Third times a charm...

Yes, third times a charm, for giving up on the front lawn.

After tilling twice by a big heavy tiller, and once entirely by hand, and finally having a master gardener come and look at the lawn, it's been decided there is no way we can get anything to grow in front.

I started the search for a landscaper a few months ago on Angies List. The company I was interested also happened to be at the Bungalow Expo we attended a few weeks ago.

We talked to Art and Linda's Wildflowers extensively, and finally decided to have them come out to take a look. Art concluded that we have such intense shade by the Norway Maples that there is no way to get anything to grow. He gave us several suggestions.

Option 1. Contact the Alderman to get permission to cut down a major limb of one of the maples. This could easily cost us $1000 plus to get done. We hate option 1.

2. Try to work with what we have. This involves putting mulch on the yard (the only thing that will obviously survive) and attempt to plant ferns is select spots. He's not sure if the ferns will survive or not. He can also move our gutters to create a pretty rock/rain garden in front.

We are going to try option 2 and wait and see.

We also contracted them to do our backyard. We just don't have the time, knowledge or expertise to do it on our own, and his idea's were superb.

Art took us on a garden tour of several homes around us to get idea's, and his work is awesome.

So, there you have it. Hopefully by next summer, we can post some pretty pictures of the front and backyards of the Happier Bungalow.

The countdown begins

I've been sleeping on this sorry excuse of a bed for almost 3 months now, and the day has finally arrived... Just saw on the website that the other bed I want to try is going on sale on 10/15. I can't wait to get rid of this one! I'm looking forward to the day it gets carried out of the bungalow, never to return again.

Now, I'm really hoping the new one is better. If it's not, then I'll be really sad, and will probably go get one of those old spring mattresses.

We haven't had much going on lately. We did finally get the bungalow furnished (thanks to Beth's Miami house!) We may try to tackle cleaning out the basement, and moving the storage to the attic this weekend, which once again, won't be as easy as we thought. Since the attic stairs open over the basement stairs, we'll have to carry everything through the outside basement door, through the outside kitchen door, and finally up to the attic stairs. This will really be fun when it gets even colder. Good times.