Our first Craiglist Purchase?=Success!

So we have finally ventured into the world and domain of Craigslist. Since we now know that we are going to stay in this home for a while we decided that we needed to find a way to take care of our lawn. Especially since the residents were given "notice" that dandelions would not be tolerated. I looked at my poor yard and wondered if the dandelions could somehow be disguised as grass. We needed a lawnmower badly. I've checked craigslist from time to time but people haven't been doing too much yardwork apparently because I have been having a hard time finding one. Well, I checked one last time before we decided to go to HomeDepot to buy the cheapest one we could, and I saw an ad for an old lawnmower for $20.00. $20? Are you kidding me? I figured it didn't run but I had Dwayne email the guy anyway. Saturday morning right before we took off to hunt garage sales we received an email with pictures. Dwayne emailed him back with our phone number and told him that we are interested but he would need to call us as we are out and about. While out garage sailing, we got a call! He told us it even runs! (Always a plus.) The only bad thing is he did live out in Pe Ell. Well, it was a nice day and that was a part of Washington we hadn't discovered yet so decided to go out there and get it. Especially since we can't beat the price. We had a lovely drive with the kids and went to get the lawnmower.

Since I decided we were going to be doing yardwork anyway, we decided to swing by HomeDepot on the way home. I got flowers for my flowerbox, 3 types of tomatoes, and some strawberries, plus all the paraphanelia needed to have a small garden. Dwayne finally got a ladder. We got home and still had several hours left in the afternoon to get things done so Dwayne immediately tackled the lawn and I decided the vehicles really really needed to get cleaned out. 3 hours later we fell on the couch exhausted. After all, we are both couch potatoes and this is the most excercise we've had in a while. Sad but true. The lawnmower is old and ugly but it seems to be doing the job and I can't complain about the pricetag.

This morning I got up early and planted the tomatoes and strawberries. The person who lived here previously had a small garden and also did a lot of mulching so we have some perfect patches all ready to go with rich soil. The only problem? The patches have been neglected quite a while. We had some weeding to do. While I started that, Dwayne went on the roof and cleaned out the gutters and pulled some moss then came down to help me. We finished in time for lunch and I feel so productive! I'm really excited to have my own tomatoes and strawberries this year and intend on learning how to can to help with food costs. I thought I would start small and maybe add more varieties of vegetables next year but I'm thinking I might go ahead and get a couple bellpeppers too. We'll see if my excitement lasts.