good fences make good neighbors

We already had pretty good neighbors, so the fence is really more to keep the kiddos inside and the random dogs (like the two pit bulls that came right up to us in the yard a few weeks ago or the crazed pug that chased my friend into a neighbor's yard this week) out.  It's one of those wonderful examples of DIY goodness--my parents, Brandon's parents, and my sister and her husband all turned out to share their miscellaneous knowledge and muscle power, and the result?  Better than we ever expected:

This shot shows the finished fence, including copper caps on the posts (and we added another one this weekend to the mailbox, to match).  We tried to stain it this weekend but it was too soon, and the wood wouldn't absorb the stain.

I like to call this one The View from Inside Baby Supermax.

We used the existing chain link fence poles on all the corners.  This weekend, we painted the metal posts brown with shiny copper caps.  Hopefully they'll match the cedar stain we picked out for the fence.

We had two estimates on having the fence done professionally and they ranged from $700-1400!  I've decided that nothing spurs me into physical labor like a free estimate.  The fence you see ended up costing approximately $335 and two days of manual labor.  The stain will probably add another $50 to the cost.

We managed to get a lot of work done on the house this weekend, although most were little jobs that we didn't want to do but that needed doing.  We put a latch on the gate to help make sure the girls can't escape so easily, and finished up the copper caps on the posts.  Brandon's mom came to visit and watched the girls while we climbed up in the attic to pull all of the insulation away from the eaves.  We got a ridgeline vent last summer with our new roof, and ever since the a/c unit can't seem to keep the house cool when it's very warm outside.  We realized part of the problem might be the fact that we shoved the insulation all the way to the edge of the roof, so we went up on Saturday morning to remedy it.  There was a lot of light showing around the edges (more than I remember before the new roof, hmm...), so I'm not sure what we did actually did a lot of good, but it did feel nice and cool in the house on this relatively warm weekend, so here's hoping.  We're not sure there are actually holes where the soffit vents are, so that might be the next step.  We're worried that the P.O. put vented siding over the eaves but that it's solid underneath!   We had a solar vent before the new roof and it worked just fine...the roof guy talked us into the ridgeline one and removed our solar vent (which we kept).  And now the house is hot.  Hmm.

We also noticed a spot where a support wasn't actually attached and the roof is sagging a little.  No idea how long it's been that way--2 weeks or 20 years--but we don't remember it being that way before, so we'll have to look into repairing it soon.

In other news, we've turned The Room of the Visiting Family Babysitter into an office again, with lots of bookshelves and the old futon.  We had a twin bed in there when Nana Reece and Aunt Kathy were so graciously helping out (we owe you forever!), but since I became a full time stay at home mom in January, we figure they can sleep on the futon when they visit.

And--you probably figured this one out already--in January I quit my job at the library and started staying home full-time with the girls.  It's been wonderful and I think it was definitely the right thing to do for us.  Much less stress...and much less money, but so far we seem to be doing okay.  Look for future posts on exciting things like menu planning, home made bread, and meatloaf recipes.  Woo hoo!  ;)