Spring has sprung . . . hopefully

Well, the rain is here almost every other day and here's hoping that the weather stays like this. I like the rain, it means I don't have to water the garden as much.

But this year I am determined to get my back yard finalized to the point that I can actually enjoy it and my garden. I've got to first figure out why my sprinkler system isn't working and that is going to be interesting. My dad tried to help out last year and we couldn't figure it out, but here's hoping to a new year and new luck. We're thinking that the water just wasn't turned on to the system and that the control box is damaged. Last year at the end of the season I bought a new control box and some tools for cheap so hopefully I'll be able to put it in.

I also want my garden back. With the price of food going up and up, I want to be able to feed myself some fresh veggies without having to pay a bundle. I've got the framework for garden boxes, and my mom has started her greenhouse, so a few of my seedlings are there. But with the garden boxes, that means I won't have to put in that much sod in the back, so it keeps down the cost. As for the sod in the front, it shouldn't be too much either since I'm planning on doing some landscaping up front to keep the grass and water to a minimum.

I'm also getting sick of the faded color of my house and I found out that there is a paint for vinyl siding, so I'm going to redo the coloring and I'm going to paint my door something bold. I've also got to do something about the mailbox. I'm thinking that I can buy some remnant bricks and build a nice mailbox housing. That may be the cheapest thing to do and sill fulfill the requirements of my HOA.

And on that note, I am really sick of my HOA. There is a "snitch" in the neighborhood that will let the HOA know of anything that is going on that isn't up to the "code". But I really don't care. The HOA can't take my house and since it is my property I can technically do anything I want with it. If I wanted to paint my house a bright green, I could. Would it match the neighborhood? No, but I could. Not that I'm going to though.

Spring cleaning has started and I've got some older appliances that need to be sold so I can use the money elsewhere, or donated so I can get a tax break. I'm trying to see which one will give me the greater outcome. I'm thinking that I'm going to have a yard sale soon to get rid of some clothes and other junk that we haven't used in a few years (or specifically from the move over). That should get me some extra cash to fund all this.

I'm hoping that things will move on this year and we'll be able to figure out stuff and make it all work.