Revisiting the list - Part I

Hey there everyone! This past weekend (including Friday) has been SO busy for us, which is why I did not participate in this week's 5QF, but I'll be back to normal this week. I have officially hit the halfway point in my pregnancy, so I am trying to take a look back at our spring/summer/getting-ready-for-Baby J to do list now to see how much more we have to get done. And also since it's the first day of summer, I decided it might be a good time to take a look at what we have gotten done already and what we still need to do. So, here goes:

As a reminder, I split up our list into several sections to better organize the list. I'm really type-A and love to organize & then organize again, lol.

• Part I: exterior of the house - front & back yard, back deck & patio.
• Part II: main level - entryway, living room, kitchen
• Part III: upper level - both bedrooms (including closets), bathroom, attic
• Part IV: lower level - basement, basement bath, under stairs storage area, utility storage area, laundry room.

After breaking up the parts of the house, I started my to do list for each area. I have already deleted the items that were done as of the original post on that area, but this post will focus on Part I only.

Front Yard To Do's:

• Possibly remove tree completely (need HOA approval to do this).
• Pull up weeds in flower beds & around tree.
• Plant annuals & re-mulch.
• Get house & stairs power washed.

I am happy to report that we have essentially finished this area! We decied not to remove the evergreen tree right next to our stairs & just got the large branch that was damaged during the crazy snow storms this past winter tied with a clear plastict tie to the main body of the tree - looks good as new. We also decided that the house did not need to be power washed this year, but we did get the stairs done, along with the front sidewalk due to that oil spill. My husband attempted to plant gass seed, but that didn't work out too well, so we hired a contartctor to lay down sod. Since it was a small area, they didn't charge us much at all. You can view additional photos of the area before on my Spring Cleaning - Part I original post, but I snapped one more before we got the sod laid:

This was taken right before the sod was laid - most of our grass was killed by the snow & then by us attempting to plant new grasss - obviously NOT our specialty. So we brought in the experts (best.money.ever.spent)...and here's what it looks like now:

A yard that we can actually be proud of! I can hardly take any sort of credit for this outcome - I really owe all the credit to the contarctor who laid the sod for us & my wonderful hubby who got up early every morning to water the grass & goes out every several weeks to weed the area. And now it looks awesome!

Back (upper level) Deck To Do's: 

Embarassingly, we have pretty much neglected this area once again this year. Now that my husband has finished most of the assembly of the nursery stuff, he may get around to working on our deck. We were actually waiting for quite some time for word from our HOA on the approved deck stain colors, which we received in early June, but by then we were already busy with other house & baby stuff. So while we may get around to this area before the end of the summer, it's doubtful. If we get to anything, I'd love to see the deck get re-stained and sealed, but unfortunately, in my current pregnant state, I am of little to no help in this area, so it may ahve to wait until next spring, when I can help out. Sadly, we have crossed nothing off this part of the to do list. :o(

• Look for & purchase an outdoor dining set (we currently have a cheapo plastic set).
• Get deck power washed.
• Re-stain & seal the deck.

Perhaps I was a little too ambitious? :oP It doesn't necessarily look bad in this area, it could just stand a little TLC, you know? Sigh.

Back Yard & (lower level) Patio To Do's:


This area has also undergone a complete transformation! We used the same contractor to lay sod in theback that did the front yard & they did an amazing job back here as well. Again, my husband deserves the credit for the up-keep of this area - without him, our little bit less than $300 sod investment (for the front and back yards), would have most likely gone to waste.

• Get sod laid surrounding the patio.
• Clean under the deck area, get rid of any debris in that area.
• Fix exterior water spout (it has never worked since we bought the house; but we need it for the sod!!
• Buy a small sitting/bistro set for the patio.

As you can see, we still need to clean out under the deck area (there are a few spots where small weeds have grown in & I'd also like put down new rocks back there to cover the old, dirty rocks, but overall, the backyard area looks 1,000 times better!! I don't have any true before photos of this area because it was pretty embarassing. The previous owners had so much shrubery and crap back there that it literally looked like a jungle. We never went out there - not even the dog, so the only "before" photos I have are truly the "in progress" photos that I took shortlay after all the debris and weeds were removed, and you can check out my original post on this area for those photos. And now for the after:

::tear drops:: I am seriously SO happy with how this turned out. It looks fab compared to what we started out with. We will likely eventually buy a small bistro-type set to sit down there, but for now, it's just nice to have a decent looking patio area.

In other news, I have been accumulating (read: shopping like crazy) sooooo much cute baby stuff that I need to devote a separate post just to that! This week is sure to be hectic as well since my little sister is graduating from high school & my nephew's 2nd birthday is this week, but I have several posts lined up including the rest of the house spring cleaning updates, a new project nursery post & of course, my weekly pregnancy post. Lots going on over in the World of Dennifer. So, what about you? Have you completely finished your spring cleaning, or do you still have lots to do?! Please tell me I'm not alone in being a spring cleaning slacker!

WTF (almost) Wednesday...

OMG, the saga of our front/backyard clean up & landscaping. I didn't elude to this much in my previous post about our outdoor spring cleaning, but have had a MAJOR problem with the landscaper we hired to do some of the heavy lifting-type work. They were supposed to be trimming the branches on the tree away from the house, trimming the branches on the evergreen tree that was ruined during the three snow storms we had in our area this past winter, clearing out the scary weedage (yes, just made that word up :oP) in our backyard, and lay sod in the back surrounding the patio. All of the work minus the sod-laying was done this past Friday & they were supposed to come back on Monday to finish up the job. Simple enough right? Wrong.

Problem #1: They were using a chainsaw to trim the branches on the large tree in front of our house & they used some sort of lubricant or oil for the chainsaw & well, look wtf was left on my sidewalk & stairs:

Yes, as you can see from picture #3 - one of the guy's workers even walked thru the huge spill at the bottom of our steps & tracked it across the sidewalk! Are you EFFING serious?! And they just left. No clean up, nothing. So, we called the "owner" (quotes b/c I'm not sure it is even a legit business at this point; unfortunately we got this referral from my mother & didn't really check it out b/c we trusted her word) on Saturday morning, he didn't calll back. But several hours later he did TEXT my husband saying something about he observes the Sabbath on Saturdays & doesn't talk business or return business calls on Saturdays or something. We respected that - it's his religion, so we didn't trip. He said he'd absolutely clean up any mess they left on Monday when they came to lay the sod. Great. Wonderful.

Problem #2: So yesterday, I get home from work...big oil/greasy spot still there. Little smaller spots, foot prints still there? YEP. So I calm down. ::deep breaths:: Walk into the house & go out on the deck to check the back yard to see if maybe they laid the sod? Nope, nada, nilch, nothing. No messages on my home phone, he didn't call my cell all day, called my husband - didn't call him either. So, I say to myself, "Jen - you got home early today, chill. He's probably coming by a bit later to finish up the job & clean up the mess they made." I waited until 4pm, then called him; no answer; left him a message to call me back ASAP so that we know what's going on. He still hadn't showed up by the time my hubby got home, so he called him. No answer again, so he left him a more firm message around 5pm'ish. Well the guy still doesn't call back. Then, my husband's phone rings at 9pm - it's the guy. He apologizes profusely, gives my hubby some BS excuse about his guys not showing up for work, PROMISES - I mean is completely adamant that the work will be done tomorrow (which is today now) & then when we get home, the mess will be cleaned up.

So I get home today - oil stain still on the sidewalk. My husband never called me & he got home first, so I figure maybe the guy called him & worked out other arrangements or tried to get the spill/mess up & couldn't so he was going to try something different maybe later on? I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I am literally praying when I get to the back of my house that at least he came by & laid the sod. Nope. My husband is pissed, like livid. And usually I'm the sorta crazy, aggressive one, so him being upset is not normal - at all. Once I saw him, he said that he had tried calling the guy & he didn't answer as usual, but that he didn't leave a message because he was scared of what he'd say to him. So I called him & basically threatened him with contacting the Better Business Bureau & told him that our HOA (who technically owns the sidewalk) will be pursuing charges against him for destruction of property. I told him that we didn't want him to do the work on our property, but that if he wanted to avoid future legal problems, that he'd need to contact us immediately to make arrangements to come by & clean up this mess. That was hours ago. He still hasn't called me back.

So, just an angry, b!tchy little, friendly Public Service Announcement (PSA) to anyone in the Northern Virgina area that is getting any landscaping or yard work done - DO NOT, I repeat DO NOT use Daniel Saavedra of Freedom Services (not sure this is an actual business name). He does not follow thru on his word, does not complete the work he promises in the time frame he promises, ruins your property and makes no attempt to remedy the situation, does not return phone calls & all around is a horrible business man.

At this point, I have no clue what else to do. I Googled his so called "business name" & I can't find it. I'm so annoyed I can hardly contain myself. I feel like calling him every hour until he answers the phone. I may try calling him from another phone number tomorrow. This is freaking ridiculous. What would you do? We just want the oil spill cleaned up at this point - nothing more, nothing less. Any suggestions/advice are VERY welcome. Le sigh.

Spring Cleaning - Part I

The spring has sprung in the NOVA/DC Metro Area & in the World of Dennifer that means time to actually do some spring cleaning! I have decided to break up our spring cleaning this year into a few different areas:

• Part I: exterior of the house - front & back yard, back deck & patio.
• Part II: main level - entryway, living room, kitchen
• Part III: upper level - both bedrooms (including closets), bathroom, attic
• Part IV: lower level - basement, basement bath, under stairs storage area, utility storage area, laundry room.

I am going to be posting before/progress pics as we get thru each of the areas. We'll likely be doing each of the areas concurrently, but I'm going to post the "to do" lists & before pics in parts (so as to avoid a ridiculously LONG post). So, I'll start with Part I - the exterior since we actually got started with the work we want done on this area this past Friday.

Front Yard To Do's:

Last summer, we did a MAJOR clean up of what I lovingly called our "forest" - AKA our former front yard. It was a hot mess to say the least. We were sooo happy to see it cleaned up. I'm happy to report that even after the snowmageddon + the two other huge snow storms that hit our area this winter, our front yard/landscaping held up pretty well. We lost two of our little solar lights & the rest are all crooked, but still work! And as you can see from the photos above, parts of our grass were ruined. Also, as you can see in photo #1 - the Evergreen tree to the right of the house was damaged. So, on the spring cleaning to do list for this area of the house (crossed out are the items that have already been completed):

• Trim branches on large tree away from house & from hanging low over stairs.
• Trim off damaged parts of the evergreen & possibly remove tree completely (need HOA approval to do this).
•  Plant grass seed, keep watered, cross fingers that it grows!
• Pull up weeds in flower beds & around tree.
• Plant annuals & re-mulch.
• Get house & stairs power washed.

Back (upper level) Deck To Do's: 

We have never really done anything with our deck since buying the house three years ago. We have been waiting & waiting & WAITING for our HOA to approve some deck stain colors so that we can stain & seal the deck. It's badly in need of some TLC, but unfortunately we are under the rules of the HOA as to what we can do to the outside of our house. We plan on attending the next HOA meeting on May 11th to find out about their decision on the deck stain colors - urrg, it gets really frustrating with them sometimes.

We also purchased a really cheap patio table & chairs from K-Mart the first year we bought the house just to tide us over until we could afford to buy what we really wanted the following summer (2008). Well, three years later, we never bought a new set. It just was not high on our priority list, so it fell to the side. This year we may or may not get around to it, but the set we have will continue to do for now. I added it to the spring cleaning to do list for this area just in case we decide to purchase one this year:

• Look for & purchase an outdoor dining set (we currently have a cheapo plastic set).
• Get deck power washed.
• Re-stain & seal the deck.

Back Yard & (lower level) Patio To Do's:

I was a little embarrassed to take before pictures of this area, but I also kinda forgot to take a picture before the work got started in the back. You can see a little of the forest pat deux in the deck photo above. It was pretty bad - I mean weeds, small bushes, small trees, etc. and none of it ever kept up. But to make up for that, I took some in progress pics:

Ahhhh, so clean, such a blank slate!

We hired an independent contractor (referred to us by my mom) to do some of the work around the outside of the house that we couldn't or didn't want to do ourselves. They cleaned out the back yard area, trimmed the trees up front & cleaned up all that stuff for $225. We thought that was an awesome price b/c we had gotten a quote last summer for $500 just to clear out the back yard! Here is the spring cleaning list for this area:

• Get weeds, bushes, etc. removed from the area.
• Get sod laid surrounding the patio.
• Clean under the deck area, get rid of any debris in that area.
• Fix exterior water spout (it has never worked since we bought the house; but we need it for the sod!!
• Buy a small sitting/bistro set for the patio.

Now you see why I needed to break this up into several posts! And I still have three more areas left to make spring cleaning lists for! We are doing pretty good so far on our Part I & plan on getting even more done next weekend! Have you started on your spring cleaning yet?! I'd love to see what you've done so far!

My DIY initial spring wreath!

Hey there ::waves hi:: to everyone reading Linda's fab blog, Craftaholics Anonymous, my name is Jen J. & I am a long time reader of Linda's blog & like to do a little crafting of my own over at the World of Dennifer.  I have a lot more crafts and D&R projects over on my blog, so if you stop over, please feel free to look through my archives for some of my past projects & follow me (even grab my button if it tickles your fancy ;o) if you'd like to keep up with my future projects. I am so excited to be participating in the Craftaholics Anonymous Reader's Tutorial Week & I hope you enjoy my wreath tutorial as much as I enjoyed making it...it was inexpensive to make & is so pretty on my door! Feel free to contact me at worldofdennifer@gmail.com if you have any questions about this or any other DIY project on my blog!

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Sooo I finally got a chance to sit down & do my DIY spring {but keeping it up for the summer because I love it so much} wreath for our front door. I got my inspiration for my wreath from Kari over at Rocky Bella - I loved her spring initial wreath so much that I decided to make one of my own (with a few personal touches)...Ta da:

I pretty much just followed her directions, so first I headed to Michaels to get the supplies I needed:

A grape vine wreath (14"), a mini birds nest, some speckled faux eggs, a couple cream colored butterflies & a pretty good-sized bag of green moss. You will also need wide ribbon, a wreath hanger, a glue gun & several glue sticks for this project - I already had all of these things on hand, so I didn't have to buy any of that. Oh & if you want your last initial on the wreath, you will want to grab a wooden letter from Michaels as well - I also had one of these on hand (if you want your letter white, then grab the kind they have that are already painted white - saved me a step)!

Then, I just plugged up my hot glue gun & got to work gluing on clumps of green moss to cover the wreath. You want to make sure you generously cover the wreath, otherwise it'll look a little bare.

Once the wreath is completely covered with moss to your satisfaction, position your initial letter on your wreath & figure out how you want to mount it on the wreath. I put mine up against my door to make sure that the way the letter was positioned on the wreath looked how I wanted it to. Once you figure out where you want the letter, glue it on to the wreath (use a decent amount of glue so that it holds the letter completely). After that, I just glued the faux speckled eggs into the mini nest & glued the nest on the wreath, and finished it off by sticking the butterflies into the wreath where I wanted them (they had wire backings, so they easily stuck into the wreath).

(sorry - not sure why this pic uploaded sideways, but you get the point, no?)

I hung the wreath on the door with a standard wreath hanger, then tied my ribbon so that it covered the hanger & made a bow in the back (on the other side of the door), so that it stayed put...does that make sense?? And that's it. Very, very easy wreath, although I got 2 pretty bad glue burns on my left thumb & right ring fingers - OUCH! I got small blisters & everything. ::humph::  :o/ Ah, the things we do for our DIY projects, lol. But I LOVE LOVE LOOOOVE the way it came out - exactly what I needed to dress up my front door for the spring!

Dizz likes sitting at the storm door & people watching during the day; I like keeping the door open b/c it lets natural light into our living room, so it's a win-win. Anywho, what do you think of my spring wreath?! You likes!? I hope so b/c I loves & guess what, if you do like it & wanna make your own, you can enter the World of Dennifer's 1st ever giveaway [now closed], win the $25 Michaels gift card & head over to Michaels & buy all the supplies to make it. Here is the cost break down:

Grapevine Wreath = $4

Bag 'O Green Moss = $2.25 (original $4.49, but I used a 50% coupon I had)

Mini Nest = $2

Faux Speckled Eggs = $2

Wired Butterflies = $2

Wreath Hanger; Wide Ribbon; Wooden Initial; Glue Gun & Extra Glue Sticks = FREE (I already had these items on hand)

TOTAL = $12.25

So, you could totally make this & still have a good amount left over to make anything else your heart desires!! Hurry & enter my giveaway [closed] - it ends tomorrow at 10PM (EST). And now that my front door is ready (and my allergies have calmed down at least a wee bit), I can finally say...Happy Spring!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!! LOTS of pics!

Woot! My favorite holiday of the year is in less than 3 weeks & lay an eye on what we had today:

Snow, snow, snow & lots of it! Woo hoo...Dizz loves snow, lol. He even likes to dig his nose in it & try to bite the snow & catch it in his mouth. He's my fat baby! :o)

We ended up getting more than 5 inches (good thing I went grocery shopping yesterday)! Unfortunately, it made the cancellation of my dinner plans with my BFF, who recently gave birth, sorta out of the question, although I know Stella (my SUV) coulda made it! The hubbs wasn't having it & my friend wasn't really feeling it either. :o(  But the good news is, I got sooo much Christmas decorating & present wrapping done, yay! Here are a few photos of all my hard work from today - this all goes to show that being snowed in is sometimes a GOOD thing!

Front exterior - there are candle lights in each of the windows in the front of the house, but I couldn't get them all in this pic & I was freezin' my booty off!

My DIY wreath...I very happy with the way it came out! And the pine cones are cinnamon scented, so they make right outside the front door smell amazing!

We had to rearrange our furniture to fit the tree - I had reservations @ 1st, but now I'm lovin' the new set up! Oh & I'll be changing out the orange pillows & curtains soon - got the okay from the hubbs yesterday!

Our TREE!! Yipee...we bought a new one this year (it's artificial, but a nice one versus our old cheapo Walmart one from the previous few years)

And all lit up (sorry for the blurriness...I still need to figure out my camera)! We went with a red, green & silver color scheme with clear lights & a white tree skirt with silver detail. I LOVE the way it turned out.

 

 

My coffee table centerpiece lanterns (along with close ups), also inspired by this PB beaut! The center one I filled with pine cones & faux pine tree trimmings & the other two are filled with Pier One red & silver jingle bells.

Entryway table decor! Hubby even thought of the idea with clear lights being draped on the frames, which gave the table that little something extra - I love that man! :o)

Was that enough pics for you?! I told you we (meaning me) got a lot done today. I won't show you the dining room & kitchen just yet, they are not quite done.  Mainly because I ordered this lovely linen hemstitch table runner embroidered with our last initial from Simply Done Gifts on NOVEMBER 14th & it's STILL.NOT.HERE!!! And, I'm sorry, I have to put them out there b/c I am beyond flustered annoyed with them. I sent several messages, which were finally answered this past Wednesday, giving me some BS excuse about having problems with the embroidery & promising that they would be shipping out my table runner that night & that I would receive shipping information later that day. Well, I never did & I was trying to be patient with them, so I didn't email the lady again that day. Well, after finishing up my DR table centerpiece today, it really angered me that my table wasn't completely done b/c of this hang up with my order. So today I sent another email...it was not very nice. I basically told them that I would never order from them again & I would tell everyone I know not to order from the either & that I was very dissatisfied with their company. I told them that this was unprofessional & if I did not receive word that my order was shipped via FedEx overnight delivery at no charge to me by Moday, then I would order my table runner from a more reputable company. I also told them that I would like a full, or at a minimum, a partial refund of my money. I was professional in my message & used a polite tone, but I got the idea across that I was not happy & far from impressed! Whew. So, in getting to my point...I will post these two rooms when my DR table is complete with my table runner. So here is my PSA - never order from this company - they are horrible with order processing & customer service. Who LIES to their customers?!  Ugh.

Sorry for the rant, but REALLYpeople?! Stay tuned for a post soon about my DIY gift tags on hubby's gifts & our Master Bath reveal - it's finally done!!! Just needs a quick cleaning for the big reveal. Hopefully, I will be able to post it tomorrow!  

Linking Up to the DIY Show Off Holiday Highlights blog party!

Pumpkin Carving!!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE the fall! The look, smell, food, everything about it is great...especially anything related to pumpkins! Ever since I was a kid, we used to carve pumpkins for Halloween & I so looked forward to it! And even though I am far from being a kid anymore, I still love carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns! This year the hubbs & I decided to do two jack-o-lanterns:

The spooky ghost...I named him Harry!

And a J - for our last initial!

Here are some others of us carving the pumpkins, which btw, we got for $4.99 each at our local grocery store:

Please note my husband's critical pumpkin carving tools: 1) design template, 2) pumpkin carving tools, 3) BEER - a must have when performing domestic duties requested by your wife (according to him anyways, lol). ;o)

And the last with Dizz greeting at the door:

I would love to see your jack-o-lanterns, please share in the comments section of this post if you have links! Also, in other World of Dennifer news - a VERY exciting development coming soon (& no, I'm not pregnant...yet, lol). Now I'm off to go make some yummy pumpkin spice cheesecake - try the recipe, it's divine! Happy Halloween!

My DIY Fall Wreath!

A few posts ago I blogged about a fall foliage wreath I wanted to do for my front door. It was super easy to do - I just went to Michaels & bought the plain wreath form, 2 strands of fall leaf garland, and some of the fall embellishments that had berries, pine cones, mini pumpkins, etc. Then I took gold floral wire & wrapped the leaf garland around the form securing it with the wire. Finally, I stuck the little embellishment picks in where I thought they'd fit. What do you think?

I love how it turned out! We had a fight party this past weekend & everyone gave me such nice comments on it...they thought it was store bought! It makes the outside of the house so much more fall ready! I also changed out the centerpieces (Michaels) & place mats (World Market) on my DR table for the fall:

Now my home is officially ready for fall & just in time - fall officially starts tomorrow! Happy Fall everyone!

Front Yard Reveal!

I have been a bad blogger, my excuse - not much going on over here in the World of Dennifer. But now I'm back & *hopefully* in full D&R effect. One thing you may not know about me - I HATE any landscaping/yard work related chores (not very fond of dirt or bugs, lol) -uggh, so this makeover has been a long time coming. Our yard used to look like a forest - I even called it the forest...weeds & bushes all over! Poor Mr. tried to keep it under control, but it was just wild!! Here is the before:


...And, ::drum roll please:: here is the after:

I helped out a little with this project (pulled weeds by trees, moved one plant & put it in better location, planted a new little bush & picked out the solar lights), but Mr. did most of the work, so a little kiss for a job well done!

We are going shopping for our Master Bed furniture this weekend & I'm hoping to convince the hubbs to buy it - Room Store has a great financing offer going on right now & I desperately wanna get the bedroom done (or at least started) on the painting of our bedroom. PS - black furniture is EXPENSIVE, so I'll keep you updated!