Sometimes, we work on our house, but that little project isn’t worthy of a post.  Today, we’re sharing the boring projects/maintenance we’ve recently completed.

Ben brought a pressure washer (Vincent calls it a water compressioner) home to wash the mold off the north side of the house.  I complained about it here, and Sam M suggested a hot pressure washer.

He hooked it up to hot water and it worked quickly and came off easily.

Then Ben used a leaf blower in reverse to suck the leaves out of our window wells.  Nothing life changing, but it looks much better.

Before the attic become sweltering, we decided to install an exhaust fan in the master bathroom.  Previously, this was a half bath, so it never had a fan.

It made a mess in our tub, (Mickey didn’t approve) but it was long overdue.

Side note: When Ben was younger, he asked his mom what the bath fan did.  She replied, “It takes the bad air and puts it outside.”  He asked, “Under the rocks?”  She said yes (they had an earth berm home).  She asked how Ben knew this.  His response?  “Because I’ve smelled under them before.”

Our window boxes looked terrible; everything died over the winter.

See, dead.

Another side note: When Ben was about 4, he went outside and saw icicles had fallen off the house.  He called to his brothers, “Guys, look at the icicles, DEAD”  Can you tell they grew up hunting?  Of course if they we on their side they were dead.  I about died laughing when I read that in Ben’s baby book.

To remedy this, we took a trip to Home Depot to pick up flowers.  I chose Coleus, Creeping Jenny, Impatiens, and Pansies.

Better, but I hope the tiny flowers actually grow.  If not, I wasted $15 per window.

I also had a few rose bushes die over the abnormally harsh winter, so I chose three plants for roughly $10 each from Lowe’s.  See how much bigger the new plants are compared to the original one on the right?

One of Ben’s apple trees died, too, so we bought four fruit trees to plant.  Two apples and two cherry trees. Vincent helped Ben while Everett hung out on the blanket.  I worked on refinishing the bench.

I also stole clipped a few lilacs from the neighbor’s bush to display in the dining room.

My brother and sister-in-law are expecting a baby girl, due to arrive any day now.  I’m so excited to make girl items, and a butterfly mobile seemed perfect.  I bought a macrame hoop from Hobby Lobby for three bucks and chose assorted pink and purple card stock.  Using fine gauge wire, I separated the hoop into 8 sections.  Then, I drew a butterfly and traced half of it on my paper.  I folded the paper in half and cut out tons of butterflies.

I poked a small hole near the top of each with a needle and strung white thread through to hang the butterflies from.

Here is a shot from a BPOV (baby point of view).  A small cup hook easily holds the mobile above the crib.

Do you remember the scene from The Shining when Wendy discovers Jack’s ‘book’?  The pages covered with ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’

Well, sometimes, that’s what we feel like.  A trip on the boat, on a Thursday no less, can help that.  I love Montana lakes surrounded by mountains.  That never happens in Minnesota.

We had fun until the wind picked up and we had 8 foot waves to compete with.

Is your to do list overflowing with little projects and/or maintenance?  It can be overwhelming, can’t it?  What do you do to get a relaxing day away from your list?