more projects done over the weekend. We will have some dry/non rain time to get dirt and seed down. This would be a good time since we are going to get rain daily. Guess, that's the priority! Plus, cleaning the garage and getting the walls painted. Costs nothing to do these projects and gives us something todo and checks off the todo list around the house. 

I'm not sure what we will do if we stay home for the Memorial Day weekend? Probably more home projects. It won't be a 100% washout with rain, but enough of it and cooler temps. It kind of limits us on what to do! 

Finally Friday!

 The week is coming to an end. They sure do go fast and faster as we age! 

I did not use my time wisely Thursday! I did work in the morning till 11:30am and then I had a new client meeting at 4pm. In between and after, not much in the way of home projects or even being productive. I should have done a lot of things with my time. Instead I sat on the couch or in front of TV for hours. I did make myself some rice and cooked one of the strudels. Well, I supposed I might have needed the down time since I've been working non stop on painting the deck. 

Dieting also isn't going great! I started off eating protein/2 scrambled eggs, lunch was a salad but had a fe rolls and then left over spatial with cheese. Dinner rice and the strudel with ice cream. Well, there is always today to start again. 

One of my favorite salads! 

I should have eggs more often! 

I did go to the gym and lift weights for 30 minutes in the morning. Today, I'm skipping the gym. I have a new client this morning plus, a regular client at noon. Working will be enough for the morning. Maybe a bike ride in the afternoon? I also have those window screens still to wash. 

I did go to a 4pm meeting yesterday, so I did have to get off the couch, get dressed and fixed up a bit to go. I got the job, but it wasn't 100% right away since they didn't schedule a start date. I just made sure to text after thanking them for the meeting etc. and added some dates. Since one of my clients is sick and was scheduled Friday, I had an opening. Otherwise, next week is 100% full with the shorter week/taking off Friday. They did finally text and take me up on today's offer. YES!! I need the money! 

Plus, I start cat feeding Saturday night. Of course I won't be home till later that night I'm guessing 7 or 8pm? The cat is used to not getting fed till noon and again at night, so this works to my favor. I have my granddaughter's dance recital and then dinner after. I'll be leaving by 1:40pm tomorrow. It's going to be a long day of dance! 

We were planning on going boating since it's going to be 84*F, but I work today till 1pm and then will be gone most of Saturday. Maybe we'll go kayak and fish? I still need to run some errands. We are out of dog food and paper towels. My Costco membership also needs to be renewed. Ugh!That's $60 before I even purchase anything. 

No plans for Sunday, but we should do more home projects. I want to finish up the deck and maybe tar the driveway or at least get all the screens washed and window tracks cleaned out. We also could clean the garage and paint the walls. Lots more things to do if we "Want". It does feel good to check off some of our todo list around the house. 

Things come in 2's!

 We finished what we could on the deck. Once again, out of paint. To be fair, we only have the leg posts and the long ledger board left to paint. That will most likely take another gallon of paint with some left over for touch ups next year. I'm guessing this will be the weekend's project to finish! I'm ready to move on to getting our garage in order. 

Here's the finished top deck. Even our neighbor commented on the newly painted deck. Their deck is brown the color ours used to be, so not sure they are 100% on board with black, but I think they liked it. 

Just different, but it matches better with our house colors/roof. 

I'll probably skip putting the rug out there this year. I might change my mind, but for now it's good the way it is! The project cost is adding up a bit more then we planned, but still inexpensive fit it project, even if the paint is $45 per gallon and we are on bucket #2, going on #3 to finish it up. To save a bit, we used a Menards rebate and a return coupon. This next bucket is all on us, as we are out of rebates and returns. In all without any discounts the project costs were as follows

Rented sander $50 

Sandpaper 1 at $10

2 buckets of black paint $90, plus need one more $45

1 gallon of stain $40

Disposable brushes and trays $1.25 each (didn't need to purchase/ had)

roller -had and didn't need to purchase

Labor = free

Total = $235 (minus rebate/return money- $60 aprox) 

$175 total out of pocket cost. Nice!!! 

I started this on Saturday afternoon and we still have some left on Thursday. We only worked on it a few hours each day. Steve staining and doing some black touch ups, I did most of the black rails painting. Steve also sanded and I spent a few years scraping all the paint off the rails and deck boards before we were ready to paint. 

This was the before photos. 

I don't miss the brown as I always hated it. It was my idea to paint it black years ago. Glad I finally got to do it. 

Things come in 2's! 

We advertised just in 2 neighborhoods yesterday, less than an hour and I got 2 responses! An email, which I haven't had a return yet, and a call which I got the job and have a meeting today. My goal is to pick up 7 new clients and fill up Steve's work schedule. I'm hoping Steve gets a few calls too. He did have an entire kitchen remodel and a few other smaller project client meetings yesterday. The kitchen will be in the fall, so that's work to be scheduled out a bit. The smaller jobs he can fit in right away and we can keep advertising in the mean time. I'll do more this afternoon probably by myself as Steve is working, unless he finishes early? 

I also had 2 schedule changes this week. It just adds more work for next week, which is already shorter due to the holiday weekend and leaving on Friday to the lake. Plus, with the added work, I also will be cat feeding Saturday- Friday morning. Its going to be a busy week! Which is a good thing! I'll schedule the new work for after the holiday weekend when I'm less busy. Fingers crossed we both pick up more jobs!

Diving has been easy during the day. Not so great at night. Ugh! Ended up having a few candies/ sour gummies. Plus, had a few rolls and a croissant. Not the best choices as we are out of popcorn, my go to snack. 

Yesterday, I advertised, worked, painted, ran some errands and watched Survivor and Amazing race. 

Today, is more of the same, but the gym for a work out this morning, then work, advertising and ? 

A few years ago the sparrows made a mud nest around our front door. The birds are gone and the next is also, but it left behind a mud stain. We are trying to use peroxide to get it out of the stucco. We soaked a paper towel and had it against. We are going to try soaking the stucco in peroxide and see if that also helps. I bought a few scrub brushes to help get out the stain too. Maybe some good old dish dawn soap will work? 

My next home project is the garage/ cleaning it and painting the walls. (paint/ free have some) 

Tar the driveway ($25 per bucket) will need at least 2, Total $50. Plus, the squeegee $10. Labor free. I'm sure we are saving a few hundred by doing it ourselves. Plus Crack fix $25? So $75 total. 

Then we move on to mulch at some point this summer! 

I've also planted seeds. Still waiting for them to come up! I did get 2 new package of seeds from the kids. I sure hope those grow! I have one more package to plant! Maybe I'll get more and put them in the garden? 

 The stairs are done, well almost as they need some touch ups. This is the before photo, brown and a mess with brown paint peeling. 

After with the rails, and stairs painted black! 

They cleaned up nice! Amazing what a little paint will do. So far we are in 2 gallons and need one more to finish off the posts and save some for next years touch ups. We got by with one gallon of stain. Using a rebate and return money saved us on this project. Plus, using our own labor saved thousands. In all a cheap costing project with a big impact. 

I did all the down low touch ups. Now to get to the up high ones on the ladder. We also have all the leg posts to paint and the front board under the deck. We want all to match, which requires another gallon of paint! 

I also mowed the back yard since I mowed the front on Sunday. I was trying to do no mow May, in the backyard, but it was getting way too long. 

The next project is washing all the window screens and wiping out the window tracks. Which I can do today after all the painting touch ups are done. I'll also have to blow off the driveway again as we keep getting various tree droppings. First it was all the pedals from the crabapple and now it's the pedal stems and next it will be the maple tree seeds dropping. Always something on the driveway. It's been nice having the blower. It's quick, fun and easy to do on a regular basis. Plus, the blower is good at getting all the cotton seeds off the house and bugs. This will keep the house siding looking a lot cleaner. I need a blower extension to get up high! lol

Bills are due today. UGH! The mortgage will ben soooo nice to have paid off in only 2 more years. 2026! count down time. Also count down to paying for college as its Logan's last year. 11 more apartment payments and we are done. 

Today is working and errands this afternoon along with the other home projects. I should be advertising too. I'll put that on my todo list for an hour to make some progress.