We are approaching the two year anniversary of living in our house.  YAY.  And lately, we’ve been working our butts off in the backyard.  Aaron likes to remind me it’s sweat equity.  So picture this: when we moved in, there was nothing where you’re looking but a huge, gross, rotten bush line down the entire side of the property line.  Aaron spent (what seemed like, but possible wasn’t) the ENTIRE first summer we lived in this house ripping the 12″ tall bushes out with his bear hands and a pick axe.  A tree removal service quoted him $10,000 to do it.  He did it for the price of his time.  I was pregnant and brought him lemonade (nope), and it was done!  Yay Aaron!  Oh, we did pay somebody to come out and pulverize the roots so the bushes never, ever come back, but I can’t remember what that cost.

When the bushes were all gone, look at what we found!!  In a pinterest-esque move I turned this truly vintage clothes line into something cool-ish. The house was built in 1945, and the clothes line was there before the bushes were there, and the bushes were there FOREVER.  Anyway, we got some adorable hanging baskets and glass lanterns, and it’s a cute detail you’d never think to ADD to your house, but works since it’s there.  It’s also stuck into a two ton cement ball under the ground and wasn’t going anywhere.  So, back to landscaping.  Last summer was the year of the FENCE!!  We were quoted $12,500 by two different fence companies.  Just for some wood, lined up in a straight line. but you know what we did? We just did NOTHING.  Eventually, our neighbors got annoyed and built a fence.  Wrapping up the back and putting an iron gate up through our driveway only cost $2,500.  Procrastination for the win?  We were also busy keeping our first garden alive last summer (oh, and a baby!)- so I feel it was totally justified.

Now, back to exhibit A.  Last weekend, in a fit of impatience, I demanded we get ALL OF THE LANDSCAPING DONE NOW! OR IMMA CALL A LANDSCAPER!  And, to Aaron’s credit he responded swiftly and deftly.  What used to contain 250 square feet of dirt and 5 foot tall weeds, now contains 1,5 tons of pea gravel, 10 hostas, and a 20 square foot garden planter for our tomatoes, eggplant and squash.  Of course, it was a rough 10 hours, but LOOK!  By the way, I did call a landscaper, and he quoted us $7,500 for a “floating” sandstone dissolving patio/fire pit and some grass. Or something.  Anyway, we still want either some lilac bushes or a small flowering tree and maybe some prairie grasses.  But that’s progress, and the whole weekend only cost us $350.

So, let’s do the Sweat Equity Math!  The quoted price for all these little improvements was $30,000.  We spent $2,850.  What do I get to do with the difference???? (Oh wait, that’s imaginary money).