Amber vs. The Backyard: Warm-Up Round

I've dabbled in the backyard a couple times, pulling some weeds and sweeping leaves by the hot tub, but nothing too serious. I'm not physically (or financially) prepared for a full-on battle with the backyard yet.

However, last night I went for a warm-up round in the ring with the backyard. I was motivated because our greenery curbside pickup in my neighborhood was the next morning. My greens bin was already full from butchering my Little Shop of Horrors shrub, but I stole my neighbor's since they didn't use it (it's the house being remodeled next door).

Yes, I was actually excited to have an entire, empty greens bin to fill up. Not that I know what "yardwork" or "gardening" actually is. I'm great with indoor plants and even know how to re-pot them once they get to big for their britches, but I'm clueless about the outdoors. What's the difference between trimming and pruning? The only tools I have are my gloves, a pair of clippers, and a hand shovel. And the rusty, bent rake that was left in my garage.

Since it was nice and cool when I went outside at 6pm, I decided I'd see what I could get done before it got dark. Here's my breathtaking backyard:

The lighting is rough - just take note of all the patches of bushy, green stuff in all these pics.

I decided I'd see how much of that greenish ground cover I could remove. I don't know what it is. It might not even be a weed, but I decided to treat it like one.

This is ALL over my backyard. Whatever it is.

All I know is it's not grass and it's not doing anything for my yard, so it's got to go. And went it did, without much effort. I didn't even need any tools! Just my gloves. To my surprise, there weren't even many creepy crawlies hiding in the weeds. Just a lot of old, petrified dog poop - YUCK!

Whatever these plants were, they were really easy to pull out of the ground. The roots aren't too deep and it's more of a sprawling plant; some roots in the middle and then the plant just grows out, laying across the top of the dirt.

I managed to get ALL the weeds pulled up and it only took an hour. My back was aching though. And I think all the birdies that hang out in my back yard are probably excited because I just made all the seeds that fall from the trees I constantly see them eating out of my yard SUPER easy to get to. Bon appetite my little friends!

After an hour of working.

Now instead of a backyard full of weeds, dirt and dead stuff...

.... I have a backyard full of just dirt and dead stuff =)

This weekend I'm going for round two and clearing out all the dead underbrush that's piled up under the trees along the fence. I actually have a little pond/water fixture back there, but it's full of dead leaves. I'm also going to try and clear a lot of the weeds and leaves out of the front yard as well.

I'm One of Those Broke, Annoyed People Now

I have a character flaw. Well, that's being generous - I have several. But the one I want to talk about is my inability to tolerate dumb people.

Over the weekend I received an envelope from the former owner of my house. I opened it and inside was an open bill from San Diego Gas & Electric. No note. The bill was addressed to the former owner and sent to her personal residence (my house had been an income property for her).

Now I had just gotten my bill for the house a couple days before, so I knew this wasn't mine (plus I've already paid a month of bills on this house; I switched the electric over to my name during escrow). But apparently she thought the bill she got was for her former income property (the bills NEVER went to her; they went to her tenants). Even though it was sent to her own home.

I was super annoyed. One because it should have been obvious to her it was her monthly bill for where she lives. Two because she didn't even have the good manners to send a note. Just to be certain, I double-checked the meter numbers on the bill she sent me with the ones on the house to confirm they didn't match, then I emailed her realtor and gave him the scoop and asked him to inform his client that I wasn't taking responsibility for her bill.

Typing it all out, it sounds like a petty thing to get annoyed about. Maybe even an honest mistake. But I don't know how to deal with people who aren't smart enough to first call the bill company to confirm things before you burden other people with unsolicited mail. Without notes. Pay your damn $86 bill, lady.

First Mortgage Payment
I made my first mortgage payment this week. Living on one paycheck a month sucks. On the other hand, I have to remind myself that according to Zillow.com, the value of my house has gone up about $100k from what I paid for it 6 weeks ago. I know it's just an estimate and not what I could really get for it right now, but that's pretty cool! I know I could sell it today for more than I paid for it and it's comforting knowing that I can't lose money on this investment because I got such a killer deal.

Where's My First-Time Homebuyer's Check?
As a first-time homebuyer, I get to take advantage of an $8000 tax credit which I am able to claim with my 2008 taxes rather than waiting for when I do my 2009 taxes next year. I just had to file an ammendment to my 2008 taxes which I had already paid in February.

I did this during the first week after I closed on my house. I mailed in my ammendment 1 day after a friend of mine mailed in his. He got a letter last week saying his ammendment had been accepted and got his check 2 days ago. I've yet to get a letter or a check! I though mine would be right behind his.

I'm a little jealous that he already got his and annoyed that whatever processing is in place for these checks. Realistically, I didn't think my check would show up 1 day after his. But I hoped.

I've Done What Some People Would Consider Impossible

Did you see that thing outside your window? It probably looked a lot like a pig flying. That's because I FINALLY settled on some paint colors! Thanks Restoration Hardware (and Melissa for reminding me they carried paint)!

6 gallons of paint = $134. Not enough for all my rooms, but a good start (until I get more Home Depot gift cards ;)

Those of you who are quick will notice that's Behr paint, but I said I got Restoration hardware colors. We'll see if this whole "color matching" thing really works. Behr's flat enamal is $17/gallon and their semi-glosses are $23 compared to RH's $32-38/gallon.

Originally I thought I'd get a lot of edgy, modern colors. But turns out I was drawn to neutrals.

Living room: Silver Sage (the guest bedroom will be this color too) and Cappuccino (these are the 2 colors the store is mostly painted with):


Master Bedroom - Stone (the bottom left can) and I'm going to get a deep purple accent later:

Doors and Trim: Sand dollar (the top can in the pic above - who knew how hard it is to pick the right white?! And ironically, RH has a color called "the right white").

Nook: Hidden Spring (Olympic brand, sold at Lowes. Now here's a comment only a homeowner would make - I love Olympic's paint cans! They come with a rubber lid instead of metal and they're really easy to get on and off). Sorry, no pic but it's pretty much the same grayaqua that my blog header is.

Painting begins this Saturday at 3pm. Let me know if you want to help. Seriously.

It's the Little Things That Make a Difference
Monday after work I finished my Edward Scissorhands job on the bush out front (see the before pic):

The trimmed bush. Notice how I cleared the years of dead leaf pile up underneath and fixed the rock border?

And I potted some of the colorful flowers I bought three weeks ago and stuck them on my porch railing:

Now I have some color too look at when I'm on the porch since the rest of my back yard is trashed.

Nook What I Did! Nook What I Did!

The question that appears to be on everyone's minds is "What colors are you going to paint your rooms, Amber?" Sorry to disappoint, but the answer is STILL: I don't know. But I now have THREE rooms taped and primed and anxiously waiting for some glorious color to coat them.

Tonight my partner in house renovating crime, Stephen, came over around 7pm to help me prep and prime my breakfast nook.

Painting is FUN!

But before you get to see our handiwork, first let's review the earlier part of my day. First I went to Poway to sweat and watch my friend Max compete in a downhill skateboarding competition (view some pics). And here I thought Thrashin' just made that up for a plot device! Then Max, Matt, Mike and I (I need to change my name to Mamber) surfed Tabletops (very pretty, clear water, but super shallow, fast breaking reef break which I'm not really a fan of).

After all the fun stuff, I got home around 3 and did some work on the house which I've been neglecting all week. It's summer after all! I've got beaches to play volleyball at and waves to surf people.

I finally got the last shelves in the bathroom lined and was able to unpack the last box sitting in the guest bedroom. I'm still waiting for Erika to bring over the rest of the bedroom furniture she so awesomely gave me so the room isn't done, but look - a room without boxes!

My guest bedroom. It gets a ton of light and that bed is super comfy. I think it'll be my Sunday morning, read-in-bed room =)

Next I busted out my new pruning shears and went Edward Scissorhands on some of my foliage. First, the tree branch that was smashed up against my bedroom window. No more leaves threatening to break through my window screen. But now my 80 year old neighbor Al will have a clear view into my room when the curtains are open. Then I attacked the Little Shop of Horrors bush by my front door.

Here it is the day I bought the house.

My greens bin after I Scissorhanded the bush.

After.

Now that I see the picture, I have a vision. I'm going to cut all the branches on the bottom half off, so it's just a semi-rectangular bush up on top. Today I didn't have vision, I just wanted to tame it. Look - you can actually see my breakfast nook window!

Then I started prepping the breakfast nook while I waited for Stephen to come over. Prepping means I was using the paint scrapper to remove the bumpy and peeling sections of the old latex paint that was underneath the wallpaper I removed.

The breakfast nook before we started.

Once Stephen showed up, we taped and primed the walls so they'll be ready for the unknown shade of blue I want to paint (something in the aqua family, I want a bright, fun nook).

The nook after we primed. I didn't notice how white that room looked until I downloaded this picture!

Do you see what's new in there (besides the primer)? We brought the infamous penis table in from outside! I like my table. And once I get a color on the walls and the utility table on the right side of the picture out, this room won't look so glaringly sterile.

The original breakfast nook table finally makes it's way inside.