I'm baaaaack

*chirp chirp*

Hellooooooooooooo

Hellooooooooooooo

Hellooooooooooooo

Hellooooooooooooo

Hellooooooooooooo

Anyone out there?

That was an echo, by the way. In case you're wondering.

So I figure the only people who might read this are people who accidentally subscribed to it in a reader and never got around to deleting it. So you probably didn't notice that I haven't blogged anyway because you have 10000 other things in your reader and this isn't exactly anyone's top blog.

Well, I'll explain my absence anyway. Because I know you care deeply. hah. I amuse myself.

I'm lazy.

Did you really think there was going to be more of an explanation than that? Well then clearly you haven't actually been reading my blog.

I have a few excuses to go with it. I got a new job. Moved out of my old house. Sold my old house. Lived in a hotel. Couldn't afford the hotel. Lived in a short term rental house. Might be getting kicked out of short term rental. Buying a new house. But really, I haven't posted anything because I'm lazy.

But, I'm back. At least for the moment.

So I have a few thoughts with regards to my new house. I figure I'll throw them out there and see if anyone has any suggestions. I'll post more pics of the house... eventually.... after I actually own it.

1. Anyone used a reel mower? How hard are they to push? How well do they mow? My property is 0.1 acres and I'm figuring I'm going to turn most of it into a garden so I don't need much. And a reel mower is small and light and won't take up much space in the garage.

2. Building raised beds. How tall do they need to be to do you any good? I'm thinking I'm going to make them with either 1x12 or 2x12 boards, depending on my mood and the price so maybe 10" tall. Is that high enough? I am thinking I'm going to paint them to keep them from rotting. The other option I'm considering is concrete blocks. The raised bed kits are insanely expensive. It needs to be as cheap as possible. With all my savings getting eaten by the down payment, the budget's gonna be pretty tight.

3. Right now the landcaping on the house is very nice. I'm thinking of ways to ruin it. I am thinking I want to gradually replace the front yard with perennial edibles. I think raised beds would look weird in the front yard. And then build raised beds in the back for annuals (a lot of the stuff I grew last year and more)

1. I think I want to build a strawberry bed in the front yard. Maybe as a patch in the middle of the main part of the lawn?
2. I would like to put something else with the strawberries, so it's less farm like. Any suggestions? I am thinking a tree or bush. I want an interesting fruit, the ones I've thought of so far are blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, figs, persimmon, lychee but a lot of these will be tough to grow in zone 6. It probably should also not look ridiculous as a front yard plant in the middle of a strawberry bed. Although according to some random documents I read on my town, you cannot plant fruiting trees, nut trees or flowering bushes. I'm deciding how to interpret that.
3. I'm also thinking about interplanting some herbs with the strawberries: thyme, rosemary, mint. Maybe start them indoors through the winter and plant them in the ground in the spring.
4. I also want to grow asparagus. Maybe a row of asparagus next to a row of strawberries running from the curb to the fence on the left side of the house?

4. I really want some form of citrus tree. Again, in zone 6 my options are limited. Maybe a potted Meyer Lemon tree?

5. I guess I'm accepting that I'm not going to be growing anything this year but I can have everything ready for next year. Build raised beds, get a good compost going, turn the soil, kill the grass....

6. I want a compost heap. I figure in a back corner of the backyard. I am too cheap to buy one of the fancy ones. I've seen lots of homemade ones made from pallets that I may try my hand at.

7. I'll be repainting a number of rooms. I think I want to paint the upstairs rooms gray. Of course the last time I tried that it came out closer to light blueish purple than gray. So I'm taking recommendations on color.

8. Is it a bad idea to buy a 5 gallon bucket of primer? I figure I'll need 2 gallons to prime the 2nd floor (currently offwhite and pink, I think), at least 1 gallon for rooms (1 of the rooms has kids coloring marks on the wall) on the 1st floor and another gallon for the basement (currently bright yellow). And anyone have a reason why I should choose one brand over another? While we're at it, I'm taking recommendations for the other room colors as well. Of course I might decide halfway through that I just don't care enough and leave the room their current color or if I manage to prime them before I give up, white.

Here's a couple pictures from the original listing, because I know you are anxious to see the house. Hopefully I'm not jinxing the purchase by posting these and calling it mine now. Cross your fingers that nothing will screw up my closing date!

How sexy is that kitchen? You know you are jealous. Think of all the yumminess that's gonna come from this kitchen.