I have always been very creative, and when it came to coming up with some landscaping design ideas for our yard, I knew that I would be up to the challenge.  Though I had never attempted to create my own landscaping designs before, I knew that it should be easy - at least in theory.

But I had not counted on the number of things that I would have to know to make it work.  I needed to learn about lantana care, as well as the growing conditions of the many plants and shrubs that I wanted to have in my yard.

I went online to learn about what other people had done in terms of landscaping their yards, and from their examples, I was able to come up with some good ideas.

We are still a ways away from getting it all done, and I think it will look good in the end.  In the meantime, I do have a lot of work to do - but the reward will be worth it.

All things being equal, if I had the time, energy, inclination and money, I would go natural for everything. But since all those requirements are not likely to be met any time soon, I have to make decisions like replacement windows based on my abilities and capabilities. Prepping, painting, sealing and caulking wooden windows, much as I would prefer them, are not things for which I have either the time or expertise (or money to pay someone else to do them).

And all plastic and vinyl jokes aside, vinyl windows are practical, attractive and so easy to care for. They come in popular configurations, including tilt-ins for easy cleaning, adjustable locking mechanisms and just about any feature you might want. Well, except for “self-cleaning” which no one has invented yet - more’s the pity. Regardless of your preconceived ideas about vinyl versus wood, I recommend taking another look at vinyl replacement windows when you’re remodeling. Ours are beautiful, if not “natural.”

It took us a lot of time to afford the house that we are in, and we want to take care of it as best as possible.  This has definitely included a lot of learning, but I guess, if it is what we need to do, that is okay.

So, we have decided to make sure that we keep our decking in tip-top shape, but we were really unsure of what to do.  We went down to the library to see if we could find a do-it-yourself book about taking care of wood decks, and as it turned out there were a couple of them.

Reading through the books was a delight as most of them had lots of pictures (as I really don’t care to read much).  Inside we found out that using a deck sealer would work the best for the type of deck that we had.

Now, all we have to do is go down to the hardware store and pick some up.  Hopefully, someone there will be helpful in suggesting which one would be best for us.