BIG day at the ol' bungalow...

Wow. I look back on today and I'm pretty impressed with how we've turned some bad things around today. We didn't do "a lot" of work, but a host of things have improved.

1. The plumber came today and installed the new supply line from the city shut-off to the tee to the rest of the house. Has it made a difference? Hard to tell...but, I'll tell you, that 85-year-old galvanized pipe was nice and crusted up inside. So, if anything, at least we're not drinking THAT water anymore! Sorry that I forgot to take a pic of that, and of course, the alley scavengers took that pipe in about an hour's time. There's one piece left to swap out, and that's the valve. We need to get the city out to locate the outside shutoff so the plumber can swap out the old valve. Then, we're good to go.

2. Bungalow Avenue (see previous post) delivered my two new stone planters for the front of the house. I'm FLOORED at how PERFECT they are and how beautiful they look. I'm so glad that, for once, I saw something early enough that I was able to take advantage and do something nice. I will take pics tomorrow, I promise...wait till you see them. They couldn't be more perfect.

3. I put my Chevy Equinox to the test today as well...after crunching the numbers every which way possible and then taking a good hard look at the current fence, I decided to go with the idea suggested by my dad as well as Jennifer from Tiny Old House, which was to keep the rails and pickets and just buy new posts. So I did that. I bought 20 4x4 8-foot posts and 10 bags of instant post installation mix. I figured I'd try that stuff, although my dad is bound to scold me for not doing it the old-fashioned way. Hey, I've mixed up enough concrete in my life to earn a pass this time. Anyway, we loaded all this ridiculously heavy stuff into the Equinox and set off, gingerly, from Morton Grove on back down to Portage Park. Thankfully, there weren't a lot of big bumps on the way, so we survived. But it was a harrowing feeling, worrying about somehow damaging the car...oh, and having blind spots all over the place. The boards barely fit from the dash all the way to the back door, stacked from floor to ceiling. Not the safest, but what could I do?

So we're about ready to do the fence, whenever we actually get the time to do it. For now, the stuff will all have to sit in the garage, waiting for the right weekend. :)

4. I figured out that the upstairs shower problem was the shower head. Since I didn't like it anyway, and it was, in effect, broken, we bought a new shower head. Waterpik makes an "el cheapo" rain head (which just means it's chrome-plated plastic rather than metal) that was, like, $20 or so at Menard's. I figured what the heck, why not try it? Now, the key thing here is, I know I've learned some things because, for once, a project that the box claims "Installs in minutes!" actually took only minutes to install. So that was a nice feeling. And the shower works well, so far. Of course, I pulled the restrictor out, because I'm just not an environmentalist (just kidding...don't they say, "Know your audience?" ;) ). Nah, I pulled it because I wasn't sure if the water pressure would still be too low up there. Turns out, it's pretty good. So I'll leave it and see how it goes for a while.

Tomorrow, I think I'm going to plant and plant and plant. And probably cut down the Hicks Yews I have in front. Anybody in the Chicago area who might want them, you're welcome to come and save them. There are two chest-high ones (I might transplant one, rather than chop it to bits) and one vertical, about 8- to 10-foot tall one that are definitely getting either moved or chopped down. Let me know ASAP, of course, and we can try to work something out. I don't expect anyone will want them, but I thought I'd ask.

So we shall see. For sure, I'll have pics though!

Oh yeah, and last but not least at all, head on over to One Project Closer to read about all of Fred's great stuff and to see my Houseblogger Interview from Friday's edition. It's good reading, if I say so myself. :)