Progress?

Today I remembered why we needed a break from house projects in the first place. In our house, any project, no matter how small, can devolve into an f-word-laced rant by one or both of us in less than five minutes. Home improvement projects are not meant for two people with minuscule amounts of patience. This is why I like to hire professionals. Unless you hire certain Sears delivery men, your project will not conclude half finished, in a screaming hissy fit, no matter the obstacle, if left in the hands of a professional. Alas, the budget is tight, but our house is old and needs attention, so we attempt things ourselves.

Here's some math for you:

Old House + Limited Budget + Limited Patience = Toilet Fiasco '09

Toilet Fiasco '09 started out as a simple project: paint the downstairs bathroom. It's tiny, so we figured it would be an easy project to get us moving again. It should have been easy. The trouble started when we tried to remove the toilet tank so that we could paint behind it. We were pretty intimidated by this to begin with, but a friend who is a plumber assured me this was easy. Huh.

The bolts attaching the tank to the base of the toilet were completely rusted and wouldn't budge. Removing the toilet tank involved the following: a sponge, a hacksaw, every kind of wrench and pliers we own, vice grips, four hours, three calls to Jason's father, one call from his father's friend Kenny, multiple threats to break the thing apart with a sledge hammer, and one moment of super strength. It is now sitting in our shower and that is as far as we got on our "weekend" project. Who knows how we'll get ready for work in the morning.

I'll post some "After" shots when we're finally finished.

In the meantime, here are some shots of what we've been up to the last month or so. We actually did get few things accomplished in April despite a crazy travel schedule.

First, I fixed up the back porch (there are no before shots because it is too embarrassing to show how gross we let it get over the winter--wild animals used the old seat cushions for homes!):

The wisteria made it look even better:

Jason repaired the gutters and removed our pointless garbage disposal:

Also, I planted some flowers in pots on the front porch (still not dead yet!) and had a few things framed (still not hung up yet). Jason (who is inhuman in is work ethic) managed to redo the grout in the shower and plant a tree, two rose bushes, two wax myrtles, and two butterfly plants, plus spread new mulch, in one weekend. (Obviously, I was out of town. I'm the bad influence, apparently.)