Saturdays

During the school year Saturdays are my only day to get things done, so they tend to get very busy and be filled to the brim. This past Saturday was like that. Tim and I (and some wonderful volunteers) were busy from morning till night.

Here's the list of things to do from Saturday:
 1. Pressure wash the house
 2. Cut down ornamental pear tree
 3. Dispose of tree
 4. Do laundry
 5. Grocery shop
 6. Visit Lilah (a dog) with Jana

 7. Make lunch (Chili!)
 8. Pick up dinner

What a list! Our white house has slowly been getting grayer over the years since we've moved in, so my dad suggested we use his power washer to clean it up. Our ornamental pear tree causes a mess every year with little tiny pears you can't eat. It also attracts a lot of bees and hornets and their nests. We wanted to get rid of it so that we can put in an Autumn Blaze Maple instead.

Our house "before"

Tree "before"

Hornet's nest

Fortunately we have family and friends who are willing to help us tackle these projects. Tim, my dad, Jared, and David (a friend from church) did most of the outdoor work while I tackled the laundry, lunch, grocery shopping, and picking up dinner.

The day started with picking up all the supplies we'd need from my dad's shop (scaffolding, pressure washer, ladders, chain saws, etc.).  Then the men set up the scaffolding and David power washed part of the house while the other three started taking down the pear tree. While they were doing that I was busy with laundry, making chili for lunch, and jello for dinner.

Setting up scaffolding

Our house "during"

Tree "during"

I took a "break" (which included grocery shopping) by going with Jana to look at a dog that she wanted to adopt. It is so cute!

After that the rest of the day was spent cleaning up the branches and leaves from the tree, stacking wood, and moving the scaffolding around the house to finish the power washing.

Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day, but now our house is finally back to white, our backyard is tree free (not exactly thrilled with that), our cement patio looks like cement instead of dirt, and Jana is getting a dog - Lilah!

Our house "after"

Tree "after"

Lilah

Now I'm sure that many of you wouldn't consider this to fall into the "fantastically frivolous fun" category, but there is really so much fun to be had with family and friends amidst the busyness of a hard day's work.