Sunday, September 14, 2008
Busy Week
We've been back in Winter Park for 5 weeks, and I'm finally hitting my stride. We've got our routines down, and house is looking more organized. It always takes a while. The kids have already gotten their half term progress reports, and they are doing great. Kevin got all A's and Catie had a mix of A's and B's.
Alex and are still working on the rental house, and we are now concentrating on the back yard. I never think to take "before" pictures to contrast with "after" pictures, and it would have been a good idea to do this, as Alex has done an amazing job. I don't think our last tenants did anything out there in the past 8 years, and it was quite overgrown. Alex dug out most of the bushes that were probably planted over 20 years ago and were half dead. We're putting new mulch down and I'll get some more flowers to plant. I'll also get some grass seed and spread it out before we get some rainy weather.
We had a great day today at the pool. Nora and Gene came over for the day, and Kent and Rene came over for a barbeque at Windsong with us. Alex did all the cooking, and everything was delicious.
It's 10 p.m. and the kids are already in bed. We're back on track.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
More Yard Work
Alex, Kevin, Catie and I went over to our rental house today to do some more yard work. Catie worked on spreading out new mulch, Alex finished bundling up all the trees he cut down and Kevin and I raked the yard and bagged all the leaves. Winter Park requires all cut down trees to be cut into 4 foot branches and then tied with twine or they won't pick it up.
It was in the 90's today, so it was pretty hot work. Luckily most of the front yard is shaded, so we didn't burn too much. The only thing we have to do in the front yard now is mow the grass and edge along the sidewalk. It already looks so much better. The back yard will be a real challenge, and we'll start on that on Monday.
The house is now completely clean on the inside, and the smell is gone. I did a space clearing yesterday with my bell from Bali and feel like it's ready to rent. I've been getting a lot of calls, so I feel pretty confident I find a renter this week.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Ike Is Coming to Florida
Looks like Hurricane Ike is heading for Florida. It's expected to reach South Florida by next Tuesday. It's already a category 4 with 135 mph winds, and it'll be stronger by the time it gets to Florida. I'm glad I left my bags of ice in the freezer after Tropical Storm Fay because it looks like we might be needing them next week.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Cleaning
My long term tenants just moved out of the house Alex and Angelo and I lived in when they were in high school. They had lived there for the past eight years, and I don't think I had actually been inside the house for the past four years. They were great tenants; if anything broke they fixed it, and when I was out of the country they would take their rent check directly to my bank to deposit it in my account. I always assumed that they would want to buy my house, so I was kind of surprised when they bought a big house with a pool in a neighborhood way out in the suburbs. They paid someone to clean and paint the house, so we just had to tune up the yard, do a deeper clean and figure out how to get the dog smell out of the house.
Alex spent the day cutting down overgrown trees all around the house. I amazed how much the trees in front had grown, as high as the basketball hoop. He also pressure washed the driveway so it looks like new, and cut down all the overgrown corn plants in front of the house. Jim bought new pavers for the front of the house and some plants and flowers to spruce up the house.
It took me all day to wash all the windows in the house (for some reason the cleaner hadn't washed any windows), clean under the fridge and stove and clean the pantry shelves. It already smells better and looks great.
Alex felt really nostalgic working around the house. He lived there from 6th grade to 11th grade, and we had a good life there.
