Weekend Work

Weekend? What weekend? Wow! This weekend was warm and mostly sunny! Translation?
Outside projects.
To start this off right.. Saturday I promised a family friend that the boys and I would be by to help her get some yardwork done. Man! We got all kinds of stuff done! I got a bunch of plants dug up so that they can be placed somewhere else in her general plan of making it look like a Japanese garden area. Bushes were trimmed, and the boys moved rocks and have started a very nice rock wall! Looking good! Oh, I raked too. I mean I raked, and raked, and then we all raked again. This house has a lot of trees around it, and I am sure that several leaves from surrounding neighborhoods blew in also! WOW! I actually have more raking to do! Anyway, after a portion was finished it sure was satisfying to see the raked flower beds,and the raked driveway! We can see fresh green grass in areas where decaying leaves once lay. Awesome! We unearthed some flowers that were poking their heads up! Yes, we were sore! Ohh! With our tired, achy, sunburned bodies we waved goodbye to our friend and went home and melted! Showers, and a 45 minute nap for me and all was better again. (we had a dinner to attend, so I had to be perky!)
As a family we decided it was time to buy new windows for the house. We have an older home with single pane windows, so the heating bills and air bills are not a pretty sight! Cha-ching! Yes, but we were smart and scouted around and found a great deal! Friday I had the vinyl guys at the house replacing rotting wood and putting up vinyl covering so we don't have to paint! Whoo hoo! Well, and it just all around looks better. I ended up painting anyway as our gutters were all pulled down. Why not? Snatch that opportunity, right?
We found out our columns on the front porch are also rotting. Ick. Anyway, to look at our porch now we have one column to keep it from coming down and some two by fours proping up the other end of the porch. New columns are on the way. Windows & shutters have been measured (we have rotting wood shutters too!), vinyl has been installed. Now we wait for the columns to come in so that the porch is no longer jacked up. You wouldn't believe the attention our house got by neighbors this weekend. Just do a little work.. and here they come! Maybe this will start something and we can improve our streets curb appeal!
Sunday after church, the boys and I painted gutters, mowed the grass and pulled weeds. So, all in all a very productive weekend!
My hope is that this project of ours is finished before 20-23rd of this month. Reason? Our church is putting on a weekend for middleschoolers/highschool kids where they "get away" and experience God. As a host home we are part of that "get away". I'm expecting a house full of sixth grade boys, two teenagers and another set of parents to help us/me out. (I say me as Sweeetheart has to work a 12 hour weekend shift Saturday and Sunday). This means late, late nights and a full house, but most of all, being able to hang out with some awesome kids! I am looking forward to it! There will be devotionals and trips around town,snacks,cookouts,whew! To top it off the kids are involved in a Sunday skit our church puts on monthly called, CrossStreet Live. That will be a FULL weekend!