As mom said in her post, we worked on cleaning up and fixing up her backyard and house while she was gone. Originally part of her tree had fallen down and we were just going to cut it up but then we decided while she was gone we would get a bunch more done.
Here is the half of the apple tree that had fallen:
Here’s a picture of my brother starting on the tree. Mom has also wanted to get her fence painted for a long time but just never got around to it. Note the lovely color it is in the background. We forgot to take a picture of it, but in the back corner was an old metal shed she wanted taken down and sent to the metal recycling place. The guys got it down first before working on the tree.
Once the tree was down then they had to cut up the branches.
and there were a lot of apples to pick. The kids all got together and picked and picked apples.
They even got Jack in on the work and he was so proud of himself! Believe it or not we only got about one full box of apples, but that’s been enough to make applesauce, apple butter and dried apples. Recipes will come later.
Then we raked a lot of dead apples and branches.
Then Mike spent about 8-10 hours cleaning the siding on mom’s house with bleach. You can see the before and after. On the left side of the photo is the "after" he cleaned and right is a section he hadn’t cleaned yet (the "before"). You can see a rough diagonal line between the sections. It doesn’t look as bad on the picture as it did in real life. The problem with Kansas is that we have very high heat and humidity and the mildew just loves metal siding. As you can see, Mike didn’t mind doing it all. (Ok, about hour 10 he was getting a little tired. :-)
Then I went over 3 days and painted the fence for her. I was going to mix a bunch of brown and white paint leftovers mom and I had to try and get enough tan to cover her entire fence and shed.
Honestly, I hate mixing paint and really wanted to just find some at the recycling center or on discount at Lowe’s already mixed up. Well, I looked and looked at the recycle center for some for free but they didn’t have any. I then went to Lowe’s three times to see if they had any mis-mixes and on the last trip there, low and behold, they had 5 gallons and it was the perfect shade!! It was only $32! I was able to use a Swagbucks gift card so that was even better because it was free! I grabbed it up and the kids and I went over to paint.
Since it had been over 100 all week, we had to go in the mornings. We went over 2 mornings and then my oldest and I went one night and got it all finished. Doesn’t it look so much better!
Here’s the before and after. I took an old bench I had and put some black paint on it. Then I put some flowers in her planters and set them on the slab where the old metal shed used to be.
Her house looks almost like it had been painted after Mike scrubbed it. We found Outdoor Bleach and used that to clean it. It worked great! We just put it in a sprayer, sprayed it on, let it sit a few minutes and then scrubbed and rinsed. I forgot to get an "after" picture of the house but it does look nice.
Tawra
P.S. The pictures don’t show how really bad the siding was. When Mike was done with it, my neighbor thought they had painted the house because it was such a big change.
I bought a cheery vinyl tablecloth at Jo Ann Fabrics for 50 cents that I will sew into some pillows for the bench, which will add some color to the corner.
I do have some pretty sweet and wonderful kids/grandkids. Love you all.
Thanks again guys,
Jill (Mum, Nan)
Wow! what a transformation. I’m sure your mom must still be tickled at how good a job everyone did for her. Thanks for the example :)
Hi! It looks absolutely phantastic, you all did a great job! Thank you so much for posting the pics, guys.
Greetings from rainy Germany- Lola
There’s so much love in your family. You are all so blessed in so many ways. I think you all did a great job and it looks wonderful. I love the shade under that tree with the bench and flowers. Such serenity and peace. Wonderful for a “retreat” from the world. Nice place to sit and relax.
what beautiful family pictures!
What a transformation!! The fence looks so good:) Ya’ll sure did work hard and it shows!! I love it
Beautiful job! :)
Dear Tawra and Jill~
My heart was so touched by seeing the obvious love that bonds your family. You are RICH in ways that some people will never experience. I have friends who are “rich” by the standards of the world-they have vacation homes in beautiful places, shop and eat in the finest stores and restaurants…and on and on. They are, however, poor in spirit and have fractured family relationships. My best friend went for SEVEN years (!!!) without speaking to her mother when they hit a difficult time. She filled those years and her feelings with too much of everything that is unhealthy.
I have come to realize the truth about life and your beautiful family is a wonderful example of what it is. It is nothing that can ever be bought with money. It is love….and, we were designed by God to GIVE it away!! I pray for health and happiness in abundance for you both and your family.
Many, many blessings!
Barb~
Barb~
Thank you Barb for those sweet words. We are like any other family we do have our moments but I am so grateful we do get along so well. I had to laugh though. Tawra said about the second day one of the grandkids asked if they could quit now because they were tired. Even though their love of Nan was great it was hot and they were tired. My granddaughter stop and said “Don’t you know we have to keep doing this because we are suppose to help the old people.”
Several thoughts went through my mind. “What a sweet granddaughter I have. My kids were training them well and last but not least – I’m not sure I’m ready to be relegated into the category of the elder quite yet. I’m older but I didn’t think I’m that old!” : ) : ) Out of the mouths of babes.
Maybe that was God’s way of bringing me down a notch or two because just before I left on my trip my 7 year old grandson used my bathroom and when he came out he said “Nan is all that stuff (creams and make up) on that shelf what you use each day to make yourself look like an angel?” Talk about a charmer and knowing how to make his grandma’s day. : ) : ) What one doesn’t think of the other does. : )
This is great. What is the difference between outdoor bleach and regular bleach?
Beautiful! I love these kinds of makeovers!! My patio had seen better days (ripped screening, broken door handle, and a few other things) and a good friend to me said that sometimes we live like we are so poor, but really the little fixes can be cheap and make a huge difference. I got some new screen (just for the ripped parts) and she helped me change it out. It turned out that the door handle was a cheap fix too. I was motivated so a painted out the floor with paint for cement that I got cheapy-cheap. It did take time, but not a lot of money, and I did it all in short bursts with her help. What a difference.
I love the bench area. Very peaceful. :)
thanks for sharing .. love the pics :D ..
We both have many physical problems, but Dh still does so many things to make our home better. I intend to do more outside this next spring ( some area’s of health are improving so that physically I will be able to what I would like to do). Your makeover has really motivated me. There are several small jobs that we will have to get someone to do and that will be an expense, but once they are done I can do the painting, like you mentioned a little bit every day and it will be done. ( No family near to help) You are blessed to have such a wonderful family, but they are blessed to have a Mother who taught them! And your Grand Children show that those gifts have been passed on.
I am always pleased when I hear from my Children and even more pleased when I hear from Grand Children via e-mails, especially now they are grown and on their own. How lucky we are to have families who love us.
this was a great pick me up story to read this morning………….sycj a grat job and such a great family!
God Blsss…
Lucky Mom! Wonderful job.
Yes Evelyn I was so lucky and they did a wonderful job and worked so hard. I am blessed with really great kids and grand kids