Wow – what a busy week we’ve been having. Up and out by 8 or so, a quick (or not so quick ) stop at Home Depot, and off to Lara’s house we go. This house was built in 1919 – so it has lots of character and the interior has been kept up very nicely. And the exterior of the house is also in pretty good shape. The yard and fence and other outside “stuff” – not so good! Gary has been amazing! He’s rebuilt the fence in a couple of places, built a totally new fence around the A/C units, replaced the kitchen exhaust fan and installed a new kitchen light. Before that he replaced the kitchen ceiling fan with one that had a light (duh), and moved that fan to the side porch. Plus he installed/repaired some outside lighting and cut panels for all of the kitchen cupboards (there was some funky grill stuff falling out of otherwise really nice doors!?). I worked on unpacking and organizing until yesterday when I moved to the Front Yard. Now, there is no grass in this front yard – it is all garden. And I really should say it is all neglected garden. I think the area was beautifully landscaped about 10 years ago, so there are some great “bones” there. The trick is finding them. I wasn’t a very good gardener in Pennsylvania – and I’m pretty darn clueless here in Texas! Groundcover? Weed? Perennial? I’m suffering from “gee I haven’t gardened in a long, long time” soreness today, so I think I’ll move back to the indoors and un-packing. 🙂 It is supposed to rain today so Gary is tackling changing out the locks and other inside stuff.
We love this house! And we love that we can be here to help Lara as she starts this new (and sometimes overwhelming) chapter of life called homeownership! She’s back at work, so she’s never sure exactly what she’ll find when she returns home each day. We’re having a good time spending her money (wisely, of course) and marking things off the to-do list. We’re tired and sore – but so very happy to be here.

I think I could market Gary as the “Handyman for the Week after You Move”! Whaddya think?

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