Back with more updates to the outdoors, this one courtesy of the boyfriend. When we moved in, our flower bed/retaining wall was pretty sad looking...overgrown ivy, a stumpy looking hosta that didn't bloom for 3 months, and a bush that turned out to be an azalea. There was about a two week stretch in the summer where it looked half way decent but the rest of time it was a sad sight.

Here is the state of things as of Saturday afternoon. Eck. We probably could have kept the hosta and azalea which would bloom next year but the ivy was strangling just about everything. We tried to pull just the ivy on multiple occasions but we wanted  to pull our hair out after about 2.2 seconds of wrangling it. So like Borders, we decided EVERYTHING. MUST. GO.





There isn't much to this story except the roots to everything were deep and the boyfriend's back hurt afterwards. You would have thought that he was digging a hole to China for how long it took him because he kept getting distracted by things like finding just the right song to dig to, shiny objects a snake, etc.
Of course I had to take a pic of the tiniest snake ever that had made its home in the ivy. Sorry my slithering friend but it ain't yo' home no mo! Check it out...

We plan on putting some colorful mums there this weekend for the start of autumn or at least I hope we do, I don't really know anything about flowers so I am assuming we can still plant something for it to look pretty through the fall.

Is it the weekend yet? I am ready to get back outside and tackle the rest of my projects!

Chris and I took to the outdoors on Saturday for some much needed TLC to the ol' casa. Unfortunately we were only able to tackle three of the things on the to-do list instead of all of them due to weather and time constraints. Turns out I am a pretty slow worker and have the strength of a two year old, so when it came time for things with muscle I had to wait for Chris to help me...womp, womp :(

I started with the front door first thinking that it would be simple to remove all the hardware and slap a couple coats of paint on it and call it a day. Apparently I am a pro at removing locks, handles, and the like...just look at my pile of brass.

 Most of it still had a pretty good shine to it with the exception of the storm door handle. Le yikes.
I am a bad blogger because I didn't snap any pics of the process with my knobs and handles until they were back on the door. So you'll just after to wait about 4 more pictures to see the oil rubbed bronze spray paint I used on them.
Here is the door pre-paint, sans hardware. I wiped it down with a cloth, cleaning off the dirt and other what not. Then sanded the area around the door knob holes and couple other spots that were a little rough. Lastly, I used a liquid deglosser that I picked up from Home Depot to remove a little bit of the sheen from the previous paint job (All the great tips I got from Sherry @ Young House Love)  From what I can tell this door has been through more costume changes than Lady Gaga. I have seen evidence of dark red, hunter green, seafoam green, and a Pepto Bismal pink.

The latest shade is a striking shade of navy blue. It doesn't have a name besides navy blue because I had it color matched to the spray paint I will be using on the shutters and metal bannister. It is Behr exterior primer and paint in one.
I tried my best for thin, even coats of paint using a two inch angled brush and small foam roller. After coat #1 I was a little nervous about the coverage with how much red was still showing through.
 Coat #2.
Surely after coat #3 I would be finished or so I thought but I could still see brush marks and some red near the bottom of the door. So on I went to coat #4 and that is when I finally called it a night.
Notice it is now dark outside in the picture above. I mentioned that I am an ace when taking door knobs apart but apparently I am not so hot when those knobs and locks have to be re-assembled. May have taken the better part of an hour to get everything back into working order. But now you can see the ORB hardware. I love it! However I wish that I could make the inset glass into the center of the door match. I am thinking that I am going to try some frosted window film to try and cover it up.

It is rainy today so I haven't got to take any pictures from the exterior yet. It is amazing how sore I am today just from a little afternoon painting, these old bones just can't take too much manual labor. This week we are supposed to have some good weather so hopefully I will be able to finish up the shutter and bannister to make everything match.

Yay for being a weekend warrior!

Today is the 10 year anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. I have been reading a few news reports about the new 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero (which I think is stunning, btw) and the "where are they now?" type stories from those who survived. An article in People about the children who never met their fathers because they died that day had me in tears. It is just unbelievable to think that 10 years has already passed.

I can remember that Tuesday so vividly. I was a junior in high school sitting in Mrs. Ohlms morality class when another teacher walked in and told us to turn on the tv because the World Trade Center had been hit by a plane. It wasn't soon after that we saw the second plane crash and then the towers fall altogether about an hour later. That day passed so slowly.

And now I am in a different position, teaching about this day to students who were one year old at the time. Some know more about the day than others but it was definitely interesting to explain what happened. Soon, I will be teaching children who weren't even born in 2001. But no matter how far we get away from September 11, 2001, it is important to keep teaching about it and remembering those who died.

We will never forget.

Today, in an act that is very much unlike myself, I opened the door to a solicitor and listened to what he had to say. Normally, I don't even answer the door but I was caught off guard and really did it without thinking. It was raining so I invited the man to step inside onto the doormat.

He was wearing a name badge and shirt that read Platinum Protection and it also had the GE logo on it. He preceded to tell me that he is offering a free home security system if I was willing to be part of their marketing group. I would have to display a home security sign in my front yard (similar to ADT or Brinks signs that I see) and I would receive installation of a $1600 security system for not one cent.


This sounded amazing and we sat down to talk further. I made it very clear that I was not interested in making any decisions today, I probably said that exact statement 5 times to which the man replied, "My job is just to take you through the paperwork." As the conversation went on, it turns on that you still have to pay $49.99 plus tax per month for monitoring on the system and you had to make a commitment for 39 months. Not so free at all. Red flags started flying from there on.

The contract he was presenting all had very different terms and he kept scratching things out with "discounted" terms, etc. After about a half hour I literally had to spell out for him that I would not be agreeing to any type of installation or services with this company until I did further research and also talked to the man of the house. I asked if he would come back at a later date and he explained that he had a quota to meet and it is only on the table today. He definitely used some strong arm tactics to try and close the deal, for instance he asked me multiple times to call Chris or text him to talk things over, reminding me that this was  only available today, and saying that I could cancel within three days even after the system had been installed. He even made some "qualifying" phone calls, verifying that I would qualify for this great promotion. When I asked about when installation could possibly take place he made a 30 second phone call after which he told me the technicians could be here to install within 30 minutes. By this time, I knew that this was too fishy.

This guy wasn't very personable either, very dry, and while he was able to make this deal sound very good I wasn't about to commit to anything. After very clearly explaining that again, I will not commit to anything and said that we are done and it was time for him to go this guy started stalling...BIG TIME, putting his papers away one at a time, asking to use the bathroom, putting on his shoes (it was raining, so they were off) as S L O W as possible, and asking for me to refill his water bottle. By the end I thoroughly had the heebie jeebies. I am pretty sure I hit him with the door as he left.

I am glad I followed my gut because a quick Google search returned a plethora of complaints and horror stories about this company, all detailing the same sales tactics that I experienced today, unfortunately many people weren't as skeptical as I was and were left with faulty alarm systems, 5 year contracts, and the inability to get out of those contracts. I'm still a little nervous about the whole situation because the sales rep filled out a contract as we spoke today with my name and address, etc and I really wish I would have asked to shred it so that I know for sure that he couldn't fraudulently sign my name to anything or have my information. I just hate that this guy made me feel silly in my own home.

Lesson learned. Do not entertain the idea of any door to door sales. If I want something I will seek out the services of companies I have thoroughly researched and contacted to come into my home.

And I will go back to dive rolling onto the floor when the door bell rings to avoid further situations completely. :)