Baby Steps: Mulched, Weeded, Washed, Painted, Stained

I've been tearing through my to-do list with renewed vigor. It might be my upcoming milestone birthday (hello new decade) making me want a change. Or it might be the weight of 2 missed spring seasons (from not feeling well) pushing me to get things cleaned up now that I'm doing better. Maybe it's the desire to feel stronger and more capable this year. Or maybe a combination of all these things. 

No matter the motivation (all of the above)... I've been busy. I'm trying to do a little bit of everything every day because I realized that it's much easier to fit in 20 minutes of painting, a few loads of mulch, 10 minutes of weeding, etc. than it is to fit in a half day of painting or a full day of mulching. Breaking the house cleaning into 7 zones and 7 days taught me that it's actually much easier to get it all done when it's broken down into smaller pieces each day (especially when you're busy or unwell or overwhelmed or in the middle of baseball season).  A little bit each day can be crammed in before work, during lunch, after work, while dinner is in the oven.

So I got 5 cubic yards of mulch spread in 2 weeks start to finish (Friday to Friday). I actually ran out (AGAIN!) but I expanded the beds in a few areas and that used up a lot of the mulch. 

The way back of the yard once again got the short end of the stick and I had to fudge it so it looks nice from the house but I didn't get everything covered the "right" way. You can see that the area against the chain link fence in the way back didn't get any mulch. Maybe next year?! 

From the garden and the house, it looks mulched though, so that's what matters for this year.

We need to tidy up the wood pile behind the composter, but the garden in front of it looks great as the plants start to wake up. 

I weeded all the beds before mulching, luckily most of the beds were in decent shape. Once the mulching was done I weeded the gravel path to the garden and the garden paths (which were all terribly weedy, it took forever to get them cleaned up). Once the mulch pile was gone, the driveway was swept and it took both me and Mike to get all that grit cleaned up.

Waiting for a sunny day that wasn't immediately followed by ran, I finally had an opportunity to paint the mailbox post white (before the flowers all grew in), paint the side of the garage (where the yellow jacket foam filler was), touch up a few spots on the foundation in the same gray paint, and stain the fence posts (the gravel delivery broke 3 and they had to be replaced!). 

I borrowed my dad's power washer and stripped all the loose stain off the deck and the gray table I use for patio plants. Both of these were then ready for a round of outdoor stain next! Then I cleaned the house siding, trash can shed, porch railing and porch steps. It looks a lot better. We had way too much of that green moss built up and it was starting to look dingy. 

I had to touch up the front of the porch (where it's still painted wood or painted composite) with another round of white paint. And the side of the stairs with the gray porch and floor paint. And oiled the porch floor because when I was power washing I noticed how DRY it was. 

Then it was staining time - the gray table and the deck floor were hit up next. The deck is tricky because not only do you have to wait for perfect weather, but you can't walk on it for a hours after which is SUCH a pain with the dog. It looks much better though. 

The table looks as good as when we first bought it now.

So that's where we are right now. 

Finished: 5 cubic yards of mulching, weeding all the beds, weeding the garden paths, power washing, painting touch ups on the garage and foundation, painting the mail box post and touching up the porch paint, oiled the porch floor, stained the deck, stained the gray table, swept the driveway (but it needs more), prep the garden for planting, fixed the deer netting. 

Outdoor to-do's: Plant the raised bed garden ASAP (hopefully on mother's day), plant the dahlia bulbs, fill the plant flower pots with annuals (+ transplant/clean up what was stored in the greenhouse), set up the pool, stain the peeling spots on the pergola, and eventually seal the driveway. Mike also will be building me blueberry boxes this spring to protect the blueberry bushes from the birds (hopefully!) and tidy up the wood pile in the way back. 

Onwards! Keep moving before I slow down, take a break and realize how tired I am.