No more pine trees in the backyard!

I love trees and so does Ashley. But we did not love these massive pine trees in our backyard. While they provided shade, they were also in danger of falling on our house or our neighbors'. So another project takes shape--cutting them down! Here is the before picture: One of the guys who works for Ashley, Miguel, has experience cutting down trees of this size. Here he is, high up in the clouds! These trees were easily 3-4 stories high. He climbed to the top, chopping off large sections of the branches. And then he began to cut the tree down, piece by piece.
On the ground, other guys held ropes that were tied to the branches to guide them to the correct position on the ground.


It's amazing how high up he was. I wasn't there (I was at work) but Ashley was. Ashley even climbed one of the trees (glad I wasn't there because I'm sure I would have had a fit!).

There was a slight accident with the last tree. A large 5 ft. section fell into our neighbor's shed and tore it up (luckily we had been over to see them the night before and told them that this might happen--they were very laid back about it). Ashley and friends spent last night repairing the roof, wall, and putting together a new shelf in the shed.

Our backyard is full of fallen pine trees now.

Here's Ashley in the busted up shed. The falling tree also took out part of our redtip hedge.

My project for the evening was testing exterior paint color. Sherwin Williams makes amazing paint--and one of my favorite things is you can buy test quarts for $5. Notice the stripes on the house (and notice how bad the current paint is). We're getting the house painted on Monday.

More test stripes. I wrote the names of the paint on the wall. I think we are either going to go with Sleepy Blue (top color) or Tradewind (third from top).

And here are some interior updates, too. The master bedroom, complete with new bed and curtains.

Master bathroom. NO WALL! This is a huge improvement. See earlier postings for a before picture(http://annamcleod.blogspot.com/2007/04/new-house-renovations-part-1.html). I installed all the wall hardware--towel racks are NOT fun to put up.

From here out, most of the updates will come from the exterior paint and landscaping. We're getting very close to being done. After almost three months, that's a good feeling!

Settling In!

Max says, Welcome to my new house!! Instead of his popason chair being on its stand, the cushion is now on the floor. Max is in the market for a new bed but it's not too high on our priority list (we just bought our new bed yesterday). And yes, he is slightly overweight, if you haven't met him in person.

A lot of folks told me that adult outside cats really don't transition very well to new homes. Windy Kitty has made the transition, even though its been rocky at times. For the first few days she lived inside. But I couldn't take the litterbox. So she's moved outside and comes around at night for dinner. My friend Amanda came to visit Memorial Day weekend and we gave Windy her new middle name "LaDonna." She can get pretty crazy at times...even growls like a dog when she's out in the backyard. Our country animals...getting used to neighborhood life.

And now for some house updates....the former Circus Room, now Guest Bedroom. You will have to scan through old postings to see the before pictures. Unfortunately my computer crashed last night and I don't have access to my old picture files. We have a new laptop, though, and I really do like it!

Another picture of the guest bedroom. Come and visit!!

The living room. A little messy because we're not completely settled. We will get new couches soon. Our original order for a sectional was botched due to Haverty's ordering the wrong direction on the sectional. So we're back to square one on furniture decisions.

And my favorite room, the kitchen!! The green is perfect. Because my commute is reduced by a half an hour or more, I've been much more motivated to cook and be in this lovely space. This week we had great meals (if I do say so myself): Beef and Brocolli Stirfry, Lime and Ginger Chicken with Spinach Cucumber salad, and Oven Fried Pork Tenderloin Chops with Spinach and Chickpeas and fresh corn. YUM!

PS. We sold our house in Gilbert fairly quickly. We listed it For Sale By Owner for three weeks while we were working on the new house. Only got a few bites, no offers. So we got our friend Josh's dad Jody Taylor to list it for us and there was a contract on it after a week. Sweet! We made a profit and now can feel like THIS is our home. For anyone who has been it the situation of owning 2 houses at once, you know what I mean!