Lawn and Garden, episode 2011

Winter is a lame time in MN for any type of home improvements.  I really don't think I've done anything to the house since the last post. But, now it's May! The Sun! Grass! Flowers!

I've had a great time the past couple weeks getting my lawn and garden looking nice.  Let's have a look-see how abouts?

The wall of shame. No wait, thats just the privacy fence that separates my neighbor and I.  It was desolate and barren (except for weeds, which were thriving!) when I went at it last week with all the tools in my arsenal (my hands and shovels).

Unfortunately, it doesn't appear as if the morning glories from last year self-seeded. Fail.  But I am not to be deterred.  My parents thinned out some ferns, so I planted those at intervals along the fence.  Then I planted morning glory seeds in the spaces between.  In front of the ferns I sprinkled a gigantor bag of "aromatic wildflower mix".  Fingers crossed!  The other new addition is a paver border - doesn't it look so nice?  They are the same pavers I used last year on the side and front gardens.  Thanks to my handy measuring skills, I got the EXACT NUMBER OF PAVERS that I needed. Take that, math gods!

Next up - the side garden leading up to my house.  Last year I planted lots of marigolds.  But since I have a patio in the hopper, I didn't want to plant anything and then lose all my hard work when the sidewalk was dug up.  Instead, I decided to go with lime green planters lining the walk with some red mulch.  Looks very sweet, yes?  Not sure what kind of flowers I have in them...I still have the identifying cards, but they're out in the garage. Blogger fail.

Up close view

I also added planters to the front walk, flanking the front door.

Those two projects took about 4 hours last Wednesday, that not only netted me a fabulous looking yard, but also a wicked sunburn. Go me!

Today, I tackled the front yard.  First was de-treeing the front garden.  I love the way the maple tree looks, but seriously.  Seems like I have little trees growing EVERYWHERE.  All the front garden took was de-treeing and taking out the old mulch from last year to get it all freshened up.  I'm tossing around planting some marigolds in front of the bushes and astilbes....

Final garden project - putting edging around the maple tree and filling the space with mulch.  My dad wasn't a fan of the idea, but I wanted to do it for two reasons. First, grass grows so sparse under the tree and there are a lot of ground roots. Makes mowing a serious chore and it just never looked good.  Second, it would add some visual interest to the front.

See what I mean?  I love the look of it so much.  This is one project I'm so glad I did this year, and all it took was 11 bags of red mulch and two packages of edging (that was not recommended for trees, LOL).  I've also thrown down lots of grass seed in an attempt to get some grass growing along the curb - same trouble spot as last year.  But I think it's working! I have teeny tiny eeny meeny little blades of grass growing.

So, thats my no hassle, upkeep free gardening.  I am not a super big fan of gardening, but I love the results. So I do the least amount of work possible.  And the results ain't half bad, if I do say so.

Hello Lover

I moved to the house with a stained but serviceable area rug for the living room.  It just got more and more stained and gross looking. Especially with the addition to the family of a twerpy little kitten named Tux.  He has been losing his baby fur, so I've had gray/black fur all over the rug.

Tux the Twerp

Anyways. I was at Ikea today picking up a new vanity top (installation should come on Monday!) and picked up a great looking area rug for only $20.

So lovely. It's a nice grey (gray) color that goes great with the brown/black furniture, oak floors, oak shelves and purple furniture. The rug was a simple and cheap change that really made an impact in the way the room looks.  I snapped a photo with my phone, but it's pretty awful.

Coming up next - a new vanity top and faucet!

Breaker Breaker One

Picture this - it's about 8 o'clock at night and I just get home from a full day at work, then to the gym for my personal training assessment and 30 minutes of homage to the elliptical.  I'm tired, hungry, and sweaty.  Luckily for me, I had delicious bbq chicken teriyaki and stir fry veggies left over from last night.  I decide to go ahead and make some noodles to go with it, since it was faster than rice.  I get the water going in the hot pot, get the bowl of stir fry heating in the microwave.  I'm waiting....and waiting....and waiting....Finally I get up from the couch and check why the microwave hasn't beeped.  Oh snap, no power!  I tripped the g-d breaker.  Luckily, my girl power extends to dealing with this problem.

I grab my flashlight and a sturdy pair of shoes. This is where my breaker box is located, the reason why I need a flashlight and a sturdy pair of shoes (for spiders and other critters).  Do you see the box way back there on the left. *shudder*

So, I make my way back there, studiously ignoring a suspicious looking pile on the floor and flip the switches that are labeled for the kitchen.  Go back up and nothing. Go downstairs and try it again. Go up, and nothing. Call my uncle in a panic.  Looks like I might have successfully actually broken one of my circuits. Go me! I can't get the outlet with the ground switch to trip and I can't get one of the circuits to not keep popping over.

Apparently, my girl power doesn't extend this far.  I plug the fridge into a working outlet that is just behind the wall it's on (no extension cord needed!) and am now waiting for my trusty Uncle Art to come by on Thursday to fix whatever the problem is.  So I can cook again. Because I have no stove or microwave.

Goals for 2011

One of my friends got me started thinking about goals for the new year.  I figured if I was sharing them with friends on email, I might as well share them with you - so I'll be counting on you, dear readers, to keep me honest this year!

I'm even going to go ahead and print my list out and laminate it so it can live long and prosper on my fridge. Taunting me. Goading me.

Goals for 2011


Money
• pay off credit card debt
• read the Ramsey book to keep spending in check and beef up savings for house projects/new car

Personal (ie, the year of the Debbie)
• get back into fighting shape
     o first use personal training sessions
     o then sign up for get fit bootcamp when personal training is done
     o sign up for a 5k and start running again
• make meal plans/grocery lists to help stop eating out for lunch/dinner (will also help with $$$)
• start the baking soda/vingar hair routine
• make a schedule - workouts, cleaning, etc

House Projects
• tear down rotting deck, replace with paver patios
• install baseboard trim upstairs
• clean out and organize pantry
• sew curtains for kitchen and bedroom

Other
• buy new car (new for me)
• start dating
• get another cat

What about you?  Do you have any goals you're making for 2011? House related? Crafting? Personal?

Energy Audit Report

I know everyone was waiting with bated breath. Bated? Baited? At any rate. Click on the Sherlock Holmse-y auditor guy and read my report. (or here: Energy Audit Report)

I am getting attic insulation installed this afternoon - I was quick on the trigger so I could still get the federal energy tax credit. I love me some free money!

Home Energy Audit

In September I had the Home Energy Squad come in and do a few things to save energy in my house - they installed a programmable thermostat, low flow water aerators, and weather stripped the front door.  They told me about a full scale energy audit that I could do, but seeing as I had gotten my two wisdom teeth out that morning and was doped up, I was not really paying attention.

Fast forward to November.  It's getting cold in Minnesota, and my house is getting cold. Especially my 2nd floor.  When you would walk up the stairs to the second floor, you'd get about halfway up and the temperature would drastically change. Brrrr. 

My friend Justin was going to come over and put down some more insulation in the attic, but the Saturday he was going to was our first bad snow/ice storm of the year.  Instead of just having him come and put some down, I decided to go ahead and get a full energy audit.  It was only $100, through Xcel and the NEC and included a blower door test and infrared photos on the walls.

Thursday, December 16. Energy Audit day.  Mark the auditor came over with his van full of equipment.  He measured the outside of the house first, checked the furnace and water heater for age and defect, climbed up into the attic crawl space to look at the insulation situation, then set up the blower door test and measured the drafts and cold air coming through the shell of the house. He also snapped infrared photos at this point as well.  It's going to take maybe 10 days to get my official report back (I'm hoping sooner, since I have a contractor coming out to give an estimate on Tuesday!). 

Here is the brief list of findings I can share now though:

Major Problem: My exisiting attic insulation he measured at about an R19.  For our area of the country, the insulation should measure about an R50. Explains the Brrrr. 

Other problems exist with the attic as well.  First, the existing insulation doesn't extend all the way to the eaves - there's about a 2 foot gap that is a dead cold air zone.  The vents under the roof have to breathe, but there are these handy rafter vents that you can install that lets you insulate all the way to the edge of the floor, while still allowing the fresh air to flow.

Second, there are useless vents cut into the celings of the bedrooms, that aren't connected to any duct work - so I'm essentially sending heat to the second floor that goes right up into the attic. Third, the vent fan in the bathroom just vents into the attic, and is not vented up and out the roof.  These last two problems explain my fourth probelm - frosty ceiling joists. Ruh-roh.  Fifth, I need to weather strip and insulate the attic hatch.

Less Major Problems: I need to air-seal framing gaps and penetration leaks in the basement rim joist from the interior face of the foundation wall to the outer rim. 

This explains why my basement is so cold and why I have so many spiders.  This also includes the scary crawl space, that is dirt floor. So the dirt floor should be poly sheeted and caulked and air sealed.

2nd Less Major Problem: My first floor walls only appear to be insulated to an R5 value.  They should be at least an R14.  The auditor cut a hole in a closet wall and saw that the cavity was only about 1/3 full of insulation.  The two ways to fix this are by taking down ALL the drywall on the first floor and insulating or by cutting a hole in between each stud to stick a hose to blow insulation in. Don't those options sound exciting?

The simplest problems that I can and need to fix are caulking different spots where air is seeping in the house - around window framing, the drywall along the stairs, etc.

Once I get my full report, I'll share the infrared photos and other info, because I bet it's going to be awfully exciting. Plus, it'll show me the cost savings I should expect to see if I address some of the different issues.

Dear Santa

Hi Santa, how are you?  I hope Mrs. Claus has been giving you lots of cookies and milk and ice cream.  How are your reindeer?  I like Comet the best.  Do your elves get to go on vacation?  I bet they'd really like to go on vacation to a fun place, but maybe not an amusement park, because they're so short and they might not be able to ride all the cool rides.

I've been a good girl this year.  I always pick up my room and I never fight with my brothers and sisters.  I remember to do all my chores (even cleaning out the cat box!).  I always remember to say please and thank you and I'm even nice to the people I don't like.

Here is my Christmas list.  I hope you can bring me lots of presents from this list because I've been such a good girl this year!

What I Want for Christmas 

• baseboards for my upstairs.  I need about 140 feet of baseboards.  I'd like pre-finished white that is at least 5 inches tall.  It would be great if I got crown molding too, but I really just need the baseboards

• I'd really like to get electric outlets and another range of lights in my basement.  I can't plug my freezer in because I only have one outlet for the entire basement right now that the washer and dryer are plugged into.  The basement also only has two lightbulbs, so I can't really see anything by the furnace and water heater or by all the storage stuff.  Sometimes it can get really scary down there, Santa!

• Merry Maids once a month for a year.  I really don't like doing floors.

• A personal trainer at the Y for 1-2 times per week.  Maybe for like 3 months?  I think it would really help me get motivated to exercise and be healthy.

• Zubaz.  I know, they're so not cool, but I really do want a pair. I'd like the maroon and white pair.

• Chia Pet.  I've always wanted a Chia Pet, but I never had one before. If I got the cat grass, I think Katsa would really like it too.

• a new car - I'd really like a crossover SUV or a hatchback.  Hauling stuff is so hard in my compact! Plus, it still smokes and smells like something is burning after driving on the freeway.

• the Dremel Trio looks pretty awesome.  I could cut stuff then.

• White Interior doors for the 2nd floor. Now that all my trim is painted white, the doors look even worse.

Thank you Santa!  I promise to leave out cookies for you on Christmas Eve.

Love,
Debbie

PS - maybe you could bring some cookies back for Mrs. Claus too.