There is something about the warm summer wind that urges me to do things. Household type things. Home improvement type things. I can feel DH rolling his eyes about now. He knows that I start the projects, but he usually has to finish them. I am the inspiration behind his elbow grease.
Case in point . .
My walkways.
I have been eyeballing my walkway to my house for some time now. They looked good in their time . . . and that only lasted about two years. Snow and ice really take its toll on walkways.
We felt so clever when we put them in. I'm sure my kiddos remember this because they were helping us do it. We purchased a concrete stamp, some bags of concrete and some sand. None of us had ever worked with concrete before, but hey. . . we could do it! Plus we were on a strict budget. We couldn't afford to pay anyone to do it.
The first walkway went well. It looked nice! We were proud. The stamp created a little stone type look. We filled it in with a mix that went in the joints.
We admired it from near and far. It did look good.
After awhile the mix that went in the joints started to decay. Rapidly. Little ants made homes and weeds grew in the joints. Our little stones started to sink deep or rise up, depending on where the resident mole would travel.
This winter, as I was shoveling, I realized our pathway was so uneven that it could be a danger to my little students as they came to lessons. Something had to be done.
So I called a local concrete guy, who also happens to be a neighbor and a former piano family, and had him come over to bid on some new walkways. When I recovered from the sticker shock, he said the magic words that got me, "You know, you could save $500 if you pulled these walkways out yourself."
SOLD!!
Well, actually I did think about it for a minute, then I signed him up. Miss Ems and I started the project. Here is a before picture, which I always forget to do until it is nearly the after:
And the after:
Here's my helper:
She benefits too. Look at those muscles!
Keep watching for a follow up to the NEW and IMPROVED walkways!
1 comment:
I do the SAME thing! Poor Terry is always having to use his muscles for my projects!
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