Landscaping

When we first looked at the house, the previous owners had put in a gorgeous planting bed in front of the house.  By the time we closed... the bed looked like this:

No weed blocker was put down, and the mulch was minimal at best.  Its a bit embarrassing... but it actually ended up looking worse than this before it got better.

N and I decided to stick with the house colorings (and to keep the HOA happy...).  We went with a red edger and cedar mulch.  We pulled up all the weeds, and turned the soil over to make sure all of the weed roots were torn up.

N lays the edging...

While Peanut supervises!

Laying the edging on top of the over pour from the concrete.  N says it guaranteed the edging would be level - I just nodded and smiled  =0)

We planted some dwarf mondo grass along the edge.

Peanut says he did a good job!

We pulled up all of the plants except for the 2 day lilies and 2 evergreens.  We covered the bed in weed blocker, and put down 2 - 2.5" of cedar mulch.

Close-up of the mulch and edging.  The bed was in full shade, so its a bit difficult to see the tan color in the mulch

All finished!

We still plan on adding some more plants, but wanted to wait until spring so we don't have to worry about an early frost killing them off.  We'll plant a few perennials, and some annuals.  Our plan for annuals is to "bury" some flower pots in the ground after lining the holes with the weed blocker.  Then we can change out the annuals through the years without compromising and cutting too many holes in the weed blocker.  N came up with the idea, and we'll find out how well it'll work in the spring!

New Fridge!

 After a couple of weeks, this nasty leak had gotten much worse.

The caulk refused to hold anymore, and rusty water would drip out into the fridge.  The weather stripped around the door started falling apart,and the door no longer sealed well.  We could not control the crazy amounts of moisture, and food was going bad way too fast. 

We hung on through Labor Day weekend in hopes of catching a good sale - and it was worth the wait.  N and I spent a Friday evening pouring over different options and ended up with a:

You'll have to excuse any sideways pics... I've tried over and over, but CANNOT get them to upload correctly.

N and I both forgot to measure...

 and got lucky that the fridge fit!  We might move it and redo some cabinets.. but that would be a ways off.

N's favorite feature was the dual ice makers.  A small one in the door, and a larger one in the freezer.  I like that the freezer drawers were plastic and not just wire baskets like some brands.

There is TONS of space in the doors

 I'm sure we'll be able to fill it up one day - but for now it all seems huge!  We like the large deli/defrost tray at the bottom, and that some of the shelves slide out of the way for taller things.

Throw in the LED lights, and this fridge just "glows"  =0)