Alfredo is amazing! He is always working on some type of home improvement project. A few months ago, we redid what was Gabby's room and turned it into Michelle's room. (Now Ella and Gabby share and Michelle has her own room. For the most part, this has worked out pretty well.)
Michelle picked out the colors...bright pink, black and a light green. She has enjoyed decorating it and enjoyed having her own space. (Although humorously, quite often, she sleeps downstairs with her sisters. They often all curl up in the same bed even though they each have their own bed.) Alfredo painted the walls, replaced the outlet covers so they would match, painted the closet doors and bedroom door. We bought her a new bed. We painted a dresser so it would match. Alfredo found curtains that match very well. Michelle has loved it!
Sorry this last one is blurry. She has a little table with some decorations and her supply of decorative duct tape. She has photos hanging on her wall and a little corner that she has named her art wall where she hangs up her own artwork. On her door, she has a self portrait and two fancy signs that say her name. I love that she has made it her own.
We have a dining area in our backyard near our grill. Our old dining room table and chairs are there and in the summer, we often eat outside. A couple of years ago, Alfredo put bricks in that area. He's been wanting to have grass in between each brick. So a little over a month ago, he bought sod and laid sod between each brick. It looks great.
Alfredo built the girls a small treehouse (which they use to launch themselves on the zipline) a few years ago. But the wood planks he used as the floor were warping and cracking and it was in need of repair. So he began work in April and worked off and on until June on making the treehouse bigger, better and more stable. He added a set of stairs and a bridge. Attached a slide. Added a "roof". The girls and neighbors all love it! (And they love the zipline...it has long been a favorite of friends and neighbors.) The girls enjoyed helping him.
When we bought our house, it had a deck from the kitchen to the backyard. But it was in disrepair. When Michelle began walking, we knew we needed to fix it because there were holes in it and it was a safety hazard. So Alfredo pulled out most of the old wood, (leaving the frames but replacing all of the other wood) and rebuilt it. He added pretty wood paneling and wood bars on the top to provide a bit more shade. But that all happened ten years ago. It was looking a bit sad this summer... so Alfredo borrowed his friend's power washer and power washed all of the wood. Got it really, really clean. Then he repainted all of the wood with wood stain and sealer. It looks almost like new again.
Finally, our dishwasher hasn't worked for a couple of years. We were able to buy a new dishwasher a couple of weeks ago. Because it was expensive to have them install it, Alfredo did it himself. It was a real pain! It took all day. But he did it. And now, I have a beautiful...and more importantly working... dishwasher! I love it. I'm having to retrain my kids about loading their dishes straight into the dishwasher since we haven't had one in so long. (Before, we often used paper plates and just threw them away...my kids were trained to do that or to scrape their plate and then stack them in the sink and we took turns doing dishes.) I love having a dishwasher. I run it each evening and unload it either before bed or first thing in the morning and then most of the dishes throughout the day can go straight in. I usually still hand wash pans or big bowls (and since it's summer, I've been doing more baking...so there have been bowls and pans to wash) but it still eliminates so much work! The photo is not great...the dishwasher is in a location that it was had to get a good angle to take a photo. But I am thankful for it!
I am not the least bit handy. I am so thankful for a husband that is such a hard worker and that has the skills and knowledge to do these kinds of tasks to make our home nicer and bring such joy to our family! He is wonderful. He really never stops... he is always working on or making plans for some kind of way to improve our home. He's already determined the next project...refinishing the tub while the girls and I are in Canada. Love him so much!
No comments:
Post a Comment