Wordless Wednesday - It's a Dog's Life

The Deck Project & Tomato Garden

Well, tonight was very productive in the home improvement arena! Actually, I guess this would classify as landscape improvement. Anyway, I got home late from work and was delighted to find that our deck is finished! Woo hoo!! Watch out neighbors, because the sun-bathing will now commence. Hubby is planning to add railing to this structure soon and we're going to stain it, but for my purposes, this project is done. Once it moves into the category of "safe for my kids to play on", then that's good enough for me.

The finished deck

Finished deck by the light of the moon

Hubby was so excited about his progress with the deck, that he was ready to move onto the next project. My original Mother's Day present was supposed to be my tomato garden. So, he decided to jump on this because it's supposed to rain here for the next several days and the window of opportunity was closing fast.

Tomato Garden space (8pm)

Finished tomato garden!! (11:30pm)

Hubby watering the new garden

He has worked so hard for the past several days and I'm really proud of him! We will be enjoying these new additions to our home for many years to come!

The Deck Project - Day 3

So, we're in day 3 of this little project and major headway was made today. Yippee!! Hubby wasn't able to concrete the footers last night before bedtime, so that was first on the agenda this morning. This picture kind of shows the footers supporting the framework. This was around 10am this morning. Concrete took a while to dry, so he couldn't start laying the deck boards until after lunch. This didn't make him particularly happy.

Right after the girls went down for nap time, he was back outside working on laying the deck boards. This is really the most exciting part of this project because this is when you see the final product really coming to fruition. It's all very exciting!!


After leaving for a few hours for the kids show and dinner, we came back home and hubby immediately ran outside to start working again. He was determined to get as much done as he could, before the neighbors started complaining about hammering noise after 10pm. He got about half of the boards nailed down before he threw in the towel.

Before he called me outside to document today's progress, he went ahead and laid the remaining boards down, so I could get a feel for what the finished project is going to look like. I almost had a heart attack when I saw it. I can't wait for this to be done because this is going to be such a wonderful space for us all to enjoy this summer! Hubby is hoping to get the remaining boards nailed in tomorrow after work and then we're going to look at the railing part of this adventure. Stay tuned for more pics tomorrow!

The Deck Project - Day 2

So, hubby worked until about 11pm last night doing the really not fun stuff. Nobody in the house got much sleep last night (I guess because we're all too excited about this deck project). So, an early start happened this morning.

The supervisor, Chloe, clocks in for work at 8:30am. She wants to know where her laborer is.

Hubby makes it out a few minutes later, assessing his handywork from last night and hoping that the light of the moon didn't mislead him. Everything appears to be in order.

So, the kids & I were gone for the better part of the day and then naptime ascended upon us. I tackled the master bedroom declutter again while the kiddos slept and before I knew it, the time was almost 5pm. I slipped outside to check on the progress and he had the framing well under way. He's doing the project 100% solo, so I'm impressed with how quickly he's moving.

My parents wanted to take us out to dinner for Mother's Day, but hubby wanted to stay and keep working. This deck has pretty much turned into my present for tomorrow, so he's really motivated to try and get it done. How sweet! The girls & I left for dinner and when we returned 2 hours later, hubby had made TREMENDOUS progress! The framing is about 90% complete. He's out there right now putting the last support posts in and concreting all of them.

He says he's going to wait until tomorrow to do the actual decking across, but knowing him, I have a feeling I'll be going to sleep to the hum of a hammer in the backyard.

The Deck Project - Day 1

Technically, yesterday was Day 1, so I'm going to backtrack a bit here. Hubby worked late into last night doing the "pre-work" work. I'm not very handy, so of course, nothing is ever as easy as I would have it be. I just thought he basically would nail some boards together and voila...instant deck! Ok, so I didn't think it would be quite THAT easy.

The scene in our garage as some of the lumber assembled here. The white boards are part of the shelving project for the kids rooms. I told him those had to be painted before anything was even started on the deck. The shelving project is something I've been asking for months to be done.

This is part of our backyard. Hubby is working hard to repair some water damaged wood under the french doors. The concrete slab that he's sitting on has been there forever and manages to trap water against the house every time it rains. Lucky us. Here's the rest of the lumber.

My little tomato plants. I'm so proud! I picked them out all by myself, but that's where my contribution to all this ends. That's the best for everyone involved. I got 6 Big Boy plants and 1 Cherry plant. I can taste those wonderful red fruits already!!

The Thirteenth Month

We've all grown up learning that there are 12 months in the calendar. Well, in my house, we've invented a 13th month...Home Improvement. I designate it as a month unto itself because no project in this house has ever lasted less than 4 weeks. Much to my horror, most of them have lasted way longer than that!

With the wonderful "economic stimulus rebate" due to arrive this week, hubby & I have been anguishing over how to spend this tiny fortune that our generous legislatures have seen fit to return to us. We've easily spent (in our minds) 10 times what we're getting back, so it was finally time to nail down just what we're going to use this money for.

Hubby let the cat out of the bag yesterday and spoiled my mother's day surprise. He is building me a tomato garden! This is VERY exciting for 2 reasons. First, I LOVE TOMATOES! Anyone who has known me since I was a kid, knows that I'm not kidding around when I say I LOVE TOMATOES! Second, I kill plants. Not out of frustration or malice, but because I was born with a black thumb. When it comes to all things vegetation related, keep it away from me unless you want it to die. It's sad, but true. So, not only is hubby building me a tomato garden, but he's agreed to take care of it. I literally get to enjoy the fruits (ha, ha) of his labor! I'm very excited.

Well, after lots of discussion, I made my case for building a simple deck on the back of our house. This is something we've talked about doing for a few years and now it's finally going to happen. I'm excited and terrified all at once. In addition to the tomato garden and deck projects, we've also talked about finishing the guest bathroom. Yes, we tend to take on several projects at once, that cultivate a lot of anger and frustration until they are complete, at which point we sit back and enjoy the fact that we accomplished something. That is until that feeling passes and we have to start another fun project!

Stay tuned for pics of the fun that will begin in the next couple of days!