Landscaping Project...again

In 2010 we did a large landscaping project at our Minnesota home. Well, guess what?  We get to do it all over again, except this time we have even more of a blank slate. No grass, no concrete, nothing right now. 

I will get a picture or two posted as soon as I can of before pictures, though the landscapers have been working a lot since yesterday to plow down our "yard" which is made up of burdocks, field grass, construction trash and grass snakes (according to our 4 year old neighbor). 

We had a similar large brush back/field wall like at our Minnesota home and that got pulled and plowed down today. 

I can't wait to have grass. I am getting such an itch to do spring yard work, but no yard to work on!  As much as we complained in the past about having to do yard work, I really miss it!  I like to say I have a green thumb, but it is browning since I can't use it! Yard work is a great de-stressor for me: fresh air, lots of exercise and the satisfaction of growing flowers, food and taking care of the earth. 

I am really hoping everything will be done by mid-May so I can plant my veggie garden and berry patch.  Julia is eagerly awaiting the grass for 1) to put her swing set up again and 2) to help mommy in the garden and eat "snacks" out of it.   The aforementioned 4 year old neighbor was nicely interrogating me yesterday about what kind of swing set we had: "Is it a big one or a small one", "How many swings?", "Does it have one of those things where two people can ride on it like a horse?" "Does it have a slide?" "What color slide?"  He was very satisfied with the answers of yes, it is a big one, it has 2 swings and a glider (the horse-like swing) and it has a yellow slide.  He was also happy to hear that there would be a sand box below the clubhouse part. I think he is more excited for the swing set than Julia is right now.  Unfortunately, we will have to let the sod set in and then Mike has to put up the swing set (which could take days and days...not because he isn't handy, he is.  It is one of those wooden sets that is kind of complex). We shall see how it goes.

More to come....

New state, new house, new jobs...

So much has happened in the last 5 months, I won't even begin to elaborate. The title of the post basically says it all:

- We moved from Minnesota to Wisconsin (both where we grew up)
- We both got new jobs
- We bought a new house in Wisconsin (after living in an apartment temporarily[NEVER doing that again by the way]).

First off, the house. We probably looked at about 14 houses and then found the.one. It was so similar to our house in Minnesota we couldn't pass it up. We loved our home in Minnesota; it just wasn't in the right state. The house is slightly smaller than our old house, but we still have lots of space. The front formal dining room won't have any formal dinners in the near future as it is serving as the toy room. The best part is the kitchen and the 0.75 acre lot. Lots of yard, though it is still a big dirt lot (or sandbox as my niece referred it as), we are hoping to get sod within the next month and also a patio and driveway (no concrete either when we moved).

Here are some pics:

Living room open to kitchen and breakfast/dining area
Julia's room



Kitchen Pantry-now filled with Wildtree products (seriously, half of it is Wildtree products!)

Kitchen-this sold me on the house

We do have a stove/oven and fridge now too.