Lists Of Jobs To Be Completed - Will I Ever Find The Time Or The Cash?

Every year I say I am going to sort out the garden and make use of the decent(ish) space we have out there but of course as always I start with great intentions and not much happens.

Summer comes along and I kick myself for not getting organised and then I am far too busy enjoying the holidays with the children to be chopping down bushes and moving furniture around – besides have you ever tried doing such things with young children around? I actually spend longer clearing up the mess they have made ‘helping’ than making any headway.

Paul made a great start at the start of the summer cutting back the bushes at the side of our house – actually that was a necessity as people couldn’t walk down the path by the house – yes they had gotten that bad.

I even cut all the grass and swept the patio at the same time but fast forward a few weeks of rain and all that hard work is now out of hand again and all those jobs need redoing sadly.

We have plans for our garden, a place the children spend a lot of time but sadly these bigger jobs all cost money, money which is never spare – as with most households.

The ground is uneven which is rather annoying as we have a lovely wooden double swing set with a slide attached. If the children swing too hard at the same time the whole frame rocks and I am sure one day it will topple – I am assured this can’t happen but it doesn’t stop me thinking it. We also have a 10ft trampoline in the garden – one of the best purchases ever.

What we would love to do is level the garden and have fake grass put down one day – maybe when I win the lottery that will happen but until then we would like to swap the two big toys around, so, place the trampoline where the swing is and vice versa – but first cutting back the trees at the back of the garden and at the side which will give us a couple of extra feet in space out there. We plan to at least level the new area where the swing will be and add bark chipping down and then we can purchase monkey bars and a climbing robe and alternate the swings with these to have even happier kids.

The brick BBQ which was here when we moved in needs removing and we have a corner of the garden dedicated to the rubbish awaiting the tip run…..it’s been waiting a long time!

A new shed would be ideal but for now a lick of paint would do and getting power back into the shed is also on the to do list, along with replacing the back gate.

Perhaps the job we have been putting off the longest is replacing the upvc doors throughout the house. The one at the front is full frosted glass and while I do love the rose designs on the front I would love a wooden front door, mainly for privacy – I have actually lost count of the times I have dashed out of our downstairs shower room wet and naked having forgotten I’ve washed all the towels or left them upstairs after my last shower only for at that moment the postman or delivery guy to knock – no amount of leg crossing or arm folding hides that view….I’ve tried.

The kitchen door is locked shut as it broke and we couldn’t open it so have just left it shut but it would be handy to have fixed as then the kids could come in from the garden that way instead of trampling mud through my front room….and lets not forget the time this happened to the other door in the front room……

That’s a day I’ll never forget in a hurry. The kids and I were snuggled on the sofa just by the back door in the morning when there was a HUGE crashing noise which boomed around the front room – I honestly don’t think 3 people have jumped so far in the air screaming so loudly before.

Thankfully I had moved the mini green house the day before and also moved out an old unit from the front room placing it behind the lamppost until we could dismantle and take to the tip. These two things are what saved that lamppost smashing through the glass door and into my front room. If it had the shattering glass would have been all over the kids and I and the TV would have gone over too. It’s hard to see from those pictures but it is actually sitting touching the glass door.

A lorry driver managed to reverse into it so hard he knocked it down. I am still amazed to this day it caused no major damage, other than the lamppost needing to be removed immediately and a new fence panel.

Oh, I also need new windows throughout the house as the double glazing has failed but geez if I list every single thing which needed replacing/fixing I may just be rocking in a corner or praying to the money fairies.